Born in Montréal, Canada, Hermine Gagné began studying violin with Jacqueline S. David at the age of four, and entered the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal at nine years old, graduating with honors in 2000. While pursuing a master’s degree under Kathleen Winkler at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, she was awarded the Sallie Shepherd Perkins Prize for Best Achievement. Gagné also received scholarships from the Canadian Council for the Arts and was loaned the 1717 “Windsor-Weinstein” Stradivarius violin from 2003 to 2006. She made her solo debut at the age of 16 with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal.
Hermine Gagné was appointed to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2003. In addition to performing on the Orchestra’s chamber music series and for educational concerts around Chicago, Gagné also has been an active performer as part of the CSO’s new-music series, MusicNOW, since 2011. In 2018, she played for a special MusicNOW concert at the Art Institute of Chicago in celebration of its 20th-anniversary season.
