Musique québécoise - my/maSCENA

CVAI: The momentum of youth: A breath of fresh air in opera

By Marc-Antoine d’Aragon on 31 March 2025 Arts Industry, Canadian Music, Classical Music, Montreal, Musique québécoise, Opera, Vocal

BY MARC-ANTOINE D’ARAGON AND NADIA MONCZAK The 2025 summer season in Montreal promises vibrance, youth and artistic excellence. Two major institutions, the Canadian Vocal Arts Institute (CVAI) and the Orchestre de la Francophonie (OF), are joining forces to offer an unprecedented musical experience to young singers from around the world. This collaboration promises to mark a turning point in the training of young talent in opera and classical music. For its 21st edition, the CVAI is reinventing itself. Under the impetus of an artistic committee chaired by baritone Étienne Dupuis, the program now welcomes conductors, stage directors and opera pianists,…

Ana Sokolović & Kris Defoort Compose imposed works of the 2025 Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition

By Newswire on 20 March 2025 Canadian Music, Classical, Montreal, Music Competition, Musique québécoise, Newswire, Piano, Scena Jazz

Announcement of the composers of the unpublished imposed works for the 2025 Piano Competition Semi-final Ana Sokolović – Two Studies for Piano www.anasokolovic.com A key figure in contemporary music, composer Ana Sokolović was born in Belgrade, Serbia, and has been based in Montreal since 1992. With a background in the rhythmic universe of Balkan folklore, her music is coloured with playful images and inspired by diverse artistic disciplines. Her vast repertoire is regularly performed both in Canada and internationally. According to Operabase, Sokolović is the fourth most performed female opera composer in the world in the last decade according to Operabase. Her opera, Svadba, which ‘seems to…

La Nef: Montréal la magnifique

By Arnaud G. Veydarier on 31 January 2025 Jazz, Montreal, Musique québécoise, Strings, Winds

Although few traces remain of Montreal’s Roaring Twenties era, the city was once renowned as an oasis of pleasure and transgression—where cabarets, illegal gambling and prostitution drew crowds in search of daring theatrical presentations and clandestine parties. This cultural and social ferment shaped the city’s nocturnal imagination, an era that La Nef intends to bring back to life with its concert Montréal la magnifique. Presented on April 2 under the direction of singer-songwriter and accordionist Steve Normandin, the show will bring together the talents of Guillaume Bourque (clarinet), Serge Lavoie (guitar), Clinton Ryder (double bass) and Catherine Meunier (percussion). “Sin…

Orchestre de l’Agora and its founding conductor, Nicolas Ellis

Farah Alibay at the Festival de Lanaudière

By Newswire on 29 April 2024 Classical Music, La Scena Online, Montreal, Musique québécoise, Orchestral, Quebec City

The Festival de Lanaudière is delighted to announce that aerospace engineer Farah Alibay will headline the Festival’s opening concert next July 6.

Mishka Lavigne (left) and Tim Brady (right) (Photos provided)

Mishka Lavigne: Librettist to Tim Brady’s Information

By Justin Bernard on 29 March 2024 Montreal, Musique québécoise, Opera

On the heels of Backstage at Carnegie Hall, composer Tim Brady pursues his journey into the world of opera with Information, the second instalment in a cycle of four entitled Hope.

Tara-Louise Montour (Photo provided)

Newswire | Tara-Louise Montour and OCM in NA Premiere of Louis Babin’s “Phoenix”

By Newswire on 25 January 2024 Canadian Music, Montreal, Musique québécoise, Newswire, Orchestral

For its first concert of the year, the Orchestre Classique de Montréal is featuring the violinist Tara-Louise Montour in a program entitled Phoenix.

Vincent Lauzer (Photo by Julien Faugère)

La Nef: The 2023-24 Season

By Alexandre Amat on 1 September 2023 Baroque and Early, Canadian Music, Classical Music, Montreal, Musique québécoise

Claire Gignac, artistic and general director of La Nef, says that its repertoire is defined by “a mosaic of musical colours,” the result “of all sorts of artists, disciplines, types of music, repertoires and resonances coming together.” The 2023-24 season will offer four engaging concerts reflecting this range of musical approaches. To open the new season Oct. 18 at Centre St-Jax, the show Tant que vivray will feature Vincent Lauzer on recorder and Sylvain Bergeron on lute. Dedicated to baroque music, the concert will present an instrumental repertoire from France, Spain and England from the 16th and 17th centuries. Soprano…

Jane Bunnett et Maqueque au Dièse onze (15 septembre)

Fall Previews: Montreal Calling

By Marc Chénard on 1 September 2023 Canadian Music, Montreal, Musique actuelle, Musique québécoise, Scena Jazz

If Guelph is the ignition switch for jazz in Southern Ontario, the Off Festival de Jazz de Montréal (OFJM) is its counterpart for the Montreal region. Both events have long histories, the OFJM stretching back to Y2K, when local musicians banded together to call out the city’s mammoth jazz festival for its cavalier attitude toward them. Off Festival On Again Having outgrown that original purpose, the event has carved its own niche over time, now casting itself as a promoter of local talent, of which the city has no short supply. In its upcoming 24th edition, running from Oct. 5…

CD Review | Tribute to François Dompierre (ATMA Classique, 2023)

By Justin Bernard on 16 August 2023 CD and Book Reviews, Movie soundtrack music, Musique québécoise, Piano

Hommage à François Dompierre Louise Bessette, piano; François Dompierre, composer and piano ATMA Classique, 2023 We rarely hear Louise Bessette in this light. To celebrate François Dompierre’s 80th birthday, the pianist offers us arrangements of film music, and other selections, all of which played a role in establishing the reputation of the Quebec composer, himself a pianist. “Most are piano reductions (…); others are adaptations of radio improvisations. Finally, a few were written especially for her, and are dedicated to her,” explains the composer, in the album’s booklet. These include Entre mer et chanterelles, written in honour of his former…

CD Review | Albertine en cinq temps – L’opéra (ATMA Classique, 2022)

By Zenith Wolfe on 18 February 2023 CD and Book Reviews, Musique québécoise, Opera

Albertine en cinq temps – L’opéra Chantal Lambert, Monique Pagé, Chantal Dionne, Catherine St-Arnaud, Marianne Lambert, sopranos; Florence Bourget, mezzo-soprano; Marie-Claude Roy, piano; Mélanie Vaugeois, violin; Élise Poulin, English horn; Annie Gadbois, cello; Anaïs Vigeant, double bass ATMA Classique, 2022 Albertine en cinq temps – L’opéra follows the touching story of Albertine, an aging Québécois mother reflecting on five different parts of her life as she moves into a retirement home. There’s a good reason soprano Chantal Lambert stars as the most prominent voice in the opera, Albertine at 70 years of age. She pours her soul into the album,…

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