(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.

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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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Classical

(CANCELLED) Beethoven’s Chamber Music – Concert II

by Alain Brunet

PROGRAM

Trio Grimal Gastinel Cassard

David Grimal, violin

Anne Gastinel, cello

Philippe Cassard, piano

Strauss McNabney Haimovitz Trio

Axel Strauss, violin

Douglas McNabney, viola

Matt Haimovitz, cello

String trio No. 4 in D major, Op. 9 No. 2

Piano Trio No. 3 in C minor, Op. 1 No. 3

String Quintet in C major, Op. 29

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Classical

(CANCELLED) Beethoven’s chamber music at Bourgie Hall – Concert I

by Alain Brunet

The 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth is the occasion for so many special programs around the world. Arte Musica offers us a superb selection of Beethoven, including the following series of chamber music concerts. The first program of this series offers us two trios. The first is the trio of three French virtuosos, violinist David Grimal, cellist Anne Gastinel and pianist Philippe Cassard, and the second is the Montreal trio of violinist Axel Strauss, violist Douglas McNabney and cellist Matt Haimovitz. Two trios and a quartet on the program, adding up to an intersection of perspectives. The two trios will also share the same stage on March 14, for another program.

PROGRAMME

PROGRAM

Trio Grimal Gastinel Cassard

David Grimal, violin

Anne Gastinel, cello

Philippe Cassard, piano

Strauss McNabney Haimovitz Trio

Axel Strauss, violin

Douglas McNabney, viola

Matt Haimovitz, cello

String trio No. 5 in C minor, Op. 9 No. 3

Piano quartet in E-Flat major, Op. 16B

Piano trio No. 5 in B major, Op. 70 No. 1, Ghost

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Electro / Experimental / Contemporary / Glitch / Melodic Noise

(CANCELLED) Fennesz • Britton Powell • Eliza Kavtion

by Alain Brunet

Austria’s Christian Fennesz released the album Agora on Touch in March 2019, then performed at the Suoni per il Popolo in June. The recording and concert were simply extraordinary, the sort of rare sound experiences from which one comes out transformed. Rich textural sediments with great saturation effects, digitally processed samples, electric guitars, effect pedals and other microvariations, there’s so much precious metals in the Fennesz mine for prospectors of horizontal music to extract. Total noise coexists perfectly with white noise, with the sharper frequencies and consonantly overlapping melodic scales. Needless to say, this concert by a master back in Montreal is an absolute must.

PROGRAM

Fennesz (electro / ambient / glitch / experimental)

Britton Powell (electro/ experimental)

Eliza Kavtion (noise / experimental)

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Classical

Chamber Music Allegra looks at Beethoven

by Alain Brunet

Founded in 1980 by pianist and artistic director Dorothy Fieldman Fraiberg, Allegra Chamber Music continues its mission in 2020, in the context of the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth. This program is thus dedicated to the famous German composer and offers a repertoire of his works in different configurations.

PROGRAM

Dorothy Fieldman Fraiberg: piano

Lara Deutsch: flute

Alexander Lozowski: violin

Pierre Tourville: viola

Sheila Hannigan: cello

Beethoven : Sonata No. 5 for violin and piano in F major, Op. 24 Spring

Beethoven : String trio

Beethoven : Serenade pour flute, violin and viola in D major, Op. 25

Beethoven : Quartet for piano, violin, viola and cello No. 1 in E-Flat major, WoO 36

(arranged for piano, clarinet and string trio by Simon Aldrich)

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