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Messiah
Rose Naggar-Tremblay, contralto soloist in ArtChoral's Messiah. Photo: TamPhotography

Review | ArtChoral’s Messiah Preserves its Original Freshness

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By on Baroque and Early, Choral, Concert Reviews, Montreal

Every holiday season, Handel’s Messiah comes to town. Not once, not twice, but many times. With all the options, how can an audience member decide which one to choose? On Dec. 22, ArtChoral and Ensemble Caprice delivered an inspiring performance of Handel’s Messiah. It seems that Juno award-winning conductor Matthias Maute takes avid delight in showcasing how old works can always sound new, so long as they are performed with technical precision, intentionality, and a lot of joyful energy. When Messiah season comes around next year, audiences would do well to consider ArtChoral’s version.   What you missed? A Baroque oratorio,…

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Holiday
Magali Simard-Galdès & Olivier Bergeron with OSL. Photo: Gabriel Fournier

Review | Orchestre symphonique de Laval’s Holiday Program is in Tune with the Season

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By on Concert Reviews, Montreal, Orchestral, Vocal

Putting on a Christmas concert is a challenge. The concert must feature enough time-worn classics to foster the holiday spirit; at the same time, every holiday concert strives to be fresh, even innovative. We don’t want to be fed the same “Jingle Bells” year after year, but we do want to hear music we recognize. On Dec. 18, Orchestre symphonique de Laval’s holiday concert offered many Christmas classics, from Leroy Andersen’s Christmas Festival to the beloved English carol, The Twelve Days of Christmas. But the concert also featured music by Georges Bizet and Gabriel Fauré that, while very melodious, is…

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Ravel Ravel Interval
Anri Sala. Photo: MMFA, Sébastien Roy

To Ravel and Unravel Maurice Ravel at MMFA

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By on La Scena Online, La Scena Spotlight, Montreal, Piano, Visual Arts

What links French Impressionist composer Maurice Ravel with the Venice Biennale and American minimalist composer Steve Reich? Their association might seem tenuous, but they are intriguingly brought together in French-Albanian artist Anri Sala’s work Ravel Ravel Interval, currently exhibited at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA). La Scena Musicale interviewed Assistant Curator of International Modern and Contemporary Art, Alexandrine Théorêt, to help us untangle the knots in this singular work. Acquired by patron Pierre Bourgie and pledged to the MMFA, Ravel Ravel Interval commemorates the 150th anniversary of the birth of Maurice Ravel (1875–1937). The 2024–2025 season also marks the…

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Pro Musica’s Saison Prodige 2025

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By on Classical Music, Montreal, Newswire

Montreal, December 12th, 2024 – Pro Musica is proud to announce its new 2025 program, Saison Prodige, featuring three concert series: Cartes Blanches, devoted to internationally renowned musicians; Mélodînes, which showcases younger artists and introduces them to the public; and Pro Musica sur la route, which offers a valuable program outside Montreal. “The idea of a Prodige Season, aimed at discovering prodigious performers and composers, came to me from my experience as a teacher of child prodigies, with whom I have worked for a long time, and which has shaped and profoundly affected me,” explains Irina Krasnyanskaya, Pro Musica’s Artistic Director. Cartes Blanches, all…

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Orchestre classique de Montréal presents Handel's Messiah in Saint Joseph’s Oratory. Photo: Tam Photography

Review | Orchestre classique de Montréal’s Warm & Welcoming Messiah

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By on Baroque and Early, Choral, Concert Reviews, La Scena Online, Montreal, Vocal

As the holidays approach, George Frideric Handel’s Messiah begins to line concert programs around the world—and so, Orchestre classique de Montréal presents its annual performance of the great oratorio in one of the city’s most fitting venues: Saint Joseph’s Oratory. There, OCM, Filles de L’île women’s choir, Chantres Musiciens men’s choir, and four Canadian soloists presented 44 movements from the original piece under the baton of Israeli-French conductor Roï Azoulay.  Though originally written for Easter, the English oratorio has become synonymous with Christmas. It details the birth and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ despite the fact the majority of…

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Kent Nagano conducting Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. Photo: Antoine Saito

Review | Experimental OSM Holiday Program Misses the Mark

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By on Classical Music, Concert Reviews, Montreal, Orchestral

The return of esteemed conductor Kent Nagano marked the first of Orchestre symphonique de Montréal’s festive December celebrations. Under the banner Le temps des fêtes avec Nagano (‘Tis the Season with Kent Nagano), the OSM presented a program ranging from cheerful Christmas ballets to dark and biblical storytelling including excerpts from The Nutcracker, a brand new oratorio, and an adaptation of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Though Nagano has not served as the OSM’s Music Director since 2020, he has continued to grace the Maison symphonique stage during past holiday seasons, and his presence is always welcome.  The highlights of the evening…

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OM Messiah. Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Anna-Sophie Neher, Emily D'Angelo. Photo: François Goupil – Orchestre Métropolitain

Review | Yannick’s Messiah Vibrates Montreal’s Notre-Dame Basilica

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By on Baroque and Early, Choral, Concert Reviews, La Scena Online, Montreal, Vocal

Performances of Handel’s Messiah at Montreal’s Notre-Dame Basilica had been an annual tradition of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra up until about 12 years ago when its artistic director Kent Nagano did away with Handel in favour of Bach. Orchestre Métropolitain (OM)’s artistic director Yannick Nézet-Séguin grew up with this tradition as he announced before the concert from the stage, and this is the second year in a row that OM has presented Messiah at the Basilica to a full house. Nézet-Séguin hinted that this will become a tradition, so hopefully, it will be an annual event. What you missed? Dec.…

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View of Anri Sala’s installation Ravel Ravel Interval (2017) in its presentation at the MMFA in 2024. © Anri Sala. Photo: MMFA, Sébastien Roy

Anri Sala: Ravel Ravel Interval

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By on Classical Music, Montreal, Newswire, Piano

Montreal, November 26, 2024 – Starting November 29, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) will present the Canadian premiere of the immersive video installation Ravel Ravel Interval by world-renowned French-Albanian artist Anri Sala. In this work, Sala trains his lens on the left hands of two pianists performing Maurice Ravel’s (1875-1937) Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D Major: Louis Lortie and Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. The exhibition will run through April 2025, the year of the 150th anniversary of Ravel’s birth. To foster an immersive auditory experience, a chamber will be installed with several speakers that transmit two quasi-simultaneous interpretations of Ravel’s…

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The 2024 Winners of the 14th Prix de la Danse de Montréal

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By on Dance, Montreal, Music Competition, Newswire

Montreal, November 19, 2024 — Today, LES PRIX DE LA DANSE DE MONTRÉAL (PDM) announced the award winners of the 2023-2024 artistic season. Under the honorary presidency of exceptional choreographer, dancer, and educator, Lucie Boissinot, the ceremony was held in the Baryshnikov Studio at Espace Marie Chouinard and was attended by artists and numerous personalities from the dance community. The event was hosted by Anik Bissonnette, artistic director of l’École supérieure de ballet du Québec. At this 14th edition of the PRIX, a total of 11 awards were presented. FAYE DRISCOLL GRAND PRIX de la danse de Montréal 2024, presented by…

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Xavier Roberge as The Little Prince. Photo: Denis Roberge

Review | OM’s Staged Little Prince Produces Mixed Results

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By on Concert Reviews, La Scena Online, Montreal

The magic of The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint Exupéry’s classic children’s story, can be largely ascribed to the synesthetic nature of the work itself. The interrelationship of visual and narrative art is at the heart of this story; when a pilot stranded in the Sahara Desert encounters a tiny prince, the prince asks him to draw a sheep to eat the baobabs on his planet.  On Nov. 17, Orchestre Métropolitain’s adaptation of The Little Prince for live actors and orchestra sought to add yet another artistic element to this synesthetic work: music. This was a very ambitious project. On the…

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