Biography

Isabelle Héroux is a virtuoso classical guitarist with unparalleled charisma on stage. Her performance experience has led her to research and understand the creative process. Her passion for pedagogy drives her!

An active player in the international scene, Isabelle Héroux regularly performs as a soloist or as part of a duet. She has performed in France, Italy, Germany, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Ecuador, Tunisia, Turkey, Mexico, Brazil, Burkina Faso, the United States and Canada, among others. In addition, she has been recorded for Radio-Canada and Bravo! television channel as a soloist as well as a chamber musician.

Her ¡Viva Espana! album, which she recorded on the ATMA label as part of the Duo Alba guitar duet, was very well received by critics, who deemed the group “masterful.” Recorded on the XXI-21 Productions label, her solo album Regard was called “a beautiful album to be savoured” by Christophe Rodriguez edition of the Journal de Montréal.  Another one of her albums, titled Georges Delarue, musique pour guitar et flûte (DCM), features solo guitar works and pieces for guitar and flute. Her latest album, Tango classico, featuring the late Patrick Healey, earned her an Opus prize nomination in 2013.

Arguably one of the most talented artists of her generation, her virtuosity and stage presence make her an active player in the international classical music scene. When she isn’t performing, she frequently hosts master classes and appears as a panellist on many juries. Notable awards include scholarships from the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec, the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications, the Fondation McAbbie and the O.F.Q.J. She was a finalist in the “Concours International de la Havane” in Cuba. She received second prize at the 8^th annual “Concours International d’Ensemble de l’UFAM” in Paris.

Isabelle received a unanimously decided first prize for classical guitar from the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal under the tutelage of Jean Versailles. She perfected her style while learning under Alberto Ponce at l’École Normale de Musique de Paris. She has also studied under such masters as Alvaro Pierri, Manuel Barrueco, David Russell, Ako Ito, Henri Dorigny and Stepan Rak.

Isabelle Héroux is a professor of classical guitar and pedagogy at the UQAM music department. She has a Ph.D. at Université Laval in music education and two performance degrees in classical guitar. She is an active member of such research groups as the Groupe de recherche interdisciplinaire sur les arts vivants (GRIAV), the Laboratoire de recherche en formation auditive et en didactique instrumentale (RFADI), the Observatoire interdisciplinaire de création et de recherche en musique (OICRM) and the UQAM music department research facility on music education. She has published many pedagogical articles and guitar method books, including her method for college students À vos guitares! Prêts? Partez! Her main areas of focus are the field of music pedagogy and what her primary instrument, the guitar, can bring to that field. She also studies the role that the creative process plays in the area of music performance, more precisely, the different creative processes at work while performance is being executed.