Vincent Lauzer charts recorder's path beyond Europe
Montréal Baroque co-director on building a career in early music across North America, visa costs, and festival ambitions.
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Vincent Lauzer, the recorder virtuoso and co-artistic director of Montréal Baroque ahead of the festival's 24th edition, has built a career doing something rare: sustaining international performance as a solo recorder player from North America.
The Quebec flutist won the Canada Music Council's Tremplin Prize in 2012 and Opus Prize for Discovery that same year. He earned the prestigious Fernand-Lindsay career bursary in 2015, which proved decisive. "I had the chance to go study in 2017 with Maurice Steger," Lauzer said, referring to the world's pre-eminent recorder virtuoso. Steger offered him blunt advice: the European market for solo recorder is closed.
"He said, 'It's unfortunate, but in Europe, we don't need you. The solo recorder contracts—that's me who has them," Lauzer recalled. "He encouraged me to look elsewhere."
Lauzer pivoted to North America. The bursary allowed him to compete at major US festivals and competitions, especially on the East Coast and in Texas, where recorder players with soloist profiles are scarce. "I felt I was filling a need and I took advantage of that," he said.
But the economics proved fragile. "In the ancient music world, budgets are smaller, especially for artist travel," Lauzer said. When his bursary ran out, the costs of flights and visas became prohibitive for presenters wanting to invite him. He now performs across Canada, where work is steadier but still limited by distance and border costs.
The challenge mirrors one facing many Canadian classical musicians: geography isolates talent, and funding rarely covers the expense of getting there.