Canadian Music - my/maSCENA

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NEM pays tribute to André Prévost and composers of several generations

By Justin Bernard on 16 April 2021 Chamber Music, Contemporary, Orchestral, Quebec Music

Undeterred by the pandemic, the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne and its artistic director Normand Forget were hard at work in recent months. In February, the ensemble recorded a composition by Sandeep Bhagwati at the monastery in Oka for an online video webcast, then streamed a performance dedicated to all health workers, one of them being its oboist Julie Sirois-Leclerc, also emergency physician. On April 16, it will perform live and online from its usual venue, Salle Claude-Champagne. The concert pays tribute to André Prévost, a composer and eminent teacher who passed away in 2001. The orchestra and its conductor Lorraine Vaillancourt…

Festival Stella Musica: 6th edition in memory of Anne-Marie Trahan

By Justin Bernard on 7 April 2021 Canadian Music, Opera, Piano

Initially scheduled for spring 2020, but postponed for a year because of the pandemic, the sixth edition of the Stella Musica Festival will be presented for the first time in a hybrid way, in front of a live audience in the Gesù amphitheatre – if health measures permit this – and online. The traditional networking evening cannot take place, but the Stella Musica Festival will nonetheless pursue the mission that has inspired it since its inception: supporting women composers, women performers and, more broadly, highlighting the contribution of women in the world of music and the arts, including in leadership…

Prix Opus 2021: CQM unveils the winners

By Justin Bernard on 7 February 2021 Arts Industry, Canadian Music, Classical, Contemporary, Indigenous, Scena Jazz

Owing to government restrictions to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, the Conseil québécois de la musique (CQM) was obliged to organize its 24th Gala des prix Opus online, a first for the ceremony. The webcast was made public on Feb. 7 on the Facebook page of the Fabrique culturelle de Télé-Québec. The setting was unchanged: Bourgie Hall in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. A total of 26 laureates were recognized for their achievements during the 2019-2020 season, before and during the pandemic. Exceptional circumstances led to an exceptional tribute to Kent Nagano, former music director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra,…

Janna Sailor: “Music became my voice”

By La Scena Musicale on 27 January 2021 Canadian Music, Orchestral, Violin

Conductor Janna Sailor gave this speech at the Coalition for Music Education Youth4Music Leadership Symposium in Vancouver on April 1, 2017. My name is Janna Sailor, and I am the founder and artistic director of the Allegra Chamber Orchestra, an all-female ensemble dedicated to empowering women and their communities through music.   I am also a violinist performing with several orchestras in town, including the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, in addition to my own solo and chamber projects. This does not leave much free time, to say the least. Music has had a profound and transformative impact on me, and I…

Photo: Alistair Eagle

Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra

By Arthur Kaptainis on 27 January 2021 Arts Industry, Canadian Music, Orchestral

Like many things musical in 2021, Montréal/Nouvelles Musiques, in its 10th edition, will be a little out of the ordinary. The biennial festival organized by the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec is almost certain to offer all its programming online. Nothing unusual about that in the COVID-19 era. But unlike most undertakings linked by name with Montreal – probably unlike any – Montréal/Nouvelles Musiques will start in Vancouver. Then travel, musically, to Istanbul, Iran, Tajikistan, Japan and Bali, courtesy of the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra, or VICO for short. “We haven’t had a performance for a big ensemble in over a year,”…

Azrieli Music Prizes: Orchestre Métropolitain on board in 2022

By Justin Bernard on 27 January 2021 Canadian Music, Music Competition, Orchestral

Established in 2014 by the Azrieli Foundation, the Azrieli Music Prizes are inspired above all by values of social inclusion. They aim to reward and promote composers of all ages, all levels of experience and all origins or affiliations who, through their work, pursue a career in musical composition. Awarded once every two years at a gala concert, the prizes are divided into three categories. First, there is the Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music, which recognizes the best work in Jewish music. According to the foundation website: “Defining Jewish music as both deeply rooted in history and tradition and forward-moving…

Canadian Art Song Project announces Chung-Wai Chow and John Wright Art Song Mentorship Program for Composers

By Newswire on 7 January 2021 Art Song, Canadian Music, Classical Music, Contemporary, Vocal

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…

Daniel Taylor Appointed Officer of the Order of Canada

By Newswire on 30 December 2020 Arts Industry, Baroque and Early, Canadian Music, Classical Music

Toronto, ON, December 30, 2020 … Governor General Julie Payette announced this morning that Daniel Taylor, countertenor, conductor, recording artist, and Professor of Opera, Early Music and Voice, has been appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada. One of the country’s highest civilian honours, the Order recognizes people “whose service shapes our society; whose innovations ignite our imaginations; and whose compassion unites our communities.” In recognizing his achievements, the Office of the Governor General of Canada calls Daniel Taylor “one of our country’s most celebrated cultural ambassadors, distinguishing himself with moving performances and known for his warmth and…

NEW Releases Section

By La Scena Musicale Team on 12 November 2020 Canadian Music, Classical Music

This section is an advertising supplement. To announce here, contact [email protected]. MON AMI, mon amour Cello sonatas by Debussy and Poulenc, with additional works by Fauré, Ravel, Milhaud, and Lili And Nadia Boulanger Matt Haimovitz, cello/violoncelle; Mari Kodama, piano Pentatone The vibrant musical palette of cellist Matt Haimovitz and the graceful insight of pianist Mari Kodama meld in MON AMI, Mon amour. Cello and piano flow together in colorful conversation for rarities by sisters Lili and Nadia Boulanger, in the poignant Kaddish by Ravel and the melancholic Élégie by Milhaud, for sonatas by Poulenc and Debussy, and in gems by Fauré. These French composers overcome…

Jaap Nico Hamburger: Doctor-Composer

By Wah Keung Chan on 5 November 2020 Canadian Music, Contemporary

The music just comes to me; I just write down what I hear,” says Jaap Nico Hamburger. Only two years after quitting his full-time job as a cardiologist and devoting his life to composing, Hamburger, 62, has released two recordings and can lay claim to an impressive list of commissions and premieres, including an opera at Lincoln Center in New York, originally slated for March 2020, and now rescheduled for a post-COVID season. Music was always in Hamburger’s life. At the age of three, Hamburger took over the 78-RPM record player originally given as a birthday gift to his older…

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