This text is part of the special section C’est l’été
The 2023 classic summer season is marked by the arrival of two new artistic directors, Mathieu Lussier at Domaine Forget and Vincent Lauzer as co-director of Montréal baroque. It is also the first big breath of fresh air without constraints since 2019, which will teach us a lot about the post-pandemic period.
Even if the floodgates were finally opened in 2022, let us remember that at this time a year ago, the organizers were in search of “visibility”, in particular as regards the reception of foreign artists. Most, Lanaudière in the lead, had bet on organizational normality, but also on a “need to get out” of music lovers after a period of lack. It didn’t go as planned at all. We will not be blamed for qualifying the 2022 vintage, in terms of attendance, as “almost catastrophic”, with one exception: the free OM concert at Mount Royal, where the crowds gathered. But Lanaudière has halved its audience, despite a posh international program, while an extraordinary Faust at the Quebec Opera Festival didn’t even fill the room halfway.
The three lighthouses
The 2023 season therefore leads to a calibration of ambitions, notably in Lanaudière and Orford. Lanaudière does not sacrifice quality: the festival features Leonardo García Alarcón and William Christie, the first in Monteverdi, on July 22 and 24, the second in Händel, on July 15.
The more symphonic concerts will be provided by the OSM and the OM. Rafael Payare will notably direct the 9e Symphony by Beethoven (opening July 7), then the concerto for orchestra by Bartók, while Yannick Nézet-Séguin will tackle the spectacular Alpine Symphony of Strauss on July 28 and the pathetic symphony by Tchaikovsky on August 6 at the close. For the Rachmaninoff year, Denis Kozhukin will play the 2e Concerto with the OSM and Marc-André Hamelin, the “Rach 3” with OM. Compared to 2022, there is no longer this frivolous exuberance: incredible posters in churches or “excess concerts”.
Orford shortens and centers its festival from July 7 to August 5, pauses its competition for young artists and goes so far as to juxtapose Jean-Michel Blais and Sergeï Babayan in its programming. The arrival of the latter, on August 5, is the event of an edition dedicated to Schubert (including a winter travel by Philippe Sly and Olivier Godin on July 28) which will begin with a concert by Les Violons du Roy with Stéphane Tétreault as soloist.
The third major historical festival, that of Domaine Forget, is now under the leadership of bassoonist and conductor Mathieu Lussier. This means that we will hear original and interesting things on the theme of “Openness and discovery”, which is illustrated in the first place by the concert Under the bridges of Parison August 5, bringing together works by Méhul, Grétry and Augusta Holmès.
The festival, which opens at 4 p.m. on June 24 with a special concert titled The traveler, a tribute from the Violons du Roy to Gilles Vigneault, will host the Orchester Métropolitain and Yannick Nézet-Séguin on July 22 and 23. Alexandre Tharaud, Benedetto Lupo and the Emerson Quartet, for his farewell tour, are among the prestigious guests of this edition.
Plush June
Before heading to Domaine Forget, the Emerson Quartet will pass through Montreal on June 6 at the Chamber Music Festival. The holding of three festivals in the first three weeks of June is the great novelty of this year, since at the Festival Classica de la Rive-Sud, until June 17, whose three operas will be presented in Montreal, are added the Chamber music festival from June 4 to 18 (with not only the Emersons, but also a closing concert at the Maison symphonique) and, new this year, Baroque Montreal.
Baroque Montreal, now co-directed by Matthias Maute and Vincent Lauzer, is thus changing dates. Traditionally associated with the National Day weekend, it will unfold the previous weekend (June 15 to 18) on the theme “Chaos and confetti”. Another surprise, happy, his return to the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours chapel, his historic place. Opening on Thursday June 15 with the Finnish Baroque Orchestra, the Barokkanerne and the Ensemble Caprice. The final day of June 18 will be devoted to dance and will take place at the Wilder Building – Espace danse. The choice of Montreal Baroque, which also had a more than gloomy 2022 edition, was to come back “full”, with a plethoric offer, in the spirit of musical bubbling of this event created by Susie Napper.
Gounod and mass concerts
The Quebec Opera Festival (July 23 to August 2) is eliminating all satellite concerts to focus on key shows: Romeo and Juliet by Gounod with Hélène Carpentier, Thomas Bettinger and Patrick Bolleire and the creation of Solemn mass for a summer full moon, opera by Christian Thomas adapted from the play by Michel Tremblay. Another adaptation: that of Daughter of the Regiment by Donizzetti for the show produced in co-production with Jeunesses musicales Canada.
If, after Quebec, you push further, towards Rimouski, the Concerts at the Bic Islands await you from August 5 to 12. Opening with Myriam Leblanc and Ensemble Mirabilia, then by the co-founders of the festival, Élise Lavoie on violin and James Darling on cello. The second weekend will bring together, in particular, cellist Cameron Crozman and pianist Meagan Milatz (who can be found on the 24th at the close of the Sainte-Pétronille Chamber Music Festival, on Île d’Orléans), but also pianist Mathieu Gaudet.
The end of the summer season will be provided by the Orchester symphonique de Montréal. The big concert at the Olympic Park will take place this year on August 16, and the Classical Spree at Place des Arts will be held from August 18 to 20. Lineup details will be revealed on June 6. And as for the second mass event in Montreal, the Orchester Métropolitain is organizing its concert at Mount Royal on Wednesday, August 2. Alain Lefèvre will play André Mathieu there.
A plethora of other events will enrich the musical summer. We can thus listen to the Requiem of Mozart in Saint-Eustache on July 6 or meet at Maison Trestler on Wednesdays between June 28 and August 16, with, even, the prestigious visit of Charles Richard-Hamelin on July 26.
Finally, the inhabitants of the Outaouais will happily turn to Ottawa, where the close succession of “Musiques et autres mondes” and the Chamber Music Festival will flood the capital with music from July 4 to August 3. Several big appointments at the “Chamberfest”: a launch on July 20 with James Ehnes in Bach’s violin concertos, two concerts devoted to Beethoven’s last piano sonatas by Hinrich Alpers and a recital by Angela Hewitt.
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