PODIUM 2024 will bring together hundreds of delegates and thousands of singers, spectators from across the country and beyond, passionate about collective singing.This vast choral happening will take place from May 16 to 19, 2024 in Montreal and will also be accessible online. Held every 2 years since 1982, each PODIUM has been shaped by the many voices that come together to plan, sing and share their knowledge in the host city where congress participants and the public gather. PODIUM 2024 is presented by Canada Choral and Alliance chorale du Québec.
Here are the must-see concerts in its program!
Thursday, May 16 at 5 p.m.
Christ Church Cathedral
Cultural Landscapes : Vocal ensembles Babεl (Elaine Choi) from Toronto, ON, Coroncoro Ensamble Vocal (Ana Paulina Alvarez) from Bogotá, Colombia and Concreamus (Kai Leung) from Toronto, ON will share the stage in this PODIUM 2024 opening concert.
Thursday, May 16, 8 p.m.
Saint-Andrew & Saint-Paul Church – 3415 Redpath Street, Montreal, H3G 2G2
Héritages : The National Youth Choir of Canada (NYCC) 2024, a project of Canada Choral, brings together 31 of the finest young choristers aged 19 to 26 from across Canada and will conclude its concert tour by presenting Héritages, under the musical and artistic direction of choral conductor Roseline Blain. The repertoire will feature numerous French-language works, from Clément Janequin to Robert Ingari, via Gabriel Fauré, Francis Poulenc and Claude Champagne. This will be an opportunity to hear the premiere of two new works by Quebec composers Ana Sokolović and Katia Makdissi-Warren. Even Jean-Pierre Ferland, who has just left us, will be on the program!
Friday, May 17 at 5 p.m.
Christ Church Cathedral
Where the heart is : Chroma Vocal Ensemble (Mitchell Pady) of Toronto, Ont., Proximus 5 of Winnipeg, Man. and Toronto Northern Lights (Andrew Carolan) of Toronto, Ont. will share the stage.
Friday, May 17, 8 p.m.
Salle Pierre-Mercure
Ahskennon’nia : Songs of peace: Ahskennon’nia, which means “peace” in the Huron-Wendat language, is the musical starting point for this Aboriginal collaboration featuring Andrée Levesque Sioui (Wendat singer-songwriter), Deantha Edmunds (Inuk soprano), Alex Vollant (Innu baritone and pianist), the Choeur des enfants de Montréal (Eun Jung Park), the vocal ensemble musica Intima, with Sherryl Sewepagaham (Cree composer-performer) as artistic director of the concert.
Ahskennon’nia will feature Aboriginal compositions by Sherryl Sewpagaham and Andrew Balfour (Cree). This will be an opportunity to hear the world premiere of a new Aboriginal choral work, commissioned for PODIUM 2024. In the spirit of reconciliation through song, this work, composed and directed by Andrée Levesque Sioui, in an arrangement by Andrew Balfour, will be heard during the concert finale. The work will be performed by the artists, choirs and Aboriginal collaborators involved in Ahskennon’nia.
Saturday, May 18, 5 p.m.
Christ Church Cathedral
Éveil et liberté : The Chœur des Jeunes de Laval (Philippe Ostiguy) from Laval (QC), the Chœur Adleisia (Megan Batty and Virginie Pacheco) from Montreal (QC) and the Holy Heart Chamber Choir (Robert Colbourne) from St. John’s (NL) will share the stage for this concert.
Saturday, May 18, 8 p.m.
Salle Pierre-Mercure
Lift Every Voice : from African-American spirituals to hip-hop will bring together the Nathaniel Dett Chorale, directed by Brainerd Blyden-Taylor, and the Jireh Gospel Choir, directed by Carol Bernard, to mark the end of the UN International Decade of People of African Descent. The concert will feature the diverse and significant contributions of people of African descent to choral music, including Sydney Guillaume, Evelyn Simpson Cureton and Christopher Ducasse, who will conduct his own compositions.
Sunday, May 19, 3 p.m.
Salle Pierre-Mercure
Chants d’appel et de liaisons : For the closing concert of this edition, the PODIUM 2024 Festival offers an exceptional intercultural dialogue conceived and directed by André Pappathomas bringing together Quebec artists : four Quebec choirs from different cultural communities, Canticorum (Latin America), Singiza (Rwanda), La Muse (Romania) and Haïti chante et danse (Haiti), four classical solo singers, a Quebec folk trio and a trio of musicians (violin, cello and vibraphone/percussion) will take part in a multidisciplinary event where the music that binds voices and hearts together will be the main thread.
The concert program will unfold around a principle of directed improvisation for vocal ensemble, which Pappathomas has developed over the years. Thus, the opening piece, the finale and the links between the performances of each choir will be approached in the form of controlled improvisation.
