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Classical / Contemporary / Modern Classical

Société de concerts de Montréal Choir

by Alexandre Villemaire

For their major lyrical production of the year, the students of the Conservatoire de musique turn into princes, princesses, godmothers and stepmothers in this adaptation by Jules Massenet of Charles Perreault’s tale. Up there with Werther and Manon among the composer’s greatest successes, Cendrillon seduces with its lyricism, its emblematic tunes (“Que mes soeurs sont heureuses”, “Ah! douce enfant”, and “Enfin, je suis ici”), its sparkling colours and its streak of humour treated with delicacy and elegance in music by the composer. This musical fairy tale is presented three evenings with two distinct casts. (Alexandre Villemaire)

ARTISTS AND PROGRAM:

Chœur de chambre de la Société de concerts de Montréal 

Pascal Germain-Berardi, director

Denis Gougeon: La chanson des gitans 

Louis Desjarlais: Le Bestiaire 

Hugo Levasseur-Déziel: À l’aube d’un régime post-littéraire 

Pierre Grandmaison: Ave Maria 

Marcel Laurencelle: Kyrie, from Messe pour les Dimanches de l’Avent et du Carême

Ana Sokolović: ASAP 4 SATB 

Jean-Christophe Arsenault: T’en souviens-tu Godin 

Lionel Daunais: Le Pont Mirabeau 

Claude Vivier: O! Kosmos! 

Pascal Germain-Berardi: Les arts univers

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Eastern European / Romani Music

Alexandru Sura: ” Paganini cymbalumesque “

by Rupert Bottenberg

Moldovan-born Montrealer Alexandru Sura is an acknowledged master of the cimbalom, that trapezoidal chordophone commonly applied in Eastern European traditional music. Sura summons up the tantalizing timbres of this underappreciated instrument when he joins the Rondo Capriccioso de Saint-Saëns orchestra for a program of Paganini’s revered “Campanella”, the third movement of his Violin Concerto No. 2, as well as some Romanian folk-music delights.

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Baroque / Classical

Les Violons du Roy and Bach cantatas

by François Vallières

For this concert, part of the series organized by Arte Musica of the complete cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach, Les Violons du Roy present three of them. Under the direction of Jonathan Cohen, the Québec ensemble will open the evening with Sehet wir gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem, BWV 159 (See, we go up to Jerusalem), written for the last Sunday before Lent. The group will then play Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein, BWV 2 (O God of heaven, look down here below), written for the second Sunday following the feast of the Holy Trinity. The third cantata, Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiss, BWV 134 (A heart that knows that its Jesus is alive) was written for Easter Tuesday. The soloists for this concert will be countertenor Alex Potter, tenor Nick Pritchard and baritone Tyler Duncan. Please note that a rehearsal is scheduled 45 minutes before the concert to allow the audience to practice singing the final chorale of one of the cantatas. 

ARTISTS AND PROGRAM:

Les Violons du Roy 

Jonathan Cohen: conductor

Alex Potter: countertenor

Nick Pritchard: tenor

Tyler Duncan: baritone

J. S. Bach : Cantatas

Sehet wir gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem, BWV 159

Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein, BWV 2

Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiß, BWV 134

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Contemporary Jazz / Jazz

Olivier Babaz • Frank Lozano • Pierre Tanguay

by Alain Brunet

Double bassist, composer, improviser and orchestra leader, Olivier Babaz invites saxophonist Frank Lozano and drummer Pierre Tanguay to take on the material from Fragments, his most recent album, not to mention the fruit of his collaboration with his Montreal guests.

MUSICIANS:
Olivier Babaz : double bass, composer
Frank Lozano : saxophone
Pierre Tanguay : drums

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Rock

White Cowbell Oklahoma • Floating Widget

by Patrick Baillargeon

Toronto’s exuberant White Cowbell Oklahoma are coming to celebrate their 20th anniversary in Montreal, a city they know well enough, having played there many times. While some assumed they’d vanished under a mountain of empty beer cans, the Ontario band has never really stopped playing wherever they’ve been in demand – in Canada, of course, but also in the Netherlands, France and Germany, where the WCO’s southern (northern) rock seems to be particularly popular. The sextet, known for their guitar excesses, offbeat humour and penchant for getting pickeld, will share the stage with local stoner combo Floating Widget.

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Indie Pop / Pop / Rock / Singer-Songwriter

Simon Kearney

by Alain Brunet

In early 2019, Simon Kearney released the songs of Open House, which he affectionately refers to as “pop ’n’ roll“. Let’s be a little more specific and call his songs indie pop mixed with rock, blues, funk, groove and hip hop. Kearney’s lyrics are mostly autobiographical, often self-deprecating or downright absurd. Zero headache, pop entertainment with a rock attitude, a certain lucidity… and that’s all for now.

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Reggae / Rock / Ska / Soul/R&B

Bedouin Soundclash • Odario

by Jean-François Cyr

After a nine-year hiatus, Canadian band Bedouin Soundclash released their fifth studio album, MASS, in 2019. It was recorded in New Orleans with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and in a church with the children of the St. James Music Academy in Vancouver. Founded by Montreal-born guitarist-singer Jay Malinowski and Toronto bassist Eon Sinclair, Bedouin Soundclash is was very popular in the 2000s, sharing the stage with No Doubt, Ben Harper, The Roots, The Interrupters, Gogol Bordello and Thievery Corporation, among others. Canadian artist Odario will also be on stage.

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Post-Rock / Rock / Shoegaze

Towers of Jupiter • ESC

by Rupert Bottenberg

Patient and subtle where so many of their post-rock contemporaries are merely tedious and vague, Montreal’s Towers of Jupiter construct impressive edifices of otherworldly sound. Their recent free download, “Histoire sans mort 2020”, decently demonstrates their magnified mood-scaping. Get in on the ground floor of this one.

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Dancehall / Reggae

Pisces Affair: Little Thunder Sound • Energy Squad • Mark Passion • Nighthawk Int’l • DJ Tuff • Big Worm

by Richard Lafrance

Recognized as one of the most respected sound systems in the country for almost 30 years, Little Thunder has also positioned itself as a major producer of dancehall events in the Montreal Jamaican community. The year always begins with two of their major productions: Bigga Things, in mid-January, and Pisces Affair, celebrating the birthday of one of their two selector brothers, Don Ignorance, at the Montreal Caribbean Social Organisation in LaSalle. Energy Squad, Mark Passion, Nighthawk International, veteran DJ Tuff and Big Worm kick off the evening.

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Psych-Rock / Rock

Elephant Stone • Meggie Lennon

by Jean-François Cyr

Photo credit: Bowen Stead

In 2016, Montreal band Elephant Stone released a very good psychedelic rock record called Ship of Fools. Founded in 2008 by singer-songwriter, bassist and sitar player Rishi Dhir, the band, fresh off a European tour, release their long-awaited sixth studio album, Hollow, on February 14. Elephant Stone take advantage of the concert at L’Escogriffe to share six new songs as well as a dozen other tracks from their repertoire, including “Andromeda”. The band also offer launch shows in Quebec City, Sherbrooke and Lalvaltrie. Over the years, Elephant Stone has performed many shows in Canada and abroad.

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First Nations

Constantinople: « Souffles »

by Michel Rondeau

Constantinople has been part of Quebec’s musical landscape for 10 years now, guiding its audiences on a journey through time and culture. Back from a tour of Senegal, Mauritania, Algeria and France, Kiya Tabassian and his band present Souffles, where the songs and prayers of the Mi’kmaq and Innu throat-singing mingle with the diphonic chants of Tuva, a republic in eastern Russia bordering Mongolia. Adding to the dialogue are the ensemble’s signature instruments – setar, frame drums and viola da gamba – as well as the oldest and most emblematic instrument of the Sufis and Persian music, the reed flute called the ney.

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Singer-Songwriter

Pierre Lapointe

by Alain Brunet

Albin de la Simone, Hubert Lenoir, Julien Chiasson, Félix Dyotte, Amélie Mandeville, Philippe B and Clara Luciani collaborated on Pierre Lapointe’s intimate album Pour déjouer l’ennui, a record of French chanson “à texte” as one would have imagined it in the late ’50s and in the pre-psychedelic ’60s. Gainsbourg, Barbara, Moustaki… the consummate classicism is appropriate on this very fine album, very well written, with a focus on the intimacy of sensitive and loving beings.

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