Browsing: Classical Music

Sleeping Rough: in urban vernacular, it’s code for homelessness; and it’s now the apt title of composer Roddy Ellias’s first opera, which will premiere this summer at Ottawa’s 2018 Music and Beyond Festival (July 10, 11 and 12). “When I was a student in downtown Ottawa,” recalls Ellias, “I was across the street from the men’s mission. I got to talk to those guys every day. I’d see them slowly, day by day, degenerate.” It’s an experience that haunted Ellias, burrowing deep, only to emerge decades later, compelling him toward operatic form. “The palette it gives you as a composer…

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Earlier this year, when Ottawa’s Music and Beyond festival announced that its 2018 roster would include a concert of works written and conducted by acclaimed British composer John Rutter, ticket-buying activity exploded across North America. Within 90 seconds, a two-ticket order from British Columbia augured the continent-wide deluge to come. “We were selling tickets faster than anything else we ever released in our history,” recalls the festival’s founder and executive and artistic director, Julian Armour. “I thought, ‘we’d better see if we can offer another performance.’” Armour quickly contacted Rutter, along with the three choruses involved, and members of his…

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THE WINNERS OF THE 2018 VOICE EDITION: A SPECTACULAR EVENING AT THE CONCOURS MUSICAL INTERNATIONAL DE MONTRÉAL John Brancy wins in the Art Song division and Mario Bahg in the Aria division. Canadian Emily D’Angelo wins Second Prize in the Aria division   Montreal, Thursday, June 7, 2018 – Earlier this evening, it was full house at Maison symphonique as the audience and international jury of the 2018 Voice edition witnessed the Aria Grand Finale of the Concours musical international de Montréal (CMIM). After this final round sponsored by Power Corporation of Canada, the jury members gathered to deliberate and determine the…

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MCMF’s Classical Series June 1 to 17 The Montreal Chamber Music Festival launches its Classical Series on June 12 with the remarkable Rolston String Quartet. At 5 p.m. the interpret Different Trains by Steve Reich in a performance embellished by the screening of a Beatriz Caravaggio-produced video. At 8 p.m. they are joined the renowned pianist André Laplante in Schumann’s Piano Quintet. The intensive week continues with the Tempest Trio’s Canadian debut on June 14; a musical whirlwind by the pianists Alon Goldstein, David Jalbert, Steven Massicotte and Wonny Song on June 15; and appearances by the New York Philharmonic…

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Over the years, the Festival d’opéra de Québec has gained an enviable reputation earned several honours, including the 2012 Opus Awards in three categories. This year, the main production will be The Magic Flute by Mozart as directed by Robert Lepage. One of Mozart’s later masterpieces, composed in 1791 and staged only a few months before his death, this initiatory opera is one of the most popular works in the world. It will showcase the originality of Robert Lepage, who is particularly known in the world of opera for his Metropolitan Opera production of Wagner’s Ring. “Robert Lepage proposed himself…

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“I go directly towards what touches my heart”Giorgia Fumanti is a unique artist with a unique story. Born in Tuscany, the diva was not predestined to build a career as a singer. She was timid and introverted. But at age 16, she discovered her voice – and the joy of sharing it with the public – while singing with the choir of her local church. Three months later, she was soloist at the Christmas concert. “I was a very shy little girl who did not want to be at the front,” Fumanti remembers. “It was a little weird.” Then, to secure…

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The Cellist: The Legacy of Gregor Piatigorsky, a new documentary by Murray Grigor and Hamid Shams, tells the story of the Russian-Jewish-American virtuoso in a panorama of historical sounds, pictures, video, and interviews, including footage of the Montreal Chamber Music Festival’s founding director and driving force, Denis Brott. One particularly moving, never-before-seen item shows Piatigorsky playing an excerpt from Schumann’s Cello Concerto during a concert in Puerto Rico conducted by his old friend Pablo Casals. Much of the research that went into the making The Cellist was guided by Piatigorsky protégé Terry King, whose Gregor Piatigorsky: The Life and Career of…

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Quatuor Bozzini Gyula Csapó : Déjà ? Kojâ ? Label : Collection QB Catalogue number : CQB 1821 ★★★✩✩ In recent years the Bozzini Quartet has added to its discography recordings dedicated to a single composer, sometimes even devoted to a single work. That is also the case with their most recent album, Déjà ? Kojâ ?, which is a mix of French and Persian languages meaning “Already? to where?” The title of the same name for string quartet is by Gyula Csapo, composer of Hungarian descent. Commissioned by the Bozzini Quartet, the work underwent various transformations before its completion in 2016. It is structured in three…

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Yesterday evening the Arian Semi-finals of the CMIM 2018 came to a conclusion. Mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb, tenor Konstantin Lee, tenor Mario Bahg, baritone John Brancy and bass Mikhail Golovushkin and tenor Petr Nekoranec competed for one of the six spots in the finals in the Aria division of the CMIM 2018 competition. At the end, La Scena’s tweeted our predictions: * Wah Keung Chan: Emily D’Angelo, Andrew Haji, John Brancy, Rihab Chaieb, Mario Bahg, Mikhail Golovushkin. Sorry Konstantin Lee. * Justin Bernard: D’Angelo, Hadji, Nekroranec, Chaieb, Bahg et Glovushkin. Hésitation entre Brancy et Chaieb. * Myself: Emily D’Angelo, Mario Bahg,…

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Montreal, Wednesday, June 6, 2018 – Last night, the names of the Aria finalists of the Concours musical international de Montréal (CMIM) were announced following two evenings of semi-final rounds at the Maison symphonique. Since May 29, 38 competitors from 20 countries have had the pleasure of performing in the CMIM’s 2018 Voice edition. While the final round for the Art Song division (voice and piano) took place on Sunday, June 3, it will be following the Aria Finals Gala (voice and orchestra)—tomorrow, Thursday, June 7—that we will learn the names of the prizewinners in both divisions, in the presence…

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