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Oliver Jones. Photo: Alain Lefort

Oliver Jones (1934-2026)

By Wah Keung Chan on 19 August 2026 Arts Industry, Jazz, Obituaries, Piano

La Scena Musicale is sad to learn of the death of jazz pianist Oliver Jones on July 22, 2026 at the age of 91. He leaves behind a decades-long musical legacy, having appeared on stages around the world. His passing is deeply felt among Canada’s music community. In celebration of his life, we include below the cover interview conducted by Paul Serralheiro from the June 2004 issue of La Scena Musicale and The Music Scene. We offer our condolences to his family. A public funeral service will be held for Oliver Jones on Thursday, August 20 at 1 PM at…

The Chamber Music Institute @ Menlo

By Viktor Lazarov on 6 August 2026 Chamber Music, Classical Music, Interviews, Piano, Strings

Sitting in the shade in front of the round, hut-like Martin Family Hall where July 17’s Encounter I took place, I spoke with two Canadian participants of the International Program (IP) about their experience at Music@Menlo. “[Menlo] is very intense, because they train us for the professional world”, says cellist Amanda Chi. “Other festivals I’ve been to were longer and more laid back. [Here] they tell us what their lives are like, traveling around, flying to a place and immediately performing”. Typically, IPs start their day with 7:30 or 8 AM rehearsals followed by chamber music coaching at 9 AM.…

L-R: Jake Dongyoung and Hannah Tam (violins); Jonathan Mak (piano); Miles Levine (cello); and Rang Tae (viola). Photo: Harrison Truong

Music@Menlo: 24 years of Chamber Music Making in Silicon Valley

By Viktor Lazarov on 4 August 2026 Classical Music, Interviews, Music Competition, Piano

After 24 seasons driven by generosity, passion, and an uncompromising organizational vision, this summer’s Music@Menlo Chamber Music Festival and Institute will send off its founders and artistic directors pianist Wu Han and cellist David Finckel with one last tango in Menlo Park, California. As they have done in the past, America’s chamber music power couple assembled a mouth-watering cast of guest artists for the festival’s 2026 edition. Along with the star-studded artist faculty, this year’s festival hosted a small, but select, cohort of music writers participating in the Music Critics’ Association of North America (MCANA) Writers’ Institute. As one of…

Emily Rocha. Photo Sam Gaetz; Nikan Ingabire Kanate. Photo: Michael Cooper; Gabrielle Turgeon. Photo: Leah Minium

Discover Emerging Classical Stars in CBC’s 30 Under 30

By Kaitlyn Chan on 20 July 2026 Classical Music, Music Competition, Piano, Strings, Vocal, Winds

July 20, 2026 — Today, CBC Music released their annual “30 under 30” list, which recognizes emerging Canadian classical musicians and their achievements. The news source has published a list every year since 2013 to celebrate young Canadian talent. La Scena Musicale has recently spotted some of this young talent in our own coverage including sopranos Emily Rocha, Nikan Ingabire Kanate and Gabrielle Turgeon, and pianist Grégoire Abadie. Read CBC’s “30 hot Canadian classical musicians under 30” for 2026 here.

Lizz Wright & Kenny Banks Sr.

Review | Lizz Wright at Festival International de Jazz de Montréal

By Amanda Wong on 2 July 2026 Concert Reviews, Jazz, Montreal, Piano, Vocal

Lizz Wright is a woman of class and pure, pure music. She sings, and she sings well, her voice carrying the weight of legends before her. As a self-proclaimed woman from the “swamps of Georgia,” she came a fair distance to perform for the first time at Festival International de Jazz de Montréal on June 29. Along with her longtime friend and accompanist Kenny Banks Sr., Wright performed a wonderful 10-piece set of both originals and jazz standards in the intimate space at Théâtre Jean-Duceppe within the Place des Arts complex. As a lifelong member of the church, her voice…

Max Richter at Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. Photo: Victor Diaz Lamich

Review | Max Richter at Festival International de Jazz de Montréal

By Amanda Wong on 29 June 2026 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Montreal, Piano, Strings

There’s a certain depth in minimalistic compositions that makes you keen to appreciate more. Max Richter, the British-German composer behind a host of emotional movie scores, opened the annual Festival International de Jazz de Montréal (FIJM) with a well-met performance in Salle Wilfred-Pelletier on June 25. Richter is a true artist, capable of stirring up great depth from the most deceptively simple of notes. This concert focused on two of his albums played by American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) and Richter himself: In A Landscape (2024), his most recent album, and the widely regarded The Blue Notebooks (2004). Richter played…

Jens Lindemann

Review | Jens Lindemann – Brass On Fire!

By Amanda Wong on 24 June 2026 Concert Reviews, Jazz, Montreal, Piano, Strings

While Montreal anticipates its annual summer jazz festival, there are plenty of other fascinating, if lesser-known music festivals throughout the city. The Montreal Chamber Music Festival held its own lively jazz night on June 19, inviting distinguished trumpeter Jens Lindemann to Salle Bourgie for Brass on Fire!, a delicious and energetic performance of around 15 pieces celebrating not only jazz, but musical joy as a whole. Lindemann, hailing from Alberta, was as charismatic as he was virtuosic. In addition to his mastery of the seven brass instruments he brought onstage (mostly trumpets), his brilliant comedic timing tied all the pieces…

Photo of Stephen Colbert: Philip Romano, wikipedia

Stephen Colbert’s One Last Song: Mendelssohn’s Song Without Words

By Wah Keung Chan on 21 May 2026 Classical Music, Piano

On May 20, at the second to last episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, host Stephen Colbert finally took the popular segment The Colbert Questionert, a set of 15 questions designed to probe the psyche of celebrity and political guests. To question 13, posed by singer James Taylor, “You Get One Last Song to Listen to for the Rest of Your Life: What is It?”, Colbert answered, “Glenn Gould’s execution of Mendelssohn’s Song Without Words in E Major, Op. 19, No. 1.” Here is the song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL1HZ6zGFy0&list=RDeL1HZ6zGFy0&start_radio=1 The final episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert airs…

Bruce Liu with Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. Photo: Antoine Saito

Review | OSM’s Rite of Spring & Bruce Liu’s Tchaikovsky

By Amanda Wong on 24 April 2026 Classical Music, Concert Reviews, Montreal, Orchestral, Piano, Romantic

As the weather in Montreal starts to warm again, Rafael Payare and Orchestre symphonique de Montréal hailed the return of spring with some fitting Stravinsky (The Rite of Spring) and welcomed an exciting guest soloist: pianist Bruce Liu. Twenty-eight-year-old Liu, back home in Montreal, returned to play Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, while the OSM unveiled Denis Gougeon’s newest work within a program of great Canadian talent (seen Apr. 22). Gougeon was in the hall to witness the world premiere of his composition La Traversée, an OSM commission dedicated to Payare himself. This 12-minute piece celebrates a passing, journey, or…

Alan Menken. Photo: Jag Gundu/Roy Thomson Hall

Review | Alan Menken: Stories from the King of Disney Music

By Amanda Wong on 21 April 2026 Concert Reviews, Movie soundtrack music, Piano, Toronto, Vocal

For those like me who grew up obsessing over Disney movies and music, A Whole New World of Alan Menken—the show written and performed by the composer himself—was the perfect homage to an illustrious legacy that is still constantly growing with new additions to his repertoire. Throughout the impressive two-and-a-half-hour-long (and decade-old) show, Menken took us on a magic carpet ride through a mostly chronological retelling of his career, chock full of personal anecdotes and fun behind-the-scenes facts from his works (seen at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall on Apr. 17). The show, with additional materials by Jennifer Lucy Cook and…

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