The first time pianist Meagan Milatz and cellist Cameron Crozman played together was for a backyard concert during the pandemic. A few years later, this collaboration blossomed from friendship into their exciting passion project, HausMusique, where select guest musicians join the duo in Montreal’s heritage venue, Le 9e, to play chamber music concerts.
Le 9e is the recently-restored 9th floor restaurant-turned-event-space in the old Eaton’s Centre on rue Sainte-Catherine in Montreal. Within its luxurious Art Deco setting, the pair have managed to recreate the sort of intimate ambience similar to the house concerts first popularized in Europe during the 19th century, right down to the layout of the audience seats gathered around the piano. As they approach their final concert of the 2024-2025 season, Milatz and Crozman reflect on what HausMusique means to them and what they have accomplished.
Meagan Milatz, the 2024 Prix Opus “Discovery of the Year,” was just announced last month as the winner of the 2025-2028 Mécénat Musica Prix Goyer, one of the largest prizes in the world for a collaborative emerging artist in classical music. Cameron Crozman, hailed by CBC Music as “Canada’s next big cello star” and winner of the 2021 Canada Council for the Arts Virginia Parker Prize, recently received the prestigious Fernand-Lindsay Award from the Fondation Père-Lindsay. The two have collaborated on several projects since their initial meeting, with HausMusique at the forefront one right now.
Cameron Crozman and Meagan Milatz. Photo: Antoine Saito
HausMusique: A Concept
Matthias Maute—two-time JUNO winner, renowned composer, conductor and musician—founded HausMusique in 2016 and subsequently launched six seasons of live concerts, retiring from the project in 2021. Milatz and Crozman took over as co-executive and artistic directors in 2022 and are currently finishing off their first successful season. In their roles, Milatz and Crozman have the unusual yet rewarding opportunity to both program and perform their concerts.
Not all brilliant musicians who enjoy playing together can also ‘click’ on a business-administrative level. But Milatz and Crozman say they have developed “a sense of freedom and spontaneity playing together (and) share a lot of the same values when it comes to music-making and programming” which has made their collaboration all the more fruitful and natural. Their HausMusique series is funded by the Mécénat Musica matching program, whose donors have in turn become great friends and supporters of their work.
Crozman was born in Calgary but moved as a child to London, Ontario, a city he calls his hometown. Milatz is from Weyburn, Saskatchewan. Currently both based in Montreal, they take pride in uniting and working with fellow acclaimed Canadian musicians from across the country for HausMusique. Back in Nov. 2024, they hosted American violinist Hao Zhou in a stunning Schubert and Mendelssohn HausMusique recital. Next season, they will be joined by surprise guests who include—spoiler alert—Andrew Wan, the OSM’s very own concertmaster. Crozman, having studied in Paris for many years, would also love to feature some of his French colleagues in future HausMusique collaborations.
Cameron Crozman and Meagan Milatz. Photo: Antoine Saito
Schumann in the ‘Living Room’
Milatz and Crozman’s upcoming HausMusique recital on Apr. 1 features an all-Robert Schumann program centred around his Piano Quartet in E♭ major, Op. 47. As Milatz’s favourite composer and someone they call a “quintessential HausMusique composer,” Schumann was an obvious choice to include in their repertoire. Milatz and Crozman aim to evoke the freshness and “intimacy of sharing music among friends” in their series, adding that “the first performances of much of (Schumann’s) music took place in people’s living rooms.” Just as Schumann concertized with fellow composer and wife Clara at the piano within these personal settings, Milatz and Crozman want their audiences to experience a similar level of intimacy. This doesn’t mean there is anything ‘small’ about these performances however. According to the pair, the Schumann program is full of “abundant music” with exuberant characters, everything “a little bit over the top…(be it) the melancholic side or the joyful side.”
April will be busy for Milatz and Crozman as they embark on a tour of China. But at home, they look forward to their HausMusique Schumann season finale on April 1 when they’ll be joined by guests Robert Uchida (concertmaster of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra) and Victor Fournelle-Blain (principal viola of Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal). Join them for a night of exquisite music when audience members can also indulge at the beautiful Le 9e restaurant and bar and meet the musicians post-concert.
HausMusique’s Schumann recital takes place at Montreal’s Le 9e on April 1 at 5 pm. www.hausmusique.com
