Montreal

Classical / Minimalist / Modern Classical / Renaissance

(CANCELLED) Hélène Dorion with les Violons du Roy

by Michel Rondeau

An interesting proposal, this literary concert – the prolific writer Hélène Dorion will read excerpts from her most recent collection of poems, Comme résonne la vie, accompanied the music of Les Violons du Roy, or in alternation with it. The musical palette will be varied: from the very Italian Renaissance madrigals of Gesualdo to a hypnotic piece by Estonia’s Arvo Pärt, as well as selected movements from string quartets by Schubert and Janacek, not to mention the premiere of a custom-made piece by Quebec composer Simon Bertrand.

PROGRAM

Gesualdo: Madrigals from libro quinto and libro sesto (Simon Bertrand, transcription)

Simon Bertrand: Creation pour des poèmes d’Hélène Dorion

Arvo Pärt: Summa

Janacek: String Quartet No. 2, Intimate Letters, 1st movement

Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D. 810, Death and the Maiden, 2nd movement (arr. for string orchestra)

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Jazz

(CANCELLED) Terri Lyne Carrington at Schulich Hall

by Michel Rondeau

Terri Lyne Carrington is a jazz drummer and composer who has been active for almost 40 years. She has accompanied trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Clark Terry, saxophonists Stan Getz and Wayne Shorter, singer Al Jarreau… but more particularly Herbie Hancock, whose band she was a member of from 1997 to 2007. Since then, she has been teaching at the Berkleee School of Music in Boston. A guest of the Catherine Thornhill-Steele Visiting Artists series, her drums will be propelled by the McGill Jazz Orchestra I on this night.

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Jazz / Third Stream

(POSTPONED) Projet Don Ellis II

by Michel Rondeau

He has delivered two particularly memorable concerts at Sala Rossa in recent years. The first one, Grand Jawaka, in the summer of 2016, featured most of Frank Zappa’s albums Waka Jawaka and Grand Wazoo. The second, Ode à l’Infonie, the following summer, with the ensemble 333 ToutArtBel, revisited some of the legendary group’s emblematic works with a joyful enthusiasm. Following on from his December concert, which focused on the main representatives of the Third Stream, which combined classical music and jazz, namely Don Ellis, Robert F. Graettinger, Ken Hanna and Pete Rugolo, Philippe Hode-Keyser is presenting a new and improved version of his Don Ellis project, presented with an ensemble of 28 musicians in February 2017. This time, it’s with a collective of 58 artists (rhythm section, brass, woodwinds, sitar, tablas, choirs, dance) that he pays tribute to the work of the visionary trumpeter, composer and conductor Don Ellis, who died prematurely of a heart attack in 1978 at the age of 44.

PROGRAMME
“Brash Brass Bash” (1973)
“Good Feelin’” (1969)
“Fire Dance” (1973)
“Pussywiggle Stomp” (1968)
“Star Children” (1968)
“Thetis” (1967)
“Wolfgang for All Seasons” (1972)
“Without Joan” (1972)
“Hey Jude” (1969)
“Whiplash” (1978)

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Baroque / Classical

Bach : Shadows and Light

by Laurence Gauvin

Arion Baroque Orchestra’s Bach: Light and Shadow programme is composed exclusively of works by Johann Sebastian Bach. Under the baton of Hank Knox, harpsichordist and founding member of Arion, the Orchestral Suite in B minor (BWV 1067) will be performed, followed by the aria Zerfliesse, mein Herze, from the St. John Passion (BWV 245). The famous Orchestral Suite is the second of four and was composed for flute, strings and basso continuo. Written between 1738 and 1739, this work is one of Bach’s last compositions for orchestra. It has seven movements, two of which showcase the talents of flutist Claire Guimond, Arion’s artistic director since 1981. An important figure in early music in Canada, Claire Guimond will be heard as soloist in two movements of the suite, the Polonaise, as well as in the well-known Badinerie. The concert will close with the aria Zerfliesse, mein Herze from the St. John Passion, the first large-scale choral work composed by the master. Given its many existing versions, it is difficult to establish precisely the year in which this passion was composed, but it is estimated that it was in 1724. Meaning “Flee, my heart,” Zerfliesse, mein Herze is a sweet tune of deep melancholy. Its refined texture allows a complete appreciation of the vocal part, which translates into a touching lyricism. The aria will be performed by the Spanish soprano Nuria Rial, a singer who works with several European opera houses.

PROGRAM:

Hank Knox: conductor

Nuria Rial: soprano

Claire Guimond: flute

JS Bach:

Orchestral Suite No. 2 for flute, strings and basso continuo, BWV 1067 

(Ouverture, Rondeau, Sarabande, Bourrée l and ll, Polonaise, Menuet, Badinerie [flute, strings and harpsichord])

Sinfonia from Cantata BWV 42Aria Zerfliesse, mein Herze, from St. John Passion, BWV 245

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Modern Classical

Han-Na Chang conducts Shostakovich

by Laurence Gauvin

For its next concert, l’Orchestre Métropolitain welcomes conductor Han-Na Chang to the  podium for Beethoven’s famous Violin Concerto and Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony. Formerly a solo cellist, Han-Na Chang has been Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Trondheim Symfoniorkester, in Norway, since 2017, where she previously served as Principal Guest Conductor from 2013 to 2017. She will share the stage with American soloist Benjamin Beilman, a violinist known throughout the world for his impressive technique and rich sound. Beilman will have the opportunity to perform Beethoven’s Violin Concerto several times as part of the festivities associated with the composer’s 250th birthday, notably in France, Hungary and Poland. Composed in a very short time, the Violin Concerto was premiered on December 23, 1806 by the then well-known violinist Franz Clement. Clement was even the author of the last theme used in the final rondo of the concerto, obviously refined by Beethoven afterwards. The program will conclude with a colossal piece: Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony. First performed on December 17, 1953, only a few months after Stalin’s death, this picturesque work is one of the composer’s best known. He said at the time that his goal was to convey the emotions and passions of the people, at that time strongly oppressed by Stalin’s ruthless regime. In a more traditional four-movement form – in contrast to its five-movement predecessor – this symphony is on a par with Shostakovich’s great works: giant, poignant and virtuosic.

PROGRAM

Conductor : Han-Na Chang

Violin : Benjamin Beilman

Beethoven : Violin Concerto

Shostakovich : Symphony No. 10

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Classical

Charles Richard-Hamelin à the Maison de la culture Claude-Léveillée

by Laurence Gauvin

The Maison de la culture Claude-Léveillée welcomes the famous Quebec pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin for an intimate piano concert. Winner of the silver medal and the Krystian-Zimerman Prize at the 2015 Frédéric-Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw, Charles Richard-Hamelin is, at the age of only 30, a renowned pianist acclaimed around the world. During this concert, the audience will be able to enjoy works by Beethoven, Mendelssohn and then Chopin: a romantic repertoire that will undoubtedly reflect the best qualities of the performer. It should be noted here that Richard-Hamelin’s discography contains not only a recording of Chopin’s two piano concertos – dating from 2019, with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal under the baton of his maestro, Kent Nagano – but also two discs dedicated solely to the piano repertoire of the same composer, both of which have been recognized and honoured by critics. So a promising program is in store for February 27, performed by one of our greatest pianists.

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Classical / Contemporary / Romantic

Kent Nagano Conducts Dusapin and Beethoven

by Sarah-Ann Larouche

A joint commission from the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Théâtre de La Monnaie/De Munt, Radio France and the Philharmonie de Paris led French composer Pascal Dusapin to begin composing his symphony for organ and orchestra. For this North American premiere presentation, the work will be performed by organist emeritus Olivier Latry. Also on the program, Chasse royale et orage, taken from Hector Berlioz’s opera Les Troyens, as well as Ludwig van Beethoven’s Pastoral, Symphony No. 6, op. 68 in F major.

PROGRAM
Montreal Symphony Orchestra
Kent Nagano: conductor
Olivier Latry: organ
Berlioz: Chasse royale et orage, from Les Troyens
Pascal Dusapin: Symphonie pour orgue et orchestre
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 (Pastoral)

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Contemporary

Three Echoes of the Odyssey

by Sarah-Ann Larouche

Presented as part of the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal’s Sunday concert series, this program feature premieres by composers John Plant, Louis Babin and Jean Derome, among others. A graduate of McGill University in composition, John Plant first began composing vocal music, before turning his attention to instrumental music in the last decade. For his part, Louis Babin is known for his playful, sometimes theatrical style. Performers Marie-Josée Simard and Louise Bessette aren’t new to the music of Jean Derome – in 2017, they presented his Tombeau de Marin Mersenne in a Carte Blanche concert for Simard at the Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur.

PROGRAM

Marie-Josée Simard, percussion, Louise Bessette, piano

Works by John Plant (premiere), Jean Derome, Louis Babin (premiere)

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Classical

Maurice Steger, A Baroque Banquet

by Sarah-Ann Larouche

Internationally renowned flautist Maurice Steger is back in Montreal and conducts Les Violons du Roy’s first concert of 2020, the theme of which is England. Among the works on the program are Henry Purcell’s Chaconne in G Minor and Curtain Tune on a Ground, from his opera Timon of Athens. In their own way, these two works are marked by a certain tragic anguish, a restlessness tempered by the sweetness and lightness of Georg Friedrich Handel’s recorder concerto in F major, after HWV 369, or Gottfried Finger’s A Ground. The ensemble also presents excerpts from Handel’s dance suites HWV 1, 287 and 399, William Babell’s recorder concerto in D major, Op. 3 No. 1, and the recorder concerto in G major after Francesco Geminiani’s Sonata Op. 5 No. 11.

PROGRAM

Les Violons du Roy

Maurice Steger: conductor and recorder player 

Handel: Dance Suite, from HWV 1, 287 and 399

Handel: Concerto for Recorder in F major, after Sonata HWV 369

Purcell: Curtain Tune on a Ground

Purcell: Chaconne in G minor

Finger: A Ground

Babell: Concerto for Recorder in D major, Op. 3 No. 1

Avison: Concerto grosso No. 3 for Two Violins and Cello

Geminiani: Concerto for Recorder in G major after Sonata Op. 5 No. 11

MORE INFORMATION

https://www.mbam.qc.ca/en/shop-online/concerts/maurice-steger-a-baroque-banquet/8286/

Rock / Shoegaze

Orchids • Shade • Jyraph

by Louise Jaunet

Photo credit: Laurine Haddock

Organized by one of the founders of the Montreal psychedelic festival Distortion, this concert presents two emerging bands: Shade, a rock ‘n’ roll band from Hamilton, and Orchids, a local shoegaze band – a rare genre in Montreal. The latter has just joined the Belgian label EXAG’ Records and will present, among other things, its next two songs to be released as singles.

In the opening slot, Jyraph will replace the previously scheduled Chacal.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHPKjzfdtSY&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2Wr_qqogUL9iNRJ+NVTl6VAhLavmngGz24sRDk4YRkeiz3_Igm_Suzm18o

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