Two hours before the start of the concert, the best seats were already taken, in front of the stage set up at the foot of the Mont-Royal. The atmosphere was festive and family-friendly: small groups gathered around a picnic on this wonderful early-August evening. A group of percussionists, made up of high-school students and their teacher, provided pre-concert entertainment, moving through the crowd to provide lively Brazilian rhythms.
Comedian and host Katherine Levac was the evening’s presenter. She took on the role of the unaccustomed concertgoer, announcing that she didn’t really know what was going to happen. She appeared after each piece performed by the orchestra, which somewhat broke the concert’s rhythm, but her interventions were funny and rhythmic, keeping the audience attentive. It has to be said that this concert at the foot of Mont-Royal aims to break the traditional mould of the classical concert. Yannick Nézet-Séguin even invited the crowd to get out their cell phones to film and share the 3rd movement of Dvorak’s 7th Symphony (an obvious nod to his public dissatisfaction last May, when a ringing phone interrupted the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra concert he was conducting).
Nézet-Séguin took to the stage with Bernstein’s “Mambo” (from West Side Story). The repertoire chosen for the evening was far from clichéd, revolving around the theme of dance and nature. Jean Coulthard’s Kalamalka musically illustrated the beauty of Canadian lakes and wide-open spaces. With this choice, the OM continued its tradition of including a piece composed by a woman on the program of every concert. Next, the last two movements of Dvorak’s 7th Symphony were danceable and still somewhat imbued with nostalgia. André Mathieu’s beautiful Rhapsodie romantique was then performed with Alain Lefèvre at the piano. Lefèvre is a specialist in Mathieu’s work and interpreted this piece with strength, power and, at times, theatricality. Finally, the OM invited the crowd to dance to the tunes of Marquez’s Danzon no. 2. The audience was ultimately spoiled by the surprise arrival on stage of Ariane Moffatt, who performed La vie en rose as an encore.
The OM offered a concert in which both classical music regulars and newcomers could find something to their liking. The evening unfolded in good spirits, with smiles on everyone’s faces.
