The OSM Classical Spree | The meaning of the party by Rafael Payare

Several thousand people came to watch the big OSM concert on Wednesday evening on the Olympic Park esplanade. Account of conductor Rafael Payare’s marathon day, and of a concert that took place under the sign of the Americas, discovery and joy.

Josee Lapointe
The Press

It was a reunion evening on Wednesday between the Montreal public and its orchestra after two years of pandemic lean cows, and many people came to hear this free and unifying concert which is in its tenth edition.

As the coolness of the August nights slowly set in, the chef launched the evening solemnly with the New World Symphony by Dvorak. But since the theme of the evening was the Americas, he immediately followed it with a dignified poem read by Innu author Natasha Kanapé Fontaine, and a moving traditional song by Jeremy Dutcher.

The concert then took a festive turn, under the dynamic baton of Rafael Payare, who chose to go to the side of the Cuban composer Paquito D’Rivera and his recent concerto venezolano. The guest trumpeter Pacho Flores and the cuatro player Héctor Molina, two virtuosos, transported us in their exciting solos on the side of Cuban jazz clubs, which earned them a very loud ovation at the end of this true piece of bravery.

Very nice jump then on the side of Bernstein, with a sequence of selected pieces of West Side Storyfollowed by the charming Honey and Rue by German-born American composer André Previn, performed by Trinidad and Tobago soprano Jeanine De Bique.

The concert ended on a grand note with a piece by Venezuelan pianist, conductor and composer Evencio Castellanos, Santa Cruz de Pacairigua.

A great crescendo that came to close on a high note this joyful and dancing evening, carried by a chef who clearly had the heart to celebrate and the desire to make us travel. Not for nothing that Montrealers have already adopted it.

Behind the scenes

10 a.m.

Before going on stage at the Esplanade at 7:30 p.m., it had been a busy day for Rafael Payare. This great concert is the kickoff of the ninth Classical Spree, an event that until August 14 will shine the music with a host of free activities and 24 concerts at low cost… including eight that he will lead himself! So we found him at 10 a.m. Wednesday in a room located in the basement of Place des Arts, where he was rehearsing with the Ensemble de la Virée for a concert that will be presented Sunday afternoon at the Théâtre Maisonneuve. .

On the program, a concerto for strings by Miklós Rózsa. The musicians have already cleared the ground in another rehearsal with assistant conductor Adam Johnson, and now was the time for clarifications and nuances. And even if he is going to lead a big concert in front of thousands of people the same evening, there is no question of saving up for the conductor with contagious energy. Invested, he jumps and moves a lot, hums while the musicians play – we can even hear his breath very well in the big room -, wipes his glasses while he comments on the interpretation in a colorful and lively way, makes the musicians smile … but don’t overlook any detail.

1 p.m.

At 1 p.m., the conductor has an appointment for a short rehearsal with one of the guest soloists of the Classical Spree, the Argentinian pianist Sergio Tiempo, who will take part in three concerts. The two men, who know each other well, hug each other when they meet. The pianist offers a bottle to the chef, the chef tells him – in Spanish of course! — his musical marathon for the next few days. ¡Pobrecito! exclaims Sergio Tiempo, full of empathy. “No, no, it’s okay! “replies Rafael Payare. Together they dissect the Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin, agree on the tempos without really having to finish their sentences: things are progressing smoothly and with pleasure.

3 p.m.

It is overwhelmingly (and surprisingly) hot on the Esplanade of the Olympic Park, just at the foot of the Stadium. It’s time for the rehearsal, which will last until 5:30 p.m. with only a short break, but fortunately the conductor and the musicians of the OSM are in the shade. We hear the song of the cicadas through the music, but the heat has not stopped the irreducible, a good twenty people who are already seated on their folding chairs in front of the stage, with their lunch and their parasol.

The big show on the Esplanade of the Olympic Park is now a Montreal tradition: it is the tenth time that it has been presented there, after an obligatory break in 2020 and a version in front of a distanced audience of barely 3,000 people in 2021. Rafael Payare conducted this concert last year, but we can speak of a first major meeting between the new conductor, who arrived at the head of the orchestra in the midst of a pandemic, and the Montreal public.

“It’s my first Virée, but the fantastic Montreal public has already welcomed me for a year now. In the concerts at the Maison symphonique, in the street, I feel at home”, confided the conductor to us after the dress rehearsal. Tired of this marathon day? “I’m down to my number four shirt!” “, he says, smiling.

“It’s true that today is hot, he adds. But when we play, I’m not tired, it’s more after that I am. And the orchestra is wonderful, I’m delighted. »

It’s been a busy summer for the OSM. The orchestra has played several times at the Lanaudière festival, given “four fantastic concerts” in South Korea, and is now “plunging” into La Virée. For the chef, it was logical to take over from Kent Nagano with the classic Spree, which was his baby.

“It’s important to be crazy everywhere with the music. ” He smiles. “We kept the tradition, but we added slightly different condiments. »

With a program that celebrates the Americas, we can say that he has set the table for the rest of his stay in Montreal. “Today is like a tasting menu! »

A few hours before the concert, Rafael Payare was especially anxious to feel the current passing between the crowd and the orchestra – under his baton to circulate the electricity, there was not too much to worry about.

“When there are a lot of people, it gives energy. It will be wonderful. »