Rafael Payare will he repeat his dazzling debut with, one after the other, an unforgettable 2e Symphony of Mahler and a great 10e Symphony of Shostakovich? Answer before June, since Mahler will be twice on the program in the second half of the season.
Anyone who wants to get to know the new conductor of the OSM better would no doubt be wise to buy their tickets for the 5e Symphony of Mahler on March 9 or the 3e Symphony, presented three times at the end of the season between May 31 and June 3. If you prefer unexpected thrills, discover the cantata criolla d’Estévez that Rafael Payare will present to us on April 26 and 27.
At the OSM, there will also be, on April 7 and 8, Creation by Haydn with Bernard Labadiea little-heard work in recent years, and a luxury program combining Daniil Trifonov and Sergei Babayan in the Concerto for two pianos and percussion of Béla Bartók on May 23 and 24. Note the presence of Charles Richard Hamelin in the 2e Concerto of Prokofiev and Bruce Liu with the 2e of Chopin.
Creations
To the Metropolitan Orchestra, Yannick Nezet-Seguin will return once in March for the 5e Symphony by Sibelius, recorded for the disc, and once in June for the 3e Symphony by Florence Price. OM also displayed two major Quebec creations in February: a Concerto for harp and cello by Denis Gougeon and a Theremin Concerto by Simon Bertrand.
February is also a month of creation at the Orchester Classique de Montréal, with the world premiere of The torch, opera by Quebecer of Haitian origin David Bontemps to a text by Faubert Bolivar. June 20, Alain Trudel associate with Carmine Buranaand the Ice Storm Symphony by Maxime Goulet.
We can’t complete the February creations without talking about Symphonic Riopellein Montréal en lumière, from February 16 to 18, or without anticipating the 11e edition of the Montreal/New Music Festival, from February 23 to March 5, on the theme “Music and Spirituality”. Just after, on March 7, the New Modern Ensemble will pay tribute to Claude Vivier, on the day of the 40e anniversary of his death. This concert is part of the programming of Le Vivier, a group of creative organizations, which has chosen the Ukrainian Alla Zagaykevych as artist in residence and the performance and multimedia artist An Laurence to open up new perspectives.
A major departure
I Musici welcomes one of its great guests of recent years, Max Rysanovon March 9, in a program around Mozart and will associate Boccherini and Beethoven with Stephane Tetreault and Jean-Francois Rivest May 11. The Orchester symphonique de Laval will test Melanie Leonard on March 8 and will give a big concert with Jacques Lacombe on May 27 at the Maison symphonique including the 3e Symphony of Saint-Saens.
The Violons du Roy offer cherishes Handel with jonathan cohen leader Alcina in concert version on February 11 at the Maison symphonique, and an anthology of well-known works by Bernard Labadie on May 12 at the same place. Above all, don’t miss the prestigious visits of Leonardo Garcia Alarcon leading Piazzolla to Bourgie on February 24 andAntoine Tamestit April 14, with Bach, Schnittke and Shostakovich, still at Bourgie Hall.
This Bourgie Hall will see the departure ofIsolde Lagace, its first director. A second tribute to his pioneering mandate will be paid on January 21 at 4 p.m. and his signature can be recognized in many concerts. We thus find David Fray February 15, Pascal Amoyel February 22 and 23, Charles Richard Hamelin on April 5, the Trio Cassard-Grimal-Gastinel on April 19 and 20, Alexandre Tharaud May 5. The latter will also be in recital with Jean Guihen Queyras 1er april. We will also discover the pianists Celimene Daudet (March 22), Eric Lu (January 25) and, among the sets, Jupiter with Lea Desandre March 15, certainly one of the highlights of this second half of the season.
The most symbolic concert in Bourgie will be the conclusion of the complete Bach cantatas performed on March 26 by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The chef will take over the Cantata BWV 147 who opened this marathon in September 2014.
Getting started with Babayan
A number of concerts have been added to the schedule from what was released in the fall. Among them, Joyce DiDonato and Il Pomo d’Oro on January 29 at Wilfrid-Pelletier, and the Pro Musica season, which begins with a bang this weekend with a recital by the great Sergei Babayan at Pierre-Mercure. Babayan will play Schubert’s last sonata (D.960), as did Charles Richard-Hamelin later in Bourgie. Another highlight of the Pro Musica season: the “Hammerklavier” Sonata by Beethoven by Marc-Andre HamelinMarch 12.
The Ladies’ Morning will host Lukas Geniusas February 12, Alban Gerhardt March 5 and James Ehnes on April 16, as well as the Elias and Pacifica quartets.
On the vocal side, besides Alcina from Handel to Les Violons du Roy, the Opéra de Montréal will offer in May Madame Butterflya safe bet to solidify finances after the courageous programming, in March, ofAinadamar by Osvaldo Golijov. This recent opera (2003-2005) tells the story of playwright Federico García Lorca and his muse, Catalan actress Margarita Xirgu, exploring the theme of freedom of expression.
As for educational institutions, the Atelier d’opéra of the University of Montreal will offer The bat by Strauss from February 23 to 26; Opera McGill will continue Hansel and Gretel d’Humperdinck from 26 to 29 January and Orfeo ed Euridice of Gluck on March 31 and 1er april. We will add Bohemian in concert version, conducted on January 20 by the insatiable Francis Choiniereand The child and the spells by Ravel with the Orchester de l’Agora and Nicholas Ellis.
In baroque music, Arion celebrates Bach at the end of the week, Vivaldi in March and Mozart, with Julien Chauvin, in May ; the Happy Ideas devote their “concert of the Passion”, on April 7, to Graupner; the Early Music Studio will explore Renaissance polyphonies with “Douce Mémoire”; Caprice takes over Mass in B by Bach on May 26 at the Maison symphonique; the Boréades celebrate on March 2 the 250e anniversary of the death of the great flautist Johann Joachim Quantz, while Harpsichord in concert will welcome rising stars: Justin Taylor March 21 and Francesco Corti May 31.
To conclude, knowing that the Montreal International Music Competition will take place early between April 22 and May 4 and that the Chamber Music Festival is scheduled for June 12 to 19, we cannot ignore the attentive ear finally loaned here to the Finnish composer Kalevi Aho. It is found associated with Mendelssohn in the closing concert of Pentaèdre, May 12, and performed by the McGill Symphony Orchestra in Montreal/New Music.