Jean-Philippe Sylvestre Returns To Quebec With RHAPSODY IN BLUE

Back from two triumphant tours in China and South Africa, Canadian pianist Jean-Philippe Sylvestre returns to Quebec this autumn with two enthralling concerts in Montreal and Quebec City. Rhapsody in Blue offers a musical escape to the frontiers between Romanticism and American jazz, with performances scheduled September 26 and 27 at the Maison symphonique de Montreal and Palais Montcalm in Quebec City.

The program for this recital is an ode to the timeless elegance of Romantic music and the innovative spirit of American jazz. Above all, it highlights the connections between these two periods and their key composers. Amongst the New York jazz-tinged colors of Gershwin and Bernstein, we find traces of inspiration from the pens of Liszt, Chopin and Scriabin. "With this concert, I wish to present a program that is both rich and original. The composers highlighted in this recital all share a common virtuosity, a fusion of genres and innovative melodies," explains Jean-Philippe Sylvestre.

A native of Montérégie, the artist has won numerous honors both in Canada and abroad:

• Virginia Parker Prize, the highest distinction awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts.
• First Prize and Audience Prize at the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Competition.
• Three-time first prize winner at the Canadian Music Competition, and on one of these occasions, best mark in the entire competition.
• John Newmark Prize at the Prix d'Europe Competition.
• Winner of the Audience Prize and Best Performance of a Compulsory Piece at the CBC National Competition for Young Performers.
• Winner of the Young Performers Competition and the Concertino Praga International Competition.

Jean-Philippe Sylvestre has performed on the world's most prestigious stages: Berlin Philharmonic, Musikverein (Vienna), Salle Gaveau (Paris), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Kings Place (London), Palais des Beaux Arts (Brussels), Salle Oriol Martorell (Barcelona), Teatro Mayor (Colombia), Theatro Municipal and Teatro B32 (Brazil), Récital Hall (Sydney), Maison symphonique, Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier and Salle Bourgie (Montreal), Glenn Gould Studio and George Weston Hall (Toronto), National Arts Centre (Ottawa) and many others. 

He has performed and recorded with renowned orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Nuremberg Philharmonic, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, the Orchestre Métropolitain, and the orchestres symphoniques de Longueuil and Trois-Rivières. He has collaborated with such renowned conductors as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Simon Streatfield, Jacques Lacombe, Airat Ichmouraouv, Christian Schulz, Richard Bradshaw, Boris Brott, Fabien Gabel, and Rolf Bertsch.

In April 2023, he recorded an album with the London Symphony Orchestra (CHANDOS), and in June performed at the prestigious Berlin Philharmonic. Sylvestre recently returned from a seven-concert tour of Brazil with the Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil.  Quebec audiences have also heard him at the Maison symphonique with the Orchestre Métropolitain and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, as well as with the Orchestre Classique de Montréal and Jacques Lacombe. Recent appearances include the Salle Cortot and the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris, the Orchestre symphonique de Toledo, the Orchestre symphonique de Laval in Rachmaninov's Concerto No. 3, and the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières and the Orchestre Classico-Moderne and Francis Choinière in Rachmaninov's 2nd Concerto. His recordings have been nominated for JUNO awards and the Gala de l'ADISQ.