Interviews - my/maSCENA

John Brancy and Peter Dugan: A Winning Pair

By Adrian Rodriguez on 4 September 2018 Art Song, Interviews, Opera, Vocal

Back in our April issue, Wah Keung Chan and I predicted that John Brancy would be one of the winners of the 2018 CMIM. I met the American baritone with pianist Peter Dugan two days before the Aria division finals. Brancy won First Prize in the Art Song division and the French Mélodie Award. Is vocal technique different for opera and art song? John: Absolutely. When I was singing mélodies at Bourgie Hall, I was able to play with the hall; it had the acoustics that allow the performer do that. I could go ‘off the voice’ and into pure…

Musica Camerata: 49th season

By Benjamin Goron on 4 September 2018 Chamber Music, Interviews

Musica Camerata has been passionately and diligently introducing us to less familiar musical works for almost half a century. The eight musicians, hailing mostly from the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM), strengthen their reputation year after year. As the group looks ahead to a new season, here’s an interview with artistic director Luis Grinhauz. Which musical discoveries have stood out for you? Over time, we have discovered new composers; other ensembles have taken our lead and have featured them in their own concerts. Examples include Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz, a key musician like Leoš Janáček, and a group of late…

Philippe Sly: a Wandering Journey

By Adrian Rodriguez on 31 August 2018 Art Song, Interviews, Opera

I first heard Philippe Sly at the 2012 Concours musical international de Montréal. He was only 23, but that didn’t prevent him from winning every prize: First overall, best Quebec artist, best Canadian, best interpretation of an imposed Canadian art song and the Radio-Canada People’s Choice Award. I met him more than six years later on a hot summer day at his place in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve quarter, which has also enjoyed a recent cultural awakening. Sly reminisces: “The first thing I remember about opera was actually going to an operetta when I was seven years old in Ottawa. I was…

Mozart & Salieri Are at It Again, at dell’Arte Opera Ensemble’s Festival 2018

By Charles Geyer on 9 August 2018 Art Song, Choral, Classical, Classical Music, Interviews, La Scena Online, La Scena Spotlight, Musical Theatre, Opera, Orchestral, Strings, Theatre, Vocal

PREVIEW: of the 2018 dell’Arte Opera Ensemble Summer Festival Season, “Mozart & Salieri,” at New York City’s LaMaMa (66 East 4th Street), August 11 through 26; and INTERVIEWS: with company founder and artistic director, maestro Chris Fecteau, and dell’Arte 2018 creative team members Brittany Goodwin and Catherine O’Shaughnessy. This company is ready to rumble. Call it the Thrilla from Vienna: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, that most bruited matchup of 18th Century musical titans, is slated for a redux this month – this time in 21st Century New York, courtesy of the dell’Arte Opera Ensemble. Grab a ringside seat.…

A scene from DEMON by Anton Rubinstein; Bard SummerScape; photo by Stephanie Berger.

Rubinstein’s Demon Lover Stalks Bard SummerScape 2018

By Charles Geyer on 2 August 2018 Classical Music, Interviews, La Scena Online, La Scena Spotlight, Opera, Romantic, Vocal, World Music

REVIEW: of the 2018 Bard SummerScape production of Anton Rubinstein’s 1871 opera Demon; and INTERVIEW: with Dr. Leon Botstein (American Symphony Orchestra founder and SummerScape festival artistic director). A warning to all princes of the Caucasus – lock up your daughters! The devil is on the prowl, and he’s feeling amorous. Russian composer Anton Rubinstein’s 1871 opera, Demon, weaves a fascinating yarn of ultimate forbidden love. Based on an earlier, censored poem by Russian poetic genius Mikhail Lermontov, a demon (depicted as the very model of the proud, lonely, passionate Byronic tragic hero) finds himself smitten by the beauty of…

Composer John Rutter

At Home and Abroad with Composer John Rutter

By Charles Geyer on 13 July 2018 Chamber Music, Classical, Classical Music, Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Interviews, La Scena Online, Music Competition, Musical Theatre, Orchestral, Popular Music, Strings, Violin

INTERVIEW: with renowned composer John Rutter. Mark it a red-letter day in the Canadian classical music calendar: on Friday the 13th of July, John Rutter – among the world’s most beloved and widely performed living composers – arrives in Ottawa. “I feel very much at home in Canada,” Rutter says from his home in Great Britain. “I was quite a regular visitor in past years, when I was patron of the Toronto Mendelsohn Youth Choir. But this will be my first trip to Ottawa, and I’m very much looking forward to it.” It’s a journey occasioned by the two back-to-back…

Giorgia Fumanti. A voice to conquer the heart.

By Marie-Claire Fafard-Blais on 6 June 2018 Interviews, Vocal

“I go directly towards what touches my heart”Giorgia Fumanti is a unique artist with a unique story. Born in Tuscany, the diva was not predestined to build a career as a singer. She was timid and introverted. But at age 16, she discovered her voice – and the joy of sharing it with the public – while singing with the choir of her local church. Three months later, she was soloist at the Christmas concert. “I was a very shy little girl who did not want to be at the front,” Fumanti remembers. “It was a little weird.” Then, to secure…

Émilie Monnet: Building Bridges

By Johanne Viel on 5 June 2018 Indigenous, Interviews, Multimedia, Theatre

Contemporary Indigenous culture has been flourishing in Montreal of late. Theatre is by no means an exception to the rule. Émilie Monnet is one of several actor-performers at the forefront of this revival. The work she does has shed much light on a host of artistic practices, both locally and beyond. Among other things, she has encouraged artists active in different communities to meet and work together. She contends that the future of Indigenous art is promising because Montreal is becoming “a real hub,” one that draws artists from all fields like a magnet. Nowadays, Monnet directs Productions Onishka, a…

Nadia Labrie: A Passion Dedicated to Music

By Justin Bernard on 5 June 2018 Classical Music, Interviews, Winds

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…

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,…

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