Chamber Music - my/maSCENA

I Musici de Montréal: The Benefits of an Online Season

By Arthur Kaptainis on 6 November 2020 Chamber Music, Classical Music

It’s a season for discovering things,” says I Musici de Montréal artistic director Jean-Marie Zeitouni. Among the potential discoveries: whether six concerts streamed online from St. Jax Church will appeal to the chamber orchestra’s traditional audience base. As far as Zeitouni is concerned, the online option is an act of audience building. Those who pay the modest $20 fee can watch a concert from anywhere – even other time zones – at the hour of their choosing. “I’m not implying that we are competing with the Berlin Philharmonic Digital Concert Hall,” Zeitouni says. “But this allows friends and family members…

A day in the life of… violinist Byungchan Lee

By Newswire on 2 November 2020 Chamber Music, Classical Music, Violin

Originally from Seoul, Korea, violinist Byungchan Lee garnered international attention as prizewinner of the inaugural 2009 Yuri Yankelevitch International Violin Competition, and was one of CBC’s “30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30” in 2017. He appeared as soloist with the McGill and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, and performed alongside Stevie Wonder in Montreal as well as at the closing ceremony of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Byungchan toured the most prestigious Canadian and international halls, such as the Carnegie Hall, the MoMA’s Summergarden, the New York Choreographic Institute, and the Juilliard’s Focus Festival. Byungchan received his master’s degree from The…

MON AMI, Mon Amour – Matt Haimovitz and Mari Kodama

By Newswire on 20 October 2020 Chamber Music

For Immediate Release, October 20, 2020 … The vibrant, expressive musical palette of cellist Matt Haimovitz and the graceful insight of pianist Mari Kodama meld in MON AMI, Mon amour, the new album from the PENTATONE Oxingale Series, available internationally on November 6, 2020. Haimovitz’s soaring cello and Kodama’s incisive piano flow together in constant, colorful conversation for rarities by sisters Lili and Nadia Boulanger, in the poignant Kaddish by Ravel and the melancholic Élégie by Milhaud, for iconic works by Poulenc and Debussy, and in beloved gems by Fauré. Framed by the 20th century’s two world wars, these French…

A day in the life of… Timothy Chooi, Concert Violinist

By Newswire on 19 October 2020 Chamber Music, Violin

Violinist Timothy Chooi won Second Prize at the 2019 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium. He had already made a name for himself after receiving numerous awards, including the First Prize of the 2018 Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition in Germany, the First Prize of the 2018 Schadt Violin Competition in the USA, the Michael Hill Violin Competition in New-Zealand and the OSM ManulifeCompetition in Canada. In 2018, he won the Yves Paternot Prize at the Festival Verbier in Switzerland, which rewards the most promising and accomplished musician at the annual Academy of Young Professional Musicians. Timothy Chooi studied at the Curtis…

The Navarra String Quartet

Lebrecht’s Albums of the Week: Singing in the Dead of Night / Love and Death

By Norman Lebrecht on 16 October 2020 Chamber Music, Lebrecht Weekly

You’ll often hear me telling people a couple of generations down the line that they should listen to new music of our time rather than Beethoven and Mahler, which they will enjoy better once they are in their 50s. Can’t say I’ve made many converts. All the usual excuses: get home from work, make supper, put the kids to bed, veg out on the sofa, no concentration left for the squeaks and squawks of contemporary composers. Yeah, been there, done that. But I’m not giving up trying to persuade younger people to listen to the new. Wrap your ears, for…

Yannick Nézet-Séguin Joins Allegra for Virtual Gala on Oct. 15

By La Scena Musicale Team on 13 October 2020 Chamber Music

On Thursday, October 15, Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin joins Allegra Chamber Music for a Virtual Gala celebrating the organization’s 40th anniversary. Nézet-Séguin will perform at the piano in one of the works alongside his life-partner violist Pierre Tourville who has been a member of Allegra for 15 years. Allegra includes pianist Dorothy Fieldman Fraiberg, clarinettist Simon Aldrich, violinists Alexander Lozowski and Elvira Misbakhova and cellist Sheila Hannigan. The public Virtual Gala begins at 7:15 PM at www.allegrachambermusicgala.com on Facebook and YouTube. The concert is free, but donations are appreciated. See Yannick’s invitation And in rehearsal. And Pierre Tourville’s invitation About Allegra…

Viktor Ullmann: Piano concerto and sonatas (Berlin Classics)

By Norman Lebrecht on 3 April 2020 Chamber Music, Contemporary, Lebrecht Weekly, Piano

In a dark moment of isolation, I found myself thinking of Viktor Ullmann (1898-1944) a student of the atonalist Schoenberg and the microtonalist Haba who never really found his voice until darkness descended and he faced segregation and extinction. Before 1939 he’d enjoyed fragments of international attention, with a piano sonata premiered in London at the Wigmore Hall and a few more glimmers of invitation. In 1939, after the Germans occupied Prague, he set about writing a piano concerto for Juliette Aranyi, a fellow-Haba student, knowing it might never get performed. Both composer and soloist were deported in 1942 to…

Orchestre Classique de Montréal unveils 2020-21 season in eight online concerts

By Newswire on 1 April 2020 Art Song, Arts Industry, Chamber Music, Orchestral

Montreal, April 1st 2020 – The current isolation measures are difficult for all music lovers, which is why l’Orchestre classique de Montréal chose to innovate and present a series of eight mini concerts online. It’s our way of offering audiences a taste of the upcoming season while bringing light and hope to the hearts of classical music enthusiasts. Starting Tuesday April 7, at 7:30 P.M., a featured soloist of the 2020-21 season will give a mini-concert on OCM’s Facebook page, taking the public on a journey of their favourite musical genres. Each 45 minute performance will unveil the programming details of our…

Papagena Vocal Quintet: Hush! (Somm Recordings)

By Norman Lebrecht on 27 March 2020 Chamber Music, Contemporary, Lebrecht Weekly, Vocal

What can you do with 3 sopranos and 2 altos. Be inventive, that’s what. The all-women quintet Papagena have come up with a range of unaccompanied songs, settings and original commissions that often takes the breath away. Don Macdonald’s Moonset, for instance, does just what the title says: it sinks, gently, bringing hope of a new day, a breath of fresh air. Libby Larsen’s Jack’s Valentine declares ‘I love you’ with just the right degree of equivocation. Sweet Child O’Mine is a Guns N Roses hit reset for a capella voice – magic. Apart from Larsen, David Lang, Tchaikovsky and Gustav Holst, I don’t recognise any…

Photo: Nicolaus Karlinsky

Ladies Stay the Course for 129th Season

By Arthur Kaptainis on 13 March 2020 Art Song, Chamber Music, Piano, Strings, Vocal

“Only good news from the Ladies’ Morning Musical Club,” Constance Pathy, president of the venerable organization, said at the formal launch of the 2020-21 season. The announcement came a day before some not-so-good news, as the LMMC was forced to cancel the March 15 appearance of the Pavel Haas Quartet with pianist Boris Giltburg, thus joining several Quebec organizations (and countless worldwide) affected by the coronavirus outbreak. A recital on April 5 by the Russian pianist Pavel Kolesnikov is also cancelled. Premier François Legault’s ban on gatherings numbering more than 250, announced on March 12, was intended to remain in…

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