Born in Quebec City, Sylvain Bergeron has perfected his expertise on the instruments of the lute family through numerous stays in the United States and Europe with, among other teachers, Paul O’Dette and Eugène Dombois. In 1984 he was a finalist at Toronto’s First International Lute Competition. As a member of Ensemble Anonymus from 1980 to 1990, he performed in all the productions of the ensemble, and was the musical director of three of them. In the spring of 1991 he co-founded La Nef, a musical ensemble of which he is one of the three artistic directors. Since then, he has been at the helm of many productions such as Perceval, the Quest for the Holy Grail, Montsegur, The Garden of Delights, and Music for Joan the Mad. He is in great demand on the Canadian musical scene as an accomplished performer of the lute and the theorbo. He gives more than sixty concerts per season with the country’s most renowned early music ensembles and orchestras.

Sylvain has performed and recorded with many soloists including Emma Kirkby, James Bowman, David Daniels, Magdalena Kozena, Daniel Taylor, Karina Gauvin, Suzie LeBlanc, Vivica Genaux, Matthew White, Christine Brandes, Jennifer Lane, Agnès Melon, Meredith Hall, Charles Daniels, Anne Azéma, and Patrizia Bovi. He has played under the direction of well-known conductors and performed in concert halls as prestigious as Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Paris Salle Galveau and New York’s Lincoln Center. In January of 1993 he accompanied famous viol player Jordi Savall in a series of four recitals devoted to Marin Marais. He has taken part in more than forty recordings, several of which have received prizes and honorary awards. Sylvain Bergeron teaches the lute and medieval ensemble music at McGill University.