Chamber Music - my/maSCENA

OCM goes Slavic, with a mellow cello

By Arthur Kaptainis on 20 May 2021 Chamber Music, Classical Music

“The Great Slavs” was the title of the penultimate concert of the Orchestre classique de Montréal season, given Tuesday before a reduced live audience and a camera crew in UQAM’s Salle Pierre-Mercure. Of course, some Slavs are greater than others, but all the selections proved interesting for their own reasons. The big item at about 25 minutes was Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 of 1959, a four-movement score made of equal parts of martial irony and soulful lyricism. With his probing style and famously resonant Stradivarius instrument, Stéphane Tétreault proved especially adept in the latter area. The Moderato second movement…

Arion Baroque Orchestra will perform on July 28

Ottawa Chamberfest brings back its beloved summer festival

By Newswire on 10 May 2021 Chamber Music

OTTAWA – String quartets. Piano trios. Brassfire big band. Opera. Guerrilla-folk party punk. Piazzolla’s 100th birthday bash. Dance. Romani-inspired song. Music of the Royal French court. Seaside folk and bluegrass. Afro-Cuban roots and jazz. Beechwood walkabouts… From Isabel Bayrakdarian, to the New Orford String Quartet, Echo Chamber Toronto, Gryphon Trio, collectif9, Arion Baroque Orchestra, soprano Jonelle Sills, Lemon Bucket Orchestra, I Musici de Montréal, pianist Stewart Goodyear, and more, Canada’s greatest chamber artists are at the forefront at Ottawa Chamberfest’s summer festival celebrating the art of the small ensemble. Ottawa’s internationally acclaimed chamber music festival takes place July 22 –…

I Musici de Montréal is back with a new maestro

By Newswire on 6 May 2021 Chamber Music

Montreal, May 6, 2021 – The I Musici de Montréal Chamber Orchestra has been waiting for this moment for a long time: public will physically be back for our next concert on Thursday, May 13! Furthermore, the joy will double up as the musicians will work for the first time under the direction of their new conductor Jean-François Rivest. Jean-François Rivest is a known and appreciated figure in the classical Québécois milieu. Trained at the Montreal Conservatory of Music and at the Juilliard School in New York, he was conductor in residence at the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, artistic director…

Québec cello sensation Stéphane Tétreault will perform Shostakovich’s famous cello concerto

The OCM will reunite with its audience on May 18

By Newswire on 28 April 2021 Chamber Music

Montreal, April 28, 2021 – The Orchestre classique de Montréal (OCM) and conductor Boris Brott are thrilled to finally be performing in front of their loyal audience for the first time in over a year! Having worked hard to establish an online presence during the pandemic, the OCM will present its final two concerts of the season live and in-person at its new home in Salle Pierre‑Mercure: The Great Slavs on May 18 and From Mozart to McCartney on June 8. For those unable to attend due to limited seating, the concerts will also be made available via webcast for only…

Musical Postcards from the CAMMAC Music Centre

By Newswire on 22 April 2021 Chamber Music

APRIL 7, 2021 – CAMMAC has released a series of 6 short films entitles “Musical Postcards from the CAMMAC Music Centre”, featuring several luminaries of the Canadian musical landscape. In the summer of 2020, CAMMAC’s Artistic Director, Guylaine Lemaire, commissioned Montreal composer, CAMMAC teacher and McGill Doctorate of Music candidate Kevin O’Neil to write a short piece for each of three ensembles selected from among CAMMAC’s teaching staff. The performances were filmed in October 2020 at the CAMMAC Music Centre on Lake MacDonald, in Harrington, Québec. Each ensemble performed the piece written for them by Mr. O’Neil, along with a…

Chamber version of Verdi packs a punch

By Arthur Kaptainis on 16 April 2021 Chamber Music, Vocal

Quite remarkable, what Verdi does with the marimba in the Requiem. What Requiem, you ask? Which Verdi? To explain: The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul in Montreal has been responding with considerable enterprise to lockdown restrictions by performing reductions of full-sized choral masterpieces. Online, of course. A few months ago, the work on offer was Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem, which normally calls for many more choristers than the 24 professionals who comprise the A&P choir. More recently the subject was Verdi’s even grander reflection on mortality in a version for an unimaginably small cohort of five instrumentalists, including the…

Source: canadahelps.org

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…

Orchestre classique de Montréal and Jean-Philippe Sylvestre play Mozart and Bologne

By Newswire on 9 April 2021 Chamber Music

Montreal, April 9, 2021 – The Orchestre classique de Montréal and conductor Boris Brott are thrilled to welcome, for the first time, renowned Quebec pianist Jean‑Philippe Sylvestre as guest soloist. He will perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 at the Pierre-Mercure hall which will be broadcast on April 27th at 7:30pm and will be available online for 2 weeks, until May 11th. The program will also feature Mozart’s Divertimento in D major, K. 136, conducted by Xavier Brossard‑Ménard, and the Symphony Concertante in G major, op. 13, by the Guadeloupian-French composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint‑Georges, a contemporary of Mozart. “We were…

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s Virtual ChamberFest to open on April 16th

By Newswire on 9 April 2021 Chamber Music

Vancouver, Canada (April 9, 2021) — The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO) continues its vibrant and varied online season from its new state-of-the-art virtual home, TheConcertHall.ca, presented by TELUS. To date, the VSO has presented an impressive series of concerts for its new digital platform, including Vivaldi’s Four Seasons; Mozart and Haydn symphonies conducted by Music Director Otto Tausk; guest appearances by violinist James Ehnes, soprano Measha Brueggergosman; and pops, jazz, and family concerts, amassing over 4,000 subscribers. The month of April offers new opportunities to hear a number of sublime chamber works featuring VSO musicians, all recorded in the gorgeous…

Otto Tausk and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

Otto Tausk and the VSO: reaching audiences far and wide

By Olivier Bergeron on 8 April 2021 Chamber Music, Orchestral

Despite having been kept out of concert halls for almost a year – give or take a few weeks depending on where they live – music lovers have been gifted with a wealth of livestreams and pre-recorded concerts online. This provided them with an opportunity to discover performers, ensembles and orchestras they might never have heard before. While most agree that listening to a symphony on a laptop doesn’t come close to the traditional concertgoing experience, some organizations have made compelling arguments in favor of this new way of experiencing and performing classical music. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra has been…

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