The desire to touch souls and hearts has always been central to harpist Antoine Malette-Chnier's artistic practice. This, his first solo disc project, calls on the enormous suggestive power of Romantic music in an intimate recital conducive to communion and the sharing of emotions.

On this album, Malette-Chnier introduces works for harp, both originals and transcriptions, several of which are here recorded for the first time. The pieces on this program are concerned with all that can console and enhance human experience: beauty, nature, love, spirituality, dance, poetry. Sometimes dark, sometimes light, contemplative, or dramatic, they will take the listener on a journey of joy and hope.

Bringing his musical expertise and creativity to every field in which he engages, Canadian harpist Antoine Malette-Chnier plays a repertoire ranging from the Renaissance and the Baroque, on period instruments, to contemporary creations. An active orchestral musician, Antoine holds the Principal Harp chair with the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivires, and has played with many ensembles in Canada, France, and the United States, including the Orchestre symphonique de Montral, Les Violons du Roy, the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, and Les Voix humaines.

Antoine has won many awards, including the 2014 Michael Measures prize from the Canada Council for the Arts, a first prize at the 2013 Orchestre symphonique de Montral Competition, and two scholarships from the National Arts Centre Orchestra. As the winner of top prizes in several concerto competitions, he was awarded soloist appearances with orchestras in Canada, Hungary, France, and the United States. He received the prize for the best interpretation of a work in any style at the Prix d'Europe Competition in Montral in 2012, as well as the Second Prize, and the Jury's Prize in 2017. Antoine Malette-Chnier, a graduate of McGill University and the Universit de Montral, holds master's degrees in harp performance from Yale University, and in historical harp performance from the Conservatoire national suprieur de musique et de danse de Lyon.