Masques, a Montreal-based early music ensemble founded in 1998, specializes in the music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.  Its name is inspired by the masques of Elizabethan England—mystical performances that fused poetry, music, dance, and drama.

While maintaining a core ensemble, Masques collaborates with European artists and groups according to the requirements of the projects it presents.  The ensemble tours North America with concerts in Washington, D.C., New York, and Pittsburgh; in Europe it has performed in cities in the Netherlands and France.  The ensemble won the Grand Prize in the Dorian/Early Music America Competition in 2000, and it was a finalist at the York Early Music Competition in 2001.  Its recordings for ATMA Classique include music of Matthew Locke, Henry Purcell, and Heinrich von Biber and his contemporaries.  The members of Masques appear as soloists and chamber musicians with groups such as Tafelmusik, Capriccio Stravagante, La Petite Bande, and Les Voix Humaines.  Masques gave its first performance in New York City at The Frick Collection in 2004.

Members of Masques

Sophie Gent and Tuomo Suni, violins
Kathleen Kajioka, viola
Mélisande Corriveau, cello, viola da gamba, and recorder
Pierre-Yves Martel, violone
Olivier Fortin, harpsichord and leader