|
About Vincea McClelland
 One
of Canada’s top guitarists, Vincea McClelland’s concert
career spans two decades and five continents. Her performances
and recordings have received rave reviews world-wide and she
is also much in demand as an inspiring and sympathetic teacher.
In 1988 she became the first Canadian to teach the classical
guitar in mainland China and was named Honorary Advisor to the
Guitar Societies of Shanghaï and Beijing. (It was during
this tour that she heard a talented eleven-year-old guitarist...named
Xuefei Yang!).Vincea McClelland has been a member of the guitar
faculties of the Toronto Board of Education, the Royal
Conservatory of Music, the University of Guelph (Ontario)
and the Paris Central Conservatory.
Born in Montreal, Vincea began her study of the guitar as a
teenager in Ottawa. An early performance there by English guitarist
John Mills impressed her so much that she decided to pursue a
professional career. She obtained her Bachelor of Music in Performance
degree at the University
of Toronto where she studied with famed Canadian guitar professor
Eli Kassner. She later went on to study with Oscar Ghiglia at
the Banff
School of Fine Arts and with Alexandre Lagoya in France,
winning scholarships and awards including the Floyd S. Chalmers
Performing Arts Award from the Ontario
Arts Council. While studying in Paris she met her husband,
the French guitarist and lutenist Raymond Cousté, and
the couple settled permanently in the Paris area.
 |
Vincea has been a featured soloist at international
guitar and music festivals such as the Paris International
Guitar Weekend, the CBC/McGill
Series in Montreal, the Classical Guitar Festival of
Great Britain at West Dean, the International Festival of
Castel Gandolfo in Rome, the International Guitar Festival
of the Americas in Stockholm, the Halifax Guitar Festival,
the International Guitar Festival of Rueil-Malmaison in France
and the Indian
River Festival, Prince Edward Island's "Festival
of Fine Music". She has appeared on television in Canada
and Germany and has recorded for Radio France, CBC Radio
(Canada) and Chinese State Radio. Her CDs Guitar Originals
and Intermedio have both received enthusiastic praise internationally
for their high quality, choice of repertoire, musicality
and beautiful sound. Recent performances, workshops and masterclasses have taken place at the Paris Music Museum and for the Classical Guitar Societies of Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, Niagara, Greenwood and Southampton and at the Canadian Universities of Toronto, Montreal, Dalhousie, Waterloo, Sherbrooke and Ottawa.
Concerts in 2005-2006 included the Edmonton Classical Guitar Society, the Dorset Guitar Society, the Guitare Lachine International Festival, the Richmond Guitar Society (London) ...Vincea was invited to represent Canada at the 10th International Strings Festival in Rabat, Morocco in November of 2005. In October, 2006 she will tour Argentina with her husband Raymond Cousté and a new solo CD on the CODA label will be released early in 2007.
|
back to top
Reviews and Comments
“A dynamic playing style”
ROME DAILY AMERICAN
“Skill and sensitivity...”
MONTREAL GAZETTE
“This is the CD of a great lady of
the guitar...”
LES CAHIERS DE LA GUITARE, France
"An admirable concert...Polished phrasing,
clear voicing and crisply delineated rhythms helped to make
it in many ways an object lesson in how to present a guitar
recital"
Colin Cooper, CLASSICAL GUITAR MAGAZINE (Cover Story), November
2000
“The charismatic Vincea McClelland...”
GUITAR SOCIETY OF TORONTO, October 2003
“2003 gave us an excellent One Day
Mini Festival with Raymond Cousté and Vincea McClelland,
who followed the workshop with a stunning concert...Vincea
took the stage for some superb solos...two Rodrigo pieces,
Tiento Antiguo and Junto al Generalife were both very enjoyable...followed
by Misionera and a blistering arrangement of Bernstein's America...the
Suite Latina by Montes was riveting...A well-crafted and accessible
concert"
SOUTHAMPTON CLASSICAL GUITAR SOCIETY, October/November 2003
"Vincea you were fantastic in St Catharines,
there was a high degree of inspiration that is still being
felt here as a result of your wonderful playing and sympathetic
teaching".
Jonathan Earp, GUITAR NIAGARA (Canada), November 2003
"McClelland is a subtle player with
pristine tone and impeccable fingers...As she played, she tuned
us all in to her wavelength, where all the subtlety in the
world could not conceal her sensitive, expressive playing.
Few audiences listen as hard as this one did"
HALIFAX CHRONICLE HERALD (Canada), October 1998
"The McClelland-Cousté Duo brings
together two outstanding virtuosos...The concert was well attended
by an appreciative audience"
GREENWOOD CLASSICAL GUITAR SOCIETY, September 2003
"Especially admirable is the sensitivity of Vincea McClelland's playing, her precision which makes a perfect marriage with virtuosity... Vincea McClelland is completely convincing”
GUITARE CLASSIQUE, France, April 2002 & September 2004.
"Everything about this new release is
top class...Vincea McClelland and Raymond Cousté show
themselves to be players and musicians of very high standards...The
recording quality is first-class and all in all this is a very
enjoyable recording indeed and one to play repeatedly.”
Steve Marsh, CLASSICAL GUITAR MAGAZINE, January 2003
“A beautiful warm tone and deep feeling...brilliant
virtuosity”
GUITArt INTERNATIONAL, Italy & USA, Oct/Nov/Dec 2002.
"Musicality, technique, beautiful sound
and a very good program...Vincea and Raymond are great players..."
JORGE MOREL, January 2002
"I like everything about this CD...the
excellent choice of repertoire, the quality of the performance,
the sound and the recording ...It deserves only the best of
receptions. Bravo!"
BERNARD MAILLOT, President of SAVAREZ Strings (France), January
2002.
"In her solo performances, Vincea McClelland shows considerable vitality and nice sound... In the duet pieces, the two guitars are very similar in colour and the perfect team-work manifests itself in simultaneous dynamics and phrasing... This is a CD pleasant to hear.”
SWIAT GITARY, Poland, October-November 2004
"We were treated to the incredible playing of Vincea McClelland on her beautiful guitar...I don't think I have often witnessed such a 'Golden' tone, even more, one could compare it to silk, satin and velvet all rolled into one... She certainly produced a heavenly sound. Not only that, but with such a seemingly calm and effortless approach to every phrase in the music... Her playing was inspirational."
DORSET GUITAR SOCIETY NEWSLETTER, May 2005
back to top
Contact Vincea McClelland
back to top
Audio Clips
Joaquin Rodrigo (Spain 1901 - 1999)
(Special thanks to CBC Radio-Canada for their permission
to use these excerpts)
Excerpts from Intermedio CD
back to top
|