Classical Music - my/maSCENA

Angèle Dubeau. Photo: Jocelyn Michel

Injury Forces Violinist Angèle Dubeau to End Career

By Newswire on 23 October 2024 Classical Music, Newswire, Strings, Violin

Statement from Ms. Angèle Dubeau October 23, 2024 – “For as long as I can remember, music has been a part of my life. Through it, I expressed myself, traveled, and found daily nourishment. My violin has been a faithful companion since the age of four. It colored my world and, even more than words, became my primary means of expression. However, I now find myself having to learn how to live without my violin. With a heavy heart, I must accept that I can no longer physically play it. My right hand, specifically my index finger—the master of the…

Free Music Lessons with Two Cellists of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra

By Newswire on 22 October 2024 Classical Music, Montreal, Newswire, Strings

Montreal Symphony Orchestra cellists Genevieve Guimond and Gary Russell are excited to announce they are accepting new students this January! The Montreal Cello Ensemble offers intensive music training to talented Montreal children, with a focus on breaking financial barriers to ensure access to high-quality music education. Every child admitted into the program receives either a full or partial scholarship that includes instruction, the use of an instrument, and accessories. No prior musical experience is necessary. In fact, almost all of the students they admit have no prior musical training. The application deadline for this unique opportunity is December 20th, 2024.…

Benoit Gauthier Wins Jean-Marie Beaudet Award & Michael Bridge Wins the Virginia Parker Prize

By Kaitlyn Chan on 22 October 2024 Arts Industry, Classical Music, Music Competition

The Canada Council for the Arts has announced the 2024 winners of the Jean-Marie Beaudet Award in Orchestra Conducting and the Virginia Parker Prize. These awards recognize Canadian artists’ achievements in the performing arts and classical music. The Jean-Marie Beaudet Award, created in 1989, is presented to a young Canadian conductor who shows promise through the artistic merit of their works. This award is worth $20,000 and encourages Canadian orchestra conductors to continue creating, innovating, and leading the current generation of musicians. This year’s winner is Benoit Gauthier, the artistic director and conductor for the Orchestre symphonique de la Côte-Nord…

Ensemble Scholastica Invites Montrealers to Discover Our City’s Hidden Medieval Treasures!

By Newswire on 21 October 2024 Baroque and Early

Montréal, October 21, 2024 – Ensemble Scholastica is pleased to announce its upcoming concert McGill’s Special Collections. The concert offers its audience the chance to discover Montréal’s hidden medieval treasures and will be held on Sunday, November 10 at 7:30 p.m. at the Notre Dame de Bon Secours Chapel. Musical notation was first elaborated in Europe during the early Middle Ages. It continued to develop throughout the period to reflect the increasingly sophisticated musical tastes and skills of medieval musicians, composers, and scribes. Their legacy to the modern world is both a universal method of notating music and an immense collection of manuscripts that provide a record…

Anderson and Roe by Lisa-Marie Mazzucco

Music and Fashion Series | Glittering Sounds and Sights from Star Piano Duo

By Viktor Lazarov on 18 October 2024 Classical Music, Interviews, Piano

As she takes the stage in a sparkling, multicoloured, sequin slip dress, a wave of excitement passes through the crowd. Pianist Elizabeth Joy Roe walks over confidently to the elegant Steinway grand piano accompanied by her duo partner, Greg Anderson, at Montreal’s Centre Pierre-Péladeau. Anderson wears a smartly tailored black Zara suit: understated, elegant, perfect. Within seconds, they embark on one of the most transcendent second halves of any piano recital I’ve heard. Roe’s dress—mercurial, with its golden tones contrasting their dark background—reflects the rich harmonic palette of the two opening pieces: an original transcription of Gustav Holst’s Neptune from…

Lebrecht Weekly | Diyang Mei plays Bowen and Walton’s Viola Concertos Like Heifetz on Roller-Skates

By Norman Lebrecht on 18 October 2024 CD and Book Reviews, Lebrecht Weekly, Strings

It is nothing short of a scandal that not one concerto for viola and orchestra has broken into the standard concerthall repertoire. There are at least fifty violin concertos that get regularly played and half a dozen for cello and orchestra. Yet, among a plethora of viola concertos by good composers – from Arnold to Bartok, Schnittke to John Williams – not one gets as much as a half-chance for public attention. In any other field, this would be considered illegal discrimination. The present release is a dazzling ear-opener. York Bowen, slightly younger than Ralph Vaughan Williams, was a shy chap…

Kyle Ketelsen as Méphistophélès in the Canadian Opera Company’s new production of Faust, 2024. Photo: Michael Cooper

Review | COC’s Faust a Devilishly Dazzling New Production

By Denise Lai on 15 October 2024 Concert Reviews, Opera, Toronto

Few legendary figures have inspired more literary, cinematic, ballet and musical works than Faust. Numerous symphonic and operatic pieces have been written by famous composers such as Berlioz, Beethoven, Wagner, Schumann, Liszt, Mahler and more. The most famous opera, Faust, was written by Charles Gounod, which is also touted to be the composer’s best operatic work. The Canadian Opera Company has a brand new production that is a pleasure to the eyes and ears. The aging Faust is disillusioned with life and is about the end it with poison. Blaming God for his misery, he sarcastically appeals to Satan for…

Photo: George Garnier

Lebrecht Weekly | Doric String Quartet Strikes a Perfect Balance Between Beethoven’s Early Quartets and Later Milestones

By Norman Lebrecht on 11 October 2024 CD and Book Reviews, Chamber Music, Lebrecht Weekly, Strings

The fashion these days is to remix the 16 Beethoven quartets, selecting one from each period – early, middle and late – in concert and record cycles. It doesn’t always work, but the latest release from the Doric String Quartet, a mid-career UK ensemble, strikes a perfect balance between two of the opus 18 quartets and major milestones from later on. Opus 18/2 in G major is one of Beethoven’s invitations to the dance, a proposition more in the mind than on the floor. Opus 18/5 in A is all in the mind, one of his most self-contemplative works, so…

Katia Makdissi-Warren. Photo: Damian Siqueiros

Chants libres & Oktoecho : Première of Sainte Marine

By Justin Bernard on 10 October 2024 Contemporary, Interviews, Opera

Ancient stories, attributed to lesser-known figures, are sometimes strikingly modern. This is the case of St. Marina, known as Marina the Monk, a woman who devoted her life to God despite her life’s tribulations and the prejudice she endured. After her mother’s death, Marina’s father decided to disguise her as a boy and take her to the Qannoubine Monastery in Lebanon, reserved for men. There, she became known as “Brother Marin,” and her sex was only discovered by the community after her death. Her life was deeply marked by a false accusation of rape involving the daughter of an innkeeper.…

Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques: 30 Years of Promoting Canadian Singers

By Wah Keung Chan on 10 October 2024 Arts Industry, Opera

Every fall, young singers from across Canada prepare for auditions and competitions. The rewards are usually cash prizes and recognition. The set of auditions of the Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques (JAL) organized by Théâtre Lyrichorégra 20 (TL20), however, is different—the jury includes many European opera directors and the prizes consist of contracts or tours in Europe. “I believe in giving singers the experience of auditioning and performing in Europe,” said tenor Alain Nonat, the group’s founder. Originally from Paris, Nonat trained as a heldentenor and continued his studies in Montreal before returning to Europe in 1970 to begin his career. Returning…

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