Nadège Foofat
Nadège Foofat is a conductor, violinist, violist, and advocate for innovation in thought, action, music and culture. She is the Founder and Director of Classical at the MSV, a classical chamber music series in Winchester, Virginia, and also serves as Choral Director at Brambleton Middle School in Ashburn, Virginia.
Born in Calgary, Alberta, Nadège grew up in an artistic family filled with music, dance and art. Drawn at a very young age to classical music and dance, her musical talents flourished through exposure to exceptional teachers and the great fortune of working with internationally renown artists in concert. An accomplished musician at a young age, she performed regularly on the national stage, served as principal viola of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada at age 14, and was invited at the age of 16 to attend the Juilliard School for an undergraduate degree in viola performance with Karen Tuttle.
Over the past decade, Nadège has guest conducted American orchestras including the Nashville Symphony, the Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra, Chorus, and Children’s Choir, the Spartanburg Philharmonic, the South Bend Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, and the Lima Symphony Orchestra, Canadian orchestras such as the Kamloops Symphony, l'Orchestre Symphonique de l'Estuaire, Symphony New Brunswick, Symphony Nova Scotia, and the Vancouver Island Symphony, and European orchestras including the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Opera, and the Lithuanian State Orchestra.
As the former Assistant Conductor to Kent Nagano at the Hamburg State Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra in Germany, Nadège helped produce historical opera productions of Wozzeck, Lulu, Walküre, Madama Butterfly, Zauberflöte, and Stilles Meer, new productions of Fidelio and Parsifal, as well as Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra concerts at the Elbphilharmonie, including performances with Hamburg's renowned St. Michaelis Choir, for the International Musikfest Hamburg.
Alongside the great masterworks of the classical canon, Nadège’s concerts have included works by Amy Beach, Christine Donkin, Vivian Fung, Jennifer Higdon, Mary Howe, Vítězslava Kaprálová, Missy Mazzoli, Florence Price, Joan Tower, and Gwyneth Walker. She is considered a leading expert on the early romantic French composer, Louise Farrenc. A passionate champion for new music, Nadège’s collaborations include conducting a recording for the New Focus Recordings label of a new song cycle by Jonathan Newman for Fotina Naumenko, as well as writing and conducting arrangements for pop star Natalie Merchant.
Nadège was recognized in 2018 by the League of American Orchestras for her “experience, talent, leadership potential, and commitment to a career in service to American orchestras” with a Bruno Walter National Conductor Award and debut with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. Her previous academic positions include Orchestra Director and Strings Coordinator at Keene State College in New Hampshire, and Visiting Guest Conductor at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia. She holds a Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Montreal, an Artist Diploma in contemporary orchestral conducting from the Università della Svizzera Italiana, a Master’s degree in viola performance from Yale University and a Bachelors degree in viola performance from The Juilliard School.