Pentaèdre: The Oboe in all its Forms

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Since woodwind quintet Pentaèdre created its Carte blanche series for each musician in 2017, the oboe has not yet been put in the spotlight. But that’s about to change.

Oboist Élise Poulin, who joined Pentaèdre in 2019, will finally have the opportunity to present a complete concert. “I’m delighted that Pentaèdre has given me the opportunity to explore chamber music repertoire for oboe in such depth for this Carte blanche concert. It’s quite rare to present concerts featuring the oboe and English horn! I’m very happy to introduce these more obscure instruments to the public.”

She has invited some Orchestre de l’Agora colleagues to join her. They are violinist Chloé Chabanole, violist Thierry Lavoie-Ladouceur, cellist Thomas Beard, and pianist Chloé Dumoulin. “It’s a pleasure for me to share the stage with them as a chamber musician. It’s an opportunity to get together for a more intimate concert, and to discuss our musical visions differently than we would with the orchestra.”

Various works featuring the oboe’s fine sound will be programmed in a variety of musical ensembles. Audience members can (once again) enjoy the Quartet for Oboe and Strings, RV 370 by Mozart, especially the well-known slow movement that is among his most heart-throbbing. “In my opinion, this is his finest work for oboe,” says Poulin. Musicians will move out of their comfort zones, presenting the exuberant Quartet for English Horn and Strings by Jean Françaix and ending with the Quintet for Strings, Oboe, and Piano by Théodore Dubois, written in some of the most charming keys.

Aside from the oboe, Poulin will play the English horn. Despite the name, the English horn is part of the double-reed instrument family. “It’s an instrument I’m particularly fond of, on account of its warm, lilting timbre. In this work, we find borrowings from jazz and ragtime, with two magnificent, highly expressive slow movements.” The musical soundscape by Françaix is full of surprises and will leave the audience breathless, whereas Dubois’s sense of melody will please many audience members during the concert—and may well get stuck in their heads afterwards!

“Théodore Dubois’s quintet is a discovery for me. The oboe acts as a second violin, with a magnificent singing, soloistic part. Unlike in the other works in the concert, here the solos are balanced between the five musicians, who can thus share their musicality and virtuosity with the audience,” says the oboist.

Poulin studied oboe with the late Lise Beauchamp, who played the oboe with Orchestre Métropolitain, at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. Some of Poulin’s other oboe coaches include Olivier Doise at the Conservatoire de Boulogne-Billancourt near Paris, and Vincent Boilard at Université de Montréal.