Browsing: Classical Music

Montreal, January 14, 2021 – The Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ) outlines the 10th edition of its Montreal/New Musics festival (MNM), to be held from February 18 to 28, 2021. The MNM festival is reinventing itself to offer an unprecedented online sound odyssey with the theme Au-delà des frontières (Beyond Borders). MNM 2021 will stand out for the global aspect that webcast now offers, and through its programming, tinged with openness and discovery. Thus for 10 days musical and artistic frontiers will open up to reveal new and unprecedented sounds with universal accents. “I have always wanted to…

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This week, the Ontario government extended and tightened restrictions for everyone in Ontario. Unfortunately, these new restrictions mean that concert halls remain closed to audiences and now we also are unable to have artists or production staff creating livestreams. This is a profoundly disappointing blow to all of us at The Royal Conservatory and to our artists who were so looking forward to performing. The Conservatory had had to postpone and reschedule all concerts and livestreams for the next 28 days, as follows: 21C MUSIC FESTIVAL The Glenn Gould School New Music Ensemble: FLIPBOOK: Music and Images originally scheduled for…

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Montreal, January 11, 2021 – The Conseil québécois de la musique (CQM) will present the Prix Opus Hommage to Maestro Kent Nagano at the 24th edition of the Prix Opus gala, broadcast on the Facebook page of La Fabrique culturelle de Télé-Québec, on Sunday, February 7 at 4 p.m. This prize, awarded annually by the CQM’s Board of Directors, recognizes an individual’s exceptional contribution to the Quebec music scene. In the sixteen years he has been musical and artistic director of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Kent Nagano has raised and maintained the level of excellence of this institution that…

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WHEN ABSENCE HAUNTS US The postponement of the creation of L’orangeraie gave an opportunity for Chants Libres to film Prélude à l’opéra in the deserted Monument-National. This digital event, inspired by excerpts from the opera and coloured by constraints imposed on the performing arts milieu, will be webcast on January 21, 2021.  “After four years of work, I received the last notes of the score in March of 2020 just before the lockdown,” explains Pauline Vaillancourt. “We were ready for what was to come (costumes, rehearsals, set design, etc.), everything that is requires for the months leading up to a…

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Calgary, AB, January 12, 2021—National lockdowns, imposed quarantine periods, and increased travel restrictions have made it impossible for most arts organizations to proceed with their programs and events in the timelines that were originally planned. For these reasons, and to ensure the continued good health and safety of all involved, Honens has made the difficult decision to postpone its 2021 Quarterfinals. These recitals, which were scheduled to take place in Berlin and New York in March, will now take place in mid- to late- June. As plans are still being developed, more specific information will be shared as soon as it…

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Went well, as they say. There were no calamities to report after the webcast debut on Sunday of Rafael Payare as the music-director-to-be of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Nor many revelations in a 65-minute program (film intro included) of standards by Berlioz and Brahms from the empty Maison symphonique. Perhaps these will be forthcoming in two online concerts still not announced. Or at least sometime before September 2022, when the MSO appointment becomes official. Rather than offer something new, the 40-year-old Venezuelan chose to pay homage to MSO tradition and to symphonic tradition in general. First up was Berlioz’s Carnaval Romain, a…

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He has the hair. He has the flair. A Venezuelan who lives in Berlin, Rafael Payare has the international cachet that can fairly be deemed a vital prerequisite for a music director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. He does not have the French, although acquiring it is a high priority. Presumably Payare will make progress by 2022-23, when he is installed officially in the position, armed with a substantial initial contract of five years. What happens between now and then is clouded by post-COVID uncertainty, but Payare will be styled music director designate as of September. He might be said…

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The sound I miss most in our orchestral silence is the unexpected wail of a clarinet, in pain or pleasure like a cat in coitus, at the moment a symphony seems to be drifting towards the intermission. No way is the clarinet going to let this music end without a howl. Of all clarinet concertos, and I include Mozart’s, Aaron Copland’s is my favourite by a Siamese smile. Grifted from a dying cadence in Mahler’s ninth symphony, it meanders down the back-lots of Hollywood through some jazz riffs and pony clops to an upbeat, slightly phony all-American fadeout. That’s all,…

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MONTREAL, Jan. 7, 2021 – The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) announced today that Rafael Payare will become its next Music Director, effective from the 2022-2023 season for a minimum of five years. Mr. Payare assumes the position of Music Director Designate from September 1, 2021, taking over from Maestro Kent Nagano, who held the position of Music Director from 2006 to 2020. “It’s an immense honour and a pleasure to have been chosen as the next Music Director of the fantastic Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. To be given the opportunity to work, create and explore new musical possibilities with the wonderful…

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Steven Philcox and Lawrence Wiliford, the Co-artistic Directors of CASP, announce a series of grants to support new and emerging composers during this difficult time of COVID-19 isolation. Two grants of $2000 will be awarded in each of the next three years. The successful applicants will be expected to create three Art Songs (free-standing poems set to music), roughly 10 to 12 minutes in total, within 8 months of the agreed start date. As part of the programme the applicant will be paired with a recognized Canadian Art Song composer who will act as Mentor throughout the process. The Mentors will provide…

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