Category: World Music

Browsing: World Music

Ensemble Silakbo. Photo: Sofia Nathanlshar

Concert review | The Silakbo Ensemble: Merging cultures together

By Justin Bernard on 5 November 2022 Chamber Music, Concert Reviews, Contemporary, World Music

On November 2, the Silakbo Ensemble launched its Canadian tour with a first stop in Montreal, at Jeunesses Musicales Canada’s Joseph-Rouleau Hall. Formed by three Bulgarian musicians (Angelina Gotcheva, clarinet, Yoanna Bozhkova, soprano, Bogdan Ivanov, piano), Portuguese violinist Edgar Gomes and Filipino American cellist Mikko Pablo, this quintet was joined exceptionally by Adam Vincent Clarke, composer and piper proud of his Nova Scotia roots. Together they presented their latest project, named Est-Ouest. More than a gathering, it is an exchange, an interconnection, between the Canadian and Bulgarian musical cultures. As part of this project, three creations commissioned by the Silakbo…

Orchestre Métropolitain. Photo: Ludovic Rolland Marcotte

2022 Azrieli Music Prizes

By Justin Bernard on 1 October 2022 Canadian Music, World Music

Composers Aharon Harlap, Iman Habibi, and Rita Ueda hail from different backgrounds, each drawing from their own ancestral culture to present original music. Because each composer carried a message of reconciliation, they were awarded the 2022 Azrieli Music Prizes in the Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music, Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music, and Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music categories. Aharon Harlap: Past predicting the future Harlap grew up in Winnipeg, beginning his music studies at the University of Manitoba in 1962. After studying composition with Bernard Naylor privately, he studied with Peter Racine Fricker at the Royal College of Music in…

Sylvain Bergeron. Photo: Guillaume D. Cyr

La Nef presents Per violino e liuto and Long Way Home

By Arnaud G. Veydarier on 1 October 2022 Baroque and Early, Canadian Music, Folk, Violin, World Music

After two years of pandemic, La Nef is taking to the sea again this fall with a very eclectic program, between world and early music. Their 2022-23 season opens in October with Per violino e liuto, an intimate evening of baroque and popular repertoire from the 17th century, followed in November with a program inspired by Nordic and Middle Eastern musical traditions. For violin and lute Presented on Oct. 16 at the Maison de la culture Maisonneuve, Per violino e liuto will feature two of the city’s finest baroque music performers, multi-instrumentalist Sylvain Bergeron and rising violin star Marie Nadeau-Tremblay.…

Fall Previews: On the World Beat

By Hassan Laghcha on 20 September 2022 World Music

Cosmopolitan crossroads at Place des Arts Of the many acts on tap for the PDA’s Théâtre Maisonneuve program this fall are several world music shows, beginning on Sept. 4 and 5 with Iranian concert artist Homayoun Shajarian and the Siavosh Orchestra. Four days later, the activist ensemble Quilapayún from Chile will pay a return visit to Montreal on the occasion of its cross-Canada farewell tour, the final chapter of a 30-year history of performances in the city. On Oct. 17, Lebanese pianist Aleph and his orchestra will be on stage for a brand-new show that he will share with 15…

Ashkenaz Festival: The Unveiling of Bas-Sheve

By Zenith Wolfe on 31 August 2022 Classical Music, Contemporary, Opera, World Music

The story of Bas-Sheve—the first Yiddish opera ever composed—extends far beyond what’s in the score. The work was first written by Henekh Kon and performed with piano accompaniment in 1924 Warsaw, only to be lost in the annals of history for nearly a century, never interpreted as Kon imagined. Dr. Diana Matut rediscovered the manuscript in 2017, though it was 16 pages shy of its original 95-page length, leading her to commission Joshua Horowitz and Michael Wex to complete the score and libretto, respectively. Its restoration, performed in Germany at the Yiddish Summer Weimar Festival in 2019, caught the attention…

Zucchero

Newswire | ItalfestMTL is Officially Launched!

By Newswire on 2 August 2022 Classical Music, Newswire, World Music

Montreal, August 2, 2022 – It is with great joy and pride that the National Congress of Italian-Canadians, Québec region, announces the 29th edition of ItalfestMTL, formerly Montreal’s Italian Week, which will take place from August 5th to 20th, 2022. An overflowing program of content will be offered in person: several concerts, a fashion show under the stars, a sublime opera with live orchestra, drive-in movie nights, culinary capsules and much more. Sixteen days of free entertainment that will enliven the summer for the whole family! We would like to thank all our sponsors for their fundamental contribution to the…

Historic St. Mary's Church, venue for the USMF (image courtesy of the USMF website)

Newswire | Indian River Festival Renamed to Under the Spire Music Festival for 27th Season

By Newswire on 28 May 2022 Classical Music, Mainstream Jazz, Newswire, World Music

Kataganek/Kensington, PEI (May 27, 2022) – After many years of wonderful performances in Historic St. Mary’s, Indian River Festival has announced their 27th season under a new name: Under the Spire Music Festival. With this change, the mandate and core ideals of the Festival will continue to build on a nearly three decade-long legacy of beautiful music set in an unparalleled venue. Since its founding in 1996, Under the Spire Music Festival (USMF) has hosted some of the best Canadian performers and strives to present musical excellence spanning multiple styles. No matter the artist or genre, beautiful music will always…

Cover of The Isabel's season brochure

Newswire | The Isabel Announces 2022-23 Power of Live Season

By Newswire on 27 May 2022 Baroque and Early, Classical Music, Mainstream Jazz, World Music

Kingston, ON (May 26, 2022) – Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts (“the Isabel”) at Queen’s University announces its 2022/23 Power of Live season that includes 25 Isabel debuts with classical, jazz, global, Indigenous, indie, and children’s artists and creators. The season also features the Bader & Overton Canadian Piano Competition with collaborations with CBC and the Kingston Symphony, the Isabel Human Rights Arts Festival, and the new Art for All visual arts event led by Kingston’s Catie Allan. Details on programming are contained in the Isabel’s 2022 23 season brochure: https://www.queensu.ca/theisabel/sites/default/files/uploads/content/ISABEL%2022.23%20SEASON%20SM.pdf. Most programming also will be streamed with high-fidelity sound on the Isabel Digital Concert Hall. Gryphon Trio and Sistema…

Oktoecho: Transcestral (2021)

By Justin Bernard on 16 January 2022 CD and Book Reviews, Contemporary, Indigenous, Vocal, World Music

Katia Makdissi-Warren, musical and electronic arrangements; Joséphine Bacon, Innu poet; Nina Segalowitz, Inuit throat singer; Hélène Martel, vocals. The blending of styles and cultures is a topic that comes up a lot when we talk about world music. The approach of Katia Makdissi-Warren and the Oktoecho team, followed by a host of musicians, is somewhat different. Their Transcestral project is, rather, the meeting of two world cultures, Sufism, on the one hand, and that of the First Nations, on the other hand, which is put forward with the notable contribution of Western styles. Needless to say,…

Amanda Keesmaat, violoncelle; Pierre-Alexandre Saint-Yves, flûtes, chalumeaux, cornemuse, voix; Patrick Graham, percussions; Seán Dagher, direction musicale, cistre, voix; Alex Kehler, violon, nyckelharpa.

La Nef: Styles and fields come together

By Justin Bernard on 12 January 2022 Baroque and Early, Contemporary, Folk, Interviews, Multimedia, World Music

La Nef is continuing its 30th anniversary celebrations under the general and artistic leadership of Claire Gignac. Though La Nef will present many concerts featuring various musical styles this season, it is currently being noted for its disc production at the start of a new year. On February 5, a concert will take the form of an album presentation, featuring Long Way Home by Andrew Wells-Oberegger, composer and multi-instrumentalist. Six musicians will join him at Montreal’s Maison de la culture Ahuntsic in the Concerts au bout du monde series. On March 10, another production will be led by Artistic Codirector…