Harpsichord Recital.

Geneviève Soly ~ harpsichord 

A special Tuesday edition of Midtown Concerts, featuring the Quebecois harpsichordist Geneviève Soly, playing eight Preludes and Fugues from J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I (1722). 

Geneviève Soly is one of the central figures of Baroque music in Quebec. She is well- known for her many talents: as a musical soloist performer on the organ and harpsichord as well as musical director of Les Idées heureuses; as a musicologist for her major contribution to the rediscovery of Christoph Graupner; as a pedagogue and sought-after speaker and lecturer and as an arts administrator who has been founding and directing Les Idées heureuses for 35 years. She was an Adjunct Professor of musicology at the Université de Montréal and sat on several arts sector advisory councils.

Geneviève Soly was nine years old when she realized she was going to be a performer. This revelation came as she listened to an LP recording of Sviatoslav Richer playing Robert Schumann’s Fantasiestücke. Schumann remains one of the composers dearest to her heart.

Her tireless work for the dissemination of Baroque music was recognized by the Prix Opus, awarded by the Conseil québécois de la musique in the category of Personnalité de l’année in 1997. She was named La Personnalité de la semaine by the Montreal daily La Presse in its April 2, 2006 edition. She was invited to sign the Livre d’or de la ville de Montreal at an official ceremony on May 6, 2010, in recognition of her international stature as an authority on Graupner. Previously, she won the Second Prize at Paul Hofhaimer Competition for early music (organ) in Innsbruck (1978) and the First Prize at John Robb organ Competition in Montréal (1976).

In 2025, Breitkopf and Härtel will be publishing her edition of the first volume of Graupner’s works for harpsichord. She is the first Canadian editor to work for this publisher.

As a performer, besides hundreds of solo recitals, Geneviève Soly has played with gambist Jay Bernfeld, with violinist Viktoria Mullova and harpsichordist Andreas Staier. Since 2006, she has given solo performances at the Centre de musique Baroque in Versailles, at the Bruges and Utrecht early music festivals, at BOZAR in Brussels, as well as in Modena, Pontoise, Basel, Frankfurt and Berlin. Her seven recordings of Graupner’s harpsichord music on ANALEKTA label have received international acclaim and numerous prizes.

Geneviève Soly is the twin sister of Isolde Lagacé, emeritis director of the Bourgie Concert Hall at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. She is mother of well-known humorist Arnaud Soly and percussionist Matthias Soly-Letarte.

1:15–2:00 pm
All concerts are free; no tickets or reservations are necessary.

In person only at St. Malachy's Church, 239 West 49th Street, Manhattan