Browsing: Classical Music

Since its foundation by flutist Mika Putterman in 2004, Autour de la flûte has presented 13 seasons of concerts, bringing together renowned musicians and ensembles such as Suzie LeBlanc, Susie Napper, Les Voix Humaines, Discantus, Notturna and La Petite Harmonie. Without specializing in an era or genre, Autour de la flûte offers a flexible setting for thematic concerts based on the use of period instruments and covering repertoire from the Renaissance to today. Putterman studied at McGill University, the National Conservatory of Music of Paris and the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. She is active in the early music scene, having…

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Bach’s Magnificat As a kind of pre-holiday-season celebration, the Caelis Ensemble and Ottawa Baroque Consort under Matthew Larkin will present an all-Bach program highlighting the Magnificat in D. Caelis bills itself as Canada’s (and Ottawa’s) newest choir of child choristers and adults, presenting concerts and sacred music events in the cathedral tradition. Seven vocal soloists will be headlined by bass-baritone Philippe Sly. Among the other works on the program are the motet Singet dem Herrn and the Orchestral Suite No. 3 with its famous air. Southminster United Church, Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m. www.ottawabaroque.ca National Arts Centre Orchestra One of…

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By all appearances Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony are sharply contrasting if not utterly dissimilar works. The former, stemming from the Salzburg prodigy’s youthful years, is gracefully elegant in tone and style. Scored for a smaller orchestra, the piece is a wellspring of melodic ideas that often go undeveloped. The latter work, for its part, is a late opus of the German composer, the result of much thought, and soon recognized as a pinnacle in his artistic oeuvre. Far more ambitious in scope, it requires not only an unusually large instrumentation to fully realize its intention,…

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On Nov. 11, 1918, at the end of the First World War, Poland became an independent state. To celebrate the centennial of this event, the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in Canada and the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Montreal are presenting a Tribute to Penderecki concert, which also celebrates the 85th anniversary of the composer Krzysztof Penderecki. The featured work, Penderecki’s Resurrection Piano Concerto, was composed in response to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. “It is a very powerful work, written in the spirit of the great concertos of the 20th century,” according to…

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After winning two Prix Félix and one Prix Opus and receiving her training in classical piano, Julie Lamontagne is now pursuing a career in jazz. As a composer and an arranger, she develops new approaches by mixing styles for which she has a fondness. Now What, an album produced in collaboration with New York-based saxophonist Donny McCaslin, and Noël, an anthology of holiday classics with a touch of energy and swing, are two of Lamontagne’s major projects. In the spirit of Christmas, Lamontagne will join the ­Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil on Dec. 6 in a classics meet jazz concert. “The…

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On the strength of last year’s production of Nicandro e Fileno by Le Nouvel Opéra and Les Boréades, ATMA Classics has now released this Italian pastoral opera, never issued on record before. Composed by Paolo Lorenzani to a libretto by Phillipe-Julien Mancini, Duke of Nevers, the opera was premiered in September 1681 at the Château de Fontainebleau, a retreat occasionally used by Louis XIV and his loyal subjects. For its time, the Italian style of the work was quite subversive. So much so that the king’s personal secretary Lully forbade its use. And if that weren’t enough, the subject matter…

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Yves Beaupré is fortunate to have a job as rare as it is exciting. He is the only Quebecer to devote himself entirely to the building of harpsichords. For nearly 40 years, he has created between three to five instruments a year, each with its own decorations and sonority. As soon as a harpsichord is finished, Beaupré’s Montreal workshop fills with friends and musicians to behold the new wonder, which is then brought to life by the fingers of a performer, himself surprised by the result. The instrument is then sent to its new owner, often in Quebec, but also…

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How can Baroque music, born 400 years ago, seem so young to us today? The oblivion in which it has been immersed may have been paradoxically beneficial to the form. Ask any first- or second-generation “baroque specialist” and they will share the excitement they felt at their first Monteverdi Vespers, first Rameau, first Handel concerto with Harnoncourt, first contact with the viola da gamba, this strange instrument for which a certain Marin Marais, it was said, had written nearly 600 pieces. Discovering a particular genre of music is one thing; rediscovering it with a whole generation of music lovers is…

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Concordia University Concordia’s Department of Music celebrates the Year of the Woman. Key among its celebrations is the hiring of Andrea Young as Artist-in-Residence. Joshua Rager releases a new CD (Dreams and Other Stories), Ricardo Dal Farra completes the department’s first field school at the Universidad de Caldas, and recent graduate Ilyaa Ghafouri wins First Prize at the TIMES PLAY 2018 Composition Competition. Glenn Gould School Beginning in the 2018-19 academic year, students completing undergraduate requirements at the Glenn Gould School will receive a Bachelor of Music, Performance (Honours). Acclaimed cellist Hans Jørgen Jensen is named to the faculty. Scholarship…

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Like father, like son. Both Christoph Prégardien, the father, and Julian Prégardien, his son, are noted for baroque and classical opera and oratorio as well as 19th-century Lieder. Both have made highly-regarded recordings of Bach. Julian, however, is taking a step farther than his father – and most singers this side of Barbara Hannigan – by conducting the St. John Passion while singing the role of the Evangelist on Nov. 22 for the Montreal Bach Festival at the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul. (There will be a repeat performance on Nov. 25 at the Saint-Benoît-du-Lac Abbey in the…

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