Quebec Music - my/maSCENA

Isolde Lagacé – Learning to make things better

By Justin Bernard on 4 November 2022 Classical Music, Contemporary, Quebec Music

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,…

Walter Joachim & Lotte Brott (Mid-1950s)

Lotte Brott – A Tribute (Part 1)

By Boris Brott on 8 February 2022 Classical Music, Quebec Music

By Boris Brott Feb. 8, 2022 will mark the 100th birthday of my late mother, Lotte Brott, nee Goetzel. The Orchestre Classique de Montréal (OCM) has chosen to dedicate its 2021-22 season to Women of Distinction. La Scena Musicale and I have chosen to remember her as a cellist, co-founder of the orchestra, and principal administrator for its first 59 years. Tha baton of the of the OCM was passed to me in 2000 (my father remained Artistic Director sharing concerts with me until he passed in 2005 at 90 years old), I have a unique perspective etc… on this…

SMCQ: exploring the universe of André Hamel

By Justin Bernard on 10 September 2021 Contemporary, Quebec Music

Noted for organizing tributes to a single composer, the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec this season revisits the formula – pandemic willing – with a series of portrait concerts, starting Sept. 26, dedicated to the musical universe of André Hamel. Strongly influenced during his university studies by The Unanswered Question by Charles Ives, Hamel is open to all creative possibilities that seek to modify audio perception, either by putting musicians in different spaces, or by layering acoustic interference, or by a combination of the two. In these works, musical elements do not seem a priori to be made…

Matt Heimovitz

Ladies’ Morning Musical Club – Playing it Positive in 2021–22

By Arthur Kaptainis on 15 July 2021 Classical Music, Quebec Music

Ten concerts: This we know for sure. Almost certainly starting on Sept. 12 with violinist Blake Pouliot, who, as a Canadian, cannot be stopped at the border or otherwise prevented from playing in Pollack Hall at the immemorial time of 3:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. As for the U.K.-based Doric String Quartet, they can be called probables for Oct. 3, given the general downward trajectory of COVID numbers in the middle of the pandemic’s second summer. “If the borders aren’t open, we’ll have to find something else,” says Constance Pathy, president of the venerable Ladies’ Morning Musical Club. Pathy views such…

OCM pays tribute to women and Lotte Brott in particular

By Arthur Kaptainis on 15 July 2021 Classical Music, Quebec Music

“If it were not for my mother, this orchestra would not exist,” Boris Brott, artistic director and chief conductor of the Orchestre classique de Montréal, says forthrightly about Lotte Brott, 1922-1998, who served as the manager of what was long known as the McGill Chamber Orchestra. “If it were not for my mother, this orchestra would not exist,” Boris Brott, artistic director and chief conductor of the Orchestre classique de Montréal, says forthrightly about Lotte Brott, 1922-1998, who served as the manager of what was long known as the McGill Chamber Orchestra. Since existence is a condition much preferable to…

Catherine Major at the inauguration of the Maison de la culture Claude-Léveillé (2018)

Catherine Major: from chanson québécoise to opera arias

By Justin Bernard on 15 July 2021 Interviews, Opera, Popular Music, Quebec Music

Albertine, en cinq temps is getting a makeover. For the first time, this play by Michel Tremblay, premiered in 1984, will be adapted as an opera. A few arias have already been composed by singer-songwriter Catherine Major. These will be featured in a pair of concerts. For Nathalie Deschamps, the artistic director of Productions du 10 avril, the choice of Major was obvious. “Michel Tremblay’s words express the heart of who we are, in our Quebec roots,” Deschamps explains. “I wanted to find a woman who shares those roots, who composes music that can be hummed easily and that would…

Source: canadahelps.org

NEM pays tribute to André Prévost and composers of several generations

By Justin Bernard on 16 April 2021 Chamber Music, Contemporary, Orchestral, Quebec Music

Undeterred by the pandemic, the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne and its artistic director Normand Forget were hard at work in recent months. In February, the ensemble recorded a composition by Sandeep Bhagwati at the monastery in Oka for an online video webcast, then streamed a performance dedicated to all health workers, one of them being its oboist Julie Sirois-Leclerc, also emergency physician. On April 16, it will perform live and online from its usual venue, Salle Claude-Champagne. The concert pays tribute to André Prévost, a composer and eminent teacher who passed away in 2001. The orchestra and its conductor Lorraine Vaillancourt…

Photo: courtesy

Atma classique acquired by Ad Litteram

By Hassan Laghcha on 14 July 2020 Arts Industry, Quebec Music

The music industry’s big announcement this spring: Johanne Goyette, founding president of ATMA Classique, and Guillaume Lombart, founding president of Ad Litteram, entered into an agreement to tranfer ownership of the ATMA Classique label. The transaction took effect on April 1 and will allow Ad Litteram to acquire Disques ATMA Inc. shares and ATMA Classique, which turns 25 this year. “I want to ensure the longevity of the label.” – Johanne Goyette“After dedicating 25 years to establishing ATMA Classique as a world-renowned company, I wanted to ensure a transfer that would guarantee the label’s continuity while also stimulating new ideas,”…

Photo: André Leduc

alcides lanza, a Pioneer, Turns 90

By Andréanne Venne on 2 July 2020 Contemporary, Quebec Music, World Music

You may have noticed the absence of capitals in his name. This orthographic licence was inspired, he says, by his discovery as a young man of the poetry of e. e. cummings, who was known to eschew writing conventions like punctuation and standard syntax. Certain Bauhaus prints also gave him encouragement. Then, a more pragmatic motivation added to these influences: “At a time when everyone wrote on typewriters, I told myself one day that if capital letters were no longer necessary, typewriters would be smaller and lighter, saving much of the metal used in manufacturing.” And, to conclude this mindful…

Jeunesses Musicales Foundation overhauls Do-Mi-Si-La-Do-Ré contest after public outcry (dup)

By Arthur Kaptainis on 27 May 2020 Canadian Music, Music Competition, Quebec Music

The Jeunesses Musicales Canada Foundation has reorganized its Home Sweet Home (Do-Mi-Si-La-Do-Ré) Contest in response to criticism of a public voting system that apportioned voting weight according to the size of an individual donation. According to the press release from this morning, the Competition will now award two categories of prizes: an Artistic Prize (chosen by a series of juries) and a public vote Participation Prize (See the full press release below). Voir la version française du communiqué de presse. The competition attracted entries from more than 200 young composers by the deadline of May 19. It also saw the…

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