Browsing: Quebec Music

Montreal International Guitar Festival and Competition Again this year, the Montreal International Guitar Festival and Competition promises to be an event to follow. The program involving artists François Fowler, Jesus Serrano Huitron, Emma Rush, Roberto Fabri, Samuel Coyle, Tariq Harb, Jeffrey McFadden and Dave Pilon guarantees a rare spectacle. The festival continues its youth competition in addition to offering many master classes. Concerts start at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The musical cocktail is a mix of musicians of different nationalities. May 25-27, D.B. Clarke Theater. www.guitaremontreal.com 21C Music Festival The 21C Music Festival celebrates its fifth anniversary with…

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The Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil (OSDL) is celebrating spring with Carl Orff’s renowned Carmina Burana. The concert will bring together OSDL musicians, the St. Lambert Choral Society, Les Petits Chanteurs de Laval and soloists Raphaëlle Paquette (soprano), Antoine Bélanger (tenor) and Marc Boucher (baritone). They will be led by OSDL artistic director Marc David, who describes Carmina Burana as “one of those grandiose works of the symphonic repertoire dealing with a universal theme, where listeners, singers, musicians and conductors are satisfied.” This seminal work was composed in 1935 and premiered in 1937 in Frankfurt. The text comprises 24 medieval poems…

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I recently had the great pleasure of conversing with Joseph Rouleau, a Quebec bass of international reputation, still working on projects at 89. Why, in the middle of a singing career that would have filled more than one life, was he interested in the development of young artists? “If we go back to the 1950s, there was not much [opportunity],” he replied. André Turp, Robert Savoie, Maureen Forrester and I, we all made our first tours with Jeunesses Musicales. “I made my first tour in 1950-1951 with Jeunesses Musicales. This allowed me to sing in more than 40 concerts and…

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Known as the Association des organismes musicaux du Québec (AOMQ) at its foundation in 1987, this organization became the Conseil québécois de la musique (CQM) in 1993. The year 2017 marked the 21st anniversary of the Opus awards and the 30th of the foundation of CQM. This edition of the Opus awards recognized music created, produced and performed between September 2016 and 2017. We can only praise the hard work and the outreach. Awards were interspersed with generous performances, much collaboration and mixing of the genres and specialities. I allow myself a question regarding performances after prizes: it is impossible…

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At the 21st Opus prize gala on Feb. 4, the Conseil québécois de la musique (CQM) awarded the Opus Hommage to Lorraine Vaillancourt for her significant contribution to contemporary music. Moved by this tribute in her honour, Vaillancourt admits that she rarely takes pause to reflect on her past. She lives from day to day, but with an eye to the future. It must be this anchorage in the present that has allowed her to dedicate her professional life to the music of her time. Unwavering Originally from Arvida, Saguenay, Vaillancourt chose the path of music at the age of…

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To conclude its 78th season, the McGill Chamber Orchestra presents a gala in the company of tenor Marc Hervieux, its spokesperson for 2017-2018. This huge party on June 6 will have the Rialto resonating with the sound of the singer’s voice, which will be accompanied by his band as well as a string quintet comprising MCO players. The colourful setting of the famous Montreal theater will add a glamorous touch to this musical night. MCO artistic director Boris Brott has only praise for his collaborator: “To have Marc Hervieux as a spokesperson has been almost miraculous for us. We worked…

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La Muse choir under the direction of Ioana German, will present its Viva Verdi concert in both Montreal and Ottawa. Supported by sopranos Chantal Dionne, Marina Negruta and Anca Maria Grigoriu; mezzo-soprano Antonela Barnat; tenor Jaime Sandoval; bass Dan Popescu and an orchestra, the choir will perform some of Verdi’s greatest choruses, including excerpts from the Requiem, Il Trovatore, La Traviata and Nabucco. This large-scale concert promises a burst of Verdian joy. Barnat has been a regular singer at the Bucharest State Opera since her debut as Rosina in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville in 2006. She made her debut…

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Subduction Julie Thériault, Audiogramme 19075801072 Inspired by geology, the pianist, composer and arranger Julie Thériault last November launched her second album, Subduction. This term refers to the slow and inexorable movement of two overlapping tectonic plates. Seemingly benign, these underground movements can have dramatic effects at the surface. The metaphor is quite appropriate to describe Thériault’s music: the 11 pieces unfold and follow each other slowly and steadily, gradually increasing in dramatic intensity before reaching the cataclysmic paroxysm of the last track, Magma. Thériault’s delicate and serious articulation introduces the main melodies as accompanying instruments appear, thickening the sound as…

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1747 : C.P.E. Bach Infusion Baroque, Sonates en trio Wq.145 à 148 et Wq. 150, Leaf Music, 63 min 48 s In 1747, J.S. Bach traveled to Berlin to visit his son Carl Philipp Emanuel. There he composed The Musical Offering, at the heart of which is a trio sonata. This may have inspired C.P.E. In the same year, he reworked several trio sonatas he had written at 17 in collaboration with his father. He offered a modern version, halfway between baroque aesthetics and the new galant style. The Montreal ensemble Infusion Baroque made a wise choice by selecting this seductive repertoire, still…

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Lucia di Lammermoor 4.5 Stars Opera McGill. Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor. Brittany Rae, Marcel d’Entremont, Bryan De Parsia, Jean-Philippe Mc Clish, Amelia Lubrano, Sébastien Comtois, Patrick McGill, Saraha Dufresne. McGill Symphony Orchestra, Stephen Hargreaves, conductor. Direction by Patrick Hansen. Monument National, Jan. 28. Performance 9/10 What you missed: Bumper crop at Opera McGill. Soprano Brittany Rae of Calgary, the third of three Lucias, combined pure tone, brilliant highs, natural acting and a fetching way with a phrase. Mad scenes are not always so believable. Good projection by tenor Marcel d’Entremont as Edgardo. Sturdy Enrico from baritone Bryan De Parsia, a…

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