OSJM celebrates its second anniversary with Mahler’s Second Symphony

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Founded in 1976 and directed since 1986 by Louis Lavigueur, the OSJM is known as one of Canada’s best young people’s orchestras. It comprises 72 musicians—ranging in age from 13 to 25—who have trained in music schools, conservatories and universities in Montreal and Quebec.

It gives these young players a quality experience and musical training with the focus on symphonic repertoire. Entrance auditions are held each year, so new talent is constantly coming in, and young musicians are getting the chance to spend a year with the orchestra and play to its exacting standards. The OSJM is especially known for the quality of its performances and the discipline of its players.

On May 6, at the Maison symphonique, the OSJM will play Mahler’s second symphony (known as Resurrection) to celebrate the orchestra’s anniversary. This concert was initially planned for 2021 to mark the OSJM’s 45th birthday, but was delayed because of the pandemic. It will now be performed to close the 2022-23 season.

To play this monumental work that calls for more than 250 musicians, the orchestra will be accompanied by the Chœur classique de Montréal and the Chœur polyphonique de Montréal (both of which Lavigueur has directed for 20 years) as well as the Ensemble vocal Polymnie. For once, former orchestra members will be invited to take part in this anniversary celebration, so the OSJM will attain the 120 musicians needed to play the symphony.

Two guest soloists will appear for the last two movements: contralto Claudine Ledoux will sing in the fourth, based on the lied Ulricht, and soprano Karina Gauvin will join her for the radiant fifth movement.

For Louis Lavigueur, Mahler’s Resurrection is a phenomenal work and a veritable hymn to life. Continuing some aspects of his first symphony, Titan, its five movements trace a journey from darkness to light. This journey, from the funeral march of the first movement to the exaltation of the fifth, represents for Lavigueur a message of hope that’s particuliarly important after the upsets of the pandemic.

While the concert marks the end of the usual OSJM season, the orchestra will join the Chœur classique de Montréal on June 22 for a special concert devoted to Handel’s Israel in Egypt at the Maison symphonique, before touring in France for the summer.

Tickets: www.placedesarts.com/evenement/resurrection-symphonie-no-2-mahler