Raphael Payare will open the season of the Orchester symphonique de Montréal (OSM) on September 15 with the 2e Mahler’s Symphony, after recording the Fifth by the same composer. The following week, he will conduct Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Later in the season, another of the musical director’s favorite composers, Shostakovich, will be on the program with his 10e Symphony.
The OSM’s guest conductors this fall are Osmo Vanska for the Fifth by Beethoven, Laurence Equilbey in the 1D Symphony by Louise Farrenc Barbara Hannigan in the fantastic symphony, Leonardo Garcia Alarcon for’Christmas oratorio and, above all, the return of Kent Naganowho will lead the 3e Symphony by Schubert and Mozart’s “Jupiter” symphony.
The orchestra will be absent from Montreal in the second half of October due to its European tour. During this period, the Orchester Métropolitain (OM) will offer the gala concert of the Azrieli prizes and the concert Latin flightsdirected by Lina Gonzalez-Granados. The OM season will open on Sunday September 25 with the project Daphnis and Chloe and the creation ofElisapie Isaac. Most awaited concert: the Mass in B by Bach conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin December 18.
Bach at the party
A Mass in B by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Metropolitan, three cantatas from theChristmas oratorio by the great Leonardo García Alarcón at the OSM three days later, this would already be a menu of choice for admirers of Johann Sebastian Bach. But what awaits them this fall is beyond belief. On the choir and orchestra side, we must add Bernard Labadiethe Chapelle de Québec and Les Violons du Roy for an evening of cantatas on December 9 and the return of Masaaki Suzuki with the Magnificat for the Bach Festival on November 25.
The Bach Festival puts many icing on the cake of Jean-Sébastien: Andras Schiff will play the Goldberg Variations on October 5 at the Maison symphonique, Filippo Gorini will show up in The art of running away November 22, Christian Tetzlaff will play the sonatas and partitas on December 2, not counting the arrival of Thomas Dunford,of the London Handel Players and of theSet Masks. At this level, it’s no longer Montreal: it’s London, Paris or Berlin! Apart from Lanaudière, no other festival gives us access to such posters. We hope everyone realizes this…
Great soloists
The season is therefore launched this weekend at the opera and by the Ladies’ Morning Musical Club, which hosts Christian Blackshaw sunday. His other fall guests are the Los Angeles Threesomethe Talich Quartet, Rachel Barton Pine and the Quartet Calidore. Bourgie Hall’s star guests are, between September 27 and December 13, Anne Queffelec, Hopkinson-Smiththe Debussy Quartet,Anne Sofie von Otter with Kristian BezuidenhoutI’Orlando Consort and Tea Tallis Scholars.
Many concerts by local musicians will be added to the Bourgie Hall menu and the new attempt to complete the complete Beethoven piano sonatas by Louis Lortie. Five concerts will be given between October 13 and 20, but they will not resume the sonatas already given in front of the public before the pandemic. The official season-opening concert in Bourgie on September 18 will be a “special event” in collaboration with Capriceentitled Isolde Lagacé, a life in music. He will pay tribute to the general manager of the hall, who will leave her post at the end of the year.
Several institutions are experiencing movements at their head. The Orchester Classique de Montréal, which has lost its founder and mentor Boris Brott, has appointed two principal guest conductors: Alain Trudel and Genevieve Leclair. The latter will lead Boris, my life in music October 18. The Orchester symphonique de Laval is looking for a new conductor after the departure of Alain Trudel, precisely. To avoid what has been seen elsewhere, the musicians will be involved in the decision. The choice of chefs tested — Nicolas Ellis, Jean-Michel Malouf, Julien Proulx, Mélanie Léonard — immediately denotes a great spirit of discernment.
As for the Musici, Jean-Francois Rivest still holds the fort well. The orchestra will welcome two guest conductors during the season: Tania Miller in November and Maxim Rysanov in March. Tania Miller will have as soloist Valerie Millot in the Concerto for harp of Boieldieu. Jean-François Rivest will open the season on September 29 with Karina Gauvin and will conduct a concert dedicated to First Nations on October 20.
Voice
One of the drivers of the succession, francisChoinierewill lead the Requiem by Verdi at the Maison symphonique on November 13, with Aline Kutan, Rose Naggar Tremblay, adam luther and Vartan Gabrielian. It is also Verdi who opens the season at the Opéra de Montréal on September 10, with The find, a show repeated on September 13, 15 and 18. Finally, the fall will also see the creation, on November 19, of The beauty of the world of Julien Bilodeau and Michel Marc Bouchard.
For lovers of operetta, the Opéra bouffe du Québec will offer The beauty of Cadiz of Francis Lopez in Laval between October 22 and 30, when fans of contemporary opera will turn to Backstage at Carnegie Hallan opera about racism and the electric guitar of Tim Bradyproduced by Bradyworks, in co-distribution with Chants Libres and Le Vivier, premiering on September 22 and 23 at the Centaur.
On the baroque stage, Arion offers Royal harmoniesan English program led by Andrew McAnerneyon October 7, then Rigel, the breath of the Revolutionon November 4, an evening devoted entirely to Mathieu Lussier to Henri-Joseph Rigel.
Les Violons du Roy export their projects from Quebec, with the exception of Mozart with Charles Richard Hamelini.e. the great Handel concert with Marie-Nicole Lemieux and Philip Jarousskyon September 24, the concert with Maurice Stegerthe Stabat Mater from Pergolese by jonathan cohenthem Goldberg Variations orchestrated and the cantatas of Bach. Harpsichord in concert distinguishes itself by hosting Herve Niquet for a Charpentier concert on September 30, before indulging in Bach in November. Caprice programmed Dido and Aeneas on November 8 for its 30th birthday, while Les Idéeshappys will take us to an “enchanted forest” on October 29. The baroque star visiting this fall is Jordi Savall, with a consort of viols at the Maison symphonique on November 7.
Finally, on the contemporary scene, several unveilings are yet to come. The opening concert of the NEM on October 25 at Bourgie Hall will offer the creation of Facing the Music of Simon-Bertrandon poems by Paul Auster. Le Vivier’s fall 2022 season, the first of new artistic director Jeffrey Stonehouse, will feature 16 concerts featuring 47 works, including 27 premieres. The Agora Orchestra and Nicholas Ellis will present on September 30 and 1er October of the works of the next generation of Quebec: Laurence Jobidon, Symon Henry, Francis Battah and Alexander David.