Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière began her career as a baroque dancer in the 1993-94 season of Les Idées heureuses, directed by harpsichordist Geneviève Soly.
In 2008, she founded her own dance company in Montreal: Les Jardins Chorégraphiques. She has directed and choreographed more than thirty operas from the baroque and contemporary periods in Canada and abroad. Associate Director of the Toronto Masque Theater for 15 years, she has choreographed all of Henry Purcell’s stage works. She has also directed the world premieres of several operas, including Paolo Loranzanni’s Nicandro e Fileno, Lully’s Le Ballet de l’Impatience, Juliet Palmer’s The Man Who Married Himself and James Rolf’s Europa.
A regular and long-lasting collaboration with conductor Luc Beauséjour then began. Their production of John Blow’s Venus and Adonis earned them the Opus Prize for Concert of the Year in 2019. Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière is also one of the privileged partners of the Atelier d’opéra de of the University of Montreal as well as the Atelier lyrique of the Montreal Opera, where she worked with filmmaker Denys Arcand for the presentation of André Grétry’s opera Zémir et Azor.
She has been invited to several international festivals, such as the Boston Early Music Festival, Lanvelec and Saint-Riquier, Musicale Estense among others.
