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The 12th edition of Les Printemps Slaves, Montreal’s only Slavic music festival, takes place May 6-30. Every year, Artistic Director Irina Krasnyanskaya comes up with a different theme for the festival. “This year, we picked something absolutely unexpected and unusual: baroque Slavic music… The festival will be called Un printemps slave presque baroque!”
When people think of music from Slavic countries, what usually comes to mind are composers from the Romantic era and the 20th century, such as Chopin, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky. For Krasnyanskaya, the baroque theme of this year’s festival will allow audiences to hear lesser-known Slavic composers, many of whom had an important influence on later composers. “We’ll be playing Dmitry Bortniansky, one of the Ukrainian baroque composers … His music has probably never been played in Canada, probably in the whole of North America,” says Krasnyanskaya. Bortniansky’s music will be performed on May 21 and 30 at Conservatoire de musique de Montréal.
For the May 21 concert, Barocco Joyeux, Orchestre Nouvelle Génération will be joined by soloists Elvira Misbakhova (viola), and Ilya Poletaev (harpsichord). Aside from Bortniansky, the program will also feature music by Georg Philipp Telemann and Airat Ichmouratov. Though Telemann was not a Slavic composer, his Polish Concerto draws on the mazurkas and polonaises he was exposed to during his time spent as music director in the court of Count Erdmann II. Ichmouratov’s Rennsteig Concerto for viola and orchestra is composed in a neo-baroque style, “inspired by Bach and baroque music in general,” says Krasnyanskaya.
For May 30’s À la cour des Tsars, multi-instrumentalist Elizaveta Miller will be joined by her ensemble, Les Temps Perdus. This concert, dedicated to musicians of the Russian court, will include music by Anton Ferdinand Titz, Johann Pratsch and Mozart’s youngest son, Franz Xaver. Miller, explains Krasnyanskaya, is one of the rare early Slavic music specialists. “She exposed me to some absolutely amazing works of the period. The Baroque page in Slavic history, although very interesting, is very much overshadowed by the later Romantic era… We all love this Romantic music, but Baroque is interesting also, and should be re-discovered.”
Other concerts include an opening Gala Concert on May 6 at Maison de la culture de Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, and De Bach à Prokofiev on May 28. In the latter, Krasnyanskaya herself will perform in a piano duo with Jean-Fabien Schneider. The concert will feature transcriptions of Bach and Handel by Slavic composers, as well as a two-piano arrangement of Prokofiev’s illustrious Classical Symphony.
Les Printemps Slaves runs May 6-30 at Maison de la culture Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. www.lesprintempsslaves.ca
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