At the age of 22, Shermar Paul, aka Night Lovell, already has three albums in the bank: Concept Vague (2014), Red Teenage Melody (2016) and Goodnight Lovell (2019). As a teenager, the MC launched the song “Dark Light”, a viral hit on the web five years ago. His deep, rocky voice finds solid purchase in the beats, and his rhymes are (to say the least) loaded with testosterone. On the menu: sex, cash, jealousy, love, ambition, nightlife, human conflict… the rap life, right?
Listings
Classical
(Cancelled) Greater Buffalo Youth Orchestra • Orchestre symphonique de l’École Joseph-François-Perrault
Two symphony orchestras made up of young students will share the stage at the Oscar Peterson Hall (Concordia University). First, the Greater Buffalo Youth Orchestra (New York State) will perform Rossini’s William Tell Overture and Antonín’s 9th Symphony Dvořák, known as the New World Symphony. The Orchestre symphonique de l’École Joseph-François-Perrault will round out the program with classical works to be unveiled at a later date, or on site.
PROGRAM
Youth Orchestra Concert
Greater Buffalo Youth Orchestra
Conductor : Ansgarius Aylward
Rossini, William Tell Overture
Dvořák, Symphony No. 9, From the New World
Orchestre symphonique Joseph-François-Perrault
Discovered at the beginning of the previous decade with the duo Eli et Papillon, French singer Eli Rose has negotiated a soul/R&B/hip hop/synthpop shift, worked with beatmakers and artists recognized within the keb rap community, and more – Ruffsound, DRMS, Billboard, Realmind, June Nawakii, Mike Clay, Banx & Ranx. Backed by the major Universal, Eli Rose can count on a powerful machine to ensure his solo takeoff. His fans will have the opportunity to witness it at L’Astral.
Electronic / Future Soul / Groove / Jazz / Jazz Fusion / Jazz-Funk / Soul Jazz
(POSTPONED) Thundercat
Stephen Lee Bruner, aka Thundercat, has performed a few times on Montreal stages – notably in the programs of Flying Lotus and, more recently, Herbie Hancock. Composer, lyricist, singer and virtuoso bassist, he is now part of the new elite of Californian jazz-groove (Kamasi Washington, Terrace Martin, Taylor McFerrin, etc.). His appearances on several songs by gifted rapper Kendrick Lamar have also made Thundercat shine. It Is What It Is, his fourth album, will be released on the Brainfeeder label next April, but before that, his fans will be treated to this new material on stage.
Under the direction of virtuoso harpsichordist Luc Beauséjour, the Ensemble de musique baroque presents a repertoire of French baroque operatic arias and instrumental music. The composers performed include Jean-Baptiste Lulli (1632-1687), André Campra (1660-1744) and Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764).
Electro-Arabic / Electronic / Persian Classical
(POSTPONED) Niyaz : « The Fourth Light »
Niyaz’s craft is based on the integration of traditional and sacred songs with a contemporary aesthetic. Their choice of instruments cements the East-West connection: keyboards, guitars, digital apps, santur, saz, kaval, kopuz, bendir, riq, qanun, tabla and sarod.
Founded in 2005, Niyaz is a band of Iranian origin formed around Azam Ali (voice, percussion and santur) and Loga Ramin Torkian (multi-instrumentalist). The couple and their child lived in Montreal for the past decade, then returned to California, where they had previously been based.
Recorded between Montreal and Istanbul, the album The Fourth Light is made up of the duo’s original songs, to which Turkish, Afghan and Iranian pieces are added. The songs are also inspired by Rabia Al Basri, a Sufi poetess and ascetic from the 8th century. The Fourth Light was launched in 2015, and five years later Niyaz come back to Montreal to perform it, roadtested and true.
Théâtre Outremont’s website notes, “The Fourth Light is a multimedia show, conceived by Jérôme Delapierre, where oriental lutes unfold in electroacoustic instrumentation and where lighting and scenography combine with the dance of Tanya Evanson, one of the few dervish dancers.”
Schulich in Concert presents the violinist Violaine Melançon and the pianist/harpsichordist Ilya Poletaev, performing J. S. Bach’s sonatas for… violin and harpsichord, of course.
PROGRAM
Johann Sebastian Bach :
Sonata in C major, BWV 1016
Sonata in B minor BWV 1014
Sonata in F minor, BWV 1018
Sonata in C minor, BWV 1017
Sonata in G major, BWV1019
Sonata in A major, BWV 1015
Baroque / Classical / Classical Period / Contemporary
(CANCELLED) Orchestre Métropolitain + Jane Glover
Baroque / Classical / Contemporary
(CANCELLED) Orchestre Métropolitain + Jane Glover
Baroque / Classical Period / Contemporary
(CANCELLED) Jane Glover + Orchestre Métropolitain
Baroque / Classical / Classical Period
(CANCELLED) Jane Glover • Orchestre Métropolitain
English maestra and musicologist Jane Glover is a great Mozartian, and that’s exactly why she’s conducting the Metropolitan Orchestra’s performances of Wolfgang Amadeus’ Horn Concerto No. 1, and his Symphony No. 31, known as Paris. The Quebec horn player Louis-Philippe Marsolais is the soloist recruited for this Mozart concerto, as well as for the premiere of the Horn Concerto by Simon Bourget, himself a horn player at the MO.
ARTISTS AND PROGRAM
Orchestre Métropolitain
Jane Glover, conductor
Louis-Philippe Marsolais, french horn
Georg Friederich Haendel : Water Music
Mozart : Horn Concerto No. 1
Haydn : Symphony No. 85 La Reine
Simon Bourget : Concerto pour cor (premiere)
Mozart : Symphony No. 31 Paris
Classical / Classical Period / Contemporary / Modern Classical
(CANCELLED) Vadim Gluzman • Jean-Marie Zeitouni • I Musici de Montréal
Two years ago, I Musici de Montréal invited the Latvian-born Israeli violinist Vadim Gluzman to perform Peteris Vasks’ Distant Light. Fabulous! To the delight of music lovers, Gluzman is back with the Montreal ensemble under the direction of Jean-Marie Zeitouni. This time, the virtuoso goes to work on Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, accompanied for the occasion by cadenzas by composer Alfred Schnittke. Schnittke’s Concerto grosso sees an exchange between two violins, so Gluzman will dialogue with Julie Triquet, concertmaster of I Musici. At the opening of the concert, I Musici will supplement its core team for the performance of Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony.
ARTISTS AND PROGRAM
I Musici de Montréal
Vadim Gluzman, violon
Jean-Marie Zeitouni, conductor
Serguei Prokofiev : Symphony No. 1, Op. 25 Classical (I Musici de Montréal will add some more musicians for this piece.)
Alfred Schnittke : Concerto grosso No. 1
Ludwig van Beethoven : Violin Concerto, Op. 61
Vadim Gluzman on YouTube