Winner of the 2025 Opus Award for Musical Event of the Year with Basileus, a metal-classical oratorio, conductor/composer Pascal Germain-Berardi is a classical artist with an unconventional background. Raised in deprived neighborhoods of Montreal, he is admired for his contagious passion, his determination to break artistic boundaries, and his remarkable ability to connect with audiences. He embodies a distinctive and unmistakable creative force
Conductor
Appreciated by musicians for his evident passion, coherent conducting and calm presence in rehearsal, Pascal is a conductor who values establishing a dialogue with performers in order to find the best solutions to fully harness their strengths. For him, conducting is an opportunity to build a close relationship between the repertoire, the musicians, and the audience, while embracing a responsibility he deeply cherishes.
Composer
A Composer of the Year nominee at the Opus Awards, Pascal is strongly inspired by 20th-century composers who successfully bridged tradition and modernity (Lili Boulanger, Penderecki, Hindemith, Honegger, Sallinen, Shostakovich, Schnittke). Equally passionate about metal music, Pascal is a creator with an expressive musical language driven by intensity and emotions.
Biography
Lifted by the Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal, first in his family to complete high school, and driven by a deep curiosity about the social inequalities he grew up with, he began studying psychology and sociology at university. However, the call of music quickly resurfaced and he went on to study voice, composition, and conducting at the Université de Montréal while also taking part in several workshops in Europe and the United States.
Over the years, he has conducted the Quebec, Trois-Rivières, and Drummondville Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Bacău Philharmonic Orchestra in Romania, the Prague Philharmonia PKF and the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic in the Czech Republic, as well as the young professionals of Collegium Musicum New York. He is also the music director of the ensemble Forestare, whose album 12 guitares à Paris was recently released on the ATMA Classique label.
Eager to renew the classical offering, he founded Temps Fort, an organization dedicated to creating off-the-beaten-path projects featuring either rarely performed repertoire or bold concepts. Nominated as Composer of the Year at the Opus Awards, his musical language brings together the passion of romanticism, the freedom of contemporary music and the raw energy of metal. His most enthusiastic reviews include remarks such as “hard to top” (Eric Hill, Excla!m), “show-stopping impact” (David Gordon Duke, Vancouver Sun), and “franchement visionnaire” / “frankly visionary” (Alain Brunet, PAN M360).
A keen expert of the voice, including vocal saturation techniques, Pascal significantly contributed to the rise of the Growlers Choir, the world’s only active metal growlers’ choir, founded by composer Pierre-Luc Senécal. His work helped guide the choir from not being able to read music in 2019, to appearing on America’s Got Talent in 2022, and to taking part in the oratorio Basileus, which won an Opus Award in 2025.
Pascal is represented by the Jo-Anne Fraser Agency.
Contact
Pascal is represented by :
