Contemporary - my/maSCENA

Browsing: Contemporary

Ensemble Silakbo. Photo: Sofia Nathanlshar

Concert review | The Silakbo Ensemble: Merging cultures together

By Justin Bernard on 5 November 2022 Chamber Music, Concert Reviews, Contemporary, World Music

On November 2, the Silakbo Ensemble launched its Canadian tour with a first stop in Montreal, at Jeunesses Musicales Canada’s Joseph-Rouleau Hall. Formed by three Bulgarian musicians (Angelina Gotcheva, clarinet, Yoanna Bozhkova, soprano, Bogdan Ivanov, piano), Portuguese violinist Edgar Gomes and Filipino American cellist Mikko Pablo, this quintet was joined exceptionally by Adam Vincent Clarke, composer and piper proud of his Nova Scotia roots. Together they presented their latest project, named Est-Ouest. More than a gathering, it is an exchange, an interconnection, between the Canadian and Bulgarian musical cultures. As part of this project, three creations commissioned by the Silakbo…

Olga Ranzenhofer et Guido Molinari

Quatuor Molinari – A 25-year Success Story in Retrospect

By Justin Bernard on 4 November 2022 Classical Music, Contemporary, Quebec Music

On Oct. 14, the Molinari String Quartet marked its 25th anniversary at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal with a retrospective of works by such contemporary Eastern European luminaries as Penderecki, Kurtág and Ligeti. In years past, all string quartets of these composers have been played by this enduring Montreal foursome. Those on hand surely must have appreciated hearing a cross-section of that repertoire, some for the first time, others anew. First violinist Olga Ranzenhofer, the group’s artistic and administrative director since its inception in 1997, is more than happy about the turn of events. In her words: ‟Our concert…

photo: Kevin Lloyd

Violinissimo: Esprit Orchestra Aims High

By Eva Stone-Barney on 4 November 2022 Classical Music, Contemporary, Orchestral, Violin

At first glance, the premise may sound simple: one concert, four violin concertos. The seasoned classical concert-goer, however, will understand just how ambitious an endeavour this is, and that this sort of programming is practically unheard of. Who would do such a thing? Alex Pauk, of course—the same person who was told that a full-sized orchestra devoted to the performance of contemporary music was never going to survive for longer than a year, and who has been conducting that very orchestra for 40. On Nov. 27, Esprit Orchestra will present its second concert of the ambitious 40th anniversary season, Violinissimo.…

Isolde Lagacé – Learning to make things better

By Justin Bernard on 4 November 2022 Classical Music, Contemporary, Quebec Music

On Nov. 15, Isolde Lagacé bids a fond farewell to the Salle Bourgie after 10 years at its helm as artistic and administrative director. Two months before, on Sept. 18, she officially passed the torch on stage to her successors: Caroline Louis as the new administrative head and her counterpart programmer Olivier Godin. ‟In the early days of my work for Bourgie,” recalls Lagacé, ‟I could handle both of these tasks easily thanks to my own life history of growing up in a musical family first and then pursuing a career in arts management. After five years on the job,…

La Nef: Tout tourne

By Annette Lou Rouft on 4 November 2022 Classical Music, Contemporary

Known for its unique productions and recognizable artistic signature, La Nef will present Tout tourne in February 2023—a seemingly improbable encounter between contemporary minimalist music and virtuosic baroque music. Indeed, who could believe that the latter—abundant, ornate and contrasting—could be coupled with the pared-down esthetics of contemporary music? This is the nature of the challenge taken up by two of the most important musicians of Quebec’s baroque scene: recorder player Vincent Lauzer and harpsichordist Dorothéa Ventura, with special guest contemporary dancer François Richard. “The basic idea is to evoke the unceasing cycles of life,” they explain. So much baroque music…

Minna Re Shin

Review | Sonate Tableaux (co-produced with ombú productions, 2022)

By Justin Bernard on 2 September 2022 CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music, Contemporary

Sonate Tableaux Minna Re Shin, piano Co-produced with ombú productions (June 2022) On June 15 this year, pianist Minna Re Shin launched her album at a recital held at the Gora art gallery in downtown Montreal. The album centrepiece, entitled Sonate Tableaux, consists of two excerpts from a larger work of the same name, written in 1988 by composer Alain Payette. The pianist tackled the first movement before giving way to a video clip based on the four and last movement, directed by Carlos Ferrand. Since the June launch, Sonate Tableaux : Mouvement 1, the first of four to be…

Backstage at Carnegie Hall: Opera by Tim Brady

By Justin Bernard on 2 September 2022 Classical Music, Contemporary, Opera, Vocal Jazz

Tim Brady is very single-minded. For six years, he has nurtured his opera about the history of the electric guitar, as personified by its pioneer, Charlie Christian (1916-1942). As a guitarist and composer himself, Brady knew quite well that this story would open the door to those who transcend individuals and borders. The life of Charlie Christian effectively aligns not only with the history of the electric guitar, but with that of jazz, Black musicians, and the Black community as a whole in its struggles against segregation and racism. Instead of limiting himself to one time period or place, Brady…

Quasar

Contemporary Music

By Arnaud G. Veydarier on 2 September 2022 Contemporary

Le Vivier Groupe Le Vivier will kick-start its new season on Sept. 23 and 24 with Tim Brady’s new chamber opera (with booklet by Audrey Dwyer). Set in 1930s New York, Backstage at Carnegie Hall will see tenor Ruben Brutus in the role of legendary jazz guitarist Charlie Christian, who finds himself pushed into an adventure spanning the United States in the slaveholding era to Little Burgundy. The electric guitar quartet Instruments of Happiness will provide musical accompaniment. On Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, the Orchestre de l’Agora and conductor Nicolas Ellis will interpret works from four standout Québécois artists:…

Ashkenaz Festival: The Unveiling of Bas-Sheve

By Zenith Wolfe on 31 August 2022 Classical Music, Contemporary, Opera, World Music

The story of Bas-Sheve—the first Yiddish opera ever composed—extends far beyond what’s in the score. The work was first written by Henekh Kon and performed with piano accompaniment in 1924 Warsaw, only to be lost in the annals of history for nearly a century, never interpreted as Kon imagined. Dr. Diana Matut rediscovered the manuscript in 2017, though it was 16 pages shy of its original 95-page length, leading her to commission Joshua Horowitz and Michael Wex to complete the score and libretto, respectively. Its restoration, performed in Germany at the Yiddish Summer Weimar Festival in 2019, caught the attention…

Tim Brady with the NEM: Cultural Dialogue

By Justin Bernard on 8 August 2022 Contemporary, Indigenous

Tim Brady loves a good challenge. His latest: setting poems in an Indigenous language to music. To do this, the composer-guitarist chose a poem collection entitled Uiesh (“Somewhere”) written by famous Innu poet Joséphine Bacon. “I really loved Joséphine Bacon’s work,” he said. “I thought it would be quite a challenge to compose music a singer would perform in an Indigenous language. The linguistic, grammatical, and syllable structures are very different from European languages. Joséphine helped me a lot, and I concluded that my music needed to use a simpler rhythmic language, more clear-cut to help each syllable stand out.…

Previous 1 … 3 4 5 6 7 … 43 Next

Current Issue

PDF HTML

Next Issue : June/July 2024

Ad Deadline : May 24, 2024

Past Issues, Subscriptions, Advertising