The OM celebrates the end of an exceptional season

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Montreal, May 5, 2021 – The Orchestre Métropolitain and its artistic director and principal conductor, Yannick Nézet Séguin, are pleased to announce the details of the two programs that will close this season unlike any other. The concerts will be performed before a live audience in the Maison symphonique de Montréal on May 22 and June 12 and 13 and recorded for webcast at a later date. Tickets for the general public go on sale at noon on Friday, May 7, on the www.orchestremetropolitain.com website.

“I’m particularly proud of how the OM was able to amp up its inventiveness, adaptability and creativity during this most unusual season. The musicians and other team members have made the orchestra’s life force fully apparent. All of us understood that unity makes strength. We maintained a strong link with our audience this season, through webcasts and, when possible, in person. In the end, despite all the challenges, music always triumphs.”

– Yannick Nézet-Séguin

The Beethoven Marathon originally scheduled for June 11, 12 and 13, 2021, has been cancelled. The premieres of the four winners of the Beethoven’s Legacy competition have been postponed.

Program

Mozart, Bourget, Marsolais: The Soulful French Horn

Lightning, charm and genius. The OM’s artistic partner, conductor Nicolas Ellis conducts an original program featuring the talented Louis-Philippe Marsolais. The French horn player performs two concertos, one by Mozart and the other by his colleague, Simon Bourget. Also on the program, Strauss’s Don Juan is seductive and sensual. But this Don Juan isn’t cruel or ill-intentioned. He’s on a quest for pure beauty. From the touching love story performed by the oboe to a strong statement put forth by the horn section in unison, this tone poem’s protagonist falls straight from grace. The opening piece, And so be changed to lightning in the end, by Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy, holds its electrifying promise until the end.

Kelly-Marie MURPHY, And so be changed to lightning in the end
Simon BOURGET, French Horn Concerto (premiere)
MOZART, Horn Concerto No. 1 in D major
STRAUSS, Don Juan, Op. 20

Nicolas Ellis, conductor

Louis-Philippe Marsolais, French horn

Saturday, May 22, 3 p.m.

Maison symphonique de Montréal

WEBCAST (PRERECORDED)

Friday, June 11, to Sunday, June 20, 2021

Local Colours: from Sibelius to Boudreau

A doubleheader featuring friendship, orchestral colours, and Nordic and boreal landscapes. On the podium, Yannick Nézet Séguin celebrates northern compositions by the Finnish Sibelius and Canadian Boudreau, alongside soloist Yukari Cousineau, the OM’s concertmaster. Getting off to a running start, the program opens with Trajin by Canadian-Mexican composer Alejandra Odgers.

The next instalment in the cycle being recorded by ATMA, Sibelius’s third symphony is – in contrast to his triumphant second – clear, efficient and restrained. Inspired by the melodic style of his friend, Claude Vivier, Québécois composer Walter Boudreau’s La vie d’un héros is a vivid photo album of shared memories, here performed by Yukari Cousineau.