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A Few Great Canadian Tenors

By Pierre Chénier on 1 September 2017 150/375, La Scena Spotlight

On the 150th anniversary of Confederation, it is fitting to pay tribute to the great artists Canada has promoted throughout history. This text will focus on some of Canada’s greatest tenors. We should remember that their talents and distinguished careers, and those of other Canadian artists, have been overshadowed by major entities such as CBC/Radio-Canada. Programming dedicated to promoting Canadian talent has been constantly downsized, and this problem must be solved. Raoul Jobin, Léopold Simoneau, Jon Vickers, and Ben Heppner have been selected for this article. I chose these four tenors because each has left their mark on classical music…

Marc Blitzstein (center) with the original 1937 cast of The Cradle Will Rock

At Opera Saratoga, New Hands Rock Blitzstein’s Cradle

By Charles Geyer on 9 July 2017 Contemporary, La Scena Spotlight, Opera

PREVIEW: Opera Saratoga’s new, full-out production of Marc Blitzstein’s 1937 musical masterpiece, The Cradle Will Rock; and INTERVIEWS: with director Lawrence Edelson and musical director John Mauceri. Though it’s remembered as a work of social protest and impassioned ideals, “nobody has experienced The Cradle Will Rock the way it was intended,” says celebrated musical director, educator and historian John Mauceri of composer/librettist Marc Blitzstein’s landmark 1937 opera. “It’s a piece that everybody knows, but nobody’s ever heard!” Point well taken. Ever since its famously unorthodox premiere, when an extraordinary concatenation of adversities forced a last-minute decision to present the work…

Photo: Graham McDowell

Ideas of North Concert Confronts Climate Change with Sound

By Orphée Russell on 7 June 2017 Canadian Music, Chamber Music, Contemporary, La Scena Spotlight

On Saturday, July 10 at 8:30 pm, the Centre des Arts Actuels Skol and Pronto Musica Chamber Orchestra will present the free concert Ideas of North. The multidisciplinary event brings together artists and researchers in a collaboration that celebrates the North and questions Canadian attitudes towards climate adaptation. With the arctic warming, what will the Canadian North look like in the coming years? How does our perspective of this issue change, when viewed from the lens of an Inuit, ecological, or Southern Canadian viewpoint? Ideas of North will use music to engage audience members on these questions. Vancouver-based environmental change…

Satoko Fujii

Summer Jazz Fest Picks

By Marc Chénard on 1 June 2017 Experimental Jazz, La Scena Spotlight, Mainstream Jazz

With its roster of some 20 member events, Jazz Festival Canada is an umbrella organization that enables national and international artists to coordinate tours from coast to coast in the early summer. Canadian jazz festivals showcase a veritable cornucopia of styles for just about every taste. Here then are a few picks from the pack of shows scheduled during the upcoming festival blitz. Donny McCaslin – Now Beyond A year ago, saxophonist Kamasi Washington was pretty well the toast of the international jazz festival circuit. This time it’s Donny McCaslin’s turn to make the rounds. His appearance on David Bowie’s…

Escher Quartet

Canadian Classical Summer Music Festivals 2017: Quebec

By La Scena Musicale Team on 1 June 2017 150/375, Classical Music, La Scena Spotlight

Festival de musique de chambre de Montréal Until June 18 The Festival de musique de chambre de Montréal continues its Beethoven quartet “marathon” in June with four concerts by Dover Quartet (June 2, 4, 9, and 11 at Pollack Hall, McGill University). A discussion by musicologist Richard Turp before the concert will encourage the public to explore new format features. On June 3, saxophonist Rémi Bolduc will pay tribute to George Shearing, a great pianist and conductor, at Bourgie Hall. The French-Canadian premiere of a Rolston String Quartet and Dover Quartet collaboration is not to be missed. Both ensembles were…

Michel Buruiana

Michel Buruiana (February 17, 1953–February 13, 2017)

By La Scena Musicale Team on 1 June 2017 Arts Industry, Classical Music, La Scena Spotlight

On 13 February 2017, Michel Buruiana died suddenly at the age of sixty-three. He was a journalist, writer, businessman, producer, impresario and artistic advisor. Born in Romania, Michel Buruiana was the son of an ophthalmologist and a violinist. His parents got him interested in the arts at an early age. At age nine, he appeared in Les Saisons, a film by Romanian director Savel Stiopul, which was presented in Cannes and received a prize at the Teheran Film Festival where Norman McLaren presided over the jury. A few years later, McLaren had fond memories of Stiopul’s film and agreed to…

Bernard Labadie

News: June 2017

By Orphée Russell on 1 June 2017 Classical Music, La Scena Spotlight

Competitions The CMIM (Concours musical international de Montréal), one of the most prestigious of its kind in the world, is held every year featuring piano, violin, and voice on a rotating basis. Piano took center stage in the 2017 edition. Hungarian pianist Zoltán Fejévári took the $30,000 first prize and the $50,000 Joseph Rouleau Career Development Grant. Giuseppe Guarrera of Italy took the second prize, and Stefano Andreatta, also of Italy, finished third. Except for the Best Canadian Artist Award, given to Teo Gheorghiu, all the other special prizes, including the People’s Choice Award, were awarded to Guarrera. CMIM grants…

Incendies, Photo courtoisie Micro Scope

National Canadian Film Day 150: Cinematic Wisdom for the 21st Century

By Camilo Lanfranco on 1 April 2017 150/375, Film, La Scena Spotlight

This April 19, National Canadian Film Day 150 (NCFD 150) promises to be a nation-wide celebration. With free events and over 800 screenings in venues such as schools, cinemas, online platforms, public squares and even airplanes, organizers promise that this will be the largest film festival in the world. So, what are some of the strengths of Canadian cinema as the 21st century unfolds? Our cinema might be able to teach us a thing or two about how we engage one another culturally, through images and sounds. One aspect of intercultural cinema, for example, is the use of languages. How…

Louis Riel, UBC dress 2010, Photo: Evan Kreider

Deciphering Harry Somers’ Opera Louis Riel

By Réa Beaumont on 1 April 2017 150/375, Canadian Music, La Scena Spotlight, Opera

Louis Riel is one of the most important Canadian operas ever written. It was inspired by the life of controversial Métis hero Louis Riel (1844-1885) and events surrounding Canadian Confederation in 1867 that became defining moments in the country’s history. With a libretto by Canadian playwright Mavor Moore in collaboration with Jacques Languirand and music by Harry Somers, Louis Riel was premiered in Toronto by the Canadian Opera Company for Canada’s centennial celebrations and performed soon after at Montreal’s Expo ’67. Louis Riel is being programmed this year by the COC as a co-production with the National Arts Centre to…

Photo: Musée McCord

Cultural Rendez-Vous: Rendez-vous at the Museum

By Olivier Gentil on 1 April 2017 150/375, La Scena Spotlight, Multimedia, Visual Arts

It wasn’t easy to pick only a few of this season’s several visual arts exhibits. The exhibitions announced for the spring are all equally promising, ranging from nanotechnology and fashion to hockey. Here are some that you shouldn’t miss! Chagall: Colour and Music Rooted in the idea of “total art” — a perfect union between music and painting — that was so dear to famous artist Marc Chagall, this exhibit perfectly showcases the importance of colour and rhythm that is central to his works. Via decors, costumes, and paintings, this exhibit ingeniously succeeds in highlighting the importance of music in…

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