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Escher Quartet

Canadian Classical Summer Music Festivals 2017: Quebec

By La Scena Musicale Team on 1 June 2017 150/375, Classical Music, La Scena Spotlight

Festival de musique de chambre de Montréal Until June 18 The Festival de musique de chambre de Montréal continues its Beethoven quartet “marathon” in June with four concerts by Dover Quartet (June 2, 4, 9, and 11 at Pollack Hall, McGill University). A discussion by musicologist Richard Turp before the concert will encourage the public to explore new format features. On June 3, saxophonist Rémi Bolduc will pay tribute to George Shearing, a great pianist and conductor, at Bourgie Hall. The French-Canadian premiere of a Rolston String Quartet and Dover Quartet collaboration is not to be missed. Both ensembles were…

Vincent Bélanger and Pure Cello

By Olivier Gentil on 1 June 2017 Interviews, Strings

“Classical music is a music of details. The more we advance in our musical learning, the more we become a looking glass, and this, to eventually learn how to forget.” Vincent Bélanger’s album Pure Cello is above all else a vision. It questions the essence of music, surpassing the borders of a musical culture too often standardized, even imprisoned by a restricted mindset. “I wanted each work to be unique,” the musician states. “If it’s done honestly, if it’s done well and the details are there, people will like it. Do it with honesty. And present your work to the…

Michel Buruiana

Michel Buruiana (February 17, 1953–February 13, 2017)

By La Scena Musicale Team on 1 June 2017 Arts Industry, Classical Music, La Scena Spotlight

On 13 February 2017, Michel Buruiana died suddenly at the age of sixty-three. He was a journalist, writer, businessman, producer, impresario and artistic advisor. Born in Romania, Michel Buruiana was the son of an ophthalmologist and a violinist. His parents got him interested in the arts at an early age. At age nine, he appeared in Les Saisons, a film by Romanian director Savel Stiopul, which was presented in Cannes and received a prize at the Teheran Film Festival where Norman McLaren presided over the jury. A few years later, McLaren had fond memories of Stiopul’s film and agreed to…

Bernard Labadie

News: June 2017

By Orphée Russell on 1 June 2017 Classical Music, La Scena Spotlight

Competitions The CMIM (Concours musical international de Montréal), one of the most prestigious of its kind in the world, is held every year featuring piano, violin, and voice on a rotating basis. Piano took center stage in the 2017 edition. Hungarian pianist Zoltán Fejévári took the $30,000 first prize and the $50,000 Joseph Rouleau Career Development Grant. Giuseppe Guarrera of Italy took the second prize, and Stefano Andreatta, also of Italy, finished third. Except for the Best Canadian Artist Award, given to Teo Gheorghiu, all the other special prizes, including the People’s Choice Award, were awarded to Guarrera. CMIM grants…

Marina Thibeault, Photo: Matthew Perrin

Marina Thibeault: 21st-Century Viola Ambassador

By Kiersten van Vliet on 1 June 2017 Interviews, Strings

“It’s 2017!” is the new benchmark expression of disapproval for antiquated modes of thinking and doing, and we need only to look at the success of Marina Thibeault’s debut album Toquade to recognize that the viola has a voice autonomous from its petite counterpart and that henceforth all viola jokes must be met with exclamations of the date rather than laughter. They’re just not relevant anymore,” says Thibeault. “They’re like the embarrassing jokes that your uncle tells.” Reaching the top four Classical albums on iTunes on the day of its release, Toquade is but the cherry on the top of…

Kronos Quartet, Photo: Jay Blakesberg

The Kronos Quartet Looks to the Future

By Kiersten van Vliet on 1 June 2017 150/375, Chamber Music, Contemporary, Interviews

For Canada’s Sesquicentennial celebration, Ottawa’s 8th annual Music and Beyond Festival boasts a star-studded slate including Sarah Chang, Measha Brueggergosman, and Garrick Ohlsson, among other local and international favourites. From July 4 to 17, festivalgoers will enjoy a truly multi-disciplinary menu of classical music with artistic collaborations that include dance, visual art, poetry, comedy – even yoga for those who are feeling more adventurous. Of the 75 concerts and events scheduled, one of the most anticipated guests is surely the Kronos Quartet, who will perform at Dominion-Chalmers United Church on July 5. For over forty years, the string quartet has…

Flûte Alors!

Music and Beyond 2017

By Kiersten van Vliet on 1 June 2017 Chamber Music

With over 75 concerts spread out over the entire city, there’s gotta be something that will tickle your fancy at Ottawa’s Music and Beyond Festival this season, which runs July 4 to 17. With their festival passes, festivalgoers will experience a veritable buffet of multi-disciplinary artistic collaborations that pair classical music with drama, dance, visual art, poetry, comedy – even yoga and wine. Invited guests include soprano Myriam Leblanc (5), the Elmer Iseler Singers (July 5), Quartango (6), next-gen recorder ensemble Flûte Alors! (7), the Canadian Brass (7), the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra with soprano Measha Brueggergosman (7), Quartetto Gelato…

Marina Thibeault: Toquade (ATMA)

By Kiersten van Vliet on 1 June 2017 CD and Book Reviews, Contemporary, Romantic, Strings

Toquade Marina Thibeault, viola; Janelle Fung, piano ATMA 2017. ACD2 2759, 66 min 58 s. With the first recording of her career, violist Marina Thibeault strikes a balance between spirited and sentimental, tradition and innovation, accessibility and abstraction, leaving us with a clear and compelling understanding of the breadth of both the repertoire and the instrument itself. Thibeault has a sensitive but firm touch, painting long lines in which sounds become ideas. The disc opens with the Valse sentimentale from Tchaikovsky’s Six Pieces Op. 51. The transcription of the piece, originally written for piano, highlights the thematic binaries – the…

Simon Brault

Interview with Simon Brault of the Canada Council for the Arts

By Hassan Laghcha on 1 June 2017 150/375, Arts Industry, Classical Music, Interviews

“We’re able to take many more risks.” To foster artistic experimentation, begin recognizing Indigenous culture, support emerging talent, treat artists less prescriptively – these are some of the new guidelines for the Canada Council for the Arts as it emerges from years of austerity and undergoes a “historical moment,” in the words of director Simon Brault. Taking stock halfway through his mandate at the head of the CCA, which he has directed since June 2014, Brault highlights the following achievements: adopting of a new funding model, an Indigenous arts funding program, and the “CCA’s big comeback on the international scene,…

The 2016 NYO performs at the Maison Symphonique

The National Youth Orchestra: Unsilent and At The Edge

By Rebecca Anne Clark on 1 June 2017 150/375, Education, Interviews, Orchestral

When Barbara Smith and Blanche Israël greeted me at the NYO’s downtown Toronto office, they had a weary-yet-determined air – familiar to any arts administrator labouring over a cherished project. “We’re getting down to the wire,” they explained, citing less than a month until the National Youth Orchestra begins its 2017 season and welcomes 92 talented young musicians, chosen from over 500 applicants, into its training program. I commented that it’s an exciting time. “Well okay, if you say so!” they chuckled dryly before admitting that it is indeed an exciting time. The orchestra will soon embark on the Edges…

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