Browsing: Music Competition

Last February, the Opus Tribute Award from the Conseil québécois de la musique (CQM) went to Gilbert Patenaude in recognition of a long career. He is known for his commitment to choral singing, particularly as the director, for 38 years, of Les Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal. It is with dedication and rigour that he has taken on a demanding pedagogical and musical load that includes, in addition to teaching, more than 80 annual performances, religious services and other events. His achievements with young singers include no fewer than 23 international tours and a dozen recordings. He has trained more than…

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By Wah Keung Chan and Alexandre Da Costa To help navigate the 2019 edition of the Concours musical international de Montréal (CMIM), La Scena listened to 23 of the 24 participants to arrive at our prediction of the winners. French-Russian violinist Fedor Rudin withdrew after his appointment as concertmaster of the Vienna State Opera and Vienna Philharmonic and we were not informed of his replacement during the evaluation process. The 24 violinists include highly decorated winners of recent international competitions. In our listening of publicly available audio and video, many from previous competition performances, the technical prowess of all participants…

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From its beginnings in 2002, the Concours musical international de Montréal (CMIM) has proven its mettle. With some daring and much intelligence, it has set itself apart from others in its field by projecting a more human image and extending its outreach in the community. Like all competitions, it adheres to its own set of rules, one of these being its alternating annual focus on piano, voice and violin. Yet it includes some non-competitive events in its program, for the sake of added colour. CMIM artistic and managing director Christiane LeBlanc is very much responsible for broadening the event’s scope.…

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“Playing a Stradivarius is fascinating for a musician, can inspire peer appreciation, attract media interest, and stimulate conversation in classical-music circles,” says violinist Alexandre Da Costa. “But do not give too much importance to the instrument. It is only a tool. Most important is the quality of the performance of the instrumentalist, his artistic sensibility.” The Canadian virtuoso is well placed to support these remarks. Da Costa has been playing Stradivarius instruments for almost 20 years and recognizes, of course, the luck he has had and still has: the loan until 2027of a 1701 Devault Stradivarius offered by Maryse and…

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“An post-war and Soviet-era formula has often been used to train young musicians during musical competitions: train musicians as if they were Olympic athletes, ignoring that musicians are above all artists.” Violinist and conductor Alexandre Da Costa does not mince words when it comes to highlighting the shortfalls of international competitions. Da Costa believes that these competitions are heavily centred on technical performance, eclipsing artistic and human dimensions. These generally shape the awarded musicians’ international career. “Most winners of these international competitions play at a high technical level,” said Da Costa, winner of many national and international awards, including the…

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From May 24 to 26, the 17th edition of the Montreal Classical Guitar Festival and Competition (FCIGCM) will surely be a must-see celebration for fans of this instrument, and many others as well. Aside from the performances, there will be educational activities, various talks and several instrument makers on hand. The brainchild of Patrick Kearney, a music teacher and classical guitarist, the FCIGCM has now earned its spot on the international circuit of classical guitar competitions. When asked about the motivations leading him to undertake this endeavour in 2002, Kearney says that classical guitarists back then had to leave to…

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CCC Performance Event Will Feature Works of Winners on March 31st, 2019, From 4:00PM – 7:00PM at Longy School of Music of  Bard College in Cambridge, MA  Guest Composers Richard Festinger and Paul Brust to Present Talks March 18, 2019 – Boston, MA – Collage New Music, Boston’s most revered new music group just announced the composition winners of its Collage Composers Colloquium. To be eligible, the applicants had to be currently enrolled in a composition program in a Boston-area college or university, a recent graduate from a composition program from a college or university, or a current high school…

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12 March 2019 – Brussels (Belgium) 2019 Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition announce 71 candidates and the Imposed works by Bram Van Camp & Kimmo Hakola.  Candidates 71 candidates have been selected to participate in the first round of the 19th Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition : 49 women and 22 men, representing 20 different nationalities. Canadians include Timothy Chooi, Daniel Kogan, Shannon Lee and Melody Yuan. –      The best represented are : Korea (16), Japan (15) and the United States of America (11). –      Followed by China, France and Russia with each 6 candidates. –      The other candidates originate from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Romania, the UK and Switzerland.   Overview of the candidates by nationality (the…

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The Cliburn is thrilled to announce the 24 competitors invited to participate in the 2019 Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival, taking place May 31–June 8, 2019, in Dallas, Texas, with the first three rounds at Caruth Auditorium at SMU and the Final Round performance with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ruth Reinhardt at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. The 2019 Cliburn Junior competitors hail from all over the world, representing 11 countries: the United States (7), China (5), Japan (4), Canada (3), Hong Kong (2), Armenia, Australia, Austria, Russia, South Korea, and Taiwan (includes three dual representations). They range in age from 13 to 17 with two 13-, four 14-, seven 15-, five 16-, and six 17-year-olds.…

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Toronto, February 12, 2019 – On Monday, February 11th, the rising stars of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, Canada’s premier training program for young opera professionals, competed in the fifth biennial Christina and Louis Quilico Awards, with Anna-Sophie Neher claiming the first prize of $8,000.  Joel Allison won the second prize of $4,000,  and Simona Genga won the third prize of $3,000.  The event took place at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, as a part of the COC’s Free Concert Series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre. The competition was adjudicated by a panel composed of Alexander Neef, General Director of the Canadian Opera…

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