The Orchestre Métropolitain and its conductor, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, have once again succeeded in their bet to fill the foot of Mount Royal with people for an original and well-composed 2024 vintage in its officially announced programming.
This year, OM has not communicated an attendance estimate. “A firm on site will give us a precise figure in the coming days,” writes Andréanne Moreau, head of communications. Wow, we take glory very seriously! It’s not even a question of local leadership, since it is a given that if there were 55,000 people in 2023, given the images broadcast by a drone yesterday, we would be around that number this year too. The Esplanade of the Olympic Park, chosen by the OSM, cannot possibly hold that many people. But it may be a world record that OM is trying to ratify.
Originality, diversity
What is very good with OM in the context of this mega concert is that there is always music from here. It was about Citius, altius, fortius! by Maxime Goulet in this Olympic season; a short and well-crafted work from a composer who knows how to be efficient and has a sense of formula. We also heard Village dance by Claude Champagne. Yannick Nézet-Séguin described the Quebec composer as the natural child of Stravinsky and Ravel; if such a thing were possible, adding, to applause, that one could always dream during this Pride week.
The programming of two excerpts from Fancy Free Bernstein’s performance allowed the conductor to recall his recent collaborations for the cinema, notably the film Maestroand the little reminder through a movement of Florence Price introduced the first female symphony composed in North America: the Gaelic Symphony by Amy Beach, performed with energy (1er movement) and tenderness (3e movement). In such a popular setting, it was not at all a handicap to stop after each movement to present the next one. The conductor did this well.
Surprise
After the official program ended, Alexandra Stréliski came to make a “surprise” appearance, at least not for the majority of the people present who seemed to be expecting her. The host of the evening, Pierre-Yves Lord, took his role very seriously compared to the lively, cheerful and witty contribution of Katherine Levac in 2023. He pretended in some way that Alexandra Stréliski had made people rediscover classical music, or something like that. We really need to relax a little on this type of gratuitous fabrication, just as we can wonder if it is really the role of subsidized cultural institutions to serve as a stepping stone, pedestal and / or guarantee (call it what you will) for the most elementary and simplistic expression of commercial music, even if it is popular.
We will add, to fuel the reflection, that the said music is part of a genre whose expansion on listening platforms leads to a very spectacular and rapid questioning and belittling of classical production itself, especially among the majors, beholden to their shareholders (just look at the publications of the Decca and Deutsche Grammophon catalogs now). This is a real debate that deserves to be explored. In the past, we called this shooting oneself in the foot.
A quick search reveals that the name of the “surprise artist” on our invitation card had, as if by chance, cleverly leaked to some major mainstream media outlets. Thus, Tuesday’s event was announced and covered by the cream of “cultural columnists”, with the absolute prize going to 98.5 FM, which headlined on its website: “Free OSM show with Alexandra Stréliski” (in terms of communication, it’s like a boomerang) with the comment “This will be the first time that Alexandra Stréliski will collaborate with Yannick Nézet-Séguin”. What an honor for the latter. The circle is complete. Yannick has finally entered the big leagues: he is finally being talked about on the country’s leading radio station thanks to this eminent collaboration.
Speaking of the big leagues, and to stay serious, while indicating that OM has remedied the sound failures of 2023 by creating a sound that is certainly improbable (with an artificial reverberation of 3 or 4 seconds) and a little colorful but quite pleasantly pleasant, let’s point out the big news of the day: the renewal of the Quebec conductor’s contract until 2030 at the Metropolitan Opera. Yannick Nézet-Séguin will conduct five operas per year, lead a Ring by Wagner directed by Yuval Sharon from 2027 and will include in the repertoire The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier&Clay by Mason Bates, El Último Sueño by Frida y Diego by Gabriela Lena Frank, Lincoln in the Bardo by Missy Mazzoli, The Highlands by Carlos Simon and The Wedding Banquet by Huang Ruo. This is very serious; solid. We will talk about it in The duty !