Maxine Thévenot, organ

Acclaimed for her “solid musicianship … technical security and poise” by The American Organist, Maxine Thévenot is amongst the foremost artists of her generation, hailed across North America and Europe for her skilful, musical playing and inventive programming.

Ms. Thévenot’s recital career has taken her to European venues including the Magdeburger Dom, Germany; Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral, UK; Salisbury, St. Paul’s and Canterbury Cathedrals, UK; St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, UK; la Cathèdrale de Notre Dame, Paris; and to venues across North America including Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C.; Saint Thomas Fifth Avenue, New York City; Princeton University Chapel, Princeton, New Jersey; Jack Singer Concert Hall, Calgary; and la Basilique de Notre Dame du Cap, Montréal. She has also performed at the music festivals of Bratislava, Budapest, Prague, and Vienna.

Ms. Thévenot has played concertos with numerous orchestras, including performances with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and the New Mexico Philharmonic. As a chamber musician she has performed with several ensembles, including the UBS Verbier Orchestra together with Grammy Award-winning soprano Renée Fleming and conductor/violinist Dimitri Sitkovetsky, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra.

An advocate of new music, last season Maxine gave the US première of Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani by Philip Moore under his direction as well as a newly-commissioned work by Mr. Moore for organ and choir, Bethlehem, of Noblest Cities. Ms. Thévenot gave the world, US and European premiere performances of Canadian composer Andrew Ager’s Concerto for Organ and Orchestra, Te Deum and Première Suite, and she is the dedicatee of works written by Andrew Ager, Hayes Biggs, Noel Goëmanne, Robert Lind, Philip Moore, Iain Quinn and Martin Stacey.

A native of Saskatchewan, Canada, Dr. Thévenot received her Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from the University of Saskatchewan, and her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from Manhattan School of Music. At Manhattan School she was twice awarded the Bronson Ragan Award for “Most Outstanding Organist”. Maxine is an Associate of the Royal Canadian College of Organists and the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, and an Honorary  Fellow of the National College of Music, London, UK.

Dr. Thévenot has been a featured performer and lecturer at national and regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the Royal Canadian College of Organists. Winner of the 2000 Canada Bach National Organ Competition, Maxine has also broadcast for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, National Public Radio and Pipedreams.

Recognised for her excellence as a recording artist, Maxine Thévenot has released four well-received solo CDs on Raven CD (www.ravencd.com). Her most recent solo release, recorded on the Hellmuth Wolff Organ of Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, BC, Canada, was praised by Jean-Yves Duperron of Classical Music Sentinel: “The beauty of invention and purity of voice she brings to the Bach, or the nobility she brings to the Sweelinck are only some examples of how this musician can expose the soul within the works she performs.”

Dr. Thévenot currently serves as Director of Cathedral Music and Organist at the Cathedral of St. John, Albuquerque, a position she has held since January 2010, having previously served as both Acting Director and as Associate Organist-Choir Director from 2005-2009. Under her direction, the Cathedral Choir undertook a two-week tour to the UK in 2010 where they sang services at Southwark Cathedral, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, and York Minster.  In July-August 2014 she will lead the Cathedral Choir and Choristers on tour to the UK for week-long residencies singing services at Winchester Cathedral and Westminster Abbey.

Maxine Thévenot is also the Founding and Artistic Director of Polyphony: Voices of New Mexico, the state’s first professional, resident vocal ensemble, and a faculty member at the University of New Mexico, where she directs the state’s only collegiate all-women’s choir, Las Cantantes. Dr. Thévenot’s discography includes well-received recordings with all of these ensembles.

 In 2012-2013 Maxine Thévenot will perform recitals at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, UK; Dijon Cathedral, France; and Sewanee’s University of the South, TN. She will be Musical Director for the New Mexican premiere of the Opera, Too Much Coffee Man, and chorus master for Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem and a newly-commissioned work by the Santa Fe Concert Association premiering at the Lensic Theatre, Santa Fe. In addition, she will conduct performances of Bach’s St. John Passion given by Polyphony: Voices of New Mexico with the New Mexico Philharmonic.

 www.maxinethevenot.com