Baroque and Early - my/maSCENA

Photo: Annie Héthier

Luc Beauséjour and the World of Bach

By Justin Bernard on 1 October 2022 Baroque and Early, Piano

After his concert series of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s music with Hervé Niquet, his harpsichordist colleague and orchestra conductor, on Sept. 29 and 30, Luc Beauséjour gets back to the great Bach’s music for two more concerts during the Clavecin en concert season. First, for Montreal’s Bach Festival on Nov. 18, he will map out the composer’s musical journey from his youth to maturity; then, on Nov. 17 at the Salle Bourgie for the last year dedicated entirely to his cantatas. In addition, there is a recording of Bach’s Trio Sonatas, arranged for harpsichord, marimba and cello with the duo Stick&Bow, released…

Jordi Savall: In Search of New Repertoire

By Justin Bernard on 1 October 2022 Baroque and Early, Interviews

Jordi Savall returns to Canada this fall. Following his North American tour with Concert des Nations last February, which brought him to Ottawa, the famous Catalan gambist is back on the road, this time with Hespèrion XXI. For this new tour, titled The Golden Age of Consort Music, Savall has called upon Hespèrion XXI , the ensemble of viols and theorbo with whom he has prepared a chamber music repertoire from the Renaissance and baroque periods. John Dowland (1563-1626) is one among many composers on the program, known primarily for his songs on the themes of love and pain.…

Ensemble Caprice

Dido and Aeneas : New Prologue Breathes Fresh Life into a Classic

By Gianmarco Segato on 30 September 2022 Baroque and Early, Classical Music, Opera

When Ensemble Caprice brings Henry Purcell’s 1689 operatic gem Dido and Aeneas to Montreal’s Salle Bourgie on Nov. 8 under conductor, flutist and composer Matthias Maute, audiences will hear and see an amalgam of old and new. As with everything this stellar, now 30-year-old group presents, Maute hopes listeners “will feel a spark and be beguiled” by a work that is “really something that is in the present” as much as the far-away past. Maute will be helped in this regard by the vagaries of history itself. We know Dido and Aeneas premièred as a stage work with a prologue…

Pentaèdre: Musical delights of its 37th season

By Hassan Laghcha on 2 September 2022 Baroque and Early, Chamber Music

The Pentaèdre wind quintet announces a 2022-23 season of concerts that align with the group’s spirit of renewal, and the quest for exciting musical challenges that leads them to boldly explore diverse repertoires. The young artistic director, Ariane Brisson, introduces what’s on offer with the quintet in their five concerts of the season—beginning on Sept. 30, in the Serge-Garant Hall of the Faculty of Music of the Université de Montréal, with a concert dedicated to the Day of Truth and Reconciliation, featuring the première of a work by Odawa First Nation composer Barbara Assiginaak. This concert will feature American pianist…

Philippe Jaroussky & Marie-Nicole Lemieux: Good friends find themselves with Les Violons du Roy

By Justin Bernard on 2 September 2022 Baroque and Early, Interviews, Opera

Thanks to their international reputation, Les Violons du Roy have attracted, over the years, the world’s foremost soloists and the most memorable of collaborations spanning all sorts of repertoires, notably in baroque music. The 2022-2023 season is no exception. For their Sept. 22 opening concert in Quebec City, and their Sept. 24 concert in Montreal, the chamber orchestra welcomes none other than Philippe Jaroussky and his longtime friend, contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux. We no longer need to formally introduce the French countertenor, since his 25-year-long career and his 30 recordings speak for themselves. He was in his 20s when harpsichordist Luc…

La Scena Tête-à-tête: Michael Spyres

By La Scena Musicale Team on 2 August 2022 Arts Industry, Baroque and Early, Classical Music, Contemporary, Interviews

In this Tête à tête segment, Don Adriano interviews Michael Spyres for La Scena Musicale during his passage through Montreal to sing at the Lanaudière festival in July 2022! On Youtube: Interview with Michael Spyres: During the interview, Adriano and Spyres discuss Rossini, operatic traditions, voice technique, the Baritenor voice and much more. The following is a sample of their discussion. How to sing like an opera performer As an internationally renowned baritenor opera singer, Michael Spyres has a lot to say on the topic of operatic singing. According to him, the body is not comfortable with operatic singing until…

CD Review | Virtuosa (Leaf music, 2022)

By Zenith Wolfe on 26 July 2022 Baroque and Early, CD and Book Reviews, Chamber Music

Virtuosa Alexa Raine-Wright, flute; Sallynee Amawat, violin; Andrea Stewart, violoncello; Rona Nadler, harpsichord Leaf Music, 2022 In 2017, Infusion Baroque released the Virtuosa Series, a collection of videos highlighting the musical careers of fourteen women from the 18th and 19th centuries. Still infused with the desire to emphasize female composers’ accomplishments in the face of sexism, Infusion Baroque have released their new album Virtuosa. The 14 works on the album, derived from a variety of composers, most of them women, display the ensemble’s tonal flexibility: in their performance of Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 17 they contrast…

Conductor and harpsichordist Luc Beauséjour (image from the Clavecin en Concert website)

Newswire | Clavecin en Concert Unveils 2022-23 Season

By Newswire on 8 June 2022 Baroque and Early, Classical Music, Newswire

Montreal, June 7, 2022 – Clavecin en concert is pleased to unveil the schedule for its 2022-2023 season as well as its guest artists. Through its concerts, Clavecin en concert promotes an appreciation of the repertoire of the Baroque period through harpsichord works, ensemble music and works for the voice. It offers a variety of concert programs for a wide audience. Hervé Niquet, founder and musical director of the Concert Spirituel, which has established itself internationally as one of the leading ensembles in the interpretation of Baroque music, will open the season with two concerts devoted to Marc-Antoine Charpentier (Quebec…

CD Review | iFugue: A World of Fugues (ODEG, 2022)

By Justin Bernard on 4 June 2022 Baroque and Early, CD and Book Reviews, Contemporary

iFugue: A World of Fugues Ensemble Vivant Opening Day Entertainment Group (ODEG), 2022 Do you know what fusion is? A mix of rock and jazz probably leaps to mind. But there is classical fusion, too. That is exactly what Ensemble Vivant deals with in this recording as it steps into the world of fugues with a selection of 15 pieces that come from both the baroque (Vivaldi, Bach) and more modern times (with the likes of Aldemaro Romero, Astor Piazzolla, Dimitri Shostakovich, Heitor Villa-Lobos and César Franck). Rounding out this 300-year sampling are three world premières by two Canadian composers:…

CD Review | Scarlatti: Essercizi Per Gravicembalo (Leaf music, 2022)

By Zenith Wolfe on 4 June 2022 Baroque and Early, CD and Book Reviews

Scarlatti: Essercizi Per Gravicembalo Hank Knox, harpsichord Leaf Music, 2022 The Scarlatti sonatas are known for their dramatic presentation: the physical crossing of one hand over another, the erratic octave jumps across the keyboard, and the appearance of improvisation that actually requires a lot of concentration and forethought to accomplish. Any musician would be hard-pressed to render audibly what is meant to be represented visually, especially with an instrument whose textural range is as limited as the harpsichord, but Knox manages to do this with ease. The album begins with sonatas that are pleasant and jovial despite their simplicity. These…

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