Since the 1990s, the name of Hervé Niquet has established itself in the musical landscape as a synonym of daring, erudition and passion. He will be back at the Orchester symphonique de Montréal (OSM) on December 22 for the oratorio The childhood of Christ by Berlioz after having directed a Requiem by Mozart, which was very popular two years ago.
We catch the musician returning from his ballet rehearsals The Sleeping Beauty by Ferdinand Hérold, a fairly forgotten score that he will help revive during a tour with the Orchester national de l’Île-de-France.
“This is the first pointes ballet, a precursor to the works of Adolphe Adam, Tchaikovsky, etc. It’s really beautiful work, we have tunes that stay in our heads for several days, ”says Hervé Niquet.
But the hyperactive musician has many other dishes on the fire: “My head is so stuffed! I just worked with the Orchester de chambre de Paris to record Reynaldo Hahn’s Piano Concerto. With the Spiritual Concert, we have just done Richard Lion’s Heart from Grétry and Israel in Egypt [de Haendel]. We have three comedies-ballets by Molière this year, including Imaginary sick. We are also going to The Magic Flute and King Arthur [de Purcell]. ”
You must have a good absorption capacity to manage all this in such a short time, Mr. Niquet? “I must, otherwise, I would be dead a long time ago,” he replies. At the office, I have a cupboard containing everything I learned during my 35 years with the Concert Spirituel. It scares me, all I had to get into my head is pretty scary! ”
“At the same time, it keeps you alive,” adds the musician. If I were a classical conductor who knows a number of symphonies and concertos, plus five or six operas, it would be different. I’m not saying it’s easy, but rather reassuring and comfortable. But I often go up to the pulpit with a different work every week and I can’t even listen to it and say ‘we know it, we have heard it’. There is nothing there. “
Getting out of his comfort zone, the chef knows how to do it. We have heard it in France Musique in a series of noteworthy chronicles. “There are two publishing houses which asked me to publish them, because it amused and moved the listeners a lot, reveals Hervé Niquet. Live radio is the taste for the theater, the taste for the stage that I have constantly. That’s why I do a lot of things in theater, with interactions with the public. ”
“There are some who not only don’t like it, but don’t know how to do it,” he continues. You have to want to do it. Being an actor is a real job, everything is prepared, the slightest comma. All the more so when it is in the comic. The show we’re doing, The Sleeping Beauty, we have a frame and it changes every night. There is an added taste of danger, I really like that! ”
Even if he is invited all over the world, the French conductor is far from finding it trivial to come and direct the OSM.
“It’s not an orchestra, it’s an institution for me. The first music records I had were the Orchester symphonique de Montréal with Charles Dutoit. Finding myself in front of them is like a kid going back to a candy store, what! It’s an amazing party! In North America, they are almost the tenants of the French style. For Berlioz, this is a tremendous asset. ”
Finally, the orchestra is not the only one of our assets, especially for a vocal work like The childhood of Christ. “If there is a country in the world where the diction of the XIXe century, the pronunciation of beautiful vowels is respected, it really is in Canada. I’m delighted to go do that with the choir there. In France, television has killed a lot of things, everything has been homogenized. But Berlioz had a strong accent, he came from the mountains. He was someone who had a sonorous personality. ”
Also on the program
From Messiahs for all tastes
PHOTO DAHLIA KATZ, FROM JACQUELINE WOODLEY’S FACEBOOK PAGE
Soprano Jacqueline Woodley will perform with the Montreal Classical Orchestra and Handel’s Les Rugissants le Messie choir.
The fans of Messiah de Handel will be filled this year. This flagship piece of Advent is first performed this Tuesday evening at Saint Joseph’s Oratory with the Montreal Classical Orchestra and the Les Rugissants choir, under the direction of Boris Brott and Xavier Brossard-Ménard. The lucky ones will manage to find a ticket for the one given by Les Violons du Roy at the Maison symphonique on December 10. The oratorio will also be performed by the Ensemble Caprice and the Ensemble vocal Arts-Québec in several cities in Quebec, including Saint-Lambert (December 10), Saint-Constant (December 11), Montreal (December 12) and Boucherville ( December 19).
Low masses at the Gesù
PHOTO FROM FRANÇOIS ZEITOUNI’S FACEBOOK PAGE
Francois Zeitouni
Christmas at Gesù sera synonymous with organ and tale. On Saturday December 11 at 3 p.m., titular organist François Zeitouni will perform some of the most beautiful organ Christmases by Louis-Claude Daquin and Jean-François Dandrieu on the Grand Casavant of the rue De Bleury church. The pieces will be interrupted by the reading of the tale The three low masses Alphonse Daudet by the young actor Jean-François Beauvais.
Christmas baroque sauce in Bourgie
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ATMA
Baroque soprano Meredith Hall
The Arte Musica Foundation is offering an intimate concert featuring baroque soprano Meredith Hall on December 14 at 7:30 pm She will be accompanied by the baroque ensemble La Nef, with whom she has collaborated for many years. They will resonate with French, English, Scottish and Irish Christmases in the soft acoustics of the Bourgie room.
Christmases of yesteryear at the oratory
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE LITTLE SINGERS OF MONT-ROYAL
Lovers of traditional hymns meet at Saint Joseph’s Oratory on Sunday, December 19 at 3 p.m. for a concert given in collaboration with Harpsichord in concert and the Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal under the direction of their director Andrew Gray. The soloist announced at the start, Marie-Josée Lord, will be replaced by her soprano colleague Aline Kutan. The singers will join two organists and two trumpeters.