(Cancelled) Laval Symphony Orchestra / Brahms, Ichmouratov, Elgar
by Alain Brunet
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Collège Montmorency, the Orchestre symphonique de Laval offers a varied program: first, Brahms’s Academic Festival Overture, a work with ceremonious characteristics. That’s followed by a post-romantic discovery… written in the 21st century – Flute Concerto by Montreal composer Aïrat Ichmouratov, a commission from the OSL. Things continue with Edward Elgar’s intense Enigma Variations. The orchestra will once again be conducted by Alain Trudel and the guest soloist (for the Ichmouratov Concerto) will be the well-known flautist Robert Langevin.
ARTISTS AND PROGRAM:
Orchestre symphonique de Laval
Human Beings First
Alain Trudel, conductor
Robert Langevin, flute
Johannes Brahms: Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80
Stay tuned! is the second opus of a trilogy whose purpose is to explore the roots and multiple identities of Dominique Fils-Aimé, and it’s the main source of a magnificent show that has already garnered critical acclaim. Soul, gospel, blues, jazz, and above all the grace of a magnetic, refined and talented artist converge. The public was appropriately impressed, and now the Montreal singer (of Haitian origin) returns to Théâtre Outremont.
One of Arte Musica’s major projects is to present the complete sacred cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach, following the liturgical cycle. The next two will be performed by la Bande Montréal Baroque, under the direction of German cellist and conductor Olaf Reimers. Four soloists will be featured: soprano Ariadne Lih, countertenor Matthew Muggeridge, tenor Philippe Gagné and baritone Clayton Kennedy.
PROGRAM Olaf Reimers, conductor, cello Johann Sebastian Bach Cantatas Mein Gott, wie lang, ach lange, BWV 155 Höchsterwünschtes Freudenfest, BWV 194
Without a doubt one of the most enticing programs to be presented at MTelus in this first quarter of 2020: the brilliant composer and producer Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith opens the new show by Daniel Snaith, aka Caribou. The latter will notably trot out material from Suddenly, his fifth album under the pseudonym, officially launched on February 28. Formerly an electro artist associated with the IDM movement, this Canadian transplant to London, who also holds a doctorate in mathematics, has gradually included singing and instruments in real time, to create multi-genre, auteur pop and electro. A new show by Caribou, a beyond-brilliant artist, is indeed a pretty big deal.
(POSTPONED) Longueuil Symphony Orchestra / L’Orchestrarium de Monsieur Albert
by Alain Brunet
Created by MEMO Productions, L’Orchestrarium de Monsieur Albert is an accessible, entertaining event intended for all humans who’ve retained their childlike souls… starting with children! “Imagine an incredible musical adventure in which you are the hero! This is what L’Orchestrarium de Monsieur Albert offers you.” That’s what official website of the Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil tells us. The program is completed by the performance of Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev, a famous tale set to symphonic music by the great Russian composer.
ARTISTS AND PROGRAM :
Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil
Pénélope McQuade, narrator
Alexandre Da Costa, conductor
Airat Ichmouratov: guest conductor
L’Orchestrarium de Monsieur Albert, Les productions MEMOS. Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf
France’s l’Impératrice have yet to embark upon a successful campaign of conquest in French-speaking North America, except of course among France expats… who might convince their keb friends to accompany them to the Théâtre Corona, to discover the quintet’s French pop mixed with Euro-disco, Gallic funk and new wave. The ’80s sure have staying power! L’Impératrice is made up of singer Flore Benguigui, keyboardists Charles de Boisseguin and Hagni Gwon, bassist David Gaugué, guitarist Achille Trocellier and drummer Tom Daveau. In 2018, the group released the bilingual album Matahari, rich in light, sometimes self-deprecating lyrics. To be taken with a grain of salt…
The daring Montreal quartet Architek Percussion performs the works of two Canadian composers, Andrea Young and Sabrina Schroeder. These works, each lasting half an hour, share the common feature of linking percussion played in real time with electronic sounds. They also exploit the reverberation and spatialization of sound sources, and both are intended to “explore the limits of time”, and the listener is advised to “let themself be carried away by a series of musical moments that seem endless”, and live “an immersive acoustic experience”.
Ásgeir has four studio albums, including the freshly released Bury the Moon, which will be featured prominently at L’Astral. Following in the footsteps of Bon Iver and other folk countertenors inclined toward electro and finely arranged chamber pop, Ásgeir offers songs that are both silky and substantial. The 27-year-old Icelander’s English-language repertoire is generally based on guitar, voice and lyrics. It all starts there… and we’re soon enough somewhere else. An excellent melodist, a singer with conviction, gifted with his own artistic direction, Ásgeir needs to get in front of fans of indie folktronica.
Formerly known as the Alcan String Quartet for reasons we can only guess, the Saguenay Quartet has recorded the complete Beethoven String Quartets, a must for any self-respecting music lover. For this Montreal stopover at the august Église de la Visitation, this experienced ensemble, one of the best string quartets in the country, performs Quartet No. 1, Op. 18, as well as Quartet No. 7, Op. 59 No. 1 in F major. This is another event commemorating the 250th anniversary of the birth of the famous composer.
A short piano recital at lunchtime? What a great idea! Especially since admission is free. An opportunity to discover two works by two Russian composers as proposed by Martin Karlicek, professor of piano at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University. Dreams is a cycle of six pieces composed by Smetana in 1875 while he was losing his hearing. Sonata No. 2, composed at the end of the war in 1945, is the most important piece in Kabalevsky’s keyboard repertoire
PROGRAM Smetana : Dreams Kabalevsky: Piano Sonata No. 2 in E-flat major, Op. 45
(CANCELLED) Orchestre Métropolitain • Nicolas Ellis • Martin Carli : « Fire and Water: Génial ! »
by Alain Brunet
Benevolent or destructive, useful or harmful, fire and water are brought together in this programme assembled by the Metropolitan Orchestra, under the direction of young maestro Nicolas Ellis this time. Russian composer Igor Stravinsky’s orchestral suite for ballet, The Firebird, the unpredictable currents of La Moldau by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, Sirènes by Frenchman Claude Debussy, with flutist Kaïla Stephanos as soloist – these are all masterpieces of pyric or aquatic inspiration, to be contemplated with the MO, all supplemented by bits of scientific information, courtesy of host Martin Carli.
ARTISTS AND PROGRAM Fire and Water: Génial! Metropolitan Orchestra Conductor: Nicolas Ellis Bedřich Smetana: La Moldau Maurice Ravel: Une Barque sur l’océan Claude Debussy: Nocturnes, III. Sirènes Igor Stravinsky: Firebird Suite (1919)
Under the direction of maestro Alexis Hauser, the McGill Symphony Orchestra shares the stage (the altar, in fact) of l’église Saint-Jean-Baptiste with the Schulich Singers and the McGill Concert Choir for the performance of Johannes Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem. Conceived as a path to consolation, this work was marked by the passing of two very important people for Brahms: his mother, and the composer Robert Schumann, whom he considered his mentor.
ARTISTS AND PROGRAM McGill Symphony Orchestra Schulich Singers McGill Concert Choir McGill University Chorus Alexis Hauser, conductor Jean-Sébastien Vallée, choirmaster Johannes Brahms, Ein deutsches Requiem, Opus 45
