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The ‘Atelier lyrique’ Talent 2017 : Opéra de Montréal Selects Stars of Tomorrow

By Adrian Rodriguez on 16 November 2017 Music Competition, Opera, Vocal

Every year the Atelier Lyrique holds auditions to find the operatic talents of the future. This year they are betting on a slightly new formula: Talent 2017. Instead of holding the entire audition process behind closed doors, the public can assist (with the purchase of a $150 ticket) to the final round held on November 15, 2017 at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier in Montreal. This workshop is already one of the most popular training programs in Canada. It will allow the winners entrance to two years of stage experience in the productions of Opéra de Montréal as well as the necessary assistance…

Julie Boulianne (Angelina), Juan Jose De Leon (Ramiro), @Yves Renaud

A Dream Amidst the Ashes – Opéra de Montréal’s Beautiful Cenerentola

By Charles Geyer on 14 November 2017 Concert Reviews, Opera, Vocal

REVIEW: of La Cenerentola by Gioachino Rossini (libretto by Jacopo Ferretti) at l’Opéra de Montréal (viewed opening night, November 11, 2017 at Montreal’s Place des Arts / Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier). Splendid, strange, hypnotic, and thigh-slappingly hilarious, Rossini’s famous operatic reworking of the Cinderella tale, La Cenerentola, comes to vibrant life in the new Opéra de Montréal production running now through November 18. Premiering in 1817, Rossini and his librettist, Jacopo Ferretti, rang numerous changes on the classic Cinderella story (as enshrined in Charles Perrault’s seminal 1697 version) – changes both practical and dramatically ingenious. Importantly, for instance, Cinderella’s Prince Charming, here…

Philip Chiu

Previews – Toronto – November

By Gregory Finney on 12 November 2017 Chamber Music, Choral, Classical Music, Opera, Orchestral, Vocal

Tania Miller and the Royal Conservatory Orchestra The first Canadian Maestra to become Music Director of a major symphony orchestra, Tania Miller takes the podium to lead the Royal Conservatory through a program that includes works by Prokofiev and Stravinsky. Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto no. 2 will be played by pianist Sae Yoon Chon. The Royal Conservatory Orchestra is comprised of members of the Glenn Gould School’s Performance Diploma and Artist Diploma programs. Nov. 24, Koerner Hall. www.rcmusic.ca Rodelinda with VOICEBOX: Opera In Concert One of Canada’s oldest opera companies continues it 2017-18 season at the Jane Mallett Theatre (St. Lawrence Centre…

L'Ensemble Variances

Previews – Ottawa – November

By Richard Todd on 12 November 2017 Chamber Music, Choral, Classical Music, Vocal

Cantata Singers of Ottawa — Fauré Requiem Artistic Director Andrew McAnerney will lead a candlelight program of Mozart, Bach and Fauré. The centrepiece of the programme will be Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem (1893 version) with an orchestra of strings, horns, harp and organ. Other works will include Mozart’s “Misericordia Domini” and Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, performed by the orchestra. November 4, 8:00 pm – 9:30 p.m. St. Joseph’s Church. www.cantatasingersottawa.ca Seventeen Voyces — Haydn’s Mass in Time of War Seventeen Voyces’s 2017-2018 season will begin dramatically with a presentation at St. Matthew’s of Franz Joseph Haydn’s Mass in Time of War…

Baritone Clarence Frazer receives ircpa career blueprint award

By Newswire on 10 November 2017 Newswire, Vocal

BARITONE RECEIVES IRCPA CAREER BLUEPRINT AWARD AFTER MONDAY SINGING STARS CONCERT Baritone Clarence Frazer, 30, of Toronto has been named recipient of the second annual IRCPA Career Blueprint Award. The announcement was made Monday night by Li Koo of the International Resource Centre for Performing Artists, following the concert Singing Stars: The Next Generation. The event was presented by the IRCPA at Zoomer Hall in Toronto, and broadcast live on The New Classical FM. All 10 participants had taken part in an Encounter with Brett Polegato in October. Mr. Frazer was chosen as recipient by Polegato, who was on hand to congratulate him. On Monday night, the 10 young professional singers…

QW4RTZ: Pop Vocal Quartet, Rigour of Classical Musicians

By Adrian Rodriguez on 9 November 2017 Canadian Music, Uncategorized, Vocal

Montreal-based QW4RTZ is a new a cappella quartet that is making its name by sharing their passion for singing. Founded in 2010, the quartet now consists of Louis Alexandre Beauchemin, Philippe Courchesne Leboeuf, François ‘Fa.2’ Dubé and François Pothier Bouchard. They have a distinctive style, one that combines their classical background with a love of pop music, creating clever and original unaccompanied voice arrangements of the great standards of jazz, classical, and pop music. Their first album A cappella 101 came out in 2016 and was warmly received by critics. Although they come across as having a relaxed and youthful vibe,…

Photo Pierre Arsenault

Montreal Bach Festival 2017: An Emotional Connection to the Sublime

By Xenia Hanusiak on 9 November 2017 Baroque and Early, Choral, Classical Music, Vocal

The Montreal Bach Festival opens on November 17 at the Maison Symphonique with a performance of Bach’s monumental Mass in B Minor by Collegium 1704, an acclaimed early-music group based in Prague. The Mass summons a month of performances devoted to Bach and his catalogue, his contemporaries, and his influence on the composers of our time. Collegium 1704’s Montreal appearance — the Canadian debut of this élite fifty-member choir and instrumental ensemble — is intended in part as a celebration of the 500th anniversary of the start of the Protestant Reformation. This Canadian performance, which has been years in the making,…

Éva Gauthier (1885-1958) Pioneer of 20th Century Music (part I)

By Nadia Turbide on 8 November 2017 Art Song, Canadian Music, Classical Music, Contemporary, Opera, Uncategorized, Vocal

If I look back on what they now call “the roaring Twenties”, it is like looking at a rich tapestry of almost blinding color. So much happened in those years which were marked by abundant prosperity in America and a cultural liveliness which was breathtaking. Music of our time all of a sudden became a matter of interest, and everybody felt like jumping on the bandwagon. So wrote Canadian mezzo-soprano Eva Gauthier, an artist ideally suited to a period that invariably attracted the sophisticated, the exotic, the adventurous and the new. She had already sung Satie’s music-hall tunes, was familiar…

Julie Boulianne A Homecoming for Cinderella

By Charles Geyer on 8 November 2017 Art Song, Interviews, Opera

Born at Lac-Saint-Jean in northern Quebec, mezzo-soprano Julie Boulianne has forged an acclaimed international opera career. This month she returns to her operatic “home”, Opéra de Montréal, for her first Quebec performances of a favourite role — the lead in Rossini’s Cinderella opera, La Cenerentola. Interviewed on the eve of the production’s first rehearsal, Boulianne is palpably buoyed by anticipation. “It’s very exciting,” she says. “It’s a role I’ve loved, and finally I get to do it at home. I think of it as a big gift.” The excitement also carries certain responsibilities. In February, Boulianne received an Opus Prize,…

Famous Canadian Mezzos & Contraltos

By Pierre Chénier on 6 November 2017 Art Song, Opera

We cannot speak of our mezzo-sopranos and contraltos without starting with Maureen Forrester, considered to be one of the 20th century’s greatest contraltos. Born in 1930 in Montreal and deceased in 2010 in Toronto, she starred on the world’s most famous stages. She was well known to the Canadian public, since there was once a time when our national radio and television paid attention to our classical artists. As the story goes, she first met Bruno Walter in 1956, launching between the lyrical artist and the conductor one of the century’s most famous relationships. Maureen Forrester’s voice was a rare…

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