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Newswire | National Finalists Chosen for Centre Stage: Ensemble Studio Competition

By Newswire on 11 October 2023 Music Competition, Newswire, Opera, Toronto

Toronto, October 10, 2023 – Seven of Canada’s most promising new opera singers have been selected to compete in the Canadian Opera Company’s Centre Stage: Ensemble Studio Competition on October 26, 2023 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. The annual fundraiser and vocal competition showcases the very best in emerging opera talent, with all proceeds supporting the COC’s prestigious artistic career development program, the Ensemble Studio. 125 candidates applied to join the Ensemble Studio next season, with judges traveling all over Canada to hear nearly 90 young artists in-person, with stops in Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto. This…

Newswire | An Exceptional Jury for the CMIM Piano Edition 2024

By Newswire on 10 October 2023 Montreal, Music Competition, Piano

Montreal, October 6, 2023 – The Concours musical international de Montréal (CMIM) is delighted to unveil the names of the eight outstanding members who will compose the international jury for Piano 2024, taking place from May 5 to 16, 2024. The First Round and Semifinal will be held at Salle Bourgie, and the Final will take place at the Maison symphonique on May 15 and 16, with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal under the direction of Guest Conductor Xian Zhang. The internationally renowned jury members will bring a unique and invaluable expertise to our com-petition, attracting candidates of the highest…

A scene from the Canadian Opera Company’s production of La Bohème, 2023 (Photo by Michael Cooper)

Concert Review | Canadian Opera Company’s La Bohème Makes a Triumphant Return

By Denise Lai on 10 October 2023 Concert Reviews, Opera, Toronto

Even nearly 100 years since Puccini’s death. La Bohème remains one of his most beloved and frequently performed operas. This COC revival production has now been staged three times in the past 10 years, yet it has a fresh feel. It also features the most diverse cast that has graced the Toronto stage in recent memory. Rodolfo, Marcello, Schaunard and Colline are four impoverished friends who share a flat they can barely afford. One Christmas eve, while Rodolfo is working alone, his neighbour, the beautiful but frail Mimi, knocks on his door asking for help to light her candle. The…

Highlights | New Métis Opera Releases This Fall, Sphere Concert Wows Las Vegas

By Zenith Wolfe on 6 October 2023 Highlights, Montreal, Obituaries, Opera, Orchestral, Vocal

Welcome to La Scena Musicale’s weekly Highlights, a roundup of classical music news from Canada and beyond. With the reveal of a new Métis opera, the impending release of a Canadian actor’s first French album, and the inaugural Sphere concert in Las Vegas, musical innovation is in the air this October! Recent and Upcoming Shows The Canadian Opera Company has opened their 2023-2024 season with Fidelio. It’s the first time the COC has performed this opera in 15 years and they did not disappoint, says critic Denise Lai. Vancouver Bach Choir will unveil their new season (Stir) with works by…

Godwin Friesen (Photo by Antoine Saito)

Godwin Friesen (piano) – Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Grand Prize Winner, Barbara Bronfman Prize

By Kristen Whittle on 6 October 2023 Montreal, Music Competition, Piano

Université de Montréal student Godwin Friesen was pleasantly surprised at the awards ceremony for the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal’s Barbara Bronfman Prize. When the announcer revealed that Friesen was the first-prize winner, he said his “mouth dropped open.” This pianist’s genuine reaction stemmed from equally humble beginnings. Friesen grew up in an extremely musical household and was even part of a family band. From a young age, he was taught that music is about community, something he believes to this day. Indeed, he seeks “to be someone whose musical performances impact many people, inspiring change and hope.” A storyteller at…

Tracy Wong: Composing Choral Music with Purpose

By Bridget Esler on 6 October 2023 Choral, Classical Music, Toronto

In her role as the 2023-24 composer-in-residence for the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir (TMChoir), Tracy Wong is not only thinking like a composer, she approaches her work with the mindset of an educator, a conductor, a vocalist, and a cultural translator. Under the baton of Artistic Director Jean-Sébastien Vallée, the TMChoir and the Toronto Children’s Chorus (TCC) will première Wong’s new composition, Patah Tumbuh, which translates from Malay to “broken – renewed,” alongside Orff’s Carmina Burana and Brahms’s Schicksalslied, as part of their Oct. 26 and Oct. 27 concerts at Roy Thomson Hall. As soon as the Ontario-based composer learned her…

Pentaèdre (Photo by Martin Girard)

Pentaèdre: The Oboe in all its Forms

By Justin Bernard on 6 October 2023 Montreal, Winds

Since woodwind quintet Pentaèdre created its Carte blanche series for each musician in 2017, the oboe has not yet been put in the spotlight. But that’s about to change. Oboist Élise Poulin, who joined Pentaèdre in 2019, will finally have the opportunity to present a complete concert. “I’m delighted that Pentaèdre has given me the opportunity to explore chamber music repertoire for oboe in such depth for this Carte blanche concert. It’s quite rare to present concerts featuring the oboe and English horn! I’m very happy to introduce these more obscure instruments to the public.” She has invited some Orchestre…

Jaap Nico Hamburger

Jaap Nico Hamburger: Ariella – Worth the Wait

By Bridget Esler on 6 October 2023 Montreal, Opera, Toronto

When Montreal-based composer Jaap Nico Hamburger first read Dutch author Ariëlla Kornmehl’s debut novel De Familie Goldwasser (The Goldwasser Family) in the early aughts, he thought to himself, “this is opera.” Now, many years after that initial inspiration and over a decade since he began composing, he is finally seeing his vision come to life. On Oct. 22 (Koerner Hall), Oct. 28 (Maison symphonique), and Oct. 29 (Salle Raoul-Jobin), GFN Productions will present excerpts from Hamburger’s first opera Ariella, paired with Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. The tour will be conducted by Francis Choinière and features the Ensemble Classico-Moderne and…

Espace Kendergi

CMC Quebec at 50: A New Chapter Begins

By Arnaud G. Veydarier on 6 October 2023 Classical Music, Education, Montreal

Now at the cusp of its 50th anniversary, the Quebec chapter of the Canadian Music Centre (CMCQ) is in no way befallen by the pangs of nostalgia that creep up at that age. But this does mean that its current artistic and managing director, Claire Marchand, is aloof to any celebrations for the institution she heads—one that houses tens of thousands of scores and archival recordings. Looking into the rearview mirror is all good and fine, but more important to her is what lies ahead. Between the recent inauguration of its new downtown facility and the mammoth undertaking of digitalizing…

Starting Strong: Esprit Orchestra Launches 2023-24 Season

By Eva Stone-Barney on 6 October 2023 Classical, Classical Music, Contemporary, Orchestral, Toronto

Author : (Eva Stone-Barney)

Esprit Orchestra has a big season ahead of it—in every sense of the word. Conducted by Maestro Alex Pauk, the orchestra will perform five concerts featuring challenging repertoire, composed for large orchestral configurations. It will honour the legacies of some of the 20th and 21st centuries’ most influential compositional voices, including the late R. Murray Schafer, György Ligeti, and Kaija Saariaho, and will also spotlight the work of new and emerging composers. This ambitious season starts on Oct. 15 with a concert titled X Marks the Spot, featuring works by Anna Meredith, Iannis Xenakis, Ligeti, and Schafer. Following this first…

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