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La Scena Online is the digital magazine of La Scene Musicale.Contents: News, Concert reviews, CD reviews, Interviews, Obituaries, etcEditor: Wah Keung ChanAssistant Editor: Andreanne VenneISSN: 1206-9973

Musica Pacifica. Photo credit: Claudine Jacques

Review | Musica Pacifica – Rockstars of Early Flemish Music

By Heather Weinreb on 1 November 2024 Baroque and Early, Classical Music, Concert Reviews

On October 23, 2024, the stage of Bourgie Hall was graced with the presence of one of America’s premiere baroque ensembles, Musica Pacifica, which presented a repertoire of music from the 14th-17th century Dutch provinces. The music by the night’s composers —Tarquinio Merula, Jacob van Eyck, Nicolaus À Kempis, Jan Pierterszoon Sweelinck, Bernardino Borlasca, Johannes Schenk, Philippus van Wichel, Carolus Hacquart, Cornelis Kist and Johann Jakob Walther — is largely unknown, even by early music aficionados. Judith Lindsberg (recorder) and Alexa Haynes-Pilon (viola da gamba) are the core members of Musica Pacifica. For their Montreal premiere, they were joined by…

First Prize and Audience Choice Prize winner Ariana Maubach (centre) with Ensemble Studio Competition judges (l-r) Roberto Mauro, Edith Wiens, and Elaine Overholt. Photo: Michael Cooper.

Review | Ariana Maubach wins COC competition

By Denise Lai on 1 November 2024 Arts Industry, Classical Music, Concert Reviews, Music Competition, Opera

The Canadian Opera Company’s Centre Stage Ensemble Studio Competition is one of the most exciting events in Canada’s opera world. Now in its 11th year, it is a celebration and fine showcase of young Canadian operatic talents. This year, out of 120 applicants and 78 auditions throughout the country, seven finalists—three sopranos, two mezzos, a baritone and a bass-baritone—were chosen to perform their final aria in front of a live and live-streamed audience, which also participated in voting for their favourite artist. Each vocalist was accompanied by the full force of the COC orchestra, under the direction of Johannes Debus.…

Lebrecht Weekly | Gabriel Fauré: Violin concerto (Naxos), Complete piano works (Calliope)

By Norman Lebrecht on 1 November 2024 Lebrecht Weekly

Fauré is the French composer the world finds hardest to dislike. While Debussy means custard to some tastes and Ravel an acute form of mustard, their senior colleague wore a bushy white moustache and wrote Claire de Lune. What’s not to like? Fauré’s reputation has barely changed since his death, 100 years ago this week. Fauré is admired as a supplier of salon songs to the Proustian set, as composer of the most-imitated Requiem, as organist of the elite Madeleine church in Paris and as reforming director of the crusty old Conservatoire. Take away the French accent and he could…

Photo: Allan Cabral

TSO Delights with Romantic Bruch & Rachmaninoff

By Denise Lai on 28 October 2024 Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Toronto

Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Oct. 24th program featured two beloved Romantic works: Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G major, and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 in E minor, with Italian conductor Gianandrea Noseda (Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC) at the helm. As with most TSO concerts, the evening opened with and introduced audiences to a rarely performed modern piece. Goffredo Petrassi’s Concerto for Orchestra No. 2 is one of six concerti for orchestra the TSO is spotlighting this season. Petrassi, a highly regarded composer, conductor and teacher in his home country of Italy, is…

Lebrecht Weekly | Franz Schmidt: 4 symphonies (Naxos)

By Norman Lebrecht on 25 October 2024 Lebrecht Weekly

Into every musical life, a little Schmidt must fall. I cannot count the conductors who have tried to persuade me that the Viennese cellist belongs among the ranks of great composers, or the number of hours I have devoted to attempts to understand their devotion. In vain. Once I’m over admiring the brilliance of the scoring, what then? Schmidt played in the Vienna Opera orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic under Gustav Mahler but fell out with his brother-in-law, concertmaster Arnold Rosé, and left on bad terms. He became a conservatory teacher and, eventually, principal of the city’s music academy, spending…

Lebrecht Weekly | Diyang Mei plays Bowen and Walton’s Viola Concertos Like Heifetz on Roller-Skates

By Norman Lebrecht on 18 October 2024 CD and Book Reviews, Lebrecht Weekly, Strings

It is nothing short of a scandal that not one concerto for viola and orchestra has broken into the standard concerthall repertoire. There are at least fifty violin concertos that get regularly played and half a dozen for cello and orchestra. Yet, among a plethora of viola concertos by good composers – from Arnold to Bartok, Schnittke to John Williams – not one gets as much as a half-chance for public attention. In any other field, this would be considered illegal discrimination. The present release is a dazzling ear-opener. York Bowen, slightly younger than Ralph Vaughan Williams, was a shy chap…

Kyle Ketelsen as Méphistophélès in the Canadian Opera Company’s new production of Faust, 2024. Photo: Michael Cooper

Review | COC’s Faust a Devilishly Dazzling New Production

By Denise Lai on 15 October 2024 Concert Reviews, Opera, Toronto

Few legendary figures have inspired more literary, cinematic, ballet and musical works than Faust. Numerous symphonic and operatic pieces have been written by famous composers such as Berlioz, Beethoven, Wagner, Schumann, Liszt, Mahler and more. The most famous opera, Faust, was written by Charles Gounod, which is also touted to be the composer’s best operatic work. The Canadian Opera Company has a brand new production that is a pleasure to the eyes and ears. The aging Faust is disillusioned with life and is about the end it with poison. Blaming God for his misery, he sarcastically appeals to Satan for…

Photo: George Garnier

Lebrecht Weekly | Doric String Quartet Strikes a Perfect Balance Between Beethoven’s Early Quartets and Later Milestones

By Norman Lebrecht on 11 October 2024 CD and Book Reviews, Chamber Music, Lebrecht Weekly, Strings

The fashion these days is to remix the 16 Beethoven quartets, selecting one from each period – early, middle and late – in concert and record cycles. It doesn’t always work, but the latest release from the Doric String Quartet, a mid-career UK ensemble, strikes a perfect balance between two of the opus 18 quartets and major milestones from later on. Opus 18/2 in G major is one of Beethoven’s invitations to the dance, a proposition more in the mind than on the floor. Opus 18/5 in A is all in the mind, one of his most self-contemplative works, so…

La Route des concerts: Paving the Way for Regional Presenters

By Justin Bernard on 8 October 2024 Baroque and Early, Interviews, La Scena Spotlight

Established in 2022, La Route des concerts continues to expand. It now welcomes an increasing number of partners into its network of concert halls across the province and has caught the eye of established musical institutions. Chantal Boulanger, organist and project co-ordinator, admits being surprised by this inexhaustible resource. “We have come to realize that there are many small classical music presenters who are unknown,”she says. “I’m still discovering them, even after working in the field for a long time. By bringing them together, we provide more visibility. “Shortly after we started in Estrie, Laurentides, Beauce-Appalaches, Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, and Côte-Nord have…

A scene from the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Nabucco, 2024. Photo: Michael Cooper

Review | Nabucco makes a triumphant, belated COC debut

By Denise Lai on 8 October 2024 Concert Reviews, Toronto

The Canadian Opera Company opens its 2024-25 season with Nabucco. It is hard to believe that the opera that launched Giuseppe Verdi’s career has never been staged by the COC in its 74-year history. A Lyric Opera of Chicago production, Nabucco is finally making a long-overdue premiere in Toronto. Nabucco, the tyrannical king of Babylon, is about to invade Judah. Although the Israelites have taken Nabucco’s daughter Fenena hostage, they lose their bargaining chip when she is freed by her captor Ismaele, who is in love with her. The enraged Nabucco goes on a rampage, destroys the Israelites’ temple and…

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