It was with the help of “Mentions d’excellence” for concerts and webcast creations that the Conseil québécois de la musique solved the puzzle of giving Opus prizes to concerts in a year when they were strong random.
Stéphane Tétreault is the performer of the year for the 2020-2021 season, honored at the 25and Opus Awards Gala from the Conseil québécois de la musique, presented virtually Sunday afternoon from the Bourgie Hall of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. In the same way as the legitimate “Tribute Prize” awarded to the founder of Arion, Claire Guimond, it is the least of things, so much, during this pandemic, the cellist struggled and was present on the left and at right, associated with all kinds of institutions. The same could be said of Nicolas Ellis, and a distinction ex aequo wouldn’t have been too much.
What assignment?
The musical event of the year is the Montreal International Music Competition, Piano 2021; the Festival Classica is dedicated to the title of specialized broadcaster; the Salle Pauline-Julien as a multidisciplinary presenter; Marie Nadeau-Tremblay is the logical “discovery of the year”; Keiko Devaux the composer of the year – but we do not know for which work.
In Montreal, the very valiant Society for Arts in the Health Environment stands out, in Quebec City Les P’tits Mélomanes du dimanche and in the region the Orchester symphonique de Drummondville.
The discs are put forward this year as a lifeline: the Preludes by Chopin by Charles Richard-Hamelin, the baroque album by Luc Beauséjour and Penderecki by the Quatuor Molinari.
But if the question was not there, nor even in the presence among the ten “Mentions of excellence” saluting the “Webcast concerts and creations” of a film, Hansel and Gretelfilmed by the Opéra de Montréal in 2014?
In such a tormented year, going so clearly outside the usual frameworks, the Conseil québécois de la musique wanted to fulfill its primary mission, “to promote concert music to government authorities and local, national and international communities” by multiplying these special mentions .
Lack of submissions
It was obviously not possible to organize the list of concerts for the Opus prizes as usual. As confirmed at Homework Ève-Marie Cimon, coordinator of the Opus prizes, there were not enough submissions of candidates in the concert categories (these submissions are paid for). But in doing so, it overlooked the fact that during the pandemic some institutions were scrambling to create live music while others were hunkering down.
The absence of the Opéra de Québec or the Festival de Lanaudière, of a more frank recognition of the militancy of Le Vivier or the Bourgie hall, in favor of webcasts projected when the halls were open, is surprising to say the least.
Even if the “Mentions d’excellence” try as much as possible to please many organizations that have made an effort, the account is not there. At the start of the pandemic, the big buzzword was “reinvention”. Two years later, some have forgotten him.
Note that the Minister of Culture and Communications, Nathalie Roy, announced on the sidelines of the gala an advertising campaign specific to concert music in Quebec worth nearly $900,000. Produced in partnership with the Conseil québécois de la musique, the campaign aims to highlight the talent of conductors, musicians and composers from Québec.