It may not have been the opening night that Ensemble Obiora had originally envisioned, but it was nonetheless a remarkable evening of double premieres. For the opening concert of its 2023-2024 season, “Canada’s first classical music ensemble composed essentially of professional musicians from culturally diverse backgrounds” was to welcome Venezuelan Glass Marcano as guest conductor. Noted for her spirit and energy at the La Maestra Competition in Paris in 2020 – where she was awarded the orchestra’s Special Prize – the young conductor was due to give her first North American concert with the Montreal ensemble. Unfortunately, for health reasons, she had to cancel her participation in the concert. French conductor Samy Rachid stepped up to the podium at the last minute to replace her. A former cellist with the Quatuor Arod, this young man in his thirties, who has just been appointed assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and has already worked at the Opéra National du Rhin and the Verbier Festival, was also making his North American debut.
The evening’s program featured both romantic and modern repertoire. Opening with Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin, with its particularly colourful timbres, inspired by the dance suites of the Baroque period and paying homage to 18th-century French music. Originally written for piano, Ravel extracted four of the six movements (Prelude; Forlane; Menuet; Rigaudon) for orchestration. Rachid’s clear conducting, with its airy, energetic gestures full of meaning, brings out the nuanced sonorities of the orchestra and the intrinsic character of each dance.
The centrepiece of the concert, Florence Price’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, performed for the first time in Canada, was a wonderful discovery. Classically structured in three movements (Tempo moderato, Andante, Allegro), it clearly bears the mark of its composer’s origins. Carried by Obiora Tanya Charles Iveniuk’s violin solo, the first movement in particular evokes many of the characteristics of Afro-American music, such as gospel inflections, call-and-response orchestral interplay and even blues. Offering several solo moments, it showcased the soloist’s technique in lines of great virtuosity. The second movement, more lyrical, was marked by melancholic flights of fancy, while the last movement returned to festive, joyous virtuosity, with the orchestra accompanying the soloist with rhythmic accents and an enveloping carpet of notes, ending in a dazzling finale. The concert concluded with Brahms’s Variations on a Theme by Haydn, a contrasting work in which the composer’s variations on a chorale theme from the Feldpartie in B-flat major range from low drama to dance-like lyricism, culminating in a victorious, trumpet-like finale.
As impressive as Tanya Charles Iveniuk’s playing was Samy Rachid’s direction. With careful direction and simple yet immensely meaningful gestures, he communicates a palette of dynamics and colours with ease. His energy is playful yet restrained, never excessive, and his direction highlights the architecture of the pieces, finely shaping the sound of the orchestra. A conductor to follow and, above all, to invite back!
Only two years after its creation, and having grown from an orchestra of 25 musicians to more than twice that number, Ensemble Obiora can certainly say that, with the lively and original program offered on Saturday evening, and the interest and diversity of the audience in attendance, it is more than ever a fixture on the Montreal musical scene.
Photo credits: Tam Lan Truong (Tanya Charles Iveniuk) et Therera Pewal (Samy Rachid)
