Browsing: Winds

The sound I miss most in our orchestral silence is the unexpected wail of a clarinet, in pain or pleasure like a cat in coitus, at the moment a symphony seems to be drifting towards the intermission. No way is the clarinet going to let this music end without a howl. Of all clarinet concertos, and I include Mozart’s, Aaron Copland’s is my favourite by a Siamese smile. Grifted from a dying cadence in Mahler’s ninth symphony, it meanders down the back-lots of Hollywood through some jazz riffs and pony clops to an upbeat, slightly phony all-American fadeout. That’s all,…

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Montreal, December 12, 2020 ▪ The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal is thrilled to announce the names of the first prize winners of the OSM 2020 Competition: Arin Sarkissian in the WOODWINDScategory and Robert Conquer in the BRASS category. This entirely digital 81st edition of the OSM Competition ran from October 5 to December 12, bringing together Canada’s most talented young musicians and launching the artists of tomorrow. Arin Sarkissian, flute, (Ontario), 21 This Toronto native has performed with a number of youth orchestras in recent years. The winner of several prizes in competitions for young artists, Arin Sarkissian is currently…

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Nadia Labrie launches a new installment of her ongoing series of recordings entitled Flute Passion on Feb. 12. As a follow-up to her previous Analekta album devoted to Schubert, Labrie turns her attention to Bach, a composer she first fell in love with during her student days and whose music she wanted to dedicate a recording to someday. “I had been thinking about doing Bach for my series almost as long as I did about Schubert,” Labrie confides. “I first thought of it when I was 20, and it became an idée fixe. In my spare time, I’d go back…

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The timing was not perfect. Lara Deutsch had strep throat. But the flutist was instructed in no uncertain terms to appear as requested for a meeting at such-and-such an hour and in such-and-such place in Montreal. “I was told that it couldn’t be at any other time,” Deutsch said from her home in Ottawa. “And I was told that I really had to be there.” The appointment was worth keeping. On her arrival Deutsch learned that she was the 2019–20 winner of the Mécénat Musica Prix Goyer, a prize valued at $125,000 that includes $50,000 in cash, a series of…

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Haydn, Telemann, Leopold Mozart & Hummel Concertos OXFORD PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA conducted by MARIOS PAPADOPOULOS NEW RELEASE FROM SONY CLASSICAL – SEPTEMBER 6, 2019 “A spectacular soloist” (Montreal Gazette) … who “knows no limits” (Der Spiegel) For Immediate Release, September 6, 2019 … Recognized among the finest trumpet virtuosos of his generation, Paul Merkelo releases The Enlightened Trumpet, his first recording for Sony Classical. Hailed as “a spectacular soloist … a most impressive master of his instrument” (Montreal Gazette) who “knows no limits” (Der Spiegel) and with “unusual lyrical gifts” (Gramophone), Merkelo has been Principal trumpet with the Orchestre symphonique de…

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Saturday, September 1 was one of the busiest journeys of the five-day Festival with 6 indoor concerts, a Masterclass with Russian accordionist Roman Jbanov,  a Trad Quebecois dance event and free concerts held all over the town in different outdoor stages and restaurants. I also wanted to visit the Accordion Museum at the historical Manoir et four a pain Couillard and the photographic exhibition by Julien Simard which documented 30 years of the festival’s history. My first order of business was to meet with accordion prodigy Andrea Di Giacomo. The 22-year-old left the audience in awe at the Opening night…

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Nadia Labrie has launched her first solo album – a great occasion for a flutist known initially for the duo she created with guitarist Annie Labrie, her twin sister. Duo Similia was a great success, performing 500 concerts in more than 13 countries, recording four albums for the Analekta label, and winning many awards, including a 2004 Félix for best instrumental album. Following many years dedicated to her family and children, Nadia has made a comeback. We met in a café nestled in Montreal’s Villeray neighbourhood. This was an opportunity to learn about her career as a flutist, her professional…

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OTTAWA, May 15, 2017 — On May 14, at 2:00 p.m. music students aged 16-24 from the National Capital Region competed for a chance to win prizes worth more than $20,000 in the 37th annual National Arts Centre Orchestra’s 2017 Bursary Competition. This year’s winners are:  2016 NAC Orchestra Bursary ($7,000) –Nicolas Richard, bassoon  Crabtree Foundation Award ($5,000) – Heather Jonasson, flute  Friends of the NAC Orchestra Award ($3,000) – Emilia Segura, clarinet  The NAC Orchestra Vic Pomer Award ($2,000) – Rachel Domingue, oboe  The Sturdevant Orchestral Excerpts Prize ($1,500) – Rachel Domingue, oboe  The…

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Who would have thought that acclaimed flautists are fans of smoked meat just like the rest of us? In today’s Video of the Day, McGill alumni and Montreal resident, Mika Putterman traipses around the Bernard Street Mile End deli, Lester’s Deli, while her rendition of Johann Nepomuk Hummel’s Allegro con Brio Sonata plays in the background. Between takes of meat slicers and Putterman playing her wooden flute, the slightly yellowed video filter conveys a deep sense of longing for the comfort of a picturesque day on Bernard Street. Shopkeepers smile. Customers laugh. And sunshine twinkles in the eye. The flute trills and…

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