Pascal Valois is an alumni of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (with Hopkinson Smith). He has distinguished himself by combining virtuosity to informed performance practice. He has recently played in Basel, Paris, San Francisco, New York, Ottawa and Toronto. He has also given masterclasses in many institutions, including the Manhattan School of music, the San Francisco Conservatory and the Montreal Conservatory.Pascal Valois has received the most renowned bursaries in Canada for guitar performance (Canada Council for the Arts) as well as musicology (FQRSC and SSHRC). He was also awarded scholarships from the Desjardins Foundation, the Wilfrid-Pelletier Foundation, the Laval University Foundation and the Université du Québec à Montréal Foundation. He studied romantic guitar on period instrument with Hopkinson Smith at the Schola Cantorum. Prior to this, he had graduated with honours at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, under Jean Vallières, as well as receiving the prize Pierre J. Jeanniot during his studies at Université du Québec à Montréal with Alvaro Pierri, in Montreal.Quotations"Pascal is an engaging musician with clear lyric inspiration and a sense of poetry that can bring the logic and expression of the romantic music he plays to perfection."Hopkinson Smith, Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, 2011 "Valois played with grace, elegance, and élan. His phrasing was similarly remarkable, as he imbued each melody with a beautiful vocal quality. (…) it was light, effortless, and full of spirit. (…) he did the guitar world a great service today."Giacomo Fiore, Classicalguitar.org, November 2011"Pascal Valois and his instrument are united in an absolutely masterful and rigorous delivery."Raphaël Lapouhine, Metropolitain, Toronto, May 2012