Biography
The Ottawa Guitar Trio will be presenting a musical celebration of Japanese pop culture with a performance of selections from Studio Ghibli, Pokemon, Chrono Trigger/Cross, The Legend of Zelda, and Super Mario Bros. Come hear your favourite themes reimagined for three guitars!
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Composed of Nathan Bredeson, Alex Bougie and François Lacelle, The Ottawa Guitar Trio has made it their mission to highlight the accessibility of instrumental music to modern audiences by presenting their own arrangements of movie scores and video game tunes alongside timeless classics from the classical canon as well as new works from up-and-coming composers.
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Alex Bougie
Alex Bougie is an accomplished guitarist from the Ottawa region who wishes to transmit his love of music and guitar through both teaching and performance. His strong passion for the instrument compelled him to graduate from his Bachelor’s (magna cum laude) and Master’s degree in classical guitar performance under the tutelage of renowned performer and composer Patrick Roux.
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Throughout his career, Alex has amassed a wealth of experience as an arranger, musical director, and by performing both as accompanist and soloist in the domain of classical music, musical theatre, as well as popular styles of music and jazz.
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As an instructor, Alex has given workshops in composition, performance, and music history for the University of Ottawa as well as elementary and high schools in the Ottawa and Toronto region.
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Today, Alex actively performs in diverse settings and devotes himself to his students in workshops and his teaching studio.
Alex Bougie est musicien classique basé à Ottawa. Il désire transmettre sa passion pour la musique par l’enseignement et la performance. Après avoir obtenu son baccalauréat et sa maîtrise à l’Université d’Ottawa sous la direction de Patrick Roux, il a acquis une vaste expérience en tant qu’arrangeur, directeur musical, producteur, et en se produisant à la fois comme accompagnateur et comme soliste.
En tant qu’instructeur, Alexandre a animé en outre des ateliers de composition, de performance et d’histoire de la musique pour le compte de l’Université d’Ottawa, de la FESFO, du CFORP et au sein d’écoles primaires et secondaires de l’Ontario.
Il se produit régulièrement avec le Ottawa Guitar Trio (OGT), dont il est membre fondateur. Le OGT a à cœur de faire découvrir la musique classique et instrumentale à un public plus large en présentant ses propres arrangements de musiques issues de bandes sonores, de jeux vidéo, de films et de morceaux de musique classique. Le groupe interprète également des pièces écrites par des compositeurs émergents.
Alex joue des guitares signées Jean Rompré et Joshia de Jonge et est sponsorisé par les cordes Knobloch.
Nathan Bredeson
Featured in CBC’s “30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30 in 2018,” Nathan Bredeson is gaining international acclaim as an award-winning guitarist and composer.
Nathan studied guitar with Denis Donegani (Canadian Guitar Quartet) at the University of Ottawa, and composition with John Armstrong and Frederic Lacroix. He completed a Master’s Degree with Rene Izquierdo at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.
Nathan’s compositions and arrangements have won awards in international competitions, including the Miami International GuitArt Festival and the Great Lakes Guitar Festival. He won first place in the 2015 Sharon Lynne Wilson Center Guitar Competition and his piece Astral Projection won first prize in the Ottawa Guitar Society’s Composition Competition in 2016.
In addition to his accomplishments with the Ottawa Guitar Trio, Nathan also co-founded the Made in Canada Duo with guitarist Michael Ibsen in 2019. Their debut tour across southwestern Ontario promoted new works for guitar by living Canadian composers. He released his first solo album, Nocturne, in September 2019.
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He currently lives in Ottawa, ON, where he teaches guitar and music theory for Ottawa Suzuki Strings.
François Lacelle
François Lacelle is a classical guitarist, teacher and arranger from the Ottawa/Gatineau region. Originating from Temiscaming, he started out as a self-taught musician at the age of 14 before formally pursuing classical guitar at Cambrian College in 2007 where he studied with guitarist Philip Candelaria. He later completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in classical guitar performance at the University of Ottawa under the tutelage of Patrick Roux.
François is an active performer in Ottawa as a member of the Ottawa Guitar Trio. As an arranger, he has contributed dozens of arrangements to the classical guitar repertoire ranging from classical music to popular music in movies and video games.
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He now lives in Gatineau, Hull where he teaches in his private studio.