As part of the „Awake, My Heart!“ concert tour of the US and Canada, the
Arsis Handbell Ensemble from Estonia,
with Soloist Rémi Boucher, playing guitar, from Canada,
will be performing in Ottawa on July 27th, 2012 at 3 pm in the Church of St. John the Evangelist, located at the corner of Somerset St. and Elgin St.
The Arsis Handbell Ensemble, which was developed in 1993, today consists of eight professional players and one of the most perfect sets of handbells, including 7+4 octave sets of handbells and 7 octave set of handchimes. All the handbells have been made in the USA, Malmark bell factory.
The ensemble has toured in different places of the world – Sweden, Finland, Norway, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Canada, Belgium, USA, Portugal, Poland. One of the most exotic places was the Republic of South Africa where Arsis participated in Eisteddfod festival and was honoured the highest prize Grand Prix. Arsis has also represented Estonia in several cultural programs abroad. The remarkable honour has been to play for the Royal Family in Spain.
Arsis is playing mostly arrangements of classical music but also a lot of original music. The ensemble has played with Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, with different choirs, solo instruments and solo voices. Six CDs have been released by now. More information about Arsis activities you will find: www.arsis.ee
Born in Rouyn-Noranda (Québec, Canada), Rémi Boucher is the first guitarist who has won the Canada Council for the Arts Sylva Gelber Award. In addition to his many national and international prizes, in less than 18 months, Rémi Boucher has conquered Europe, America and Asia winning unanimously the first prize of five of the most important international music competitions (Alessandria in Italy, Andrès Segovia in Palma de Mallorca in Spain, Havana in Cuba, Mauro Guiliani in Turin, and Fernando Sor in Roma).
Rémi has had the pleasure of being invited to perform with many major orchestras all over the world, performing all of the major guitar concertos. He regularly performs recitals, gives master classes and judges at many of the most important competitions, music festivals and universities around the world. He is currently working as a guitar professor in Conservatory of Quebec, CA.
