Contemporary - my/maSCENA

Photo: Michel Dubreuil

Walter Boudreau: 33 years with the SMCQ

By Justin Bernard on 7 October 2021 Contemporary, Interviews, Orchestral

A major page is about to turn. The Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ) in September announced the retirement of its artistic director Walter Boudreau. “The challenges ahead for the SMCQ, as well as for music and the arts in the post-pandemic world, will be unprecedented, demanding and exhilarating,” Anik Schooner, chairman of the board of the new-music society, said in a statement. “That’s why I think it’s the right time to pass the torch.” 33 Eager to ensure a smooth transition, this man with no inhibitions and a head brimming with ideas had already informed the board, near…

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…

Concert reviews (October 2021)

By La Scena Musicale Team on 6 October 2021 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Orchestral

Opéra de Montréal Riders to the Sea/Le Flambeau de la nuit What you missed A dark double bill (Sept. 25) linking one-act operas by Vaughan Williams (1927) and Hubert Tanguay-Labrosse (premiere). Both deal earnestly with tragedy at sea and the loss of family. The strong cast led by the deep-toned mezzo-soprano Allyson McHardy included some good Atelier prospects. Tanguay-Labrosse proved an effective conductor of both the moody music of Riders and his own more eclectic score. I Musici de Montréal sounded vibrant in the pit of the Théâtre Maisonneuve. Director Édith Patenaude managed the quiet entry of the chorus (the…

L’orangeraie: Chants Libres presents a world premiere

By Newswire on 20 September 2021 Arts Industry, Contemporary, Opera

Montreal, September 16, 2021 — The vocal creation company CHANTS LIBRES is delighted to announce the world -premiere of its latest creation, L’orangeraie by Zad Moultaka (music) and Larry Tremblay (libretto), staged by -Pauline Vaillancourt. The performances will take place in the heart of the Quartier des spectacles in the Ludger–Duvernay Theatre of Montreal’s Monument-National on October 19, 20 and 21, 2021, and then again on November 5 and 6, 2021, at Le Diamant in Quebec City as part of their series — Art Lyrique. Artistic Director Pauline Vaillancourt co-founded this company in 1990 with Joseph Saint-Gelais and Renald Tremblay.…

SMCQ: exploring the universe of André Hamel

By Justin Bernard on 10 September 2021 Contemporary, Quebec Music

Noted for organizing tributes to a single composer, the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec this season revisits the formula – pandemic willing – with a series of portrait concerts, starting Sept. 26, dedicated to the musical universe of André Hamel. Strongly influenced during his university studies by The Unanswered Question by Charles Ives, Hamel is open to all creative possibilities that seek to modify audio perception, either by putting musicians in different spaces, or by layering acoustic interference, or by a combination of the two. In these works, musical elements do not seem a priori to be made…

Rentrée 2021: Contemporary music

By Arnaud G. Veydarier on 10 September 2021 Contemporary

SMCQ The Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, the preeminent Quebec organization dedicated to contemporary music, will open its 56th season on Sept. 26 with In auditorium – Portrait of André Hamel. This concert dedicated to spatial pieces by composer André Hamel will feature Sixtrum, Quasar and the Ensemble de la SMCQ. The presentation of Triptyque – Mécénat Musica Prix 3 Femmes, three mini-operas composed and written by the laureates of the second Mécénat Musica Prix 3 Femmes, follows on Oct. 10. From Dec. 13 to 15, SMCQ will celebrate its 55th anniversary by presenting a selection of outstanding works…

Albertine: a story for all women

By Olivier Bergeron on 16 July 2021 Contemporary, Opera

Albertine, en cinq temps tells the story of a woman who finds herself alone with her memories after a turbulent life. Confined to a retirement home room at age 70 following an overdose, we discover her in the midst of a conversation with her own ghosts: Albertine at 30, 40, 50 and 60 years old as well as her sister Madeleine, who died several years earlier. The operatic version of Michel Tremblay’s play, set to music by Catherine Major, will be performed by six Canadian singers who actively participated in the creative process, which was the work of an all-female…

GENERATION2020: The jury and the public crown the winners

By Newswire on 23 June 2021 Arts Industry, Contemporary

Montreal, June 21, 2021 – After a one-week residence in Montreal this fall, a video recording, a live concert in Orford and a virtual spring tour in partnership with several Canadian presenters that ended on June 4, the Ensemble contemporain de Montréal (ECM+) has once again wrapped up its renowned Generation composition competition, which has been promoting and showcasing young Canadian composers throughout the country for over two decades. Despite the constraints of a pandemic that forced the ECM+ to cancel the remainder of its planned 7-concert tour, a unique digital co-broadcasting agreement with the various presentation partners nevertheless made…

Photo: Thor Brødreskift

Bergen: a distinctly contemporary closing concert

By Justin Bernard on 12 June 2021 Concert Reviews, Contemporary

After 15 days of events of all kinds, the Bergen International Festival on June 9 offered one last major performance mixing music and imagery. It was an rare presentation, performed simultaneously online and before a live audience, of a work created jointly in the late 1970s by the Norwegian composer Arne Nordheim and American choreographer Glen Tetley. Titled The Tempest after Shakespeare’s famous play, this work evokes the exile of the duke, Prospero, and his daughter on an island surrounded by magic and mystery. For its 2021 edition, the Festival opted not for the original version – a…

CD review: Tim Brady – Actions Speak Louder

By Justin Bernard on 8 June 2021 CD and Book Reviews, Contemporary

Tim Brady: Actions Speak Louder (3 CDs) Act I: Solos and a Quartet Act II: v-Orchestra Act III: Voices Various artists Redshift records (2021) ★★★★✩ Tim Brady is an atypical electric guitar composer and performer. He seeks, in a way, to rehabilitate an instrument often confined to popular music, notably rock, and to make it a legitimate source of inspiration for so-called “serious” compositions. The COVID-19 pandemic has led him, like so many other musicians, to question his profession and his practices. This process of reflection has given birth to a series of three albums grouped under the title Actions…

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