Classical - my/maSCENA

Prix Opus 2021: CQM unveils the winners

By Justin Bernard on 7 February 2021 Arts Industry, Canadian Music, Classical, Contemporary, Indigenous, Scena Jazz

Owing to government restrictions to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, the Conseil québécois de la musique (CQM) was obliged to organize its 24th Gala des prix Opus online, a first for the ceremony. The webcast was made public on Feb. 7 on the Facebook page of the Fabrique culturelle de Télé-Québec. The setting was unchanged: Bourgie Hall in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. A total of 26 laureates were recognized for their achievements during the 2019-2020 season, before and during the pandemic. Exceptional circumstances led to an exceptional tribute to Kent Nagano, former music director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra,…

DID YOU KNOW THAT…

By Robert Markow on 28 January 2021 Classical, Classical Music

. . THE BELGIAN COMPOSER BOUDEWIJN BUCKINX (B. 1945) WROTE NINE UNFINISHED SYMPHONIES?All were composed in a single year, 1992. . . . PLUTO HADN’T BEEN DISCOVERED YET WHEN HOLST WROTE HIS PLANETS (1914-1917)? However, later composers helped him out with a Pluto movement. In 1997 the American composer Margaret Brouwer wrote Pluto: A Sequel to Holst’s ‘Planets,’ and three years later the British composer Colin Matthews finished Holst’s cycle with Pluto, the Renewer, composed at the request of Kent Nagano. . . . THE LONGEST SYMPHONY IN THE STANDARD REPERTORY IS GUSTAV MAHLER’S THIRD? This runs about an hour and…

Nicolas Ellis and l'Orchestre de chambre de la Montérégie

Today’s Streams: Dec. 28th

By La Scena Musicale Team on 28 December 2020 Classical, Classical Music, Opera, Scena Jazz

Here are today’s streamed concerts you shouldn’t miss! Enjoy. This feature will run until January 1, 2021. To submit your event, please email [email protected]. The Orchestre de chambre de la Montérégie – Holiday Season Concert The Orchestre de chambre de la Montérégie, under the musical direction of Nicolas Ellis, accompanied by dancers from the École supérieure de ballet du Québec, are pleased to share their first webcast production. This initiative allows the organization to pursue its mission of providing access to music and the performing arts to a greater number of people, to support the next generation and musical education,…

Today’s Streams: Dec. 16th – Beethoven Edition

By La Scena Musicale Team on 16 December 2020 Classical, Classical Music

Here are the streamed concerts you shouldn’t miss on Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th birthday! Enjoy. This feature will until January 1, 2021. To submit your event, please email [email protected]. Seattle Opera – Ode to Beethoven with Sarah Larsen and John Keene In celebration of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th birthday, Seattle Opera presents a recital with mezzo-soprano Sarah Larsen and pianist, John Keene in collaboration with the This is Beethoven festival by Emerald City Music. Ms. Larsen has prepared a program with selections by Ludwig van Beethoven as well as pieces by female composers Fanny Mendelssohn and Dame Ethel Smyth who were greatly…

Florence Bourget & Vanessa Croome in "L'hiver attend beaucoup de moi" ©Yves Renaud

Opéra de Montréal drives into the digital future

By Arthur Kaptainis on 10 November 2020 Classical, Classical Music, Contemporary, Opera

The future of performance is looking digital, at least in the short term. Last week the Opéra de Montréal unveiled an online double bill with piano accompaniment that made a good case for the viability of the format while leaving us less than fully convinced of the merits of the works themselves. First up was Francis Poulenc’s well-known La voix humaine, a solo opera of 1958 based on Jean Cocteau’s 1928 play of the same name. A jilted woman engages in a telephone conversation with her former lover. There are frequent interruptions caused by the (then) notoriously unreliable French telephone system. Whether…

A day in the life of… violinist Lucy Wang

By Newswire on 9 November 2020 Chamber Music, Classical

A native of Vancouver, British Columbia, violinist Lucy Wang is equally at home on stage as a chamber musician, soloist, and orchestral musician. She has performed across North America, Europe, and Asia as a founding member of the Viano String Quartet, winners of the First Prize at the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition. Lucy has also been a prizewinner in numerous solo competitions and as attended prestigious international festivals such as Aspen Music Festival, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Ravinia Festival, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and New York String Orchestra Seminar. She is currently a Master of Music degree candidate at…

Alexandre Da Costa and the OSDL: New Restrictions Are Like a Punch in the Guts

By Hassan Laghcha on 6 November 2020 Classical, Classical Music

At a press conference on Sept. 28, the Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil (OSDL) presented its new season of concerts. Artistic director Alexandre Da Costa was on hand for the announcement. This year’s program, coinciding with its 35th season, hopes to provide some solace through the performance of symphonic music. Seven concerts had been slated for its main venue, the adjunct co-cathedral of Longueuil. One will be devoted to pop songs from Quebec and elsewhere; another feature local icon Mario Pelchat singing his own material and Christmas evergreens. But all hopes for public performances were dashed that day when the provincial…

Photo: Francis Perreault

La Maison musicale de Warwick: Showcase of Québécois talent

By La Scena Musicale Team on 15 July 2020 Classical

By Marq Doyon La Maison musicale de Warwick has been operating for eight years in the Centre-du-Québec region. Its mandate is to promote talented Québécois musicians. Its geographic location away from the major centres offers a wider platform for musicians. The Warwick area is known for its producers and processors of excellent agricultural goods, its ski resort, its restaurants and its bed and breakfast accommodations. Two musical niches are on the regular schedule. The first is classical music with small chamber ensembles, ranging from the Baroque to the 20th century. The second is jazz with trios, quartets and quintets. These…

Angelika Kirchschlager. Photo: Nikolaus Karlinsky

Ladies stay the course for 129th Season

By Arthur Kaptainis on 14 July 2020 Classical

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. At press time the prospects of a full season were hazy, as the maximum gathering allowed by the province remained lodged at 50 and the availability of Pollack Hall at McGill University was…

Photo: Dieter Nagl

Musikverein in Vienna reopens for business

By La Scena Musicale Team on 7 June 2020 Classical

Vienna’s most famous concert hall has opened its doors after almost three months of darkness. “The Musikverein would have imagined its 150th anniversary differently,” says Thomas Angyan, the Musikverein intendant, in a report on the website of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation. “But today the mandatory break imposed by the coronavirus comes to an end.” The modified schedule packs 42 concerts – none with more than 100 spectators – into 22 days in June before the facility closes as it normally does for the summer. The reopening concert on June 6 in the opulent Grosser Saal featured the Vienna Philharmonic with…

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