Alexandre Da Costa believes in classical music that is popular, modern and open to the world. So much the better for its growing audience, so much the worse for the purists…
It is in this spirit that the violinist and the Orchester symphonique de Longueuil (OSDL), which he has been conducting since 2019, present the Christmas rendezvous Parapapam from December 26 to 30 at the Maison symphonique.
Among other guests: Guylaine Tanguay, Roch Voisine, soprano Giorgia Fumanti, baritone Vladimir Korneev as well as 125 choristers, including the Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal, under the direction of Frédéric Vogel. “The idea is to create a mirror between popular and classic guests,” explains Alexandre Da Costa.
A – small – guest will also appear: Mattenzo Da Costa, 8 years old, son of you-know-who, who will sing The child with the drum alongside country performer Guylaine Tanguay. “The idea is not for him to become a professional musician, but to offer him a course in drama, self-expression and theater exposing a thousand, explains the maestro. But we didn’t want it to be just the “child of”. We prepared it, and if it hadn’t been good enough, we would have given another child a chance. »
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Guylaine Tanguay and Rock Voisine
In a spirit of solidarity, the arrangements forAdeste Fideles were entrusted to a Ukrainian composer, debauched by the Russian war. Ilya Zuiko thus worked remotely, between two power outages. “We gave him carte blanche. In his arrangements, we hear the bombs, the depth, a kind of procession. In the end, life wins. Three minutes will take us very, very far. »
International ambitions
Parapapam closes a first “normal” year for the OSDL since the appointment of Alexandre Da Costa, one of the few Stehgeiger (violinists standing), that is to say a conductor who rubs his instrument while conducting.
The summer of 2022 notably allowed the South Shore troupe to tour Colombia and Brazil, which had been canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic. Next year, the 52 professional musicians of the OSDL will meet the public with Mad Hatter – The Musical, presented at the Théâtre Maisonneuve. “I am where I would have liked to be from the start of my mandate, explains Da Costa. We are starting to have an extremely loyal audience. And I see new faces every time. »
During the Grand Confinement, the OSDL had multiplied into small orchestras of six musicians to brighten up the CHSLDs of Quebec as part of the Balcons symphoniques tour. In total, some 120 concerts brought joy – or eased the pain – to elderly people trapped on their balconies.
Whether internationally or in Quebec, the Orchester symphonique de Longueuil is on the move and does not want to be confined to one city. This is why the organization will have a new name during 2023, announces Da Costa lip service. Which ? To be continued…
Playing with codes
The maestro repeats it to anyone who wants to hear it: he plays with the public and for it, even if the notables turn their backs on him. “Yes, we present great symphonies, great works, but my guests are different and I speak during my concerts in a different way, which is not normally allowed. »
His “training of some 2000 concerts” should have made him a docile and discreet classical musician, he observes. “It was: ‘You come on stage, you do your part, you greet the public and you leave. Nobody wants anything more.” That’s what I’ve always been told. But who said that? Who once decided that classical music would be rigid and pedantic? »
Certainly not Mozart, Bach or Beethoven, “from the world of party who loved to laugh and drink, says Da Costa.
After so many years, do purists still criticize him for his…democratic approach? “More and more, regrets the main interested party. I am a victim of my own environment, which is really not nice. And it’s the same medium that adored me so much for more than a decade because I was the golden boy violin. He saw an ambassador who never said anything. »
Message to interested parties: the conductor and his musicians have no intention of remaining silent.
Three projects in 2023
Mad Hatter – The Musical
16 April 2023
“It’s taken fromAlice in Wonderland. It’s about mental health, ethnic diversity, and sexual orientation, all in a recognizable tale. It’s the music hall’s first symphonic performance, so we’ll be lucky enough to have some of Broadway’s biggest headliners. »
Beethoven & Stradivarius, The inevitable destiny
From June 4 to 18, 2023
“It’s my own little Guinness record: conducting and playing the violin on Concerto of Beethoven in the first part, then conduct and play the Fifth symphony. It’s a megamarathon. In my opinion, these are the two most emblematic works of Beethoven, apart from the Ninth. the Concerto, for a violinist, it’s the bible. This program, I think 99.9% that I am the only one to have prepared it in this way. »
The Stradivari festival
July 2023
“It’s my number one family project. My wife [Martine Cardinal] is the general manager, I’m the artistic director and our son is the mascot. We are completely invested in the festival. Not just in June, but all year long because we work on the programming, the financing, the paperwork. The concerts are always the mostfun. »