Posted at 8:00 a.m.
It will be remembered that the Montreal chef had to cancel certain commitments to take a few weeks of forced rest at the beginning of the year. “I absolutely had to give myself a few weeks, assures the main interested party. When you’re an artistic director, you have a duty to be in good health so as not to put institutions in trouble at the last minute. But it paid off because I’m now in great shape! »
You had to be in good shape to give no less than six concerts at the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, Germany, from July 8 to 17. There awaited him, for a Brahms cycle, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, with which he has just released an already acclaimed complete Beethoven.
The conductor’s first stop on returning to Quebec: the Domaine Forget in Charlevoix, where he gave a master class in orchestral conducting to 13 trainees from all over America — “a great first time that will, I hope, last “says the musician. He also conducted his orchestra for a concert which we reported on in The Press last Monday.
But for the Orchester Métropolitain (OM), summer rhymes above all with concerts on Mount Royal, a long-term tradition interrupted by the pandemic that the orchestra resumes next Tuesday.
As in 2019, it is at the foot of the mountain and not at its summit, as has long been customary, that the training will take place. “It had been the subject of a lot of discussions, remembers Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Me, I found it heartbreaking because the beauty of the summit was something absolutely unique. But it had become a real public safety issue. The last concert we had upstairs at the Kondiaronk lookout caused problems for the police. I believe there were 12,000 people refused and 8,000 accepted at the top. »
Finally, we all loved the experience downstairs [du mont Royal] with 35,000 people. It was an absolutely magical moment.
Yannick Nezet-Seguin
“I thought about it a lot during the pandemic and I thought to myself that we did not realize our luck at the time to have these large gatherings, and that is why we must never take them for granted again” , adds the conductor.
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, PRESS ARCHIVES
The Orchester Métropolitain in concert at the foot of Mount Royal, in 2019
The program, which includes works by Quebecer Airat Ichmouratov, Frenchwoman Louise Farrenc and Anishinabée Barbara Assiginaak, in addition to the essential fifth symphony by Beethoven, will come as no surprise to subscribers to Le Métropolitain.
I try that our summer programs are not too different from our seasonal programs. I find it important, when you reach thousands of people who don’t necessarily come during the regular season, that you give them complete symphonies, that you do a program like what you do in normal times.
Yannick Nezet-Seguin
The program will be offered again three days later at the Festival des arts de Saint-Sauveur, an event to which the orchestra is now a subscriber. “It’s the opposite of Mount Royal, it’s very intimate, describes Nézet-Séguin. As there are few places, our attendances sell out quickly. »
The conductor and his ensemble will stay in the northern crown, since the Festival de Lanaudière awaits them for two concerts during the weekend of August 6 and 7. A return after only a week, since the orchestra will have played a Rossini program there on July 31 under the direction of the French conductor Ariane Matiakh.
On the menu for these two days putting an end to the 2022 vintage of the festival: the first act of The Valkyrie by Wagner in concert version on the one hand, and a Schumann-Mendelssohn program on the other. “These programs make me think of those who inspired me a lot in my youth when I went to the Festival,” confides the musician, who likes to recall the sumptuous era when Father Fernand Lindsay held the reins of the organization.
“If I look at the distribution of The ValkyrieI just did the same act with two of the three singers [Christine Goerke, Brandon Jovanovich et Franz-Peter Selig] at Carnegie Hall. We can say with great confidence that they are the three best singers of these roles at the moment in the world”, certifies Nézet-Séguin.
On Sunday, his great friend, the pianist Hélène Grimaud, will make her debut in Joliette with one of her favorite concertos, that of Schumann. “I was very surprised when I found out a few years ago that she had never played in Lanaudière, so we made it a point to bring her there”, confides the head of OM, who will then join the Philadelphia Orchestra, which he will conduct on a European tour at the end of August.
“It’s sure that by September 10, I’ll be ready for a few days off before starting the season,” willingly admits the man who will be back at the Maison symphonique on September 25.