Pentaèdre: Musical delights of its 37th season

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The Pentaèdre wind quintet announces a 2022-23 season of concerts that align with the group’s spirit of renewal, and the quest for exciting musical challenges that leads them to boldly explore diverse repertoires.

The young artistic director, Ariane Brisson, introduces what’s on offer with the quintet in their five concerts of the season—beginning on Sept. 30, in the Serge-Garant Hall of the Faculty of Music of the Université de Montréal, with a concert dedicated to the Day of Truth and Reconciliation, featuring the première of a work by Odawa First Nation composer Barbara Assiginaak. This concert will feature American pianist Henry Kramer, who will perform two Mozart classics—the opera Così fan tutte and the Quintet for Winds and Piano K. 452.

For its second concert, on Nov. 27, Pentaèdre has chosen to present works by a selection of American composers. “The goal is to offer a glimpse into the musical faces and portraits that make up the American continent, in its impressive cultural and artistic diversity,” says Brisson. She details the program’s musical selections, which will centre on a work by Canadian composer Carmen Braden, tropical tunes by Paquito D’rivera, a chôros by Heitor Villa-Lobos, and the sublime American Quartet by Antonín Dvořák.

French repertoire, a must!

Pentaèdre begins 2023 with an all-French program on Feb. 5 at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. “It’s always a must to play fabulous French repertoire!” Brisson enthuses. She happily tackles the exciting works on the program: Poulenc, Jolivet, Ravel and Bizet.

On April 4, Pentaèdre will give Mathieu Lussier carte blanche of the season with the concert La fête basson plein! at the Cabaret Lion d’Or. In the relaxed atmosphere of this emblematic venue, the ensemble will present a program featuring four bassoonists. Lussier and his guests will perform original works and transcriptions: Ravel, Bizet, Lussier, Beethoven, Weill, Sibelius, and other delights.

To close its 37^th season, Pentaèdre will delight and surprise audiences with their May 12 performance, a Midsummer Night’s Dream concert at Bourgie Hall. Listeners are invited to witness a first for the ensemble, as they explore the magnificent works of Felix Mendelssohn and perform a quintet arrangement of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as the Quintet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13. And that’s not all: Finnish composer Kalevi Aho’s Quintet No. 1 will be the icing on the cake, a colossal work for the five bold and curious musicians.

Translation by Eva Stone-Barney