Bernard Labadie has established himself worldwide as one of the leading conductors of the Baroque and Classical repertoire, a reputation that is closely tied with Les Violons du Roy and La Chapelle de Québec which he founded and continues to lead as music director to this day. With the two ensembles he regularly tours Canada, the US and Europe, in major venues and festivals such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Kennedy Center, Barbican, Concertgebouw, and the Salzburg Festival, among others.

Passionate about opera, Labadie has also been Artistic Director of L’Opéra de Québec and L’Opéra de Montréal. As a guest he conducted Handel’s Orlando with Glimmerglass Opera, Mozart’s Così fan tutte at the Mostly Mozart Festival, and Mozart’s Lucio Silla with Santa Fe Opera, to name a few. September 2009 marked his debut with the Metropolitan Opera in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, a work he conducts again at Cincinnati Opera in 2011.

Ever since his triumphant debut with the Minnesota Orchestra in 1999, Labadie has become a sought-after guest conductor with major North American orchestras, including the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, St. Louis, Houston, Atlanta, Detroit, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, many of them on a regular basis. His debut with the Cleveland Orchestra occurred in early 2010.

In 2011-12 Labadie made his debut at Tanglewood and returned to the Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Utah Symphony, and Vancouver Symphony.

Labadie’s extensive discography includes many critically acclaimed recordings on the Dorian, ATMA and Virgin Classics labels, including Handel’s Apollo e Dafne and his collaboration with Les Violons du Roy and La Chapelle de Québec of Mozart’s Requiem, both winning Canada’s Juno Award. A complete recording of C.P.E. Bach’s Cello Concertos with Truls Mørk and Les Violons du Roy is slated for release soon, as well as a recording with Ian Bostridge and The English Concert, both for Virgin Classics.

For his achievements, the Canadian government honored him with the appointment as “Officer of the Order of Canada” in 2005 and Quebec made him a “Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Québec” in 2006.