Cultural Back-to-School | The Classic Fall of All Possibilities

The coming months will be full of notable classical music events in the metropolis, with milestones in choral and orchestral music, as well as star soloists. Here’s an overview of eight moments that are already making us salivate.

A Schoenbergian saga for the OSM’s return

This is the story of King Waldemar, cursed for eternity after he blamed God for the murder of his lover by his jealous wife. The song cycle with chorus and orchestra that a young Schoenberg, still steeped in romanticism, drew from this medieval fable will open the new season of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) on September 11 and 13, conducted by Rafael Payare, the highlight of this year’s tribute to the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Viennese master. It will be an opportunity to reconnect with OSM regulars such as soprano Dorothea Röschmann and mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill, but also to hear tenor Ben Heppner narrating and actor Mani Soleymanlou presenting.

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Bruckner’s Twilight at the Métropolitain

It was in 1903, at the same time that Schoenberg was finishing his Gurre-Liederthat the Symphony n^o 9 in D minor Bruckner’s symphony, seven years after the death of its author, who left it without a finale. The Orchestre Métropolitain and its conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin will perform this swan song of the Austrian symphonist on September 22, concluding it with his Te Deum, as at the premiere (apparently at Bruckner’s request), an opportunity to hear the Metropolitan Choir and a sparkling quartet of soloists including the great soprano Latonia Moore. Opening: Mamachimowina creation by Cree composer and conductor Andrew Balfour.

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Saariaho and his living tomb

The death of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho last year at age 70 moved the musical world. Her heart continues to beat through her dozens of scores with their shimmering reflections. The Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ) is paying tribute to her on October 3 alongside two Quebec composers. Les Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal will be performing a work written by Saariaho for her daughter, as well as a creation by the young Hans Martin. The SMCQ Ensemble and its conductor Christian Gort will also perform Lighthousethe Finnish artist’s first computer composition, as well asArras by Keiko Devaux, which won her a Juno Award in 2022.

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Bach-Kavakos: the meeting

Bourgie Hall welcomes one of the giants of the violin, Leonidas Kavakos. After a historic victory at the Sibelius Competition at the age of 18, the Greek distinguished himself with polished recordings, notably that of Bach’s six works for solo violin for Sony, half of which he will reprise in Montreal. Those lucky enough to be seated in the Sherbrooke Street hall on November 7 will hear the Sonata No.^o 1as well as the Scores n^bone 1 And 2which obviously includes the exhilarating Chaconne. Those who would like to see him perform the other half of this violin monument may want to make the trip to Quebec City two days before, where he will perform at the Club Musical.

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A keyboard mage at LMMC

At 32, Benjamin Grosvenor’s pianistic reputation is well established. The watchmaker’s meticulousness of the man who was named Young Musician of the Year by the BBC at just 12 has earned him countless praise, notably for his patiently crafted discography for Decca. His North American autumn tour, where he will play Brahms (Intermezziop. 117), Schumann (Fantasy in C major) and Mussorgsky (Pictures at an Exhibition), will end at the Ladies’ Morning Musical Club (LMMC) on November 10 (Oscar Peterson Hall).

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The Montreal Opera at the Court of Elsinore

Hamletit is more than “To be or not to be”. It is also an opera by Ambroise Thomas, a rival of Gounod who became known above all for his opera Cute. It is a privilege to be able to hear at the Opéra de Montréal (November 16 to 24) this rather rare score, which includes some gems such as the Scène de la folie d’Ophélie and l’Air à boire d’Hamlet. Torontonian Elliot Madore will make his debut in the title role, which has delighted the greatest baritones, opposite soprano Sarah Dufresne’s Ophélie. A specialist in French opera, conductor Jacques Lacombe is the ideal candidate to occupy the pit of Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier during these four performances.

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Sure values ​​to open the Bach Festival

The cancellation of the Mass in B minor by John Eliot Gardiner last year at the Bach Festival was of course a disappointment to many. The programming of this masterpiece by the Leipzig Cantor this fall as the opening of the event – ​​without the British conductor – is more than a consolation prize, since it is the exciting Argentinian conductor Leonardo García-Alarcón who will be at the helm, alongside the Orchestra and Choir of the Montreal Bach Festival and a quartet of soloists including his wife, the soprano Mariana Flores. They will be heard in Quebec City on November 22 and in Montreal on November 23.

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British choral excellence at Bourgie Hall

Just because the Tallis Scholars came to Bourgie Hall just two years ago doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eagerly return to hear them in the same venue on December 15 (or the day before at the Club musical de Québec)! While the British chamber choir, one of the best in the world, devoted its December 2022 recital to works on the Virgin, it is now plainchant that will be in the spotlight, with a whole panorama ranging from Hildegard of Bingen to Arvo Pärt, including Hieronymus Prateorius, Roland de Lassus and Tomás Luis de Victoria.

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