Taking up classical guitar as a teenager, by his early 20s he had developed a "brilliant technique that enables him to loose himself completely in the intensity of the moment".

[1] In the late 1970s and early 80s, he attended the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec à Trois-Rivières, where he studied classical guitar with Jean Vallières, chamber music with Walter Joachim and viola with Alfred Filek.

[4] Upon returning to Canada, he attended McGill University at Montréal, graduating with a bachelor's degree in East Asian Studies in 1991.

Lafontaine has an apartment in the Kanto plain of Japan, and holds Canadian citizenship in addition to dual Japanese-Italian residency.

[11] As classical guitarist and Renaissance lutenist whose repertoire extend from the early renaissance to contemporary works,[12] he has appeared as soloist and in chamber music formation in France, Belgium, Austria, Germany, Spain,[13] Norway, Canada, the US and in Asia[14] where he has been featured on radio and television in programs including his own guitar arrangements and transcriptions.

[citation needed] "Menzione Speciale per l'Acustica" attributed to his viola "Nec Pluribus Impar" at the 2007 Pisogne Violin Making Competition (6) Catalogue NICPASSECH Editrice MILANO - Via Bernardino Telesio, 17 I CD private label, music of Bach, Scarlatti, Albeniz, Granados, de Falla, Rodrigo, Sor and Pujol