Baroque and Early - my/maSCENA

William Christie: Uniting Generations with The Fairy Queen

By Justin Bernard on 31 May 2024 Baroque and Early, Dance, Orchestral, Toronto

In the summer of 2022 William Christie appeared at Canada’s Festival de Lanaudière with his orchestra, Les Arts Florissants, and proteges of his youth academy, Le Jardin des voix. Bolstered by the success of those performances of Handel’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, he won over audiences at the Quebec festival once again in 2023, with the same composer’s comic opera, Partenope. This summer, Christie is back again, this time with a production of Henry Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, with performances at the Toronto Summer Music Festival on July 11 and two days later, back at the Festival de…

CD Review | Lully Armide, Château de Versailles Spectacles, 2023

By Justin Bernard on 31 May 2024 Baroque and Early, CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music, Opera, Vocal

Lully – Armide Stéphanie d’Oustrac, Cyril Auvity, Tomislav Lavoie, Marie Perbost, Eva Zaïcik, Timothée Varon, David Tricou, Virgile Ancely, Anouk Defontenay and Jeanne Lefort; Le Poème Harmonique, Chœur de l’Opéra de Dijon; Vincent Dumestre, music director Château de Versailles Spectacles, 2023 Recorded in May 2023 at Versailles’s Royal Opera, Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Armide here receives a royal treatment in every sense of the word. Le Poème Harmonique, directed by its founder Vincent Dumestre, showcases its expertise in the 17th- and 18th-century repertoire thanks to an interpretation full of the bounding energy which characterizes French music. Each section of instruments seems to…

CD Review | Bergeron & Milatz, Bravura, Atma Classique, 2024

By Viktor Lazarov on 31 May 2024 Baroque and Early, CD and Book Reviews, Chamber Music, Classical Music

Bravura: oeuvres pour cor naturel et pianoforte Louis-Pierre Bergeron, horn; Meagan Milatz, piano Atma Classique, 2024 Horn player Louis-Pierre Bergeron and pianist Meagan Milatz mark historic landmarks in their debut album, Bravura, works for natural horn and piano, produced by Atma Classique. In addition to premiere recordings of selected works by Vincenzo Rhigini and Franz Xaver Süssmayr as well as Cipriani Potter’s Sonata di bravura on historic instruments, the album is the first solo recording of a period brass instrument in Canada. Performing on reproductions of classical horns and a Viennese fortepiano, the duo’s tasteful and elegant musicianship is apparent…

Douglas Williams (Golaud) & Meghan Lindsay (Mélisande) in Opera Atelier's All is Love. Photo: Bruce Zinger

Concert Review | Beautiful parts fail to add up to a dramatic whole in Opera Atelier All is Love

By Gianmarco Segato on 12 April 2024 Baroque and Early, City, Classical Music, Concert Reviews, La Scena Online, Opera, Toronto, Vocal

All is Love, the new Opera Atelier production is a heterogeneous mix of numbers that impress individually but fail to add up to a dramatically satisfying whole.

CD Review | Johann Sebastian Bach: Six Motets (Atma Classique, 2023)

By Viktor Lazarov on 29 March 2024 Baroque and Early, CD and Book Reviews, Choral

Under the leadership of Lisette Canton, the Ottawa Bach Choir and five-piece continuo deliver a magnificent performance of Bach’s Six Motets.

CD Review | Graupner: Intégrale des sonates pour violon et clavecin (Atma Classique, 2023)

By Zenith Wolfe on 29 March 2024 Baroque and Early, CD and Book Reviews, Strings

As the AKOYA duo specializes in under-appreciated early baroque music, it only makes sense that they’re exploring Graupner’s violin and harpsichord sonatas on their latest album.

Quatuor Cobalt, membres de la fête instrumentale signée Bach de Clavecin en concert (Photo par

Newswire | Clavecin en concert Announces First Concert of 2024

By Newswire on 28 February 2024 Baroque and Early, Montreal, Newswire

Clavecin en concert is pleased to announce its first concert of 2024 with a program devoted to Johann Sebastian Bach.

CD Review | Encore baroque vol. 2 (Self-produced, 2023)

By Viktor Lazarov on 2 February 2024 Baroque and Early, CD and Book Reviews, Strings

Quebec harpsichordist Pierre Lavigne presents Encore baroque volume 2, following his first album, Encore baroque, which he released in 2022.

La Nef's Kerry Bursey (Photo provided)

La Nef and Courtly Love: Returning to Medieval Roots

By Viktor Lazarov on 2 February 2024 Baroque and Early, Chamber Music, Montreal, Vocal

On March 20, 2024, at 7:30 p.m., La Nef presents an evening of medieval music inspired by courtly love at Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel.

Review | Bourgie Hall: Víkingur Ólafsson, the alchemist

By Justin Bernard on 30 January 2024 Baroque and Early, Classical Music, Concert Reviews, Piano

When tackling the Goldberg Variations, it’s hard to take a path that hasn’t been trodden 100 times before. Víkingur Ólafsson’s vision of the work last Wednesday evening at Salle Bourgie, however, had a singular freshness that made the audience momentarily forget all the times they’d heard it before. The Icelandic pianist’s interpretation is a blend of elements and practices that at first seem contradictory. He demonstrates an immense respect for this immortal opus and, at the same time, a malicious interest in challenging the status quo. An old-fashioned approach to the keyboard and, at the same time, a consummate…

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