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Newswire | Suzette Mayr wins the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize

By Newswire on 8 November 2022 Classical Music

November 7, 2022 (Toronto, Ontario) – Suzette Mayr has been named the winner of the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize for her novel, The Sleeping Car Porter, published by Coach House Books, taking home $100,000 courtesy of Scotiabank. The announcement was made at a black-tie dinner and award ceremony hosted by poet, artist and performer Rupi Kaur and award-winning actress and producer Sarah Gadon, attended by over 300 guests. The gala was broadcast live commercial-free presented by Scotia Wealth Management on CBC, CBC Radio One, and streamed live on CBCBooks.ca. This year, the Prize celebrates its 29th anniversary. The remaining finalists, listed…

Gift ideas

By La Scena Musicale Team on 7 November 2022 Classical Music

Access to audio and video streaming platforms Idagio Certain streaming platforms are more adapted to the expectations of classical-music lovers than the big names in popular music; notably for search accuracy and listening quality, with lossless compression formats. The Idagio platform offers gift cards for those who would like to give a subscription as a gift. www.idagio.com AR Canada Classical The Canada Classique concert broadcasting site offers tickets for live and replay virtual performances. www.canadaclassique.com AR Digital Concert Hall One of the world’s greatest orchestras, the Berlin Philharmonic, streams all of its concerts in state-of-the-art audio and video. And hundreds…

Photo: Bo Huang

Newswire | Pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico Named to the Order of Ontario

By Newswire on 7 November 2022 Newswire, Piano

Pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico, C.M., FRSC has just been accorded a new honour: the Order of Ontario. The province’s highest honour will be bestowed at a November 21 ceremony by Her Honour Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Ontario Lieutenant Governor and Chancellor of The Order of Ontario. As the official announcement states, “The Order of Ontario recognizes exceptional leaders from all walks of life and diverse fields of endeavour whose impact and lasting legacy have played an important role in building a stronger province, country and world.” The sole classical musician amongst the 23 other illustrious 2021 appointees, Petrowska Quilico is cited for…

Photo: Caroline Barbier de Reulle

Review | New Perspectives Through Familiar Sounds: Echo Chamber Ensemble Presents A World Transformed

By Eva Stone-Barney on 7 November 2022 Art Song, Dance, Opera

On October 28 and 29, Toronto audiences had the privilege of seeing performances of Echo Chamber Ensemble’s latest work, “A World Transformed.” The piece is a seamless combination of dance, piano repertoire, spoken narration, and classical vocal music, assembled to tell the story of the murder of Matthew Shepard, who was killed for his sexuality when he was a university student in Laramie, Wyoming in 1998. Programmed by tenor Marcel d’Entremont, and choreographed by William Yong and Laurence Lemieux, A World Transformed featured dancers Evan Webb, Zachary Cardwell, Brayden Cairns, and Johanna Bergfelt; violinist Aaron Schwebel; pianists Dakota Scott-Digout and…

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…

0139 - First Prize winner Karoline Podolak performing at Centre Stage: Ensemble Studio Competition, 2022. Conductor Jacques Lacombe, assistant lighting designer Sarah Mansikka. Photo: Michael Cooper

Review | Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio Competition Showcases Bright Young Talents

By Denise Lai on 5 November 2022 Concert Reviews, Opera

After a two-year hiatus, COC’s Ensemble Studio Competition made a comeback last night. The competition is the feature event of the COC gala fundraiser Centre Stage, an annual celebration of Canada’s best young opera artists. From a pool of over 100 applicants from across the country, seven finalists—three sopranos, two tenors, one baritone and one bass– were chosen to perform in front of a live audience, accompanied by the full force of the COC orchestra. The competition jury comprised COC General Director Perryn Leech and Director of Artistic Planning Roberto Mauro; renowned Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka; and mezzo J’Nai Bridges,…

Editorial: From the Editor

By Wah Keung Chan on 5 November 2022 Arts Industry, Classical Music, Education

Welcome to the November 2022 national issue of La Scena Musicale, our annual special on Higher Education that is the second of five national issues in our six-issue 27th season (2022-23) of publishing. The 27th season continues the all-colour, all-glossy format the magazine adopted in November 2017. With our separate English and French editions, we reinforce our position as the largest bilingual arts media in Canada. We may also publish special issues during the year for our paying subscribers. And we will continue our personalized -serenades and our online virtual concerts for Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. CURRENT ISSUE This…

Vanier College: Music Education For All

By Eva Stone-Barney on 4 November 2022 Classical Music, Education

The Vanier College Music department is a fixture of performing arts education in Montreal for many reasons. Not only does it offer high-level music education in both professional and pre-university programs, but it does so at exceptionally low costs. Elite, accessible arts education is generally hard to come by; the students and staff at Vanier Music are resounding proof of why it shouldn’t be. Vanier College Music offers five programs, and multiple streams—among them are pre-university music degrees in jazz, classical, and popular music performance, which are two years in length, and professional degree programs in composition and arrangement, plus…

Francis Choinière: Thinking Big

By Justin Bernard on 4 November 2022 Orchestral, Vocal

Francis Choinière has an appetite for great musical projects. When we interviewed Choinière in early October, he was in Toronto assisting Maestro Jacques Lacombe for a number of weeks, conducting rehearsals for Georges Bizet’s Carmen, the second production of the Canadian Opera Company (COC) season. “I already had familiarity with Carmen,” he said. “When I was a child, I sang excerpts from Carmen in school. When I became a conductor many years later, I had the opportunity to conduct choirs and get more familiar with Carmen. This is the first time I have worked on such an ambitious production in…

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…