When Marc Hervieux made his opera debut, his mother refused to come and hear him. “She said it wasn’t her world,” the singer confided to me in a Griffintown café where I arranged to meet him. We sense that the wound remains raw for this passionate being who one day had the courage to break down the walls around him.
As he tells me about his childhood in a modest family in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and his foray into the very closed and elitist world of classical music, I can’t help but tell him about Jean-Philippe Pleau’s novel, Duplessis Streetand the phenomenon of “class defectors”.
“Before studying at the conservatory, I created a company specializing in graphic design. One of my clients was the City of Montreal. During my five years at the conservatory, my mother would say to me: ‘So, when are you going back to work for the City?’ For her, being a singer was not a real job.”
But the young tenor impresses everyone. He hangs on and goes for it. His journey has something to inspire young people today who aspire to a career in the arts while “their world” is not fertile ground for music, theater or dance.
This was probably something we thought about when we decided to entrust him with the general management of the Conservatoire de musique et d’art dramatique du Québec.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Coming from a modest background, Marc Hervieux made classical music his universe.
I am driven by the desire to make the entire population understand that conservatories are for everyone. We are lucky in Quebec to have such a government institution. Having access to theatre or music starts first and foremost with oneself.
Marc Hervieux
Marc Hervieux has made this breaking down of barriers in music the driving force of his life. When Ginette Reno asks him to sing with her in a duet (Make me tender), he hangs the costumes of Mario, Canio or Calaf in a closet and answers present.
“I am aware that people look at me in different ways. The purist’s point of view is his business. But the choices I make are also mine. Over time, I have heard a lot of things. When I was appointed head of the conservatories, some people were afraid that I would distort that. But after the fact, other people recognized that I was doing a good job. job. This is all normal. As long as you accept that not 100% of people are going to like you, everything is fine.”
This freedom of thought and speech allows Marc Hervieux to affirm that we should not be afraid to say out loud what we like or dislike in the arts. “We are caught in a concept that obliges classical singers to like everything that is classical. But no! There are operas that I refused to sing because I knew that I would be bored all evening. AidaI can’t listen to this. It bores me [il fait semblant de ronfler]. »
Recently, a listener asked him why he didn’t play Montserrat Caballé more often. The host complied. “I play her from time to time, but I find her voice hard, metallic. There are a million sopranos I like better than her.”
Since he does not hesitate to express sharp opinions about composers and performers, I bring him into the territory of classical music critics who, despite the work that programmers and conductors do to attract new audiences, continue to maintain a certain hermeticism around classical music.
“I couldn’t agree more,” says the man who had the honour of being soundly lambasted early in his career by my former colleague Claude Gingras (their relationship fortunately improved later). “I had great discussions with Christophe Huss, from Dutyon this subject. He has the right to think what he thinks. But this way of doing things that has taken hold is terrible. It can scare people. That said, real music critics are becoming increasingly rare.”
Marc Hervieux is aware that to make a living as a classical singer in Quebec, you have to agree to go abroad and sacrifice a part of yourself — family life, in particular. A few years ago, he made the choice to be closer to his three daughters. At 55, he takes projects as they come.
But he also likes to talk about the success his comrades are achieving.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Starting August 31, Marc Hervieux will host It’s so good on the airwaves of ICI Musique.
Étienne Dupuis, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Michèle Losier, Julie Boulianne, Jean-François Lapointe, Frédéric Antoun… I could go on like this for a long time. It’s incredible what’s happening right now. And there’s a great young generation coming up.
Marc Hervieux
An hour spent with Marc Hervieux goes by at lightning speed. The man is talkative. He punctuates his confidences with bursts of laughter. He is clearly in great shape. In the fall, the “crazy weeks” that he is experiencing at the Conservatoire de musique et d’art dramatique du Québec will resume.
This will be added to the last part of the tour ofA voice to be loved: Maria Callas in the company of his great friend Sophie Faucher, for whom he has nothing but tender words. And then, starting August 31, he will dive head first into the animation of It’s so good on the airwaves of ICI Musique.
Marc Hervieux spent part of his summer preparing for the major challenge that awaits him. “I had fun making playlists, creating categories with the director. Our first roadmaps are filling up.”
Let the faithful be reassured, the new host has no intention of transforming the setting and atmosphere of this event. “The challenge with this show is that I have to talk to people who know a lot about this musical genre and others that I have to bring in. We have to find the right balance in the presentations.”
Marc Hervieux continues to be the wonderful link he has always been. He does it with a real passion for music. And the desire for us to go straight to it and without fear.
It’s so goodICI Musique, Sundays at 4 p.m., starting August 31
Check out the pageA voice to be loved: Maria Callas
Unfiltered questionnaire
My coffee ritual: Making coffee is a ritual in itself, I love making coffee in the morning, for myself and for others. Then, with coffee, it’s going through newspapers, emails and starting the day.
A book everyone should read: My favorite book is a book that I read as a teenager and that had a big impact on me and taught me resilience, On behalf of all mine, by Martin Gray.
A historical event I would have liked to attend: The birth of Quebec City or the stock market crash of 1930, which my father told me so much about.
People, dead or alive, that I would like to gather around a table: General Dallaire, Maria Callas, Giacomo Puccini, Jacques Brel, Nelson Mandela and my father.
A piece of advice for a young artist: Be clear-headed, know your strengths and weaknesses, trust yourself, be your best critic, don’t listen to everything you’re told, but listen to your inner voice, your feelings, let the troublemakers bother each other and move on!
Who is Marc Hervieux?
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Marc Hervieux spoke to Mario Girard in a Griffintown café.
- 1969: born in Montreal
- 1991: studies at the Montreal Conservatory of Music
- 2006: Principal artist at the Metropolitan Opera in New York
- 2022: appointed to the general management of the Conservatory of Music and Dramatic Art of Quebec
- 2024: hosting the show It’s so good