The great Baroque conductor John Eliot Gardiner, who is celebrating his 80th birthday this year, will come to lead the Mass in B of Bach at the Maison symphonique with his famous Monteverdi Choir and his English Baroque Soloists on October 27, as a prelude to the Bach Festival which publishes this Tuesday the program for its 2023 edition.
It will be Gardiner’s return to Montreal after a 33-year absence. He made his first appearance here at the head of the OSM in 1990 in a Brahms and Schumann program.
The Festival itself, from November 17 to December 3, for which ticket sales begin today, is notable for the inclusion of two bubbling young chefs from the Quebec scene, Nicolas Ellis and Francis Choinière, within a program once again bringing together several international stars, including pianist Sergei Babayan and conductor Reinhard Goebel, who will lead the Montreal Bach Festival Orchestra in Montreal, Quebec and Ottawa with pianist Schaghajegh Nosrati as soloist, an unforgettable favorite of the audience of the 2022 Orford Festival.
The arrival of Schaghajegh Nosrati, emulator of András Schiff, is a first at the Bach Festival, as is that of William Youn, to whom the Goldberg Variations, closing. Youn records for Sony very relevant Mozart and Schubert integrals which are, alas, not distributed here. Other young talents invited to the festival: pianist Eva Gevorgyan, noticed at the 2021 Chopin Competition, and cellist Hayoung Choi, winner of the 2022 Queen Elisabeth Competition.
Finally, Mélisande McNabney will provide organ and harpsichord direction for a concert featuring the remarkable contralto Sonia Prina in the Stabat Mater by Vivaldi. The orchestra, the Accademia de’Dissonanti, whose artistic director is Elinor Frey, will be conducted by Alexander Read and Olivier Brault.