Chamber Music - my/maSCENA

Lotte Brott: woman of distinction

By Arthur Kaptainis on 8 October 2021 Chamber Music, Classical Music

Music administrators and music critics usually exist in a cordially adversarial relationship. Few administrators were as cordially, warmly and inventively adversarial as Lotte Brott (1922-98), the woman who for decades ran the McGill Chamber Orchestra. This ensemble, now called the Orchestre classique de Montréal, has decided to organize its 2021-22 season around the theme of Women of Distinction as a recognition of the looming centenary – on Feb. 8 – of its iron-willed matriarch. While Mrs. Brott was best known to insiders as the administrative power behind the podium occupied by her husband Alexander Brott (1915-2005), she was also a…

New Releases (October 2021)

By La Scena Musicale Team on 6 October 2021 Baroque and Early, Chamber Music, Contemporary, Daily News Roundup

This section is an advertising supplement. To announce here, contact [email protected] Sound Visionaries Claude Debussy, Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Boulez Christina Petrowska Quilico, piano Navona Records, NV6358 Release Date: July 9, 2021 Claude Debussy, Olivier Messiaen, and Pierre Boulez are stunningly reconciled in Christina Petrowska Quilico’s Navona Records release Sound Visionaries. Boasting a track record of over 50 recorded albums and having recently been named to the Order of Canada, the veteran pianist proves that despite all difficulties, finding common ground between these three composers can be done spectacularly. The works in question are cleverly chosen: Debussy’s ethereal Preludes, Book Two is…

Ensemble Caprice. Photo: Antoine Saito

Upcoming concerts (October-November 2021)

By La Scena Musicale Team on 6 October 2021 Baroque and Early, Chamber Music, Opera

New edition of the CIOC… at last! The Canadian International Organ Competition is making a comeback after more than four years. Scheduled for last year, the event, which takes place every three years in October, had to be postponed because of the pandemic. After 2008, 2011, 2014 and 2017, this is therefore the fifth edition of the CIOC and the first with Jean-Willy Kunz as artistic director. More than a competition, this is a real festival that extends throughout the month. There will be concerts by some members of the jury from Oct. 13, the day before the first semi-final…

Les Violons du Roy: a great reunion

By Justin Bernard on 16 September 2021 Chamber Music, Classical, Opera

They have not been led by their conductor, Jonathan Cohen, since the start of the pandemic. Thus the spirit of a reunion will prevail on Sept. 22, when Les Violons du Roy present their first concert of the season at the Palais Montcalm. There will be a reunion also with the French soprano Sandrine Piau, who sang for the first time with this Quebec City chamber orchestra in 2003. “She was to give a gala concert with us in April 2020,” explains Les Violons artistic director Laurent Patenaude. “This will be our first guest from abroad since the…

Le quintette à vent Pentaèdre

Pentaèdre’s busy 37th season

By Olivier Bergeron on 14 September 2021 Chamber Music

The Pentaèdre wind quintet is entering its 37th year with a season rich in variety and collaborations, ranging from baroque music to jazz to German lieder. “We are very pleased to offer this year, as we did before the pandemic, a season of five concerts,” says Ariane Brisson, flutist and artistic director. “The only project put on hold for now is the carte blanche traditionally offered to one of our five musicians. We hope to be able to return to it next year.” The first two concerts will be presented at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal’s main concert…

Jonathan Cohen. Photo: Marco Borggreve

Fall 2021 Highlights: Orchestra, chamber and solo

By Arthur Kaptainis on 10 September 2021 Chamber Music, Orchestral, Strings

Every concert can be deemed a highlight after a season like 2020-21. While the 2021-22 schedule is not quite as packed as it was in pre-pandemic days – and the crowds, by provincial decree, can be only partial – there are plenty of options for the long-suffering Montreal music fan. Orchestre symphonique  de Montréal Interest is obviously keen in Rafael Payare, the incoming OSM music director. He starts the Maison symphonique season on Sept. 14 (repeats on Sept. 16 and 18) with Shostakovich’s foolproof Fifth Symphony and Ravel’s La Valse, which some of the musicians could probably play by heart.…

Sinfonia Toronto

Sinfonia Toronto: expanding the repertoire for strings

By Michael Schulman on 10 September 2021 Chamber Music

“A Joyous Reunion – A Season of Remembrance and Renewal.” That’s what Sinfonia Toronto calls its 2021-2022 series of seven concerts, beginning Oct. 23 with Bach’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in E Major, Wieniawski’s Faust Fantasy for violin and orchestra, Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence and the world premiere of Resurrected Angel II, a tribute to health workers by Toronto composer Alice Ping Yee Ho. “We’ve always included world premieres in our concert series,” says Nurhan Arman, Sinfonia Toronto’s founder and music director. “This will be our 23rd season, and by now I’d guess we’ve done 75 or 80.” Three other world premieres are scheduled for…

Bourgie Hall: the beginnings

By Justin Bernard on 10 September 2021 Baroque and Early, Chamber Music, Classical

Well established today in the cultural landscape of Montreal, Bourgie Hall was not always a setting for concerts and music making. Since its inauguration in September 2011, recitals, chamber music, vocal music or world music concerts, jazz evenings and even crossover events – many in connection with the collections and exhibitions of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts – have taken place in the former Erskine and American United Church. Through its evolution and transformations, this place bears invaluable witness to the fate of the various anglophone Protestant communities that were established in downtown Montreal, in the district known as…

Photo: Pierre-Étienne Bergeron

Bourgie Hall: 10 years and counting

By Arthur Kaptainis on 10 September 2021 Chamber Music, Interviews, Piano

“I think 100 is a good number,” Isolde Lagacé said, referencing the tally of concerts presented by Bourgie Hall in 2021-2022, up from 53 in its inaugural season 10 years ago. “To have 100 concerts, in every style, and of good quality.” A good number? More like astonishing given the array of alternatives that exist in Montreal and the challenges still posed by the pandemic. Not many chamber rooms in Canada can claim such a sum, which rises to 141 when rentals are taken into account. Or perhaps the numbers are both surprising and predictable at once, given the steady…

Blake Pouliot will open the LMMC's 130th season

The Ladies’ Morning Musical Club: 130 years of great music

By Olivier Bergeron on 10 September 2021 Chamber Music

On Sept. 12, the Ladies’ Morning Musical Club (LMMC) will open its 130th season at Pollack Hall, celebrating the milestone with faithful audience members, some of whom have been subscribers for over 60 years. As per usual, the organization has put together 10 concerts of the highest calibre, allowing its audience to discover some of the world’s finest musicians. “Last season, McGill University opened the hall especially for us and we are eternally grateful to have been able to continue giving our concerts there,” says Rosemary Neville, managing director of the LMMC. “This year, McGill has decided to welcome audiences…

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