[FR]

Fiddling along for more than 40 years, self-taught violinist and multi-instrumentalist Paul Lafrance is from Gatineau, Québec.

During his studies, he composed and played the music for five theatre plays. Above all, in 1982, he imagined, composed, directed, supervised and created the barock opera La chanson de Roland, quite freely adapted from the medieval chanson de geste of the same name. The team comprised more than 35 members: singers, dancers, backup singers, musicians, lighting technician, art director, etc.

From 1983 to 1990, he accompanied the Franco-Ontarian folklorist and singer-songwriter Donald Poliquin, with whom he played on more than 500 occasions throughout Canada and in the USA and France, notably at the Francofolies in La Rochelle and at the Opéra Bastille in Paris.

In 1990, he was part of Gildor Roy and The Posse of Love, who performed at restaurant-théâtre La Licorne, in Montréal. From 1992 to 2004, he played alongside singer-songwriter Benoît LeBlanc, at Festival international de Louisiane, in Lafayette, and at Francofolies de Montréal, among many others.

In the nineties, he composed music for many corporate videos. One played « in loop » during more than 10 years at the Montréal Insectarium.

From 2005 to 2009, he formed with Jonathan Lafontaine and Patrick Mailloux Les Têtes à Papineau, an intello-trad trio that played in numerous occasions, including at Espace Félix-Leclerc on Île d’Orléans and at La Basoche in Gatineau.

Since 2017, he plays live during the poetry recitals of Claude Larouche. In 2020, he produces L’amour, la mer, a CD version of these shows.

In 1992 and then in 2001, Paul Lafrance launched two recordings called Osmose et traditions and Mappemonde. In 2017, he launched two albums, La quête et l’acquis and À jeu découvert, the latter with guitarist Marc-André Marchand. He launches in 2020 A Fiddler’s Web, followed in 2022 by The Celtic Planets, two albums filled with original compositions.

With the playwright Karine Parenteau, he just wrote the upcoming musical called UNS Chacun son histoire.

With the talented singer Isabelle Beauregard, Paul produced the album Les tendres souhaits launched in October 2021.