Classical / Modern Classical

(CANCELLED) Cheng2 Duo

by Michel Rondeau

Although they are still very young, the Cheng siblings have been making music as a duo for more than 15 years. Their playing has a very special telepathic quality, marked by a youthful freshness. The works on the program were chosen based on the exhibition Paris in the Days of Post-Impressionism – Signac and the Indépendants, presented at the MMFA. The concert is preceded by a guided tour at 5 p.m., after the Museum’s opening hours.

PROGRAM
Bryan Cheng, cello
Silvie Cheng, piano
Franck: Sonata in A major (arr. Delsart)
Fauré: Sicilienne for cello and piano, Op. 78
Fauré: Papillon for cello and piano in A major
Debussy: Sonata for cello and piano in D minor
Ravel: Sonata for cello and piano

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Classical / Modern Classical

(Cancelled) Orchestre de l’Agora

by Michel Rondeau

Under the direction of its young conductor Nicolas Ellis, a Radio-Canada 2018 Révélation classique, l’Orchestre de l’Agora is a musical collective that aims to reinvent the role of the classical musician in the community by capitalizing on their talent and commitment. Nothing less. In this concert, each work features different section leaders, who take turns performing solo parts.

PROGRAM
Orchestre de l’Agora
Nicolas Ellis, conductor
Tchaikovsky: Serenade for string orchestra, Op. 48
Grieg: Holberg Suite, Op. 40
Bartok: Divertimento for String Orchestra
Stravinsky: Concerto in D

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Soul Jazz

(POSTPONED) Leslie Odom, Jr.

by Michel Rondeau

He first made a name for himself as an actor on the small screen, notably in the crime series CSI: Miami and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, but also in the music series Mash. In 2014, he released his self-produced debut album. Two years later, he signed a contract with S-Curve Records, and went on to become a serious hit, placing his next album at the top of the Billboard jazz charts. Since then, things have been going well for Mr. Odom, who comes to L’Astral with songs from his most recent recording simply entitled Mr.

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Contemporary / North East Asian

(Cancelled) Eau douce – eau trouble

by Michel Rondeau

Under this aquatic title, three musicians – Kimihiro Yasaka, piano, Louis-Philippe Bonin, saxophone, and David Therrien Brongo, percussion – explore as many themes of the Japanese cultural imagination: the mystical aspect of nature, temporality, and the notion of movement. The music will of course take on the colours of Asia and will include works from the repertoire as well as a piece created especially for the occasion by Montreal-based composer of Japanese descent, Keiko Devaux.

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Contemporary / North East Asian

(Cancelled) Eau douce – eau trouble

by Michel Rondeau

Under this aquatic title, three musicians – Kimihiro Yasaka, piano, Louis-Philippe Bonin, saxophone, and David Therrien Brongo, percussion – explore as many themes of the Japanese cultural imagination: the mystical aspect of nature, temporality, and the notion of movement. The music will of course take on the colours of Asia and will include works from the repertoire as well as a piece created especially for the occasion by Montreal-based composer of Japanese descent, Keiko Devaux.

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Black Metal / Experimental / Contemporary / Industrial / Metalcore / Noise Rock / Punk

(CANCELLED) Uniform & The Body • Dreamdecay • Sandworm • Big Brave

by Michel Rondeau

Busy night at La Vitrola. Five bands, two of which have been teaming up for a few years: Uniform, a noise/industrial trio from New York City, and The Body, a heavyweight duo based in Portland, Oregon. They will be preceded by the Montreal trio Big Brave, the Providence black metal duo Sandworm and the Seattle quartet Dreamdecay. Enough to keep your ears clean.

PLUS D’INFORMATIONS

Persian Classical

(CANCELLED) Ensemble Âstân

by Michel Rondeau

Presented on the occasion of the traditional New Year’s Day of the Persian calendar, In the Shadow of Mount Damascus (the highest semi-active volcanic peak in Iran) is inspired by the Shânâmeh, or Book of Kings, an epic poem retracing the history of Iran, from the creation of the world to the arrival of Islam, by the Iranian poet Ferdowsi. The concert will be accompanied by the projection on a large screen of an animated film directed by Aristofanis Soulikias.

Ensemble Âstân
Bashir Faramarzi, santur, vocals and art direction
Omar Abou Afach, viola
Christophe Papadimitriou, double bass
Joseph Khoury, percussion

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Classical / Modern Classical

(CANCELLED) Gerald Finley and Jean-Yves Thibaudet

by Michel Rondeau

Montreal-born Canadian baritone Gerald Finley has had the opportunity, over the course of his 35-year career, to sing at some of the world’s greatest opera houses, and to lend his voice to a raft of critically acclaimed recordings, including works by Maurice Ravel, whose Histoires naturelles he will perform at the Maison symphonique. Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet is not to be outdone. A native of Lyon, this specialist in the Romantic repertoire and French impressionist composers has enjoyed a brilliant concert career. He has also distinguished himself by performing arias with opera singers, most notably with Cecilia Bartoli.

PROGRAM 
Gerald Finley, baritone
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
Schumann, Dichterliebe (A Poet’s Love), Op. 48
Ravel, Histoires naturelles
Fauré, Mélodies
Other works to be confirmed

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Classical / Contemporary

(CANCELLED) Intermezzo : Smetana and Kabalevski

by Michel Rondeau

A short piano recital at lunchtime? What a great idea! Especially since admission is free. An opportunity to discover two works by two Russian composers as proposed by Martin Karlicek, professor of piano at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University. Dreams is a cycle of six pieces composed by Smetana in 1875 while he was losing his hearing. Sonata No. 2, composed at the end of the war in 1945, is the most important piece in Kabalevsky’s keyboard repertoire

PROGRAM
Smetana : Dreams
Kabalevsky: Piano Sonata No. 2 in E-flat major, Op. 45

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Baroque / Classical

(CANCELLED) Violaine Melançon • Ilya Poletaev

by Alain Brunet

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

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Classical / Contemporary / Minimalist

(Cancelled) Explorer of Dissonance and Sacred Art

by Michel Rondeau

Bound by a somewhat intriguing theme, three very different works. First, Philip Glass’ Quartet No. 3, originally composed for the soundtrack of the film Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, American filmmaker Paul Schrader’s 1985 biographyof the Japanese author. This is followed by a new work by Montrealer Maxime McKinley and, by Hungarian composer Henryk Gorecki – a complete string quartet by whom Quatuor Molinari presented in September, which will be recorded and released next fall to commemorate the tenth anniversary of his death on November 12 – the Quartet No. 2, Quasi una Fantasia

PROGRAM

Philip Glass : String Quartet No. 3, Mishima

Maxime McKinley : (new work)

Henryk Gorecki : String Quartet No. 2, Quasi una Fantasia

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Ambient / Experimental / Contemporary / Post-Minimalist

(Cancelled) Raphael Weinroth-Browne

by Michel Rondeau

He’s a member of the Kamancello duo with Shahriyar Jamshid, a player of the Kurdish kamancheh (a bowed string instrument with a timre similar to a violin’s), and has participated in more than a hundred recordings, many of them for film and television. He’s performed at several festivals, played with Pauline Oliveros and Dutch cellist Ernst Reijseger, recorded and toured with the Norwegian progressive rock/metal band Leprous… but had no solo album to his credit. Tonight’s concert is just the occasion for its release. The music is intimate, even enveloping, with rich ambiences that unfold in space like the northern lights we sometimes see undulating in the summer sky.

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