Strings - my/maSCENA

Suor Angelica, Photo: Tam Lan Truong

Quebec Previews: October 2016

By Kiersten van Vliet on 1 October 2016 Baroque and Early, Chamber Music, Contemporary, La Scena Spotlight, Opera, Strings

Les Caprices de la Nuit with Les Violons du Roy On October 13, join violinist and conductor Anthony Marwood and Les Violons du Roy for an evening of exceptional chamber music for strings. The concert includes the String Sextet from Richard Strauss’s final opera Capriccio, Mozart’s charming String Quintet in G minor, and Schoenberg’s late-Romantic Verklärte Nacht. October 13, 8PM, Salle Raoul-Jobin, Palais Montcalm. www.violonsduroy.com James Ehnes @ 40 Continue the celebration of James Ehnes’s 40th birthday as he stops in Quebec City on his way across Canada. With longtime collaborator Andrew Armstrong, Ehnes will play chamber music by Handel,…

Review – Après un Rêve: Fauré, Debussy, Ravel (BIS)

By Kiersten van Vliet on 1 October 2016 CD and Book Reviews, Contemporary, Romantic, Violin

Après un Rêve: Fauré, Debussy, Ravel Christian Svarfvar, violin; Roland Pöntinen, piano BIS 2016. 2183. 61 min 8 s. French music has long held an essential position in a violinist’s repertoire, but with this new release by Swede Christian Svarfvar, the links between French melody and the French operatic tradition of the 19th century are brought into clear focus. The tool used is, of course, the violin, with its latent potential to mimic the expressiveness of the human voice. The disc runs in roughly chronological order, or rather, the way we like to think of the French compositional lineage: Fauré…

Review – György Kurtág: Complete String Quartets (ATMA)

By Kiersten van Vliet on 1 October 2016 CD and Book Reviews, Contemporary, Strings

György Kurtág: Complete String Quartets Quatuor Molinari: Olga Ranzenhofer, violin; Frédéric Bednarz, violin; Frédéric Lambert, viola; Pierre-Alain Bouvrette, cello ATMA 2016. ACD2 2705. 60 min 38 s. Quatuor Molinari has become Canada’s champion for 20th and 21st-century composition, including recordings of Canadian R. Murray Schafer’s String Quartets, and, more recently, the premiere of his Alzheimer’s Masterpiece (String Quartet No. 13), a moving tribute to the ailing composer. Following the fine recording of quartets by fellow Canadian Petros Shoujounian (Noravank, April 2016) to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, with this release Quatuor Molinari has once again proven its…

CMIM First Prize Now Worth $80,000

By Newswire on 21 September 2016 Arts Industry, Newswire, Piano, Violin, Vocal

Montréal, September 14, 2016 – The Concours musical international de Montréal (CMIM) is pleased to announce the addition of the Joseph-Rouleau Career Development Grant worth $50,000 to its roster of prizes for the next three editions: piano 2017, voice 2018, and violin 2019. Funded by the Azrieli Foundation and managed by the CMIM, this grant will be awarded to the First Prize winner, who will also receive $30,000 in cash from the Ville de Montréal, bringing the total value of the First Prize to $80,000. This career development grant has been created to honour internationally-renowned bass Joseph Rouleau, co-founder of…

Lebrecht Weekly – Prokofiev: Violin concertos (BIS)

By Norman Lebrecht on 16 September 2016 Contemporary, Lebrecht Weekly, Violin

Two albums of Prokofiev concertos arrive in the same delivery, one piano, the other violin. Both are from pedigree artists, pedigree labels. Which one do I review? Here’s where you run into the problem of having too much music in your head. I cannot listen to the 4th and 5th Prokofiev concertos, or the 7th and 8th sonatas, without hearing Sviatoslav Richter as a parallel soundtrack, allowing others little room for manoeuvre. Likewise the 3rd concerto which I heard Martha Argerich play with Riccardo Muti one Sunday afternoon more than 40 years ago with such effervescence that all else pales…

James Ehnes, Photo: Benjamin Ealovega

Interview – James Ehnes @40

By Kiersten van Vliet on 14 September 2016 Chamber Music, Interviews, Violin

As part of his 40th birthday celebrations, Canadian virtuoso violinist James Ehnes is hitting the road. Travelling across Canada with his family and accompanist Andrew Armstrong in tow, Ehnes will cross coast-to-coast-to-coast in Canada, trekking from Vancouver to St. John’s and all the way North to Iqaluit as part of his James Ehnes @40 tour. Next month, Ehnes plays the Dvořák Violin Concerto with the OSM (October 13, 8PM & October 14, 7PM), and a recital of Beethoven, Franck, and Ravel with Armstrong (October 16, 2:30PM). He returns to Montreal this spring in recital at LMMC Concerts, (April 30, 2017, 3:30PM). Below is a…

Borodin Quartet (Ruben Aharonian, Sergey Limovsky, Igor Naidin, and Vladimir Balshin) with Nuné Melik (centre)

Interview – Borodin Quartet at MISQA

By Nuné Melik on 13 September 2016 Chamber Music, Interviews, Strings

To catch all the members of the Borodin Quartet off stage is almost impossible. Formed in 1945, the legendary Russian ensemble, rarely, if ever, gives interviews – especially when they are on tour abroad. I conducted this interview after their spectacular opening Pollack Hall concert on August 14 at the McGill International String Quartet Academy (MISQA), where they gave masterclasses to quartets from all over the world. Speaking in Russian, first violinist Ruben Aharonian, second Sergey Limovsky, violist Igor Naidin, and cellist Vladimir Balshin covered a range of subjects at the four-star Omni Hotel in downtown Montreal. Nuné Melik: The…

Peter Mendell Award 2016 Winner Announcement

By Newswire on 12 September 2016 Classical Music, Newswire, Strings

Montreal, September 11, 2016 – The Jeunesses Musicales Canada Foundation and Peter Mendell are awarding cellist Joshua Morris with a $ 2,500 scholarship. Joshua was selected by the jury as the best candidate among all full-time string students enrolled in a classical music program at one of Québec’s universities or at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec who applied for the scholarship. About Joshua Morris A native of Vermont, Joshua Morris is currently pursuing a Masters in Cello Performance with Brian Manker at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Cello Performance from…

James Ehnes with his accompanist Andrew Armstrong, Photo: Ben Ealovega

James Ehnes @40

By Kiersten van Vliet on 1 September 2016 Chamber Music, Interviews, Violin

Age may be but a number, but its influence is broad. For celebrated Canadian violinist James Ehnes, turning 40 earlier this year has led to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tour his homeland in a series celebrating family, community, and (of course) great music. Though he is no doubt still fielding quips about being over the hill, Ehnes’s bustling performance schedule certainly erases any doubts about him slowing down any time soon. Ehnes, a Brandon, Manitoba native, began playing the violin at the age of 4 and studied with renowned violinist and pedagogue Francis Chaplin at 9. From 1993 to 1997…

Review – Overtures to Bach: Matt Haimovitz (Pentatone Oxingale)

By Kiersten van Vliet on 1 September 2016 Baroque and Early, CD and Book Reviews, Contemporary, Strings

Recently named Pentatone’s Artist of the Season, Matt Haimovitz has never shied from making waves in performance or recording. The Montreal-based cellist has already proven his Bach chops over and over throughout his career, most recently with the 2015 Pentatone release of the Suites based on a copy by Bach’s second wife Anna Magdalena played on period instruments. This new disc explores six new commissions by Haimovitz, each an Overture to the Prelude from each Suite. The structure of Overture followed by Prelude makes the Bach a comment on the future, a kind of sonic time machine. Opening with Phillip…

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