For the first time since its creation in 2003, Baroque Montreal will not take place on Saint John’s Day weekend. The event has been brought forward a week. Great news: she is returning to her historic neighborhoods in Old Montreal and, surprise, she has found a new co-artistic director, flautist Vincent Lauzer, who replaces founder Susie Napper.
When Susie Napper finally handed over in the fall of 2022, twenty years after the founding of her festival and more than 500 concerts given by some 2,000 musicians from Canada and elsewhere, she had already ensured the succession by associating with the management artist Matthias Maute for six years. The instigator of Montreal Baroque stays around by sitting on the festival’s board of directors and performing a concert at each edition.
“The person who will succeed me will bring new ideas and inspiring artistic concepts, and will lead the festival towards an effervescent future”, affirmed then the founder of the inventive meeting, which had been formed around the Notre-Dame chapel. -de-Bon-Secours and had become somewhat scattered in recent years, losing its flame and identity.
Mediator
The person chosen is therefore Vincent Lauzer. We know the 35-year-old recorder player as a soloist and founding member of the ensemble Flûte quand! We know less that he is artistic director of the Lamèque Baroque Music Festival, artistic director of Les Plaisirs du clavecin, a series of concerts in Gatineau, and head of youth development at Arion. Added to this is the artistic co-direction of Montréal baroque.
“I arrived in November 2022, when the planning for this edition had already begun”, tells us the newcomer, who spoke a lot with Susie Napper: “It is his event; she thought so. It was therefore a question of finding someone who had the festival at heart. I’ve been following it almost since the beginning, when I was still a teenager, then with the Flute ensemble then! I have a special attachment to the festival and I think Susie was keen to find someone who would carry on the tradition she established. »
Vincent Lauzer will work there with his former professor at McGill University, Matthias Maute. The distribution of tasks is not engraved in stone: “We are in the process of setting the guidelines for this co-direction. When I arrived, I was given the mandate to program certain events. I also looked into certain mediation activities and activities outside the “big concerts” of the festival. »
Mediation is close to the heart of someone who has worked in education and focuses on youth development at Arion: “We are creating a show for young audiences presented during the festival, but also in the boroughs, in libraries. A “baroque brigade” will even go and play in the offices. “I worked a lot this year on projects of this type,” admits Vincent Lauzer.
“From next year, there will be a sharing of tasks: we will think of a program jointly with Matthias Maute. We have already brainstormed on a theme and are in the process of launching all the ideas. One of us has the idea, the other bounces back and the concert ends up being done, one of the two taking responsibility for the organization of such and such an event. The general design of future festivals will therefore be done by two people, Vincent Lauzer remaining however in charge of mediation and education.
Musical pot
For the 2023 edition, after a very gloomy 2022, there were two possible strategies: a certain caution, or an audacity worthy of the first editions, by telling ourselves that if we loaded the boat with various programs at all times, the boiling would make the public want to dive back into the musical pot. True to the pioneering spirit, this second strategy was chosen. In the eyes of Vincent Lauzer, it is not dangerous. “I’m thinking about the future, that is to say the five-year strategic plan, but I think the idea was precisely to create an event like the ones we used to, where people could eat baroque all day long. At the direction of Montreal Baroque, [la directrice générale] Ève Gendreau is doing an exceptional job and I don’t think there is any particular risk being taken this year. Everything was well calculated so as not to put the future of the event in danger. You also have to see that we benefit from collaborations, in particular with the Caprice ensemble, whose programming includes certain projects. Several sources of financing and several collaborations make it possible, in the end, to hold so many events. »
The 2023 edition is entitled “Chaos and confetti”. Under this title hides the desire “to explore all the contrasts found in baroque music”, as summarized by Vincent Lauzer. “Festive and folk music from Quebec and Scandinavia, tragic and sparkling baroque music, meanders, joys and amorous complexities, chaotic staging, apocalyptic creations and dances, ephemeral pleasures, it is in the extremes that the theme will be explored”, promises the festival website.
The Scandinavian part is the great originality of this vintage, since Baroque Montreal will host the FiBo ensemble (Finnish Baroque Orchestra) and the Barokkanerne ensemble, and their traditional Norwegian instruments. Nice surprise, Barokkanerne comes with soloist Ragnhild Hemsing, violinist that The duty just saluted for his recording of the 1er Concerto by Bruch and that of Geirr Tveitt on Hardanger violin. She will also play in Montreal, on June 16, this traditional Norwegian violin comprising, in addition to the traditional strings, underlying strings which vibrate by sympathy, ensuring a particular resonance.
Dance day
“It’s a very good move by Matthias Maute, who has worked with these Scandinavian orchestras in recent years, greets Vincent Lauzer. We were able to play on these contacts and Barokkanerne collaborated with Ragnhild Hemsing for the Hardanger violin. We wanted to present baroque repertoire with these orchestras, but also show everyone’s culture, with, therefore, traditional Norwegian music. »
“We aim to provoke encounters, it’s something that I really like and it’s the first time that these orchestras are going to play together. Vincent Lauzer is also delighted to bring back to Quebec artists who have passed through Montreal to study there. “There is a strong Baroque tradition; a lot of people come to Montreal to study. Vincent Lauzer is delighted to see harpsichordist Mark Edwards again, and will even give a concert with him on Friday, June 16 at 5 p.m. He also welcomes the participation of violinist Guillaume Villeneuve, “Discovery of the Year” at the Opus 2023 awards.
“Our last day, a little different from the first three, will move to the Quartier des spectacles and will be devoted to dance. » Three events designed for dance will follow, starting with Apocalyptic spheres, an event conceived with the Center Phi, “encounter between baroque music and the young dancer and choreographer Sébastien Provencher”, followed by a multimedia show with the soprano Denise Torre Ormeño, the choreographer Anne-Rose Cupidon, the Ensemble Caprice, the choir Nigra Sum and the Ensemble ArtChoral, conducted by Frédéricka Petit-Homme. In conclusion, “we are calling on festival regulars: Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière in ancient dance, an opportunity for which we are also bringing back the Baroque Montreal Band, an ensemble created for special festival projects”. This concert will take place at the Espace Orange in the Wilder Building.
In general, the desire to return to a festive atmosphere that marked the great years of the festival is obvious. Baroque Montreal 2023 brings street events and outdoor concerts back to Old Montreal, as well as the famous opening parade. A small clue does not deceive: “We also have a new café in Old Montreal, which becomes a kind of headquarters for members of the public, as part of a celebration intended not only for the public, but also for artists. and to our very fine guests”, emphasizes the new co-artistic director.