Canadian conductor Geneviève Leclair was appointed Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music in 2016 and is very active with organizations across Canada, the United States and the UK. Highlights of the 2021-22 season include guest appearances with Orchestre Classique de Montréal, Oakville Symphony, Guelph Symphony and Concord Orchestra.Equally at home in the symphony, ballet and opera worlds, she was a recurring guest conductor with The National Ballet of Canada and Northern Ballet (UK), Music Director of Parkway Concert Orchestra from 2013 to 2019, as well as Assistant Conductor and Guest Conductor for Boston Ballet from 2010 to 2017. She was also a member of the Board of Directors of the International Conductors Guild from 2017 to 2020.
Geneviève was awarded the 2017 American Prize in Conducting, college/university division and took 2nd place in the professional orchestra division. In 2010, she was honored to receive the Sir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation Award in Orchestral Conducting.
In recent years, she has had the opportunity to guest conduct various other orchestras both in Canada and the United States, including Orchestre symphonique du Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, Symphony New Hampshire, Syracuse University Symphony Orchestra and New England Conservatory Chamber and Youth Philharmonic Orchestras. Her performances have been hailed as “impeccable” (Boston Phoenix), “ravishing” and of “exemplary pacing and reading” (Hugh Fraser) while her conducting style is praised for its “verve and precision”, “confident dynamics and tempos, crisp rhythms, and crystalline phrasing creat[ing] powerful forward momentum” (Carla DeFord).
Geneviève holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Orchestral Conducting from Boston University under the tutelage of Maestro David Hoose. She had previously obtained Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in flute performance at Université de Montréal, the latter under the supervision of Mr. Denis Bluteau, former associate principal flutist of Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. She also studied choral conducting with Dr. Ann Howard Jones and perfected her art through public and private master classes led by Boris Brott, Kenneth Kiesler, Carl Topilow, Susan Hoeppner, Camille Churchfield, Lise Daoust and Jeanne Baxtresser. In November 2010, she was invited by the National Arts Center Orchestra (Ottawa) to attend the first edition of their Canadian Conductors Workshop.
In addition to her career as a performer and teacher, Geneviève is also a published author of music literature and theory exercise books, Les Devoirs du prof Rémi / Prof. Solfa’s Workbooks, through Les Éditions École de musique Vincent-d’Indy.