Strings - my/maSCENA

Marc Hervieux, Robert Marien, Stéphanie Bédard, and Geneviève Charest

Review: Les Concerts Populaires (July 8 and 12)

By Kiersten van Vliet on 13 July 2016 Concert Reviews, Musical Theatre, Orchestral, Popular Music, Quebec Music, Strings, Vocal

Established from an initiative by Mayor Jean Drapeau 52 years ago, Les Concerts Populaires de Montreal strives to present high-quality classical music to Montreal citizens. Now a bulwark of arrondissement Hochelaga-Maisonneuve’s summer season, Les Concerts Populaires, in collaboration with the Comité Musique Maisonneuve, offers five star-studded selections in the shadow of the Olympic tower at the Centre Pierre-Charbonneau. This year, their normal Thursday night schedule is interrupted by the 2016 Jeux du Québec, so it is more important than ever to plan your musical evenings. The eclectic series embodies a true democratization of music. On both evenings the atmosphere was…

Jack Quartet, photo Henrik Olund

Daily News Roundup: 12 July 2016

By Kiersten van Vliet on 12 July 2016 Chamber Music, Contemporary, Daily News Roundup, Musical Theatre, Piano, Popular Music, Strings

+ Marc Chénard’s account of the 2016 Cartel New Music Conference presented June 1–5 at le Vivier. “In the wake of its most recent meetings, Cartel is still a work in progress. There are still several hurdles to clear, the most significant of which way will be the contrasting mindsets of North-American and European presenters. On that issue, Pierrette Gingras sees one main difference in that the former are much more action oriented than the latter, who are more inclined to engage in ideological or conceptual discussions.” + Rappers Queen Latifah, Missy Elliott, and Lil Kim were honoured on Monday…

Cartel 2016

Cartel 2016: New Music Presenters Conference (Montreal, June 1–5)

By Marc Chénard on 12 July 2016 Canadian Music, Chamber Music, Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Quebec Music, Strings

Instigated two years ago under the name Cartel Montreal, this initiative enabled new music presenters both in North America and Europe to meet for a four-day conference, which took place during the alternative Suoni per il Popolo Festival held annually in June. Spearheaded by le Vivier, a Montreal-based association of over 30 music production companies and related partners with vested interests in all forms of contemporary music and their outreach in the community, this inaugural meeting attracted close to 50 participants, half of which were Vivier members. As this association’s director Pierrette Gingras recalls in a recent conversation, the idea…

Stevie Wonder

Daily News Roundup: 11 July 2016

By Kiersten van Vliet on 11 July 2016 Contemporary, Daily News Roundup, Mainstream Jazz, Piano, Popular Music, Scena Jazz, Violin

+ This Day in Music: George Gershwin died this day in 1937. + The 37th edition of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal was a resounding success for all involved, read the festival summary here. + A benefit concert for Black Lives Matter on Wednesday in New York City is tragically timely in light of recent events. + Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà’s albums have now been streamed more than 30 million times across more than 100 countries. + Read Kiersten van Vliet’s review of Gershwin arrangements for solo piano by British composer Michael Finnissy, played by Dirk Herten. “Finnissy, who celebrated…

Angèle Dubeau: An international success on streaming platforms!

By Newswire on 11 July 2016 Contemporary, Newswire, Quebec Music, Strings, Violin

More than 30 million streams for her discography and 12 million streams for the album Ludovico Einaudi: Portrait Montreal, July 11 2016 – Violinist Angèle Dubeau’s latest album, Ludovico Einaudi: Portrait, has now reached an impressive 12 million streams on the various music streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer. Yesterday, during the concert offered by Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà at the Festival International de Lanaudière, François Mario Labbé, president of Analekta, gave to Angèle Dubeau a commemorative plaque to recognize this remarkable achievement. The works from the violinist’s discography have now been streamed more than 30 million times across more than 100 countries, a rare feat for…

Daily News Roundup: 7 July 2016

By Kiersten van Vliet on 7 July 2016 Canadian Music, Circus, Daily News Roundup, Opera, Orchestral, Scena Jazz, Strings

+ The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble is coming to Cinéma du Parc on July 29. The movie will be shown in its original English with French subtitles. (French) + Canada’s History Society and Library and Archives Canada team up to explore Canada’s musical legacy with “Sounds Like History” podcast. + Should we cut the classics? The New York Times’ Michael Cooper weighs in about shortening operas. “After several decades in which the trend has been toward longer, uncut operas — drawing on the work of scholars to restore rarely performed passages, and putting a…

CD Review – Ives: Sonatas for Violin and Piano Nos. 1–4 (White)

By Kiersten van Vliet on 4 July 2016 CD and Book Reviews, Contemporary, Violin

Interest in American modernist Charles Ives, as these things often happen, spiked after his death. Even as the post factum father of American modernism for his use of experimental techniques as well as his quotation of American melodies from Protestant hymns to Stephen Foster, it is still difficult to find Ives on disc and in the concert halls. In fact, the only other full recording of his four violin sonatas (1906–1913) that springs to mind is Hilary Hahn’s 2012 release. The first sonata is easily the least accessible of the bunch, beginning with a cyclical creeping melody that refuses to…

Photo: Arthur Kaptainis

Concert Review: Orford Music Festival, Poulenc & Gounod

By Arthur Kaptainis on 2 July 2016 Chamber Music, Classical, Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Romantic, Violin

ORFORD – Orford Musique, as the festival in the Eastern Townships now calls itself, got under way Friday night, almost a month after it started. The educational camp fires up well before the concert calendar. Thus the first non-student program, paradoxically, represented a farewell for at least a few of the teachers who had spent most of June in residence. It also represented the kind of event that I would gladly cross several county borders to hear. Louis Spohr’s Duo for Two Violins in A minor Op. 67 No. 1? Just try to hum that one. Or more to the point, just…

Daily News Roundup: 1 July 2016

By Kiersten van Vliet on 1 July 2016 Arts Industry, Classical Music, Contemporary, Daily News Roundup, Mainstream Jazz, Opera, Romantic, Scena Jazz, Violin

+ The marriage between text and music in contemporary opera is more important than ever, says William Littler, citing Fellow Travelers (Cincinnati Opera) and Les Feluettes (Opéra de Montréal) as recent examples. “Perhaps today, more than at any other time in the recent past, librettists are coming into their own as something approaching full partners with composers in the creation of successful opera. And tied to this development is the heightened importance in an age of film and television of casting singers who can give visual credibility to their roles. Tenor Aaron Blake and baritone Joseph Lattanzi both looked and…

Lebrecht Weekly – Glazunov, Khachaturian: Violin Concertos (Avanti)

By Norman Lebrecht on 1 July 2016 Contemporary, Lebrecht Weekly, Romantic, Violin

The archetype Russian violin concerto – Tchaikovsky’s – looms so large over the musical landscape that all others seem no more than sidebars. Two concertos (each) by Prokofiev and Shostakovich are rooted in political circumstances, inseparable from their history. Miaskovsky’s concerto never took off, despite the advocacy of David Oistrakh, Weinberg’s is emerging too slowly to be counted and the rest barely make up a respectable quorum. Apart from the present pair. Alexander Glazunov wrote his concerto in 1905 for the violin professor Leopold Auer, a formidable authority who once refused to premiere Tchaikosky’s concerto unless he made extensive changes.…

Browsing: Strings