The 15the Bach Festival will begin with a concert of cantatas from theChristmas Oratorio directed by Václav Luks, Saturday in Quebec and Sunday in Montreal. The year 2021 marks the return of the learned alchemy that has made the Festival’s trademark: the best talents from here in contact with stars on the international scene.
“International festival, we invite musicians from Montreal, Quebec and around the world. The difference this year is that we invited artists, but no foreign ensembles, because the risk was still too high ”, summarizes the To have to Alexandra Scheibler, co-founder of the Bach Festival, general and artistic director of the event.
This is how Václav Luks will conduct this opening weekend not his Czech orchestra Collegium 1704, but rather the Festival Choir and Orchestra, an ensemble formed here in 2018.
Sunday’s concert at the Maison symphonique will be the last with the expanded stage. Concerned about the disposition of her musicians, Alexandra Scheibler spent a good part of the beginning of the week trying to obtain confirmation of the deaf rumor that the distance between the musicians and even the choristers is now one meter. This firm and clear information, the To have to requested it from the Department of Health and Social Services since November 10.
In practice, there is a provision of the guide from the Commission des normes, de l’énergie, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail in force since June 7, originally written for film sets (cinema and television). It states that vaccinated artists from a “stable team” can share a stage one meter away. According to information obtained by The duty, this provision was extended at the beginning of last week to orchestras. The Orchester symphonique de Montréal (OSM) and the Orchester Métropolitain (OM) will apply this rule to the Maison symphonique, which means that the stage can return to its original size. We will see him during the closing concert of the Bach Festival, conducted by Nicolas Ellis, on December 5th.
Timidity
Nicolas Ellis will lead OM after presenting the Brandenburg concertos with his Agora Orchestra. The other Quebecers in the spotlight will be Bernard Labadie and the Violons du Roy for The art of running away, the Early Music Studio, Arion and Pallade Musica. In addition, four free concerts will be offered as part of the “Off Festival” on Saint-Laurent Boulevard on November 29 and 30.
The three great soloists invited by the Festival are Sergeï Babayan to present the 1er Delivered of Well-tempered keyboard on December 2, Martin Helmchen for the Partitas for keyboard, on November 27, and countertenor Valer Sabadus, on 1er December.
We were hoping to webcast. […] But the grant applications have been filed, and we have no idea if we’re going to get the envelope. So we won’t run that risk, and there will be no webcasts.
Headliners like Babayan or Helmchen would drive audiences to Vienna, London, Berlin or Paris. For now, Montreal seems more hesitant to adhere to the proposal. “There is a risk, but we are optimistic, advance Alexandra Scheibler. We want to make things work and that is what attracts the confidence of our sponsors ”.
Donor of the OSM’s octobasse, Roger Dubois of Canimex is the first of those who recognize the daring and perseverance of the organizer of the Festival.
It remains to find a respondent from the public authorities. Asked about the webcasts associated with the concerts, Mme Scheibler gives a concise answer: “We were hoping to webcast, especially since we created the platform. canadaclassique.com and hope that this phenomenon and these tools will not be ephemeral, only linked to COVID. But the grant applications have been filed, and we have no idea if we’re going to get the envelope. So we won’t run that risk, and there will be no webcasts. “