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Born in Périgueux in the Dordogne, raised in a caravan during the summer holidays, the young singer and guitarist Kendji Girac is a real-deal Romani. Three decades after the Gypsy Kings, his French-language songs are based on Latin pop updates of Catalan rumba (a close relative of flamenco) and have propelled him to the heights of French entertainment.
Cellist in residence at the Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur, Montreal’s Elinor Frey enjoys exploring all periods of the classical tradition, with both period and modern instruments. Offered in duo with Brigitte Poulin on pianoforte, the program here focuses primarily on Ludwig van Beethoven, with the exception of a work by French composer and cellist Jean-Louis Duport (1749-1819), also from the classical period. In the past decade, Frey’s playing with the ensembles Il Gardellino, Les Idées heureuses, Caprice, Constantinople or her quartet Pallade Musica has been much appreciated. Last year, Analekta released Guided By Voices, a beautiful recording of baroque works. Frey holds a doctorate in music from McGill University and has also studied at the prestigious Mannes College of Music and the Juilliard School. She is Professor of Early Cello at the Université de Montréal, Lecturer at McGill University and Visiting Research Fellow in Music from 2019-2022 at Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford.
ARTISTS AND PROGRAM :
Elinor Frey : cello
Brigitte Poulin : pianoforte
Ludwig van Beethoven:
12 Variations on “Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen” from Die Zauberflöte, WoO 46
Cello Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 5
12 Variations on “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen” from Die Zauberflöte, Op. 66
Sonata in F major, Op. 5 No. 1
Jean-Louis Duport : Study for cello solo No. 8 in G major
It’s the middle of winter… so what? Isn’t it better to talk about it than to wallow in denial and impatience? That’s exactly why I Musici de Montréal will feature horn players Louis-Philippe Marsolais and Louis-Pierre Bergeron with a promise of nothing less than a “hike from the Prussian forest to the Rocky Mountains”! This trek also promises to be through time, as we plunge in turn into the Baroque period with Jean-Philippe Rameau, the Classical period with Ludwig van Beethoven and Ferdinand Ries, and the contemporary era with Alberta composer John McPherson.
ARTISTS AND PROGRAM :
I Musici de Montréal
Jean-Marie Zeitouni: conductor
Louis-Philippe Marsolais: French horn
Louis-Pierre Bergeron: French horn
Rameau, Les Boréades (excerpts)
Beethoven, Sextet in E-Flat major, Op. 81B
McPherson, In the Land of Pidge
Ries, Concerto for Two Horns
He has delivered two particularly memorable concerts at Sala Rossa in recent years. The first one, Grand Jawaka, in the summer of 2016, featured most of Frank Zappa’s albums Waka Jawaka and Grand Wazoo. The second, Ode à l’Infonie, the following summer, with the ensemble 333 ToutArtBel, revisited some of the legendary group’s emblematic works with a joyful enthusiasm. Following on from his December concert, which focused on the main representatives of the Third Stream, which combined classical music and jazz, namely Don Ellis, Robert F. Graettinger, Ken Hanna and Pete Rugolo, Philippe Hode-Keyser is presenting a new and improved version of his Don Ellis project, presented with an ensemble of 28 musicians in February 2017. This time, it’s with a collective of 58 artists (rhythm section, brass, woodwinds, sitar, tablas, choirs, dance) that he pays tribute to the work of the visionary trumpeter, composer and conductor Don Ellis, who died prematurely of a heart attack in 1978 at the age of 44.
PROGRAMME
“Brash Brass Bash” (1973)
“Good Feelin’” (1969)
“Fire Dance” (1973)
“Pussywiggle Stomp” (1968)
“Star Children” (1968)
“Thetis” (1967)
“Wolfgang for All Seasons” (1972)
“Without Joan” (1972)
“Hey Jude” (1969)
“Whiplash” (1978)
We may frown on his acquaintances with Vladimir Putin’s regime, but Valery Gergiev is nonetheless one of the great maestros of our time. Montreal music lovers have witnessed his genius on a few occasions, including appearances with the Mariinsky Orchestra of Saint-Petersburg, which he conducts with an iron fist, but also with extraordinary refinement and astounding mastery. This time we’ll have the opportunity to see Gergiev at work with the MSO, which suggests a very special relationship with this exceptional maestro. What about Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9? What place will he give to Hungarian virtuoso Kristóf Baráti, guest soloist in Mendelssohn’s indispensable Violin Concerto No. 2? All hopes are high, and this is one of the most eagerly awaited concerts of the season.
ARTISTS AND PROGRAM
Montreal Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Valery Gergiev
Violin: Kristóf Baráti
Mendelssohn, Violin Concerto pour violon No. 2 in E minor, Op. 64
Bruckner, Symphony No. 9 in D minor, WAB 109