Alexander Shelley’s Moment of Truth | The Press

Once a month, The Press presents some expected appointments for lovers of classical music.

What is the truth? This fundamental question that generations of philosophers have tried to answer, the conductor of the National Arts Center (NAC) Orchestra in Ottawa will try to answer in music in a program that will be offered Wednesday and Thursday in the federal capital. . Interview with Alexander Shelley at the time of so-called “alternative” facts.

Just last week, the musician was in New York to give a concert which premiered in Toronto on March 30. The event, which was originally scheduled to take place in 2020, when the presidential campaign was in full swing south of the border, is a tribute to former ABC anchor Peter Jennings of Toronto. disappeared in 2005.

Although he knew him little because of his British origins, Alexandre Shelley adheres 100% to the values ​​of objectivity which were, according to him, the prerogative of this Anglo-Canadian journalistic star little known in Quebec. “As newscaster, Jennings was the authoritative embodiment of the impartial search for information,” says the orchestra’s artistic director.

For Shelley and the NAC team, it is essential to go beyond simple “pure” music and to go there with audacious proposals in line with the spirit of the times. The theme of truth imposed itself on them with force, political action being unable to do without reflection on the facts and on the way in which they are collected and communicated.

The chef pointed this out to spectators at Carnegie Hall on April 5, in a country that has experienced a rare divide these years. He was also able to discuss it a few hours before with two journalists from the New York Times and FinancialTimes during a panel discussion moderated by David Muir, star presenter at ABC and avowed admirer of Peter Jennings.

The conductor of the NAC Orchestra had the opportunity to recall that two of the works on the program, the Violin Concerto by Korngold (with James Ehnes) and the Symphony noh 9 by Shostakovich, were written by composers who had to deal (the second much more than the first) with authoritarian regimes where freedom of expression was reduced to almost nothing.

But is there any truth in music? “If I personally try to get as close as possible to the truth that I believe the composer wants to convey, it becomes a metaphysical experience and you start to touch on something deep,” he explains.

For him, “the most beautiful thing about being a conductor is this moment of symbiosis that happens on stage when you forget that you are simple individuals” to merge into a single organism.

As long as they are going to play in New York, the orchestra has commissioned a new symphony from Philip Glass, the pope of minimalism, who himself lives in the Big Apple, who has come to hear his recent creation. Given at the beginning of the concert, the short piece Zeiss After Dark by Canadian composer Nicole Lizée is an ideal counterpart with its shimmering colors.

Ottawa will also be entitled, just before Wednesday’s concert, to its round table, this time chaired by journalist Paul Wells, with, in addition to Alexander Shelley, journalists Marie-Claude Lortie (The right) and Evan Solomon (CTV News).

See you April 13 and 14 at 8 p.m. in Southam Hall at the National Arts Center or pay live webcast on April 14.

Also on the program

A big day for Bourgie Hall

It’s not every day that we inaugurate a pianoforte. After the Palais Montcalm in Quebec City, which had acquired an instrument from the United States, Rodney J. Regier, it is Bourgie Hall’s turn to welcome its replica (by the same maker) of this historic instrument, a sort of ancestor of the piano of the time of Mozart and Beethoven. Originally scheduled last year with Andreas Staier, the inauguration of this little gem will take place this Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. under the hands of the eminent Ronald Brautigam in a program featuring Schubert, Schumann and Mendelssohn.

Brand new, hot stuff at Le Vivier

Why don’t we rush to new music concerts as if to hear yet another Beethoven symphony? The occasion is great these days with the spring meeting Resonance crossed organized by Le Vivier. Artists from Quebec and five European countries will present their creations for various musical groups at Espace Orange. In particular, we can listen to a creation by Keiko Devaux, who has just received the Opus prize for composer of the year.

When the next generation comes into play

Want to discover the next Charles Richard-Hamelin? It is possible to attend the final exams of the Music Conservatory free of charge, which will be held almost daily until May 6. The fruit of long-term preparation, these recitals will see bachelor’s and master’s graduates, whether in strings, winds, piano, percussion, singing or composition, perform before a jury in the magnificent little concert hall on rue Henri-Julien.

A trio not stung by worms at the LMMC

The Ladies Morning Musical Club (LMMC) will receive, on 1^er May (3:30 p.m.), the Trio Han-Finckel-Setzer. Behind this little evocative name hide one of the two violinists and the former cellist of the Emerson Quartet, one of the most remarkable chamber music ensembles of our time. With pianist Wu Han, they will perform at the Pollack Hall in a program combining Beethoven’s famous “Spirits” Trio with two lesser known trios by Haydn and Dvořák.