OSM Announces Six Concerts Designed for Webcast

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Montreal, October 28, 2020 – The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal today announces a series of six new concerts, all designed for webcast and taking place from October to January, in anticipation of a time when the Orchestra will again be able to welcome audiences in person at the Maison symphonique. This new series of webcasts will be interspersed with exclusive content as previously done. Despite cancellations of concerts for live audiences and the extended closure of venues announced by government authorities, the Orchestra’s primary aim is to bring meaningful moments of emotion to as many music lovers as possible.

“While setbacks continue, in no way do they change our desire to nurture the special connection we enjoy with our cherished audience. If anything, now more than ever, the OSM is resolved to fulfill its fundamental role of bringing people together and acting as a bearer of hope. We will stay the course and keep giving the best of ourselves so that classical music can continue to be there for you.”—Madeleine Careau, Chief Executive Officer of the OSM.

The series begins this Friday by celebrating HALLOWEEN with a free concert certain to delight audiences of all ages! Under the baton of Jacques Lacombe, the OSM and Concertmaster Andrew Wan will deliver a program appropriate for the occasion featuring Saint-Saëns’ Danse macabre, Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain and Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, works that also appear on the OSM recording Danse macabre released in 2016. Lacombe will occupy the podium again on November 10 for a program that first pays tribute one of the most important composers in Quebec’s history, Jacques Hétu, featuring his symphonic poem Sur les rives du Saint-Maurice. Canadian virtuoso Angela Hewitt will perform Ravel’s Concerto for piano and orchestra in G major and the event will conclude with the impassioned work that made Stravinsky’s fame: The Firebird.

Music Director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra Alexander Shelley is our guest conductor for a concert, in which soprano Adrianne Pieczonka, one of today’s greatest voices on the international stage, will perform Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs. The program will also feature Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration and finally, listeners will get to hear Sibelius’ Valse triste, depicting the fleeting memory of a distant ball. Showcasing the OSM musicians’ celebrated excellence, the month of December will begin in high spirits with seven Orchestra members performing BEETHOVEN’S EXQUISITE SYMPHONY NO. 7

Conductor Bernard Labadie takes to the podium for the highly awaited holiday concert. The whole family will marvel at a performance of Vivaldi’s radiant Gloria and enjoy several excerpts from Handel’s Messiah, a staple of the holiday season with a very special place in the hearts of OSM audiences. January will bring together two OSM Artists-in-Residence: Quebec mezzo-soprano Marie-Nicole Lemieux performing Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer, and Serbian-born Canadian composer Ana Sokolović, whose Concerto for Orchestra will be heard. Commissioned in 2007, this work was a part of the programming for Kent Nagano’s very first Canadian tour with the OSM. This concert conducted by Jean-Marie Zeitouni concludes with Beethoven’s masterful and exciting Symphony no. 7, a favourite of concertgoers for the past two centuries.

Current pandemic-related circumstances have obliged the OSM to cancel in-hall performances for the months of November and December. Those who have purchased tickets to concerts that are cancelled may convert the value of their ticket(s) to a donation or gift certificate, obtain a credit towards the purchase of tickets for the 20–21 season, or obtain a refund.