The 27the Opus awards gala, held Sunday afternoon at Bourgie Hall, distinguished what the musical community considered to be the best achievements of the 2022-2023 artistic season. In addition to the prizes awarded in the different categories, several special prizes were awarded, including a tribute prize to Isolde Lagacé, general and artistic director emeritus of Bourgie Hall.
The successors of Isolde Lagacé, Olivier Godin and Caroline Louis, as well as her sister Geneviève Soly and Alexandre Tharaud paid a vibrant tribute to the laureate, crowned for “her dedication to the promotion and dissemination of concert music in Quebec “. For the occasion, the Télé-Québec Cultural Factory produced and distributed a portrait which will be accessible on its website.
Discreet pianist
Among the best ideas in this 2023 list, there is the consecration of pianist Meagan Milatz as discovery of the year. She will also be entitled to a video capsule. Ironically, it was during the farewell concert to Isolde Lagacé, in January 2023, that her star shone in everyone’s eyes: she then replaced Charles Richard-Hamelin alongside Andrew Wan in very difficult Sonata for violin and piano by César Franck. Since then, on every occasion, she has confirmed the great good things we thought of her.
Perfect logic also for the presenter of the year, the Festival de Lanaudière, which had a remarkable vintage, and the artistic director Olga Ranzenhofer, for her tireless work at the head of the Molinari Quartet, which won the concert prize of the year in contemporary music with The quartet according to Berio and modern album of the year with Nordic lightsworthy counterpart of the great integral of Melodies by Massenet and the chamber music of Jean Baur by the discoverer Elinor Frey.
Many awards go to diversity. The Opus Montréal prize from the Conseil des arts de Montréal, now subtitled “Inclusion and diversity”, goes to Caprice’s ClassiqueInclusif project. And Katia Makdissi-Warren, recently highlighted by the Société de musique contemporain du Québec, is composer of the year. The music that comes from the coldby Jean-Jacques Nattiez, is the book of the year.
Strange absence
The concert part of the year is more perilous to manage and justify, as no one can boast of having seen everything. The Opus Prize jury settled on Alcina by Händel from Les Violons du Roy in baroque music. This logical choice was in balance with theChristmas Oratorio by Leonardo García Alarcón at the OSM.
On the other hand, to think that a recital by the wonderful Bruce Liu at the Joliette Cultural Center in April 2023 was going to surpass Rafael Payare’s induction concert, a 2e Symphony of Mahler entering directly into the legend of the 90-year history of the OSM and the great history of music in the metropolis, you had to have a galloping imagination. The OSM is content with the “concert of the year for young audiences”, a sort of subscription. This is good, Rafael Payare is directing one this year, a story about a South American tiger; he can hope for a prize in 2024.
Marianne Trudel crowned in jazz, the SuperMusique Ensemble in current and electroacoustic music with the creation of the year, The Ariadne’s thread by Danielle Palardy Roger presented in co-production with Le Vivier also lead us to be interested in the “transversal” categories, which honor in “multiple repertoires” the poignant concert of Antoine Tamestit with the Violons du Roy, the Drummondville Orchestra and the broadcaster Maximum 90 in the region, and bring balm to the heart of the Quebec Opera Festival, distinguished in its city.
Last surprise of the vintage: the performer of the year – and also crowned for “outreach abroad” –, Stick&Bow. If you are wondering like us what “Stick&Bow” is, it is a Montreal duo where the bow refers to the Argentinian cellist Juan Sebastian Delgado and the baton to the Canadian marimbist Krystina Marcoux. Stick&Bow offers, its website tells us, a “wide range of musical styles, ranging from rock to gypsy jazz or from baroque to tango”. They will be in concert on February 10 in Beloeil and May 8 at the Canadian Center for Architecture in Montreal.