La Scena Spotlight - my/maSCENA

David Dias Da Silva

Rising Stars – David Dias da Silva: Prix d’Europe & Stepping Stones (CMC)

By Jeanne Hourez on 1 October 2016 Classical Music, La Scena Spotlight

David Dias da Silva was born in 1987, to a Portuguese family, and spent his childhood in Canada before moving to Portugal. There, he joined a wind ensemble, where he developed his passion for music and for the clarinet. At age 12, the musician decided to enrol in a professional music school, where he benefitted from the guidance of Iva Barbosa. “She really gave me all the artistic and personal tools to go into a career in music,” says Da Silva. After six years of study with Barbosa, the clarinettist undertook a baccalaureate at the Porto Superior School of Music…

Charles Richard-Hamelin, Photo: Emily Ding

Rising Stars – Charles Richard-Hamelin: Prix Opus Decouverte de l’année

By Jeanne Hourez on 1 October 2016 La Scena Spotlight, Piano

After winning the second Concours de Musique International de Montréal (CMIM) in 2014 as well as the Bourbeau Foundation’s Best Canadian Musician, for Charles Richard-Hamelin, who took home second prize (silver medal) at the Chopin Competition in Warsaw as well as the Krystian Zimmerman Prize for best performance of a Chopin sonata, 2015 was the most highly anticipated year yet. For a man who had been having an impressive but local career up to that point, this left him, among other perks, with €35,000 and plenty of engagements in all four corners of the world. Notably, he served as a…

Brian Current

Brian Current: The Keys to Creativity

By Caroline Rodgers on 1 October 2016 Canadian Music, Choral, Contemporary, Interviews, La Scena Spotlight, Orchestral

This month, Brian Current will experience something many composers would envy: the premiere and recording of one of his major works by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. The $50,000 Azrieli Prize enabled him to compose The Seven Heavenly Halls for solo tenor, choir and orchestra. The composer talked to La Scena Musicale about this work and his career. Like many musicians, Brian Current first learned piano as a child. “I was lucky my parents were so persistent and constantly got me to practice, even when I didn’t want to,” he says. “My parents weren’t musicians by profession, but they sang in…

Lukáš Vondráček, Photo: Irene Kim

Rising Stars – Lukáš Vondráček: Queen Elisabeth Competition

By Jeanne Hourez on 1 October 2016 La Scena Spotlight, Piano

Born in Czechoslovakia in 1986, Lukáš Vondráček is one of the hottest young pianists on the scene right now. In 2016, he won the International Grand Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, propelling his career, already solidly established in the musical milieu, to new highs. Vondráček had an early introduction to the piano thanks to his mother, herself a professional pianist. He made his stage debut at a young age, and by age 20 he had no less than 850 concerts in 28 different countries under his belt. Notably, he completed his first international tour at the age…

Matt Poon, Photo: Emily Ding

Rising Stars – Matt Poon: Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition (E-Gré)

By An-Laurence Higgins on 1 October 2016 Contemporary, La Scena Spotlight, Piano

The Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition (E-Gré) is a unique competition in which contemporary music is highly promoted. The Final was held this past spring at Brandon University and pianist Matt Poon won the first place as well as the prize for the best performance of the commissioned work. He received almost $17,000 including a $10,000 cash prize, a residency of three weeks, and a debut recital at the Casalmaggiore International Music Festival in Italy, as well as the Cross-Canada Winner’s Tour in November 2016. Poon began his undergraduate studies in Piano Performance in Music at the University of Toronto and moved to…

Philippe Prud’homme

Rising Stars – Philippe Prud’homme: Canadian Music Competition

By Jeanne Hourez on 1 October 2016 La Scena Spotlight, Piano

Born in 1991, pianist and composer Philippe Prud’homme began his piano studies with professor Gilles Many at age twelve. Sixteen-year-old Prud’homme was accepted, under special circumstances, to the Université de Montréal in 2007 without even finishing his secondary studies and with only four years of piano studies under his belt. He earned his master’s with highest distinctions in the class of Dang Thai Son before beginning another graduate degree at the Conservatoire de Montréal in 2015 with Louise Bessette. An active presence on the Quebec scene, Prud’homme has notably won first prize at the CMC several times, in the solo…

Emily Oulousian

Rising Stars – Emily Oulousian: ICI Radio-Canada Virtuose

By Caroline Rodgers on 1 October 2016 La Scena Spotlight, Piano

Last May, Emily Oulousian won the grand prize of the CBC Radio-Canada show Virtuose, produced and hosted by the ever-popular Gregory Charles. Oulousian was awarded an almost perfect score of 97.6 for her performance of an excerpt of Grieg’s Piano Concerto – without orchestra. She was only 15 years old. In the episodes leading up to the grand finale of the competition, Oulousian performed brilliant renditions of Prokofiev’s Toccata in D minor, Op. 11 and Scriabin’s Étude in D-sharp minor, Op. 8, No. 12. A native of Montreal, Oulousian, whose mother is of Chinese descent and father is of Armenian…

Thomas Yu, Cliburn Amateur Competition, Source: Youtube

Rising Stars – Thomas Yu: Cliburn Amateur Piano Competition

By Robert Rowat on 1 October 2016 La Scena Spotlight, Piano

“By the end, I could barely control my emotions,” says Thomas Yu, describing his first-prize-winning performance at the Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas, on June 25. Yu, a Calgary periodontist, was one of six finalists who played a piano concerto movement with the Fort Worth Symphony under guest conductor Damon Gupton. He chose the third movement from Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto No. 5. “I had only six minutes to give the audience and jury my entire life,” he says. “It is difficult to get into that mindset and physicality in such a short time, especially with a…

Hichem Khalfa

Rising Stars – Hichem Khalfa

By Marc Chénard on 1 October 2016 La Scena Spotlight, Mainstream Jazz, Scena Jazz

Since his arrival in town four years ago, trumpeter Hichem Khalfa has been on the move. Hailing from France, he came to Montreal struck by wanderlust. “I like to travel, discovering new things and places,” he explains. “At first I wanted to go to New York, like all aspiring jazz musicians. I was offered a scholarship there at the New School, but gave up on the idea when I saw what the cost of living was, paying the rent and all the tuition fees.” One day, he stumbled on McGill University and its jazz program. He came over for an…

Olivia Betzen (Manon) and Sean Christensen (Des Grieux), Manon, Photo: Mark Baker

The Art, the Craft, the dell’Arte Opera Ensemble

By Charles Geyer on 20 September 2016 Art Song, Concert Reviews, La Scena Spotlight, Opera

OPERA REVIEW AND COMPANY PROFILE: dell’Arte Opera Ensemble’s “Violetta & Her Sisters”: “Scenes from the Demi-Monde” (August 23, 2016) Massenet’s Manon (August 24, 2016) Verdi’s La traviata (August 25, 2016) “Chansons de Baudelaire” (August 27, 2016) Libiamo! Autumn ought not arrive without our noting that New York City enjoyed a mini-“Summer of the Courtesan.” For two weeks in August (the 13th through the 28th), one could join in a bittersweet brindisi, tip a glass to free-spirited pleasure, and shed a tear for loveliness cut down too young. The program was “Violetta & Her Sisters,” and it was the fruit of…

Browsing: La Scena Spotlight

Rising Stars – David Dias da Silva: Prix d’Europe & Stepping Stones (CMC)

Rising Stars – Charles Richard-Hamelin: Prix Opus Decouverte de l’année

Brian Current: The Keys to Creativity

Rising Stars – Lukáš Vondráček: Queen Elisabeth Competition

Rising Stars – Matt Poon: Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition (E-Gré)

Rising Stars – Philippe Prud’homme: Canadian Music Competition

Rising Stars – Emily Oulousian: ICI Radio-Canada Virtuose

Rising Stars – Thomas Yu: Cliburn Amateur Piano Competition

Rising Stars – Hichem Khalfa

The Art, the Craft, the dell’Arte Opera Ensemble

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