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Photo : Voces Boreales

Choral Return: Long-Awaited But Complicated

By Marie-Claire Fafard-Blais on 13 September 2021 Choral, Vocal

Most amateur choirs in Quebec have ceased or considerably slowed their activities since March 2020. The start of the 2021 choral season promises to have more freedom, although many constraints are still in place. The limit of 25 people allowed to meet in the same room is a major constraint for choirs, which often have more than double this number. About 75% of choirs in the Alliance chorale du Québec fall into this category, representing nearly 14,000 singers who are directly affected. The situation creates a major logistical challenge for amateur choirs, which often have limited means and cannot contemplate…

Andrew Gray, artistic and musical director of Voces Boreales - Photo courtesy of Voces Boreales

Path of Miracles: a musical pilgrimage with Voces Boreales

By Arnaud G. Veydarier on 3 September 2021 Choral

by Olivier Bergeron and Arnaud G. Veydarier Andrew Gray couldn’t have chosen a better city than Montreal when, in 2010, he decided to leave the U.K. to start a new chapter in his already flourishing career. In fact, the “city of a hundred bells” boasts a well-established choral tradition, with two symphony orchestras, a ballet company and hundreds of vocal ensembles of all levels. It was in this rich musical landscape that Gray won his first official position as conductor of the Montreal Children’s Choir, which he left in 2015 to take over artistic and musical direction of the Montreal…

Timothty Shantz and Luminous Voices

By Bill Rankin on 3 June 2021 Choral

Timothy Shantz left his home in Kitchener-Waterloo in 1996 to begin a master’s degree in choral conducting with the internationally renowned choral specialist Leonard Ratzlaff at the University of Alberta. The letter Shantz wrote 25 years ago for his application reveals the seeds of his larger ambition. In it he wrote: “I really want to be involved in the professionalization of choirs in Canada.” While in Edmonton, Shantz sang with the professional choir Pro Coro, and eventually went on to do his doctorate at the University of Indiana. He then took several leadership positions in the Canadian choral community, including…

Tam Photography

Toronto Mendelssohn Choir appoints Jean-Sébastien Vallée as new Artistic Director

By Newswire on 1 June 2021 Arts Industry, Choral

Chair of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir Board of Directors, Denny Young, today announced that Jean-Sébastien Vallée has been appointed as the TMC’s eighth Artistic Director. Jean-Sébastien’s appointment comes as TMC prepares to enter the post-pandemic era with a renewed and exciting commitment to choral music performance and creation. His outstanding record of artistic leadership ensures the continuation of TMC’s long and distinguished tradition of excellence. But more than that, his vision for choral music’s capacity to build inclusive communities perfectly aligns with TMC’s aspiration to be a catalyst for change. Jean-Sébastien has a demonstrated talent for creating extraordinary choral music…

Photo: Dahlia Katz Photography

Amadeus Choir Embraces Digital World with AI-Generated Poetry and Podcast Series

By Newswire on 6 May 2021 Choral

Toronto, May 6, 2021 – The Amadeus Choir is breaking new ground in the choral do main with two digital projects this spring: an interactive musical web experience and a podcast series combining music and poetry. “We see the current environment as an opportunity to push ourselves in the digital sphere,” says Artistic Director, Kathleen Allan. “We thought: maybe instead of trying to fit what we do inside the constraints of the pandemic, we should create something totally new.” Home Comfort Advisor is a large-scale work for socially distanced choir that brings choral performance to a completely interactive online format.…

New Releases

By La Scena Musicale Team on 13 April 2021 Arts Industry, Baroque and Early, Choral

This section is an advertising supplement. To announce here, contact [email protected] Distance Choir of the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul Jean-Sébastien Vallée, conductor ATMA ACD2 2840 Release date: April 2, 2021 The Choir of the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul in Montreal offers an album dedicated to the theme of isolation and its role in the COVID-19 pandemic. Distance explores the different aspects of isolation and silence: loneliness, reflection, but also the determination and desire to break the silence. The program includes several choral pieces ranging from motets with continuo by Bach to works by Elgar,…

Keeping it together in the age of distance

By Arthur Kaptainis on 8 April 2021 Choral

“We were quite precise about the two metres,” Jean-Sébastien Vallée, conductor of the Choir of the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul, said about the recording sessions last November – at the height of the second COVID wave in Montreal – dedicated to a new album on the ATMA label aptly titled Distance. “Which is hard, because that is two metres on every side.” Nonetheless, the 24 professionals who make up the highly regarded ensemble managed to keep their distance in the pews (there would not have been enough space in the choir stalls) and maintain an appropriately high…

Vox Luminosa

Today’s Streams: Dec. 30th

By La Scena Musicale Team on 30 December 2020 Chamber Music, Choral, Classical Music, Opera

Here are today’s streamed concerts you shouldn’t miss! Enjoy. This feature will run until January 1, 2021. To submit your event, please email [email protected] The Orchestre de chambre de la Montérégie – Holiday Season Concert Nicolas Ellis and l’Orchestre de chambre de la Montérégie The Orchestre de chambre de la Montérégie, under the musical direction of Nicolas Ellis, accompanied by dancers from the École supérieure de ballet du Québec, are pleased to share their first webcast production. This initiative allows the organization to pursue its mission of providing access to music and the performing arts to a greater number of…

Today’s Streams: Dec. 21st

By La Scena Musicale Team on 21 December 2020 Choral, Classical Music, Contemporary, Opera

Here are today’s streamed concerts you shouldn’t miss! Enjoy. This new feature will until January 1, 2021. To submit your event, please email [email protected] Bayerische Staatsoper presents Camille Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël Ailyn Pérez, Tara Erraught, Okka von der Damerau, Benjamin Bernheim and Etienne Dupuis sing Camille Saint-Saëns’s rarely performed Oratorio de Noël. Antonello Manacorda conducts. For more information, click here. Stile Antico at Wigmore Hall A seasonal programme in which the acclaimed vocal ensemble Stile Antico performs Christmas music from the Spanish Golden Age. For more information, click here. Essential Opera presents December Essential Opera presents December, a new opera by Monica Pearce.…

Today’s Streams: Dec. 15th

By La Scena Musicale Team on 15 December 2020 Baroque and Early, Choral, Classical Music

Here are today’s streamed concerts you shouldn’t miss! Enjoy. This new feature will until January 1, 2021. To submit your event, please email [email protected] The OSM Celebrates the Holidays with Vivaldi and Handel The OSM invites you to celebrate a glorious holiday season with works by two Baroque masters, performed by splendid vocal soloists Anna-Sophie Neher, Stéphanie Manias and Julie Boulianne, and the OSM Chorus and musicians led by Quebec conductor Bernard Labadie. Share in the exuberant joy of Vivaldi’s famous Gloria and be transported by the excitement of the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah! For more information, visit www.osm.ca/…