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

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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

North East Asian / Taiko

Drum Tao 2020

by Rupert Bottenberg

How many musicians can you think of that include daily long-distance runs, calisthenics and martial arts training in their practice schedule? That’s what’s required of the percussionists in Japanese ensemble Tao, which since 1993 has brought the fearsome thunder of traditional taiko drumming, enhanced by flavours from elsewhere in Asia and a striking theatrical flair, to stages around the world. Excitement is guaranteed when they start clubbing the skins at Place des Arts.

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Eastern European / Romani Music

Alexandru Sura: ” Paganini cymbalumesque “

by Rupert Bottenberg

Moldovan-born Montrealer Alexandru Sura is an acknowledged master of the cimbalom, that trapezoidal chordophone commonly applied in Eastern European traditional music. Sura summons up the tantalizing timbres of this underappreciated instrument when he joins the Rondo Capriccioso de Saint-Saëns orchestra for a program of Paganini’s revered “Campanella”, the third movement of his Violin Concerto No. 2, as well as some Romanian folk-music delights.

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Post-Rock / Rock / Shoegaze

Towers of Jupiter • ESC

by Rupert Bottenberg

Patient and subtle where so many of their post-rock contemporaries are merely tedious and vague, Montreal’s Towers of Jupiter construct impressive edifices of otherworldly sound. Their recent free download, “Histoire sans mort 2020”, decently demonstrates their magnified mood-scaping. Get in on the ground floor of this one.

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