About...
Photo credit : Guylain Doyle
Jean-Sébastien Blais is an oboist who began his studies at the Conservatoire de musique de Québec in 2009, in the class of Philippe Magnan. In May 2019, Jean-Sébastien finished his last year at the Conservatoire de musique de Québec, where he completed a specialized graduate diploma in oboe.
Since 2016, Jean-Sébastien has been supernumerary with various orchestras such as l'orchestre symphonique de Québec, Les Violons du Roy, l'orchestre Métropolitain et l'orchestre symphonique de Sherbrooke. Since September 2023, he holds the position of second oboe and English Horn at l'orchestre symphonique de l'Estuaire. In 2018 and 2019, Jean-Sébastien performed Richard Strauss' oboe concerto with the orchestre symphonique du Conservatoire de musique de Québec as well as with the orchestre symphonique de Lévis.
In June 2021, Jean-Sébastien participates in the 109th edition of the Prix d'Europe competition. This one stands out by reaching the final. In addition, he was the recipient of grants at the Festival-concours de musique de Rivière-du-Loup et du Bas-Saint-Laurent from 2015 to 2019. In June 2017, he participated in the Toronto Creative Music Lab in Toronto, an internship summer of creation and contemporary music.
Alongside these musical studies in oboe, Jean-Sébastien also devotes himself to making reeds for the oboe, English horn and oboe d'amore. Jean-Sébastien founded Anches Ad Lib in 2022 and supplies several schools in Quebec with oboe reeds as well as oboists of all levels. In addition, from 2018 to 2022, Jean-Sébastien worked for Dimiter Jordanov and his renowned company : Le Roseau Chantant, which is also dedicated to reed-making, on an international scale.
Our history...
Founded in 2022, Anches Ad Lib is a Quebec company specializing in reed-making for the oboe, English horn and oboe d'amore. Its goal is to supply its customers of all levels with reeds and materials for the oboe, English horn and oboe d'amore, as well as materials for reed-making.
The reeds are made of superior quality materials and are entirely handmade, in Quebec. Our requirements in terms of quality are high, the reeds are made according to a precise and rigorous manufacturing process. The satisfaction of our oboist customers is at the heart of our concerns.
Anches Ad Lib currently has clients all over the province and is slowly expanding its horizons to offer more services and products over a larger territory.
Who do we distribute?
We are pleased to be able to distribute products from the Italian brand Chiarugi, world-renowned in the manufacture of accessories for the oboe and for reedmaking. Chiarugi staples are the most used staples by oboists in the world and their reputation is well established.
Recently, Les Anches Ad Lib has been distributing products from the German brand Reeds 'n Stuff . With his company, Udo Heng was able to develop a wide variety of machines for manufacturing reeds for all instruments in the oboe family. Additionally, Reeds 'n Stuff continues to innovate and offer products for reed making as well as instruments.
We are very happy to now be able to distribute products from the Le Roseau Chantant. Dimiter Jordanov and his company who are now based in Sofia, Bulgaria, offer products of excellent quality. Over the years, Le Roseau Chantant has developed its own shapes for cane shaping. We offer them on our online store.
We are happy to now be able to distribute the Alliaud brand cane, renowned for its high quality. Cultivated in the north of the Camargue and very close to Avignon, the Alliaud house has know-how passed down for several generations in the cultivation of cane . Densely grown, Alliaud cane is medium to hard in hardness and has a beautiful golden color.
Rigotti is located in Cogolin, in the Var and produces, since the 1970's, a cane of a very high quality, much appreciated by oboists. The Rigotti cane is medium to hard and is very consistent cane in terms of quality and stability. We are happy to not be able to distribute Rigotti cane.
We now have to pleasure be able to distribute the German brand Oboe-Shop.de. You can find some of their accessories for oboe, English Horn and oboe d'amore reedmaking, as well as material for these same instruments in our online shop.