Savour the tradition of the troubadours, as Ménestrel breathes vivid life into music that has been shaped by centuries. Their voyage through historic repertoire is accented by lute, guitar and the intricate colours of the human voice. With selections ranging from grand compositions by Purcell, Dowland, and Monteverdi to nostalgic Gaelic, Québécois, and English folk melodies, Ménestrel reminds us of the pleasure of these musical forms.

The group consists of recognized artists Janelle Lucyk (soprano), Kerry Bursey (tenor, guitar and lute) and Vincent Lauzer (recorder), who have established a reputation for combining ancient repertoire with elements of folk song. Ménestrel has performed across Canada and in Europe, including a “Messiah-on-the-go!” production featuring emerging performers in historic Nova Scotian venues.

Join us for a refreshing portrayal of song and story that feels as approachable and inviting today as it did centuries ago.

Ménestrel is an alternative early music group co-founded by Janelle Lucyk and Kerry Bursey, mixing ancient repertoire with oral folk traditions. Janelle Lucyk is a singer and producer among an emerging generation of Canadian artists specializing in old music and historically informed performance, taking ideas from conception to the stage. Kerry Bursey is a tenor and plucked string instrumentalist whose voice is appreciated for its luminous quality and as a sought-after lutenist, is also invested in the rare practice of self-accompaniment, in early and folk music of northwestern traditions.
 
Beyond traditional venues, Ménestrel is committed to bringing the transformative magic of music to unexpected places. In 2024 Ménestrel took to the road, giving performances and collaborating with singers and choirs in all Canada’s 13 provinces and territories. Since 2022, their “Messiah-on-the-go!” production congregates 20 emerging performers from across Canada to be featured in historic Nova Scotian venues. Last summer they were in residency in France and Spain for concerts, workshops and recording. Their concerts aim to demystify early music, juxtaposing it next to folk songs, which are songs of the people. Ménestrel has been active across Canada since 2019.

“Such an angelic voice. Her expressiveness is beyond words. It’s as though she’s channeling God.” – (YouTube)

Janelle Lucyk is a leader among an emerging generation of Canadian artists specializing in old music and historically informed performance, taking ideas from conception to the stage.

Janelle is the artistic director of Ménestrel, her ensemble with Kerry Bursey which produces alternative early music mixing ancient repertoire with oral folk traditons. In Since 2022, Ménestrel has been producing a “Messiah-on-the-go!” congregating twenty emerging performers from across Canada to perform Handel’s masterpiece in historic Nova Scotian venues. Janelle is director of the new series ArtChoral at La Grande Salle du 9e, the recently reopened historic Art Deco venue in Montreal.  Following mentor and arts champion Barbara Butler, Janelle is Artistic and Administrative Director of Musique Royale (est. 1985), a music presenter based in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia which enriches historic spaces through the sharing of world class early music, and much more.  Programming includes over seventy concerts through the year in venues across the spectacular maritime province.

With well over a hundred concerts given in 2024, Janelle performed and toured in all of Canada’s thirteen provinces and territories last year, with many additional workshops, masterclasses and outreach events shared. In the summer Ménestrel was in residency in Europe for concerts, recording and outreach.

In fall 2022, Janelle was invited by legendary organist Xaver Varnus to perform at his two sold out performances in Hungary, including at the spectacular Bartók National Concert Hall in Budapest. She has had the good fortune of working as a soloist with the Kings College Chapel Choir under five-time Grammy winner Paul Halley on many unforgettable concerts including Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 and Selva Morale e Spirituale and multiple Bach Passions.  Janelle graduated in 2014 with distinction from the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles in Belgium and completed her Masters in Management at Durham University in the UK where she was awarded the Best Soloist by Music Durham, and Best Female Soloist by her peers. While in Europe, she formed Voces Desuper, an ensemble performing regularly in the magnificent Cathédrale de Saints-Michel-et-Gudule, and especially at the Te Deum ceremony for the King and Queen of Belgium.

Kerry Bursey is a Canadian tenor and plucked string instrumentalist from Montréal. An early music specialist and a versatile singer, he is acclaimed for his “clear voice, made of dreamy troubadouresque sweetness” (Ôlyrix) and “beneficent tenderness” (Le Temps). He is a sought-after lutenist and guitarist, notably invested in self-accompaniment, from lute songs to folk music.  Recently, he made his European debut as a soloist at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Manchester International Festival, Bregenzerfestspieler and the Southbank Centre. In 2024, he will sing at the Muzikgebouw in Amsterdam and at the Ruhrtriennale.

He regularly works as a soloist with early music groups such as Ensemble Caprice, Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, Harmonie des Saisons, Theatre of Early Music, les Idées Heureuses, la Nef, Pallade Musica, Infusion Baroque and Clavecin en Concert. He tours internationally with his ensemble, Ménestrel, co-founded with soprano Janelle Lucyk. He is a member of Quartom, the leading classical vocal quartet in Québec.

Kerry is frequently hired as a session musician and creative collaborator because of his broad musical output, from pop to video games. He composed and performed the soundtrack of  award-winning thriller,  444, which premiered at Fantasia Festival, and worked on the sci-fi movie Mistral Spatial. He frequently works with Ubisoft and notably sang gregorian chants as a monk in the game Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. 

Kerry holds a masters’s degree in classical guitar from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and has studied voice performance at McGill University. He was a winner at the 2011 Grand Prix de Guitare de Montréal.

Révélation Radio-Canada 2013-2014 and Breakthrough Artist of the Year (2012 Opus Awards), recorder player Vincent Lauzer graduated from McGill University where he studied with Matthias Maute. He is the artistic director of the Lamèque International Baroque Music Festival in New-Brunswick. In October 2018, his most recent recording of Vivaldi’s concertos with Arion Baroque Orchestra was awarded a Diapason d’Or by the famous French magazine Diapason. Winner of several prizes in national and international competitions, he has been awarded the Fernand Lindsay Career Award, a scholarship given to a young promising Canadian musician for the development of an international career. Vincent received the Béatrice-Kennedy-Bourbeau Award at the Prix d’Europe 2015. In 2012, he won the First Prize at the Stepping Stone of the Canadian Music Competition and the Career Development Award from the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto. In 2009, he was awarded the First Prize and the Audience Appreciation Prize in the Montreal International Recorder Competition. Vincent is a member of Flûte Alors! and Ensemble La Cigale, two ensembles with whom he has toured extensively in Canada and abroad. Vincent regularly performs as a soloist with Arion Baroque Orchestra, La Bande Montréal Baroque, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, and Les Violons du Roy. He has played in various series and festivals in Canada and in the United States as well as in Mexico, France, Germany, Spain and Belgium. Vincent teaches at the Université du Québec à Montréal, at CAMMAC music camp, for the Montreal Recorder Society, for the Toronto Early Music Players Organization and at Université de Montréal’s École des jeunes.