The 2023 edition of the Concours musical international de Montréal (CMIM), devoted to the violin, will begin on Tuesday and will be launched this weekend with a junior prelude, “Mini violini”. This edition will also be the last prepared and directed by Christiane LeBlanc, who arrived in September 2012. An opportunity to take stock of her mandate.
“We had 122 applications for the Violin 2013 edition. This year, we had 248. In 2013, we gave $73,000 in prizes and scholarships, while this year, we are distributing $161,500, the value of the first prize being $95,000, with the career scholarship and a three-city North American tour. »
Christiane LeBlanc does not hide her pride in the 10 editions of the Montreal International Musical Competition which led her to the one that opens this week — ten since, in 2020, there was no competition due to the pandemic.
Oiled cogs
The extent of the changes is not always perceptible when observing an event year after year. But after ten years, they are speaking. To increase the number of applications, the CMIM went to the root: “We have changed the method of recruiting competitors by directly targeting professors with the reputation of having trained competition winners. »
Christiane LeBlanc also nurtured a network of CMIM friends: “When I arrived, none of the prizes were sponsored. Today they all are. We did not have a sponsorship program, whereas this year, all the competitors are sponsored by patrons, music lovers who give us 2500 dollars, which covers the transportation and supervision costs of the candidates who go to Montreal . We have even started sponsoring jury members and conductors. Beyond the cash flow, the director of the CMIM “finds the links that this creates even more interesting in the long term. People who agree to sponsor come to listen to their competitors or meet the member of the jury for whom they are somewhat responsible and, finally, attach themselves to the contest. They thus become faithful friends”.
Adding the melody component to the Voix 2018 and 2022 editions is a shift that respects the voices and personalities of the singers. I am very happy with it, and it has also allowed us to stand out in the world of competitions.
The last few years have also seen a consolidation of the partnership with the OSM, to the point that Rafael Payare has agreed to conduct the final this year. “It’s an international competition and it’s very rare for a competition to have an orchestra of this caliber. In addition, we added an orchestra rehearsal, which means that our finale is musically even more solid”, rejoices the director.
Reaching Families
Beyond the organizational mechanisms and financial cogs, Christiane LeBlanc draws her main pride from two initiatives: the modification of the vocal editions and the addition of a junior component.
“Adding the melody component to the Voix 2018 and 2022 editions is a shift that respects the voices and personalities of the singers. I am very happy with it, and it has also allowed us to stand out in the world of competitions. There are, of course, vocal competitions that have melody components. But it is a bit of a poor relation and I believe that we are the only ones who give equal importance to opera and melody. »
“However, my favorite project remains the creation of the junior section, ‘Mini Violini'”, says Chrisiane LeBlanc. The idea came to the director of the CMIM when she heard a brilliant 10-year-old competition winner in Europe. “Unfortunately, his career was already well underway and he could not come to Montreal for the first edition. But that’s where the idea of creating a junior section came from. Christiane LeBlanc had several things in mind: “I was convinced that it would attract a new audience: everyone is charmed by a child prodigy. But these young people, four or eight years later, could also be future competitors. However, if they already have a connection with Montreal, they will choose the CMIM rather than a competition elsewhere. This will also be the case with the Chinese Shihan Wang this week: “He is 18 years old. He was one of our “Mini Violini” in 2019. I had seen his name among the 248 candidates, but nothing said a priori that he was going to be one of the 24 finalists. His selection makes me very happy. »
This year, the Mini Violini competition will take place on weekends, Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. in Bourgie Hall, “so that spectators can come with their families, that there are young people in the room and that children who are studying in music can see where hard work and perseverance can take them. For the time being, there has not yet been a “Piccolo Piano”, because the 2020 edition has been cancelled. It will therefore be up to Christiane LeBlanc’s successor to continue the project.
Break the model
Other initiatives could feed the years to come. Piano improvisation prizes were created, and Christiane LeBlanc fondly recalls the Phantom Piano Concertoby François Dompierre, for “orchestra and zero piano score”, as well as the arrival of Jean-François Zygel and Bruno Fontaine, two master French improvisers.
“I also appreciate the challenge we have set ourselves to do a virtual edition in 2021 during the pandemic,” says Christiane LeBlanc. After the cancellation of Piano 2020, the CMIM had kept its candidates warm. “We were aware of seeing pianists who had already been preparing for some time and we said to ourselves that we could not let them down. “With the impossibility of bringing the candidates to Montreal, rooms were reserved all over the world, and technical teams mobilized: “We promised everyone that they would not have to cross borders. The virtual edition made it possible “to reach more than one million views and to break into the Chinese market via the Amadeus.tv site. This is now an established fact: the influence of the competition on the Internet after the pandemic is greater. »
Christiane LeBlanc, who, during her mandate, saw the disappearance of the two founders of the CMIM, Joseph Rouleau and André Bourbeau, says she seeks to preserve their heritage. “When I arrived at the competition, what struck me straight away was the very human, very warm side with a desire to transmit this during the competition. After the disappearance of André and Joseph, this is what we worked on very consciously: we had to keep this very warm side. We welcome the competitors and try to tell them that regardless of the prize they will win, we want them to leave Montreal with an enriching human experience, relationships and new bonds of friendship. »
Christiane LeBlanc regrets not having been able to develop a festival, for lack of funding and teams: “I would have really liked the competition to be part of a bigger umbrella, a festival umbrella with more concerts. This is one of the challenges that could be on the table for the next management team. The thing would have advantageously replaced the disappearance of the gala concert.
As for musical competitions, she thinks that their multiplication will force a redefinition. “In a horizon of 5 to 10 years, the competitions that will emerge victorious will be those that will know how to redefine themselves. All are on the same model and, one day, someone will dare to break this model. If I was 25 or 30 years younger, it would be a great challenge. Basically, the goal is to discover talents and highlight them, but perhaps there are other formulas that could work. I am also thinking of the ecological footprint. The competitions bring in a lot of people, so there are a lot of plane tickets. In the future, competitions are going to have to ask questions like this. I don’t have the answer, but I think there are competitions that will surprise us in the next few years. »
For now, after the Mini Violini, five violinists aged 10 to 15 at 2 p.m. in recital on Saturday and Sunday with the Orchester de l’Agora at Bourgie Hall, the Violon 2023 edition will begin Tuesday at 2 p.m., at same place. After the semi-finals next Saturday and Sunday, the final will take place on May 3 and 4 under the direction of Rafael Payare at the Maison symphonique. The 24 candidates come from 11 countries, and there are two Canadians: Aaron Chan, who grew up in Hong Kong, was educated at McGill and studies in Toronto, and Gabrielle Després from Edmonton, who studies at Juilliard.