Mahler's 5th Symphony, JEANNE D'ARC AU BUCHER and More Set for OSM's 79th Season
By: BWW News Desk May. 01, 2013
Back from its seven-concert tour in South America, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal will be playing Mahler's Fifth Symphony in May under the direction of conductor David Zinman. For the Mahler concert, the OSM will also be hosting pianist Stephen Kovacevich in Mozart's Concerto No. 18, K. 456, "Paradis." The Orchestra will wind up its 79th season with a performance of Honegger's grand-scale oratorio Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher (Joan of Arc at the Stake)with Carole Bouquet and Guy Nadon under Kent Nagano.
In addition, the OSM will be taking part in the finals and gala concert of the 2013 edition of the Montreal International Musical Competition, dedicated this year to the violin. The finals will be held at Maison symphonique de Montréal on May 14 and 15 at 7:30 p.m., while the gala concert, featuring the prize-winners, will take place on May 17, also at 7:30 p.m. The official award presentation will also take place at this concert.
Renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman, who on his last visit to Montreal conducted and was soloist with the OSM, will this time offer a rare recital of classical and romantic scores with his associate the pianist Rohan De Silva.
The first performance of the month will spotlight the new OSM Chamber Choir, under the direction of Andrew Megill, which is presenting a concert consisting of the magnificent requiems by Fauré and Duruflé. The ensemble will be accompanied by organ.
As part of the Children's Corner series, Magic Circle Mime is inviting the young and not so young to discover the wild adventures of Sahara Bob, along with compositions by Broughton, Grieg and Saint-Saëns.
Featuring six musicians from the OSM along with baritone Isaiah Bell and pianist Jean Marchand, the program Music Between the Lines, meanwhile, will offer a foray into surrealism on both the literary and musical planes.
FAURÉ AND DURUFLÉ: TWO REQUIEMS:
Special Concerts
May 5 at 2:30 p.m.
Maison symphonique de Montréal
OSM Chamber Choir
Andrew Megill, OSM chorus director
François Zeitouni, organ
Stéphanie Pothier, mezzo-soprano (Duruflé)
Marc-Antoine d'Aragon, baritone (Duruflé)
JAna Miller, soprano (Fauré)
Clayton Kennedy, baritone (Fauré)
DURUFLÉ, Requiem
FAURÉ, Requiem
This concert is the OSM Chamber Choir's first concert. Presented without orchestra, the ensemble will be accompanied by organist François Zeitouni. The program brings together two of the best-loved choral works from 20th-century French music, the Requiems of Duruflé and Fauré.
Composed in nine movements to the memory of his father, the Duruflé Requiem incorporates themes derived from the Gregorian Mass for the Dead. Looking at death in a calmer rather than an agitated way (he excluded, for example, the "Dies Irae"), Duruflé set to music the more meditative texts of the requiem.
Premiering in 1888 under Fauré's direction, and eventually performed at the composer's own funeral service, the Fauré Requiem is the work of a sincere man for whom death had a very special significance: "It has been said that my Requiem does not express the fear of death and someone has called it a lullaby of death. But it is thus that I see death: as a happy deliverance, an aspiration towards happiness above, rather than as a painful experience."
At the pre-concert discussion, at 1:30 p.m., Kelly Rice, McGill University Schulich School of Music, will chat with Andrew Megill, OSM chorus director as well as organist François Zeitouni, soprano JAna Miller and baritone Marc-Antoine d'Aragon. This discussion is open to the public and will be held in the Salon urbain at Place des Arts.
Itzhak Perlman IN RECITAL
The Recitals
May 7 at 8 p.m.
Maison symphonique de Montréal
Itzhak Perlman, violin
Rohan De Silva, piano
BEETHOVEN, Violin Sonata No. 1, Op. 12, No. 1
FRANCK, Violin Sonata in A major
TARTINI, Sonata in G minor, "Devil's trill" (arr. Fritz Kreisler)
Other works will be announced at the time
Incontestably one of the great violin virtuosos of the last several decades, winner of 15 Grammys, admired as much for his charisma and his humanity as for his talent, Itzhak Perlman has been acclaimed by audiences the world over. Mr. Perlman will perform three of the most appreciated works of the classical repertoire, including the famous Franck Sonata and the dazzling Tartini "Devil's Trill". For the end of the recital, the violinist will announce more great works to the delight of the audience.
Mr. Perlman will be accompanied by Rohan De Silva, hailed as best accompanist in 1990 at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, and who has partnered with the violinist in the most prestigious halls.
The recital on May 7 is presented by Pianos PrestigeTHE MAGIC HORN
Children's Corner
May 19 at 1:30 p.m.
Maison symphonique de Montréal
Marc David, conductor
Magic Circle Mime
Broughton's The Magic Horn and excerpts from Grieg's Peer Gynt suite and Saint-Saëns' Bacchanale.
Sahara Bob, an adventure of questionable character, receives an invitation from a conductor to present his collection of exotic instruments. He has no idea that he's about to step into a trap, and that he's soon to cross paths with the genie of the magic horn!
This bilingual show will make it possible to discover the legendary powers of musical instruments, thanks to the performance of The Magic Horn by American composer Bruce Broughton, to whom we owe among other works the soundtracks to the films Silverado and Young Sherlock Holmes, together with excerpts from certain classical works.
The OSM will be under the direction of conductor Marc David, artistic director of the Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil (OSDL) and principal conductor of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra.
The Children's Corner series is presented by Industrielle Alliance.
WALTON, MILHAUD, COCTEAU: SURREALISM BEFORE ITS TIME
Chamber music with OSM musicians / Music Between the Lines
May 21 at 6:30 p.m.
Maison symphonique de Montréal
Nathan Brock, conductor
Isaiah Bell, baritone
Alain Desgagné, clarinet
André Moisan, alto saxophone
Paul Merkelo, trumpet
Gary Russel, cello
Andrew Dunsmore, percussion
Marie-André Chevrette, violin
Jean Marchand, piano
MILHAUD, Cinéma-fantaisie
SATIE, Valse-ballet
WALTON, Façade (excerpts)
At the mythical evenings of the Group of Six, not just musicians and painters turned up but writers as well, including Jean Cocteau. They would wind up at Darius Milhaud's place or at the bar Gaya. Cocteau would read his latest poems. This program in the Music Between the Lines series will try to bring back to life that very special excitement by way of words and music, with Milhaud's Cinéma-fantaisie (originally intended to accompany a silent film of Charlie Chaplin's, but eventually transformed into a ballet, Le bœuf sur le toit), Satie's charming Valse-ballet and Walton's iconoclastic Façade, which kindled a real scandal at its premiere, with "the enfant terrible of English music" drawing inspiration from poems by Edith Sitwell.
Music and Literature series
As a prelude to the OSM's chamber music concerts, which brings together music and literature, BAnQ proposes interviews discussing the concert's theme, with a music lover and a literature aficionado.
With Guy Marchand, musicologist and Guylaine Massoutre, professor, author and literary critic for Le Devoir.
Animation and research by Stéphane Lépine
Thursday May 16, 2013 at 7 p.m. at the Auditorium of the Grande Bibliothèque
DAVID ZINMAN CONDUCTS MAHLER'S FIFTH
Wednesday Grand Concerts 2 Fillion Électronique and Air Canada Thursday Grand Concerts 1
May 22 and 23 at 8 p.m.
Maison symphonique de Montréal
David Zinman, conductor
Stephen Kovacevich, piano
MOZART, Piano Concerto No. 18, K.456, "Paradis"
MAHLER, Symphony No. 5
Written in 1901, when Mahler came face to face with his own death following an intestinal hemorrhage, the Fifth Symphony is a progression from darkness to triumph over pain, with a wind of renewal blowing. Meeting Alma Schindler must have played a part, and many believe that the sublime Adagietto, used by among others Luchino Visconti in his film Death in Venise, is a love song to the woman who would become his wife. The OSM will be under the direction of American conductorDavid Zinman here; Maestro Zinman heads the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, and his imposing discography includes five Grammys and two Grand prix du disque.
Written for Maria Theresia Paradis, a celebrated pianist in her time, Mozart's Concerto No. 18, K. 456 will enable Stephen Kovacevich to demonstrate virtuosity, profundity of interpretation and partnership with the OSM, notably in the first movement, with its many instances of dialogue between piano and woodwinds. "Stephen Kovacevich is a master to be admired; faithful to the spirit of the music yet always individual," commented International Piano.
The May 22 concert is presented by COGECO.
JEANNE D'ARC AU BÛCHER
Homeocan Tuesday Grands Concerts, Power Corporation of Canada Thursday Grand Concerts 2 and OSM Saturday Evenings
May 28 and 30 and June 1 at 8 p.m.
Maison symphonique de Montréal
Kent Nagano, conductor
Carole Bouquet, actor (Jeanne)
Guy Nadon, actor (Frère Dominique)
Marianne Fiset, soprano (The Virgin)
Hélène Guilmette, soprano (Marguerite)
Allison McHardy, mezzo-soprano (Catherine)
Pascal Charbonneau, tenor
Alexandre Sylvestre, bass-baritone
Andrew Megill, OSM chorus director
OSM Chorus
Andrew Gray, director, Chœur des enfants de Montréal
Chœur des enfants de Montréal
Daniel Roussel, stage director
Baillat Cardell & Fils, projections
HONEGGER, Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher (Joan of Arc at the Stake)
A "dramatic oratorio" in 11 scenes to a text by French poet and dramatist Paul Claudel, Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher had its premiere on May 12, 1938, in Basel, Switzerland, under the direction of Paul Sacher, with actress Ida Rubinstein - the instigator of the project - in the role of Jeanne.
Arthur Honegger devoted long years to the writing of this masterwork, conceived for voices both spoken and sung, mixed chorus, children's chorus and large orchestra. Saxophones replace horns, and ondes Martenot are incorporated into the orchestral fabric.
An immense panorama that has enjoyed success since its premiere and was adapted for the cinema by Roberto Rossellini in 1954 with Ingrid Bergman in the title role, the oratorio was inspired by the mysteries staged in the Middle Ages. French actress Carole Bouquet will play Jeanne here, and Guy Nadon, Frère Dominique. An entirely Canadian vocal cast has been selected to perform under the direction ofKent Nagano, in an outstanding conclusion to the season. The stage direction will be ensured by Daniel Roussel and the projections byBaillat Cardell & Fils. An exceptional end to the season.
At the pre-concert discussion, at 6:45 p.m. at Maison symphonique de Montréal, Kelly Rice will interview Daniel Roussel, director of the production.
CATCH THE OSM AGAIN ON MEDICI.TV: Broadcast live on medici.tv, an international Web platform offering a huge catalogue of classical music online, the Till Fellner and Beethoven's Third Concerto concert, presented at Maison symphonique de Montréal on April 16, is available free of charge continuously for a three-month period. Interested viewers can get moreinformation at osm.ca. This transmission is made possible thanks to the support of Air Canada.
FOLLOW THE OSM ON TOUR WITH OUR BLOG: The OSM is finishing its major tour in South America (April 23 to May 3 2013), consisting of 7 concerts in 5 cities and 4 different countries. The OSM is presently in Argentina and on their way to Colombia to present a concert in Bogotà (Teatro Mayor). The concert in Colombia will be a first for the OSM. Pianist Serhiy Salov and OSM concertmaster Andrew Wan act as soloists.
Follow the OSM tour blog enabling the public to see behind the scenes of this adventure and follow the progress of the musicians and workers taking part:www.osm.ca/blogue. The OSM wishes to thank Tourisme Montréal for its financial support of the OSM blog.
The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal wishes to thank the Canada Council for the Arts and the City of Montréal, Montréal, Cultural Metropolis, as well as Saputo, Barrick Gold Corporation, Scotiabank, Brookfield and Air Canada for their support in regards to the South American tour.
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