What do coffee and chamber music have in common?..

for Maxime Bibeau, Principal Double Bass with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, each is an integral part of daily life.

Maxime does not profess to be a coffee connoisseur, but rather an enthusiast – he knows a good coffee when he tastes it, and with a good deal of his time spent touring Australia (and overseas), he can readily list his favourite coffee haunts in nearly every Australian city. Cafes have become a ‘home away from home’; somewhere to relax, meet with friends or just spend a little time away from hotel rooms and concert halls.

Canadian born, from a small farming town in Quebec, Maxime, tells of his early musical experiences being at school, learning the electric bass guitar in music class. Showing natural ability, one of his uncles gave him a cd by ‘Uzeb’, a jazz fusion band from Montreal, and his love for jazz was born. Maxime started his formal training on the double bass at the age of 17; he had sought out a musical programme at intermediate school and was given the instrument to play. Already with a number of years playing the bass guitar and with a well-formed love for jazz, this was a perfect match. Wanting to push the boundaries and explore his musical ability, the shift into the world of classical music was a natural progression.

Maxime went on to study at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montreal. He continued his studies at Rice University in Houston and was completing his Masters Degree in 1998 when he decided to audition for the advertised Principal position with the ACO. Australia seemed like a long way from home but, having an Australian flatmate at the time, he was inspired to try life ‘down under’. Maxime won the audition and has enjoyed being a part of the vibrant and widely acclaimed ensemble. Now a naturalised Australian, it is somehow Canada that seems a long way from home.

So where are some of Maxime’s favourite coffee haunts? At home, in Sydney, he loves his Saeco Via Venezia but you might also find him at Mecca or Single Origin. In Melbourne its Degraves and Journal and when in Perth, Maxime says that Tiger Tiger Coffee Bar is the place to go.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 at 12:06 am and is filed under Coffee Culture - travel & lifestyle, Online Magazine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.