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Montreal, August 25, 2020 – The Orchestre Métropolitain and its Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin are proud to announce the details of the fall 2020 programming. Entirely redesigned to comply with physical distancing measures, the fall programming offers audiences a chance to rediscover the power of music after an emotionally turbulent year.
“It will be an honour to step onto the podium as part of the first half of this season’s programming and share, along with the OM musicians and the public, all of the energy and comfort music provides! With compositions on the program that strike a personal chord, I hope the OM’s 40th season will remain etched in our memories for having experienced it together.” – Yannick Nézet-Séguin
The concerts will be shorter in length and will not include an intermission. The dates announced in March remain unchanged. Note that start times have shifted by 30 or 60 minutes, and one performance has been added to four of the five programs, bringing the total number to ten concerts.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the podium all fall
Originally slated to conduct just three of the five programs, Yannick Nézet-Séguin will now take the baton for all of them. He will kick off the Orchestre Métropolitain’s 40th season on Sunday, September 20 with Gustav Mahler’s Le Chant de la terre (transcription: Schoenberg, Riehn), the same composer who was to be honoured initially, accompanied by mezzo- soprano Michèle Losier and tenor Frédéric Antoun. The work of Canadian composer Vivian Fung, titled Prayer and commissioned by CBC Music, will make its stage debut after it was performed virtually by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and 36 musicians from 28 orchestras across the country in July.
Fauré’s Requiem, a sacred choral masterpiece, will honour the victims of the COVID-19 pandemic and their families, especially those whom Canada has lost. Soprano Suzanne Taffot and baritone Philippe Sly will perform. To signal the OM’s support of the Black Lives Matter movement, The Chariot Jubilee by Black Canadian-American composer Robert Nathaniel Dett will also be performed.
Stéphane Tétreault will remain the headliner of the season’s third program, performing Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1, beloved by audiences and cellists alike for its technical brilliance and scope of melody. Symphony No. 2 by the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the son of a slave from Guadeloupe and a rich Frenchman, is part of the purest musical tradition of 18th century Europe.
Bach’s Mass in B Minor, which showcases all of his splendour in one composition, will be presented as part of the Montreal Bach Festival’s closing performances. The first half of this exceptional season will end with the notes of the soloist in residence, violinist Blake Pouliot, performing Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. The program also includes Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5, which invokes the spirits of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, along with a composition by Canadian of Métis heritage Karen Sunabacka, whose music stands out for its charm and poetry.
Two collaborations with the TNM
The Théâtre du Nouveau Monde and the Orchestre Métropolitain will come together in October to present two legendary masterpieces that have marked childhoods worldwide, featuring music and theatre performances on the TNM stage: Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and The Little Prince, an adaptation by Éric Champagne based on the work of Saint-Exupéry and directed by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Both productions will be recorded and made available online through the Orchestre Métropolitain and TNM websites (October 16 – 25 for Peter and the Wolf and October 30 – November 8 for The Little Prince). Tickets for online access to these events are now on sale.
Indoors and online
The 2020 concerts of the fall season presented by the Orchestre Métropolitain, including the two collaborations with the TNM, will be recorded and available in high definition on its website: www.orchestremetropolitain.com. Details on how to buy tickets and more information about the online offer, including access to pre-concert talks and program notes, will be available in September.
Please note that because it is impossible to comply with health standards at every performance venue, the nine concerts that were to be presented as part of the CAM Touring Program’s fall 2020 program have been cancelled. Stay tuned for OM updates to learn more about the winter and spring 2021 program.
Touch hearts from a safe distance
The Orchestre Métropolitain will resume its activities in strict accordance with the rules as it welcomes both the public into the concert hall and the musicians onstage. There will be a dedicated area to manage lines and entry into the Maison symphonique. Tickets will be sent electronically or by mail, reducing in-person distribution as much as possible. Seats will be disinfected after each performance, and one-way corridors will promote the flow of foot traffic and create a linear path to limit contact between people who are coming and going. Spectators will be required to wear a mask when they enter Place des Arts until the concert begins. Posters and other visual communication will notify all guests of health safety measures in place.
Already sold-out performances
On August 3, the Government of Quebec announced that indoor gatherings of up to 250 people can now take place. Since the subscription period for the 2020-2021 season coincided with the start of the pandemic and many loyal subscribers, as well as new faces, have already committed to attending concerts, seven of the ten indoor performances are sold out and few tickets remain available for the others.
Beginning at 10 a.m. today, subscribers for the 2019-2020 season will be able to purchase presale tickets for the few remaining seats for the fall concert series. Tickets will be sold on a first come, first served basis.
Due to physical distancing efforts, subscribers may not be placed in their usual seats. The OM’s Box Office and Subscriber Service team will make every effort to move them as little as possible.
Seating priority will be maintained for all 2019-2020 subscribers, and seats given to new subscribers of the 2020-21 season are temporary. No final changes or seating allocation will be made until OM operations return to normal.
A very busy summer
Since the pandemic began, the Orchestre Métropolitain has stepped up initiatives online and over social media in order to nurture its relationship with the public and boost morale for anyone affected by the crisis. Notable among these initiatives is “The OM at home”, which offers free online programming each week; “Spread the music, not the virus”, which invited musicians to share their performances on social media; and a memorable performance of “Les gens de mon pays” in collaboration with the renowned poet and singer-songwriter Gilles Vigneault, a popular Quebec figure and one of the most respected artists of the French-speaking world. The OM worked with the Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur to produce the project “A Shared Solitude”. In addition, OM musicians teamed up with the Société des arts en milieux de santé (SAMS) to perform for people living in long-term care facilities across the greater Montreal area.
Under the direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the OM recorded Beethoven’s first eight symphonies at the Musée des beaux- arts de Montréal’s Bourgie Hall, now available on DG Stage, Deutsche Grammophon’s new streaming service.
Stay tuned as the Orchestre Métropolitain announces other projects to add to this exceptional season.
About the Orchestre Métropolitain
One of Quebec’s leading cultural ambassadors, the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal is celebrating its 40th anniversary this season. The OM was founded in 1981 on a bold gamble: that the best way to promote symphonic music is by creating strong ties with the public. For more than 20 years, the OM has grown under the direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, whose career continues to blossom. Their exceptional collaborative relationship has given rise to many ambitious musical projects, some of them quite daring, under the leadership of the Montreal conductor. In September 2019, the OM announced it would renew Nézet-Séguin’s contract for life. This prized relationship has led to popular recordings under labels ATMA Classique and Deutsche Grammophon, two award-winning international tours (Europe 2017, United States 2019) and memorable indoor, outdoor and online concerts.
Acknowledgments
The Orchestre Métropolitain would like to thank its official partner, Hydro-Québec.
The Orchestre Métropolitain salutes its public partners who contribute to the realization of its mission: the Government of Quebec, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts de Montréal and the City of Montreal.
The Orchestre Métropolitain would like to thank its partners:
Grand Ambassador
Power Corporation du Canada
Hotel partner
Le Germain Hôtels
Concert presenters Cogeco
Fasken
Groupe Canimex Intact Assurance Télé-Québec
Presenter of The OM at the foot of Mount Royal concert Fonds de solidarité FTQ
Artistic partners
Danse Danse
Montreal Bach Festival Théâtre du Nouveau Monde
Thank you to the Caisse de la Culture Desjardins and to the Fondation du Grand Montréal.
The Orchestre Métropolitain is delighted to work with several educational partners:
The OM for Schools
Le Centre de services scolaire de Montréal (CSSDM), le Centre de services scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys (CSSMB), l’École de musique Vincent d’Indy, l’École et les Arts, l’École de musique de Verdun et la Villa Sainte-Marcelline.
The OM for Young Talent
Le Conservatoire de musique de Montréal
La Coopérative des professeurs de musique de Montréal
For more 2020-2021 programming details: orchestremetropolitain.com
For more information about Yannick Nézet-Séguin: www.yannicknezetseguin.com
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter @LeMetropolitain, Instagram @orchestre_metropolitain.
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