This text is part of the special notebook It’s Summer
The summer festival begins on Tuesday, May 28 with Classica and will end with the OSM and Robert Charlebois on August 24.
The festival season was notably enriched in June in Montreal and around the metropolis, filling the usual gap between the end of the seasons and the start of the three major events: Orford, Forget and Lanaudière.
It is the Classica Festival of the South Shore which opens this ball with, from next Tuesday, at the Claude-Champagne room, the Great Mass of the Dead de Gossec by Arion under the direction of Mathieu Lussier. This Requiem (1760) by the famous musician of the Revolution influenced both Mozart and Berlioz. The hall of the University of Montreal will also host, on Thursday, “Amoureuses” by Mozart and, on June 6, The Emperor of‘Atlantis, an opera composed by Viktor Ullmann in the ghetto town of Terezin during World War II. It will be presented on June 8 at the Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue co-cathedral in Longueuil. Starmania in a version “reinvented for the 20e anniversary of its symphonic version.
Traffic jam mid-June
It is again at the Classica Festival, but this time in Boucherville, that Karina Gauvin will present for the first time, on June 11, her show “Marie Hubert Fille du Roy”, based on folk songs from France and New France. Classica will continue until June 16, with, as a common thread, several tributes to the composer Théodore Dubois for the centenary of his death. We note the arrival of the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra on June 3 and 4.
As Classica draws to a close, the Montreal Chamber Music Festival will be launched on June 13, with the presence of violinist Kerson Leong. This evening of June 13 will allow us to hear the sublime Concert by Chausson. The Chamber Music Festival continues its tradition of free concerts. They will take place at noon in the Bourgie Hall on June 14, 15, 20, 21 and 22. James Ehnes will be the featured guest of the festival with his quartet for “Razumovsky” quartets by Beethoven on June 21 and 22. On June 23 at 3:30 p.m., the Festival will end at the Maison symphonique with a complete set of Brandenburg Concertos of Bach by a group of hand-picked artists, including James Ehnes, Luc Beauséjour and, in particular, musicians from the OSM, the OM and the National Arts Center (CNA).
We can therefore predict that the weekend of June 13 to 16 will be very busy, as the Montreal Baroque festivities will also take place there, on the theme “Parallel Universes”. Surprise: Montréal Baroque managed to find a baroque orchestra in Cape Town, South Africa! The opening “ amazing Grace », on June 13, will bring together the musicians of the Cape Town Baroque Orchestra, ClassiqueInclusif, Nigra Sum and the Festival Choir, for an evening associating Händel, Telemann, Vivaldi with Spirituals. This concert will be followed by “an invitation to travel, from baroque Europe to Persia and India”, with Infusion baroque.
The next day, a change of times, since the ensemble Flûte Tandi! will offer new works for recorder quartet and electronics, accompanied by contemporary dance. On Saturday June 15, “Operatic Fluidity” will combine the voices of contralto Rose Naggar-Tremblay and countertenor Ian Sabourin in extracts from Händel’s operas. The closing concert on Sunday June 16 will focus on French music and baroque dance, with Les Jardins Chorégraphiques, the Montreal Baroque Band and musicians from the Cape Town Baroque Orchestra.
Just so as not to forget: this June 16, at the confluence of three festivals, will also be the closing day of the OM season with the highly anticipated 6e Symphony by Mahler, by Yannick Nézet-Séguin!
Operas and concerts
The months of July and August will be marked by two lyrical productions. At the Lanaudière Festival, Yannick Nézet-Séguin will conduct a concert version ofAida with Angel Blue as Aida and SeokJong Baek as Radamès. While the role of Amneris is still to be cast, we will have the pleasure of hearing soprano Sarah Dufresne again as High Priestess, alongside Ambrogio Maestri (Amonasro), Alexandros Stavrakakis (Ramfis) and Morris Robinson (King of Egypt) .
It is at the same time, on August 2, 3 and 4, that the Quebec Opera Festival will present Parisian life by Offenbach in a production by Jean-Romain Vesperini and under the direction of Thomas Le Duc-Moreau. Jean-Luc Ballestra, Magali Simard-Galdes, Rodolphe Briand, Julie Boulianne, Dominique Côté, Geoffroy Salvas, Marie-Ève Munger, Sophie Naubert and Christophe Gay will be on stage to entertain us in this brilliant opera buffa.
The Quebec Opera Festival will be held from July 24 to August 4, with, on July 27, a concert by the Violons du Roy featuring soprano Isabelle Cals and tenor Nikolai Schukoff; a lyrical fantasy by France Ducasse “Epitaph for Carmen and her assassin”; The human voice by Poulenc sung by Elisabeth St-Gelais and a new musical tale: The ugly Duckling.
No web-footed birds in Lanaudière, sometimes a few birds above the Amphitheater, but also a complete set of Brandenburg by Bach, this time in two evenings, July 12 and 14 with the Friborg Baroque Orchestra. Between two, on the 13th, William Christie will return to us with Fairy Queen by Purcell.
The Festival (July 6-August 4) will launch with Nicolas Ellis and the participation of Farah Alibay to the sound of Planetes by Holst. On July 7, Bernard Labadie will conduct Mozart. The OSM and Rafael Payare will take the stage on July 19 with Thus spoke Zarathustra by Strauss followed, on the 20th, by Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov, a concert during which we will hear pianist Yoav Levanon in his Canadian debut (he will also give a recital). The Grands Ballets will dance on the 5e Symphony by Beethoven on July 26 between two concerts by Anne Sofie von Otter. Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Marc-André Hamelin will meet on July 28 in both Concertos by Liszt, while Rafael Payare will conduct the Bolero August 2 and 7e Symphony by Mahler on the 3rd, the day before the closing with Aida.
Orford and Forget
The theme of Orford Musique is “La belle époque” which is in line with Parisian life of the Quebec Opera Festival. Activities run from June 12 to August 10, with, for example, venerable and respected Mexican pianist Jorge Federico Osorio on June 29. But the “Opening Concert of the Festival” is presented as being that of Alain Lefèvre, on July 5. The pianist will present his piece Grief for two pianos with Wonny Song, general and artistic director of Orford Musique. Surprising thing: Les Violons du Roy will perform on July 6 in Orford, conducted by Thomas Le Duc-Moreau in a French program, less than 24 hours before the Mozart concert with Bernard Labadie in Lanaudière.
While Lanaudière will offer to discover Yoav Levanon, new Warner pianist, Orford will bet on another still little-known Warner pianist: Martin James Bartlett (July 12). Another interesting international visit: the Busch Trio on July 19. Orford, which fuels its summer by irrigating the region with numerous upcoming concerts, is reviving the “Orford Six Pianos” initiative on July 13, and will bring the festival to a close on August 10, with cellist Stéphane Tétreault and the pianist Olivier Hébert-Bouchard in their tribute to Debussy.
In Charlevoix, Mathieu Lussier at Domaine Forget is organizing, as in Orford, a prelude to the opening on June 29. In this case, Louis Lortie will be the star before the Festival itself, with a concert on Saturday June 22 at 4 p.m. The opening will be entrusted to Jonathan Cohen and Les Violons du Roy, Saturday June 29. We see that the 4 p.m. schedule seems to have proven itself.
In its orchestral series, Domaine Forget is presenting the OSQ with Kensho Watanabe on July 20 and the OM with Yannick Nézet-Séguin during the weekend of July 26 and 27. Clemens Schuldt will be at the Domaine on August 10 with Marie-Ève Munger for the Last four songs by Strauss. An Academy Orchestra will be formed and associated with the Violons du Roy and Pentaèdre in three concerts, on August 18, 22 and 24 at the end of the Festival. These services will be jointly directed by Mathieu Lussier, Nicolas Ellis and Jean-Marie Zeitouni.
As for soloists, this summer the Domaine welcomes Charles Richard-Hamelin, the star guitarist Thibaut Garcia, the pianist Shai Wosner, the violinist Rachel Barton Pine and Kerson Leong, who will play the complete Sonatas and Partitas by Bach on July 21. Note that to see the details of the programs you must now go to the website, since the brochure is content with a concise listing of the composers played.
Chamber music
Between the Quebec Opera Festival and the Domaine Forget, you can stop at Île d’Orléans for “Chamber music in Sainte-Pétronille”, on the principle of Musical Thursdays. The summer begins on June 27 with gambist Elinor Fey, harpsichordist Mélisande McNabney and harpist Antoine Malette-Chénier, and continues with Elvira Misbakhova and Meagan Milatz (July 4), Quartom (July 18), pianist Richard Raymond ( on the 25th), the Andara Quartet (on the 1ster august). After a break in August, pianist Mehdi Ghazi will bring the series to a close on August 22.
For those who love chamber music and take their trip further north, the “Concerts aux Îles du Bic” Festival will be held from August 3 to 10 this year. All that remains is to reveal the program. Same intimacy and same repertoire at Maison Trestler, with musical Wednesdays starting June 26 and, in order of appearance, Serhiy Salov, the Hochelaga Trio, Jean-Philippe Sylvestre and Nadia Labrie, Alexandre Da Costa, the soprano Michelle Bawden, Le Duo Vivo, Stéphane Tétreault in duo with Mireille Lagacé and, ultimately, Valérie Milot to close the event on August 14.
To these concerts in the Montreal region are added from July 6 to 23 the free concerts of the Lachine Music Festival programmed by Richard Turp with André Laplante opening and a concert by soprano Sarah Dufresne closing, as well as the summer seasons of our orchestras (OM and OSM). That said, we already know the essentials. The OSM will be in the parks on July 24 and 26 and the Classical Spree will be held from August 14 to 18, which means a big concert at the Stadium on Wednesday, August 14. To this will be added the organization of three “Charlebois symphonique” evenings on August 22, 23 and 24. As for the big concert by OM and Yannick Nézet-Séguin at the foot of Mont-Royal, it is scheduled for August 6.
Finally, let’s not forget the residents of the Outaouais who are spoiled by the two splendid festivals that take place in Ottawa: Musiques et Autres Mondes and the Chamber Music Festival. Musiques et Autres Mondes has so far announced four evenings with the Phaeton Trio between July 10 and 13 around a complete set of Threesomes by Beethoven. The entire program remains to be announced.
But since the Ottawa Chamberfest will take place from July 25 to August 8, we can bet that Music and Beyond will end just before that. For its 30 years of existence, the Chamberfest notably invited Charles Richard-Hamelin and Marc-André Hamelin to play together on July 30. He will receive Emily D’Angelo in recital on 1er August, the Danish Quartet on the 2nd and Angela Hewitt with orchestra on the 3rd.
Big question: if the stratospheric Danish Quartet is in Ottawa on August 2, how did all the Quebec festivals manage to miss it? At least, it is a quartet of almost equivalent quality, the Jerusalem Quartet, which will open the McGill Quartet Academy on August 4!
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