Marie-Elaine Gagnon
Marie-Elaine Gagnon was admitted to the program for gifted children at the Conservatoire de Musique de Chicoutimi. She earned a Superior Diploma I from the Conservatoire de Montreal and a Superior Diploma II from the Conservatoire de Quebec. Gagnon has a Master’s degree from Florida International University in the studio of Keith Robinson of the Miami String Quartet, and she holds a DMA from University of Miami, where she was the assistant to Ross Harbaugh.
Gagnon has won numerous music competitions in Canada. She has performed with the Orchestre Symphonique du Saguenay Lac-St-Jean and in Québec City with the orchestra of the Conservatory. In 2000, she won a recital “Jeunes Artistes” broadcasted by Radio-Canada. She has performed in many music festivals, including Le festival du Domaine Forget, The Penderecki String Quartet Chamber Workshop, Orford Center and The National Youth Orchestra of Canada. In May 2002, she was the first cellist to win a scholarship from the D. Robinson Foundation for study at the Aspen Music Festival. She has studied with many well known cellists such as Leslie Snider (Quebec), Desmond Hoebig (Cleveland), Philipe Muller (Paris), Roland Pidoux (Trio Pasquier), Paul Watkins (London) and David Ellis (Alcan String Quartet).
Gagnon was a member of the Ibis Camerata from 2002 to 2006, based in Miami. They performed in several countries such as Russia, at the White Nights Festival, Serbia and Switzerland. In 2006, their first recording, Glisten, was released under the Albany Records label. Gagnon taught in the youth program at the Université de Montréal in Canada and at Barry University in North Miami prior to joining the faculty and the Rawlins Piano Trio at The University of South Dakota.
