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Browsing: Classical Music

20th Anniversary of the FACE Symphony Orchestra: More Strings to its Bow

By Hassan Laghcha on 4 December 2017 Canadian Music, Classical Music, Education, Orchestral, Quebec Music

In 1998, Theodora Stathopoulos founded the Symphony Orchestra of Montreal’s FACE School (Fine Arts Core Education). The purpose was to train young musicians via newly-minted teachers, high-level amateurs and talented students. Stathopoulos is proud to see that twenty years of sustained effort have resulted in a string section (over 70 violins, violas, cellos and double basses) composed entirely of FACE students, some as young as ten. What’s more, this season’s concertmaster is only 13! That’s the youngest in the history of the orchestra, which when it started out only had a few FACE students among its players. The creation of…

Salle Claude-Champagne Restoration: Nurturing Cultural Heritage

By Arnaud G. Veydarier on 4 December 2017 Canadian Music, Classical Music, Quebec Music

Inaugurated in the 1960s by the congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Name of Jesus and of Mary, the Claude-Champagne Hall is one of Montreal’s most iconic concert venues. Some of the largest music ensembles of the city have performed in this hall, marking several generations of music. Radio-Canada also occupied the premises until the mid-1970s and in those years they recorded its Grand Concerts. Today affiliated with the University of Montreal, the Claude-Champagne Hall continues to host many classical orchestras attracted by the authenticity and acoustic quality of the venue. The hall has also become the main venue…

Yannick and the Orchestre Métropolitain: A Grand Finale in Paris

By Arthur Kaptainis on 4 December 2017 Art Song, Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Orchestral, Piano, Romantic, Strings

PARIS – Ever seen a conductor cry on stage? I mean, other than Leonard Bernstein? We can add to this exclusive list the name of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who was seen wiping his eyes discreetly on Sunday after Elgar’s Enigma Variations, a performance that marked the official conclusion of a six-city, seven-concert European tour by the Orchestre Métropolitain. There would be an encore: Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante défunte, done in the supplest tones imaginable. We must resist the temptation to deem the last thing heard as the best. But goodness, what a sound. And what an ovation from the Parisians, who packed…

Tristan Longval-Gagné

By Marie-Claire Fafard-Blais on 3 December 2017 Canadian Music, Classical Music, Piano

Originally from Sherbrooke, pianist Tristan Longval-Gagné, fell into the “musical pot” early. In fact, his parents were both musicians and ran a music school in their home. He is now proudly a co-owner and teaches at the school. His first memories are therefore inevitably related to music and to his piano-teaching father, Tristan’s first teacher. After attending McGill University where Tristan studied with Sara Laimon whom he describes as his real mentor, he continued his studies at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York. In 2009, he won first prize at the OSM Standard Life Competition and in 2010 the…

Gerald Finley 20 years later

By Adrian Rodriguez on 3 December 2017 Canadian Music, Classical Music, Opera, Vocal

It has already been 20 years since we first interviewed Canadian baritone Gerald Finley (see Philip Anson’s article). Then, Finley was a rising star specializing in Mozart operas and German lieder. Looking back, he says, “I was 37 and singing Papageno in The Magic Flute. It was seen as a good role to introduce young baritones to the house and to the acoustics at the Met, where of course big voices are the standard.” Finley is back at the Met this autumn, singing an acclaimed Athanael in Thaïs. “I’m working with the same director, John Cox. Back then he felt…

OM Concert at the Elbphilharmonie was Hamburg Heaven

By Arthur Kaptainis on 2 December 2017 Art Song, Canadian Music, Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Orchestral, Romantic, Strings

HAMBURG – “Suche Karte.” Seeking ticket. This is always a good sign, quite literally, in German-speaking lands, where it is common to advertise your unhappy condition with two words writ large on a piece of cardboard. Sure enough, a visit to the box office of the Elbphilharmonie confirmed that the fifth installment of the Orchestre Métropolitain’s tour of Europe was quite sold out. Eight thousand requests, 2,100 seats. Suche Karte. The huge demand cannot be reconciled with the usual explanations. Soloists Marie-Nicole Lemieux and Jean-Guihen Queyras are reputable enough, but hardly the stuff of a sellout. Yannick Nézet-Séguin is recognized everywhere.…

Hot Saint, Holy Sinner – Massenet’s Thaïs at the Met

By Charles Geyer on 2 December 2017 Concert Reviews, Opera

REVIEW: of the Metropolitan Opera presentation of Thaïs by Jules Massenet and Louis Gallet (viewed November 22, 2017). A colorful operatic mélange of piety and exotica, Jules Massenet’s 1894 Thaïs reemerged this season at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in a remounting of a glittery production originated as long ago as 2002 at Lyric Opera of Chicago. At that time, the work was promoted as a showcase for soprano Renée Fleming in the title role (a role that had afforded like ostent earlier for sopranos Beverly Sills and Leontyne Pryce in the 1970s). This time, the courtesan-turned-saint at the center of…

John Blow’s Ode to the Death of Purcell

By Norman Lebrecht on 1 December 2017 Baroque and Early, Lebrecht Weekly, Vocal

John Blow: An ode on the death of Mr Henry Purcell (Hyperion) For a brief window in the 1690s – until the night Mrs Purcell shut her husband out in the cold – London was the go-to place for young composers in search of top tuition and an appreciative audience. Italians like Arcangelo Corelli were keen to study with Henry Purcell and English composers grew in confidence. Then, one November night in 1695, Mrs P decided not to stay up til her old man got back from the theatre and poor Henry caught cold and died, or so the story goes.…

Atelier lyrique to welcome five new recruits

By Newswire on 28 November 2017 Arts Industry, Classical Music, Newswire

Montreal, November 27, 2017 – The Opéra de Montréal held its very first Atelier lyrique National Auditions Gala in Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts on November 15. This prestigious event, entitled TALENT 2017, brought together over three hundred music lovers who gathered to celebrate Canada’s emerging operatic talent on an unforgettable evening benefitting the Opéra de Montréal and its Atelier lyrique. The eleven finalists, chosen from among more than 120 artists across the country, vied for a spot in the OdM’s prestigious artist-in-residence program. The end result: five young soloists will be making their way into the Atelier lyrique…

Kings College Choir Delivers Uplifting English Brahms Requiem

By Norman Lebrecht on 24 November 2017 Choral, Lebrecht Weekly, Piano, Romantic

Brahms: An English Requiem (Delphian) Mary Bevan, soprano Marcus Farnsworth, baritone James Baillieu and Richard Uttley, piano Choir of Kings College London, conductor Joseph Fort This has to be the least expected record of the year – a performance of Ein deutsches Requiem in the original English, at least in the texts of the original English Bible. The work was so popular on reception, at a time when Bismarck was planting German boots all over Denmark, Austria and France, that London impresarios felt it might be prudent to produce it in a less contentious language. Since Victorian concertgoers knew their…

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