The Festival de Lanaudière is delighted to announce that aerospace engineer Farah Alibay will headline the Festival’s opening concert next July 6.
On the heels of Backstage at Carnegie Hall, composer Tim Brady pursues his journey into the world of opera with Information, the second instalment in a cycle of four entitled Hope.
For its first concert of the year, the Orchestre Classique de Montréal is featuring the violinist Tara-Louise Montour in a program entitled Phoenix.
Claire Gignac, artistic and general director of La Nef, says that its repertoire is defined by “a mosaic of musical colours,” the result “of all sorts of artists, disciplines, types of music, repertoires and resonances coming together.” The 2023-24 season will offer four engaging concerts reflecting this range of musical approaches. To open the new season Oct. 18 at Centre St-Jax, the show Tant que vivray will feature Vincent Lauzer on recorder and Sylvain Bergeron on lute. Dedicated to baroque music, the concert will present an instrumental repertoire from France, Spain and England from the 16th and 17th centuries. Soprano…
If Guelph is the ignition switch for jazz in Southern Ontario, the Off Festival de Jazz de Montréal (OFJM) is its counterpart for the Montreal region. Both events have long histories, the OFJM stretching back to Y2K, when local musicians banded together to call out the city’s mammoth jazz festival for its cavalier attitude toward them. Off Festival On Again Having outgrown that original purpose, the event has carved its own niche over time, now casting itself as a promoter of local talent, of which the city has no short supply. In its upcoming 24th edition, running from Oct. 5…
Hommage à François Dompierre Louise Bessette, piano; François Dompierre, composer and piano ATMA Classique, 2023 We rarely hear Louise Bessette in this light. To celebrate François Dompierre’s 80th birthday, the pianist offers us arrangements of film music, and other selections, all of which played a role in establishing the reputation of the Quebec composer, himself a pianist. “Most are piano reductions (…); others are adaptations of radio improvisations. Finally, a few were written especially for her, and are dedicated to her,” explains the composer, in the album’s booklet. These include Entre mer et chanterelles, written in honour of his former…
Albertine en cinq temps – L’opéra Chantal Lambert, Monique Pagé, Chantal Dionne, Catherine St-Arnaud, Marianne Lambert, sopranos; Florence Bourget, mezzo-soprano; Marie-Claude Roy, piano; Mélanie Vaugeois, violin; Élise Poulin, English horn; Annie Gadbois, cello; Anaïs Vigeant, double bass ATMA Classique, 2022 Albertine en cinq temps – L’opéra follows the touching story of Albertine, an aging Québécois mother reflecting on five different parts of her life as she moves into a retirement home. There’s a good reason soprano Chantal Lambert stars as the most prominent voice in the opera, Albertine at 70 years of age. She pours her soul into the album,…
Symphonie de la tempête de verglas Maxime Goulet, composer; Orchestre classique de Montréal ATMA Classique, 2023 Symphonie de la tempête de verglas, which commemorates the 25th anniversary of Quebec’s worst ice storm on record, is nothing short of sublime. The terrifying beauty of this natural disaster is brilliantly illustrated by the titular symphony’s first movement, with violin strings and thundering timpani galore signalling the approach of clouds, wind, and storm. People across Canada came together in this time of crisis, evidenced by the folksy woodwind tune that shines through the otherwise dramatic melodies. The length, intensity, and rhythmic progression of…
On Oct. 14, the Molinari String Quartet marked its 25th anniversary at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal with a retrospective of works by such contemporary Eastern European luminaries as Penderecki, Kurtág and Ligeti. In years past, all string quartets of these composers have been played by this enduring Montreal foursome. Those on hand surely must have appreciated hearing a cross-section of that repertoire, some for the first time, others anew. First violinist Olga Ranzenhofer, the group’s artistic and administrative director since its inception in 1997, is more than happy about the turn of events. In her words: ‟Our concert…
On Nov. 15, Isolde Lagacé bids a fond farewell to the Salle Bourgie after 10 years at its helm as artistic and administrative director. Two months before, on Sept. 18, she officially passed the torch on stage to her successors: Caroline Louis as the new administrative head and her counterpart programmer Olivier Godin. ‟In the early days of my work for Bourgie,” recalls Lagacé, ‟I could handle both of these tasks easily thanks to my own life history of growing up in a musical family first and then pursuing a career in arts management. After five years on the job,…
