22nd Brott Music Festival Offers a Wide Spectrum of Music and Great Artists: June 13- Aug. 20

Beethoven in Burlington, Mendelssohn at 200, Russian masterpieces, plus opera favorites, choral masterworks, and even jazz and rock. Big orchestral concerts and intimate recitals, musical celebrities and up-and comers.

Under the artistic direction of Boris Brott, the 22^nd Brott Music Festival has something for everyone. Between June 13 and August 20, music-lovers have at least 17 good reasons to head to the Hamilton area, and enjoy concerts in Burlington, Ancaster and the home base of Hamilton.

Details are available at www.brottmusic.com. Tickets may be ordered online or by calling 1-888-475-9377, or 905-525-SONG (7664).

As Maestro Boris Brott says, “You can enjoy both high tea and one of Canada’s finest pianists in a lovely Mendelssohn recital. Or you can catch a band and singer joining our National Academy Orchestra for an Elton John tribute. We have music inspired by paintings, which in turn inspired new works of art. We have Beethoven concertos and fine Canadian works, opera, Gilbert and Sullivan, jazz and for a grand finale, Carl Orff’s magnificent oratorio Carmina Burana, which is by turns thunderous, lusty and delicate, and always mesmerizing. And of course, an excellent array of artists from Canada, the U.S. and abroad.”

A Beethoven Piano Festival at St. Christopher’s Anglican Church in Burlington begins this year’s Brott Music Festival. For three Saturdays in June, starting June 13, 7:30 p.m., Boris Brott conducts the National Academy Orchestra in music by Beethoven and other greats, with special guest soloists. Patrons can save 10 per cent by purchasing all three concerts online.

The National Academy Orchestra gives 45 young Canadian musicians professional orchestral experience. Joining them are leading professional musicians who serve as mentors.

Following is the schedule for an unforgettable summer music experience at the 22^nd Brott Music Festival, with locations:

Saturday, June 13, 7:30 p.m. – Lisiecki Plays Beethoven

St. Christopher’s Anglican Church, 662 Guelph Line (at New Street), Burlington

Fourteen-year old prodigy Jan Lisiecki (www.janlisiecki.com) joins Boris Brott and the NAO for Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3. The program includes the composer’s rousing Symphony No. 2. Tickets: $25 $20 seniors $10 students

Saturday, June 20, 7:30 p.m. – A Fifth of Beethoven

St. Christopher’s Anglican Church, 662 Guelph Line (at New Street), Burlington

Pianist Valerie Tryon (www.artset.net/ValerieTryon.html) performs Franck’s Variations Symphoniques and a piano concerto by Hamilton composer David Fawcett. Beethoven’s immortal Fifth Symphony rounds out this program. $25 $20 seniors $10 students

Saturday, June 27, 7:30 p.m. – Mendelssohn Meets Beethoven

St. Christopher’s Anglican Church, 662 Guelph Line (at New Street), Burlington

The Festival marks the 200^th anniversary of Mendelssohn’s birth as Hamilton pianist Shoshana Telner (www.shoshanatelner.com) – whom Hamilton Magazine calls one of the city’s “most fascinating people and inspired individuals” – plays the composer’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Boris Brott and the NAO also play Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. $25 $20 seniors $10 students

Saturday, July 4, 7:30 p.m. – Manoukian Plays Beethoven
Mohawk College, McIntyre Theatre, 135 Fennell Ave. W. (at West 5^th), Hamilton
Beethoven continues in Hamilton as violinist Catherine Manoukian (www.catherinemanoukian.com) returns to the Festival to perform the Beethoven Violin Concerto. Also on the program is Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. $25 $20 seniors $10 students

Sunday, July 5, 3 p.m. – High Tea with Shoshana Telner

Adas Israel Synagogue, 125 Cline Ave. S., Hamilton

Pianist Shoshana Telner returns to serve up an afternoon of piano favourites, including Chopin’s Nocturne, Op. 27 No. 2, Bartok’s Rumanian Folk Dances, Alexina Louie’s Memories in an Ancient Garden and Liszt’s Venezia e Napoli. Tea is served at intermission. $40 $35 seniors and students

Thursday, July 9, 8 p.m. – The Gryphon Trio Plays Mendelssohn

Christ`s Church Cathedral, 252 James St. North, Hamilton

Annalee Patipatanakoon, violin; Roman Borys, cello; Jamie Parker, piano
The extraordinary musicianship of the Gryphon Trio (www.gryphontrio.com) is on display in Christos Hatzis’ Old Photographs, Chan Ka Nin’s ... and the masks evoke..., Mendelssohn’s Trio in D minor and a seductive selection of Piazzola tangos. $25 $20 seniors $10 students

Saturday, July 11, 8 p.m. – Pictures At An Exhibition

Christ’s Church Cathedral, 252 James St. North, Hamilton

Mussorgsky’s brilliant Pictures at an Exhibition has inspired 10 new works of art by local artists – one for each of Pictures’ movements. They will be unveiled this evening, and projected behind the orchestra as it performs. The NAO and Maestro Brott complete the musical tableau with Harry Freedman’s Images and Respighi’s Trittico Botticelliano (Botticelli Triptych). $25 $20 seniors $10 students

ART CRAWL NOTE: NAO players will be playing in galleries in downtown Hamilton as part of the James North Art Crawl, Friday, July 10 between 7 and 11 p.m. Free admission.

Wednesday, July 15, 7:30 p.m. – Beethoven’s Emperor

Mohawk College, McIntyre Theatre, 135 Fennell Ave. W. (at West 5^th), Hamilton
Acclaimed pianist Sara Davis Buechner (www.sarabuechner.com) performs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 (“Emperor”). Boris Brott and the NAO also play Dvorak’s cheery, folk-inspired Symphony No. 8 in G and Michael Parker’s Shanadithit, a 1983 composition inspired by Native Canadian folklore. $25 $20 seniors $10 students

Saturday, July 18, 7:30 p.m. – Gilbert & Sullivan Go to the Proms!
Mohawk College, McIntyre Theatre, 135 Fennell Ave. W. (at West 5^th), Hamilton
Arcady Singers and NAO; Brian Jackson, guest conductor
British operetta meets Proms highlights and hijinks in arias, duets and ensemble pieces from The Mikado, Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore and other G&S creations. Guest conductor Brian Jackson leads the Arcady Singers (www.arcady.ca) and the audience in such favorites as Land of Hope and Glory and Rule Britannia. $25 $20 seniors $10 students

Wednesday, July 22, 7:30 p.m. – Russian Romantics

Mohawk College, McIntyre Theatre, 135 Fennell Ave. W. (at West 5^th), Hamilton
Wonny Song, piano (http://wonnysong.com); Martin MacDonald, guest conductor

Wonny Song (winner of the 2005 Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York, and the 2003 Prix d’Europe in Canada) plays Rachmaninoff’s enduringly popular Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor with Maestro Brott and the NAO. Conductor Martin MacDonald (a former NAO associate conductor) returns from Symphony Nova Scotia to conduct Rimsky-Korsakov’s Russian Easter Overture and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2 in C minor (“Little Russian”). $25 $20 seniors $10 students

Tuesday, July 28, 7:30 p.m. – Cerovsek Plays Tchaikovsky

Mohawk College, McIntyre Theatre, 135 Fennell Ave. W. (at West 5^th), Hamilton
Sensational violinist Corey Cerovsek makes his Brott Festival debut, performing the scintillating Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D minor. Maestro Brott & the NAO perform Elgar’s Enigma Variations, and a work based on Canada’s only connection to the great Beethoven – his father Alexander Brott’s Paraphrase in Polyphony. The piece is based on a canon written by Beethoven and discovered on a document signed by Beethoven and dedicated to the Quebec music teacher composer Theodore Molt (1795-1856), who visited Beethoven in Vienna. $25 $20 seniors $10 students

(A bio on Corey Cerovsek is at www.mi.sanu.ac.yu/vismath/cerovsek/co7.htm. The National Library of Canada documents the Molt-Beethoven-Brott connection, with information and a picture of the Beethoven’s composition, at http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/202/301/bulletin_nlc/2003/no4/p2-0403-01-e.html.)

Thursday, July 30, 7:30 p.m. – Jeans n Classics: Tribute to Elton John

Mohawk College, McIntyre Theatre, 135 Fennell Ave. W. (at West 5^th), Hamilton
Jeans n Classics Band (drums, bass, piano and singer), Jean Meilleur, lead vocals; John Regan, vocals and piano

In an energetic fusion of symphonic rock, the band Jeans ’n Classics (www.jeansnclassics.com) returns by popular demand to perform some of the Rocket Man’s greatest hits, including Tiny Dancer, Bennie & The Jets and I’m Still Standing. Those who attended last year’s Queen tribute know the young and exuberant NAO loves to rock! $25 $20 seniors $10 students

Sunday, August 2, 3 p.m. – High Tea with Giampiero Sobrino

St. John’s Anglican Church, 272 Wilson St. E., Ancaster

Famed Italian clarinettist Giampiero Sobrino returns to the Festival, performing Mozart Clarinet Concerto, Rossini’s Variations for Clarinet and Mendelssohn’s jolly Symphony No. 4 “Italian”. Traditional High Tea is served at intermission. $40 $35 seniors and students

Thursday, August 6, 7:30 p.m. – Opera Favourites

Mohawk College, McIntyre Theatre, 135 Fennell Ave. W. (at West 5^th), Hamilton
Sinead Sugrue and Michele Bogdanowicz, sopranos; Mia Lennox-Williams, mezzo-soprano; Edgardo Ramirez, tenor; Alexander Hajek, baritone

The Festival’s superb selection of the world’s best loved operatic arias and duets has become an audience favourite. Tragedy and ecstasy spring to life in highlights from La Bohème, Carmen and many more. $25 $20 seniors $10 students

Saturday, August 15, 7:30 p.m. – Hot Jazz: A Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald & Oscar Peterson

Mohawk College, McIntyre Theatre, 135 Fennell Ave. W. (at West 5^th), Hamilton
Darcy Hepner Jazz Orchestra; Sophia Perlman, singer

Ella Fitzgerald was known as “The First Lady of Song.” Duke Ellington called Oscar Peterson the “Maharaja of the keyboard.” Jazz saxophonist Darcy Hepner (www.darcyhepner.com) and his 16-piece jazz orchestra and Sophia Perlman, a singer who scats like Lady Ella, celebrate the legacy of these two legends. From Peterson’s Canadiana Suite to such Ella hits as How High the Moon and Satin Doll, it’s a jazz lover’s dream concert. $25 $20 seniors $10 students

Sunday, August 16, 3 p.m. – High Tea with Valerie Tryon

St. John’s Anglican Church, 272 Wilson St. E., Ancaster

Pianist Valerie Tryon, a Festival favorite, performs an all-Mendelssohn program to mark the 200^th anniversary of the composer’s birth. She has selected Variations Sérieuses, Songs Without Words, Andante and Rondo Capriccioso and other works to perform. Traditional High Tea served at intermission. $40 $35 seniors and students

Thursday, August 20, 7:30 p.m. – Carmina Burana

Mohawk College, McIntyre Theatre, 135 Fennell Ave. W. (at West 5^th), Hamilton

National Academy Orchestra conducted by Boris Brott; Leslie Fagan, soprano; John MacMaster, tenor; Peter McGillivray, baritone; Arcady Singers, Brott Music Festival Choir
Carl Orff’s choral masterpiece Carmina Burana stuns the senses and runs the musical gamut with bawdy drinking songs, exquisite soprano solos and the overwhelming O Fortuna chorus.

Canadian tenor John MacMaster opens with three great tenor arias. The 2009 Festival and NAO take their final bows with Richard Strauss’s virtuosic tone poem Don Juan. $25 $20 seniors $10 students

Markham Jazz Festival - "On Fire!" Opening Night Gala

The 12th Annual Markham Jazz Festival kicks off with a big bang from a big band on Friday, August 14! Jazz lovers will be treated to the toe-tapping beats and swinging rhythms of The Dave McMurdo Jazz Orchestra with the sultry vocals of Canada’s own award winning Ranee Lee.

The On Fire! Gala celebrates the opening of the Markham Jazz Festival, a festival known for its incomparable line-up of Canadian jazz talent. The On Fire! Gala will usher in the festival with a great night of music that will delight lovers of swing, bebop and smoky sexy jazz standards! Held at the beautiful Markham Theatre, the evening will include a catered intermission reception and silent auction. This gala concert is an evening that self-proclaimed jazz aficionados won’t want to miss!

The Dave McMurdo Jazz Orchestra (DMJO) is made up of some of Canada’s top jazz musicians. Acclaimed across Canada, the DMJO is a Juno Award nominated ensemble which represented Canada on a tour through Russia in 1991, was featured at two International Association of Jazz Education conferences, and is a mainstay at the Toronto Jazz Festival. Ranee Lee is widely recognized as one of Canada’s greatest jazz vocalists. She is a Member of the Order of Canada, a Juno Award nominee, a Dora Mavor Moore Award winner, and has performed for audiences around the world. The August 14th performance will feature the big band alone, the big band with Ranee Lee, and Ranee Lee with a small ensemble.

The Markham Jazz Festival runs from August 14th-16th, 2009 and is one of the town’s most notable events, attracting thousands from across Ontario to the quaint main streets of Markham and Unionville. With over 20 performers on four stages, plus 17 “hot spots” (local bars and restaurants who book their own acts under the umbrella of the Markham Jazz Festival), this year’s festival is sure to provide “cool” sounds for all fans of great music!

Gala tickets: $48

Location: The Markham Theatre, August 14th 2009
Time: Doors open at 7 pm; Performance at 8 pm.

For tickets and information: 905-305-SHOW (7469), 1-866-768-8801
or visit the Markham Jazz Festival website at: http://www.markhamjazzfestival.com/

More Info: contactus@markhamjazzfestival.com, or call 905-471-JAZZ

La Chambre se réjouit de l'aide additionnelle accordée aux grands festivals de Montréal

Chambre de commerce du Montréal métropolitain félicite le Festival Juste pour rire pour l'obtention, comme le Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, d'une nouvelle aide financière de 3 millions de dollars octroyée dans le cadre du Programme des manifestations touristiques de renom du gouvernement du Canada.

« Les festivals font partie intégrante de la personnalité culturelle de Montréal. Aussi, ce n'est pas une surprise que l'aide prévue par le gouvernement du Canada en appui à des manifestations touristiques de renom soit accordée à deux événements culturels de très grande qualité et d'une envergure internationale indéniable », a déclaré le président et chef de la direction de la Chambre, Michel Leblanc.

« Le Festival Juste pour rire et le Festival International de Jazz de Montréal sont des exemples probants de l'impact significatif sur l'économie et sur le rayonnement que peut avoir le soutien public dans le domaine culturel. Aussi, tout en reconnaissant l'apport important annoncé aujourd'hui, la Chambre encourage le gouvernement du Canada à poursuivre dans cette veine et à persévérer dans son effort pour venir en aide aux arts et à la culture », a conclu Michel Leblanc.

Chambre de commerce du Montréal métropolitain compte quelque 7 000 membres. Sa mission est de représenter les intérêts de la communauté des affaires de l'agglomération urbaine de Montréal et d'offrir une gamme intégrée de services spécialisés aux individus, aux commerçants et aux entreprises de toutes tailles de façon à les appuyer dans la réalisation de leur plein potentiel en matière d'innovation, de productivité et de compétitivité. La Chambre est le plus important organisme privé au Québec voué au développement économique.

4th Rolandseck Chamber Music Festival Brings World-Class Musicians to the Rhine 14-23 July 2009

This year internationally successful musicians will be travelling to the Rhine in order to perform at the Chamber Music Festival in the Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck. Hélène Grimaud, Lisa Batiashvili, Sol Gabetta, Christiane Oelze, Elena Bashkirova, Guy Braunstein, Emmanuel Pahud and Paul Meyer are among the artists.

Guy Braunstein, first concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, is the festival's artistic director. Chaim Taub, former concertmaster of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, will be in charge of the festival's master class.

Seven concerts will take place during the ten-day long fourth festival season when 34 artists will perform chamber music of the 20th and 21st century.

Hélène Grimaud and Guy Braunstein will open the festival on 14 July. On 20 July the young musicians of the West Eastern Divan Orchestra will present the programme perfected during Chaim Taub's master class. For the first time the soprano Christiane Oelze will be taking part in the festival. On 21 and 23 July she will be singing pieces by Wagner, Berg and Mahler.

Guests visiting the Bahnhof Rolandseck concert hall which seats 200 people can look forward to a most diverse programme. The repertoire of the five standard concerts and two special concerts extends from Mozart and Brahms to Schumann, Rimsky-Korsakov and Dvorak. Particular focus has been placed on orchestral works and operas in partly new chamber musical arrangements. Guy Braunstein adapted both the prelude and Isoldes Liebestod from Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde for soprano, violin, viola, violoncello, wind quintet and double bass. Ohad Ben Ari wrote an arrangement on Strawinsky's orchestral suite The Firebird for strings and wind quintet. Yoel Ghamzou concentrated on Mahler's Rückert Lieder for voice and piano. The resultant composition is a nonet.

The revival of the master course tradition is a highlight of this year's festival. The Rolandseck summer courses took place annually from 1982 to 1996 at Bahnhof Rolandseck. During these years they represented a unique combination of both festival and master class. Chaim Taub, former concertmaster of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and Bernhard Greenhouse, co-founder of the Beaux Arts Trio were the main teachers. Young musicians aged between ten and twenty who were mostly from Israel were being tutored while famous musicians were performing. The courses were concluded by concerts featuring the participants.
Formerly classes were largely dominated by young Israeli musicians, but this year 14 members of Daniel Barenboim's West Eastern Divan Orchestra from Israel, the Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Iran, Egypt and Turkey will be instructed by 84-year-old Chaim Taub. This enterprise occurred in cooperation with the Barenboim Said Foundation.

Halfway through the festival on 19 July, guests will be invited to enjoy a relaxing boat trip. This almost mandatory cruise will also serve as a venue for Guy Braunstein and Gili Schwarzman's civil wedding ceremony. (Gili Schwarzman is a festival participant and a member of the West Eastern Divan Orchestra).

The following artists will be performing at the 4th Rolandseck Festival:
Maja Avramovic, Guy Braunstein, Lisa Batiashvili, Daishin Kashimoto (violin), Amihai Grosz, Ori Kam (viola), Sol Gabetta, Zvi Plesser, Kyrill Zlotnikov (violoncello), Nabil Shehata (double bass), Elena Bashkirova, Hélène Grimaud, Eric Lesage (piano), Emmanuel Pahud, Gili Schwarzman (flute), Francois Leleux (oboe), Chen Halevi, Paul Meyer (Klarinette), Chezy Nir (horn), Gilbert Audin (bassoon), Christiane Oelze (soprano)

Tickets for the Rolandseck Festival concerts can be purchased at +49(0)2228 942516, the Arp Museum's ticket desk and the ticket agencies of Bonnticket and Koblenzticket.

Prices:
Special concert 14 July 2009: 45 EURO/reduced tickets 30 EURO
Special concert 20 July 2009: 45 EURO/reduced tickets 30 EURO
Single ticket for subscription concerts: 35. EURO/reduced ticket 20 EURO
Subscription for five subscription concerts: 120 EURO
Tickets purchased in connection with a subscription are transferable.
Boat trip: 35 EURO, including snacks and drinks – no reductions

Visit http://www.rolandseck-festival.de for programme information.

Venue:
Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck
Hans-Arp-Allee 1
53424 Remagen -Rolandseck
Germany

23e Festival International Nuits d'Afrique

13 jours de spectacles et d'activités pour toute la famille

AU DELÀ DES FRONTIÈRES

« Kassav' a des attaches profondes avec l'Afrique. Nous n'oublions jamais que nos ancêtres en sont originaires. Nos nombreuses visites sur la terre de nos aïeux nous ont permis de confirmer la filiation musicale et de prendre la mesure de l'héritage reçu ». Ces propos de Jocelyne Beroard et Jacob Desvarieux, membres du célèbre groupe antillais et respectivement marraine et parrain de cette édition 2009, résument très bien une des missions que le Festival International Nuits d'Afrique s'est donnée dès ses tout débuts: montrer à quel point de nombreux styles musicaux, aux quatre coins du monde, ont été et sont encore influencés par les rythmes du continent africain. Chaque jour, ceux qui la pratiquent permettent à la musique d'évoluer, de repousser les frontières. Cette nouvelle édition du Festival international Nuits d'Afrique témoigne non seulement de la diversité des cultures mais, plus que jamais, de la richesse des métissages que rien comme la musique ne peut générer.

Du 14 au 26 juillet, les cœurs (et les tympans!) vibreront au rythme des sons d'ascendance africaine. Plus de 50 spectacles en salle et à l'extérieur, près de 500 chanteurs, danseurs et musiciens sur scène, des artistes originaires de 29 pays différents qui brassent les cultures et réinventent la Culture: le Festival international Nuits d'Afrique cuvée 2009 réserve bien des surprises.

LES SPECTACLES EN SALLE

Série Grands événements

Leur nom, incontournable, est synonyme de succès sur la scène internationale des musiques du monde.

Rebelle dans l'âme, Sergent Garcia (France / Espagne) a inventé son propre style musical, la salsamuffin, un mix de sons latinos et urbains et des propos souvent engagés. Groupe phare de la scène rock orientale depuis près de 15 ans, l'Orchestre National de Barbès (France / Algérie / Maroc) est à l'image du quartier parisien dont ils tirent leur nom: en marge des conventions. « Oriental Roots », le titre du dernier opus de Jimmy Oihid (Algérie) en dit beaucoup sur ses intentions musicales: un mix explosif de chaâbi, gnawa, arabo-andalou, R&B, funk et reggae. On ne présente plus Kassav' (Martinique / Guadeloupe). L'inventeur du zouk, qui a révolutionné le mot « fête » célèbre ses trente ans de carrière.

Série Grande première

Malgré leur notoriété, leur talent, le prestige de leur formation, ils ne se sont encore jamais produit à Montréal.

Le projet Umalali (Belize) met en vedette les chants traditionnels des femmes Garifuna, ponctués de touches de jazz, de funk, de rock et de blues. La musique de Novalima (Pérou) est ancrée dans leurs racines et pigmentée de reggae, d'afrobeat, de son, de hip-hop ou encore de salsa.

Série Prédilection

Ils portent une véritable affection à Montréal et Montréal le leur rend bien. On a toujours beaucoup de plaisir à les revoir sur scène.

Accompagné de Djely Mory Tounkara, Balla Tounkara (Mali) joue et se joue de sa kora, relookant les rythmes de son pays natal de notes jazz, funk et reggae. Révélation du festival 2004, Maria de Barros (Cap Vert) ensoleille la musique capverdienne par une interprétation sensuelle, fraîche et baignée de soul des morna et coladeira traditionnelles.

Série Découvertes

Ils sont la relève des musiques du monde. Leurs prestations sont animées de la fougue des premières grandes expériences.

Influencés par leurs origines et par la mosaïque culturelle marseillaise, les membres de Watcha Clan (Algérie/ France / Maroc) mêle adroitement chaâbi algérien, musiques électroniques, hip-hop et rythmes est-européens. L'un est un joueur de Banjo et l'autre griot virtuose de la kora ; la musique a rapproché Jayme Stone (Ontario) et Mansa Sissokho (Mali) . Folk sud-africain, pop, blues, jazz, le tout mâtiné de rock: la musique de FreshlyGround (Afrique du Sud) est à l'image des membres du groupe, moderne et métissée.

Série Rythmes d'ailleurs, gens d'ici

La scène locale des musiques du monde est à la fois fertile et d'un dynamisme époustouflant. Le Festival international Nuits d'Afrique est l'événement de ces artistes gorgés de talent.

Neev (Maroc / Québec) imprègne sa musique de sa riche culture occidentalo-orientale. Syli d'Or de la musique du monde 2009, Aboulaye Koné et Bolokan (Côte d'Ivoire / Québec) explorent la musique ouest africaine sous toutes ses coutures. Une touche de jazz, un touche de classique, des beats caribéens, avec Makaya Jazz (Haïti / Québec), les notes de la gamme se déclinent en une symphonie de couleurs. Le son « made in » Intakto (Chili / Québec) oscille entre l'intensité nordique et l'exaltation latine, entre la rigueur des traditions et la liberté de création. Liées par leurs voix chaleureuses et leurs rythmes métissés, Joanne Griffith (Antilles / Québec) et Empress Deeqa (Somalie / Québec) se partagent une soirée spéciale « Rythmes au féminin ». Rythmes sérères, sons wolofs, ambiance du Fouta et instruments traditionnels sont au cœur de la musique résolument acoustique de Oumar Ndiaye Xosluman (Sénégal / Québec). Jonglant avec la musique traditionnelle brésilienne, le reggae, le funk et les musiques africaines, Rommel Ribeiro (Brésil / Ontario) étonne par son style unique.

Fait à noter, les prestations de plusieurs des artistes de cette série sont présentées au festival suite à la performance exceptionnelle qu'ils ont donné dans le carde de la 3e édition des Syli d'Or de la Musique du Monde, qui se veut être la seule distinction musicale créée pour les artistes de la musique du monde à Montréal. Il s'agit de: Aboulaye Koné et Bolokan percussions (Syli d'Or), Oumar Ndiaye Xosluman (Syli d'Argent), Xlim (Syli de Bronze) et Neev (Syli d'Honneur pour l'ensemble de son travail).

Les étoiles de Nuits d'Afrique – le rendez-vous des concerts nocturnes.

Lors de ces rencontres exploratoires inédites, Taafé Fanga (Afrique de l'Ouest / Québec) invite plusieurs groupes d'origines différentes à partager son répertoire de chants traditionnels, ses rythmes colorés et ses danses endiablées.

Taafé Fanga, avec Habana Café (Cuba / Québec), retrouvera les racines africaines de la musique cubaine ; avec Estacao Da Luz (Brésil / Québec), les festivaliers auront droit à un mix de sons percussifs parmi les plus puissants au monde ; avec Laeticia Zonzambé (Centre-Afrique / Québec), ils feront la preuve que les rythmes traditionnels africains sont au cœur des rythmes modernes ; avec Oumar Ndiaye Xosluman, ce sera une rencontre 100 % mandingues où les instruments traditionnels seront à l'honneur.

Cadeaux de cette série spéciale, la rencontre inusitée de Tapa Diarra et Balla Tounkara (Mali / Québec), deux griots dépositaires de l'histoire de leurs familles respectives et donc d'un large pan culturel du Mali.

Taafé Fanga clôturera cette série, et le festival, dans une prestation aussi impressionnante qu'énergisante mariant kora, balafon, chants, djembés et doundouns dans une effervescence sonore aux arrangements modernes.

Ces six soirées spéciales, possibles grâce au soutien du Conseil des arts du Canada et de TV5, sont gratuites pour tous ceux qui détiennent un billet du Festival International Nuits d'Afrique 2009.

4 JOURS DE SPECTACLES ET ACTIVITÉS GRATUITS POUR TOUTE LA FAMILLE


Les 23, 24, 25 et 26 juillet, bye ! bye ! Place Émilie-Gamelin (carré Maisonneuve, Berri, Ste-Catherine, St-Hubert), bonjour le Village des Nuits d'Afrique (carré Maisonneuve, Berri, Ste-Catherine, St-Hubert): une ambiance qu'on ne retrouve nulle part ailleurs qu'en Afrique, dans les Antilles ou en Amérique Latine ; un lieu d'effervescence où on baragouine pour le plaisir avec les commerçants du Marché Tombouctou, rivalisant d'ingéniosité pour vendre leurs boubous, percussions et autres produits de beauté et bijoux traditionnels ; un espace convivial où on s'assoit sur la terrasse aménagée à cet effet ou dans l'herbe, « à la bonne franquette », pour déguster un poulet grillé sauce yassa, plat typique du Sénégal, un bœuf jerk épicé à la mode jamaïcaine, ou encore une crème glacée aux saveurs exotiques.

Mais surtout un véritable bouillonnement culturel où l'on chante et danse avec des artistes de tous horizons qui les uns à la suite des autres, sans arrêt, occupent la grande scène Loto-Québec pour des spectacles et ateliers diversifiés.

Cette année en grande nouveauté…. une toute nouvelle série que vous pourrez découvrir sur la grande scène Loto-Québec: «Nuits D'Afrique sous les Etoiles »
La notoriété acquise par la programmation extérieure du Festival International Nuits d'Afrique au fil des ans, et particulièrement depuis que la durée de cette portion majeure du festival a été prolongée, a incité les Productions Nuits d'Afrique à créer une série de concerts qui soit le pendant artistique de la série des « Grands événements » en salle. C'est ainsi qu'est née la série de concerts « Nuits d'Afrique sous les Etoiles ». Celle-ci met de l'avant des artistes internationaux de grande envergure tels des coups de cœur incontournables, des valeurs sûres ainsi que des découvertes qui font déjà beaucoup parler d'elles au niveau planétaire.

Au programme pour cette première édition : Trois formations « Coup de Cœur » dont l'identité sera révélée en temps et lieu, le son typiquement guadeloupéen des tambours du groupe K'Koustik, les rythmes de « son » cubain de la formation Anacaona de Cuba, une dynastie de musiciennes qui chauffe les scènes depuis 80 ans, la troupe de 40 jeunes martiniquais « Tché Kreyol » qui ravit tous les publics par sa spontanéité, son talent et l'explosion de couleurs qui séduit tous et chacun ainsi que le plateau événementiel « Carré'Mandingue »

Aussi, à ne pas manquer, la tente du Montréal Multicolore réjouira les plus jeunes. Sous le pinceau à maquillage magique de Allison (Caraïbes), les enfants deviendront fleur multicolore ou lion roi des forêts. Leurs jolis dessins, inspirés de contes africains ou d'animaux de la savane, seront quand à eux exposés au regard de tous les festivaliers.

Enfin, véritable succès l'an dernier, l'Agor'Afrique Loto-Québec remet ça! Entre chaque spectacle, cet endroit chaleureux permet de faire connaissance intimement avec la culture africaine grâce à des ateliers d'initiation à la musique africaine, des contes traditionnels, des séances de signature d'artistes et une exposition de photos choisies.

Pour plus d'informations sur les spectacles, les activités, la billetterie, les forfaits : www.festivalnuitsdafrique.com

Téléphone 514 499-

FESTIVAL ORFORD 2009 : Oliver Jones

OLIVER JONES – JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE, OLLIE!

SUPPLÉMENTAIRE LE DIMANCHE 2 AOÛT À 16 H.

Vous avez été si nombreux à vous procurez des places pour le concert d’Oliver Jones en l’honneur de ses soixante-quinze ans que le Festival Orford présentera une supplémentaire du concert JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE, OLLIE! le dimanche 2 août à 16 h.
Les billets sont en vente dès maintenant !

LE Trio Oliver Jones
Oliver Jones, piano
Jim Doxas, Batterie
et Éric Lagacé, basse

Samedi 1^er août à 20 h 37 $ - COMPLET
Supplémentaire le dimanche 2 août à 16 h 37 $
Salle de concert Gilles-Lefebvre

Ollie est de retour et nous en sommes ravis! Il est un des favoris du public du Festival Orford, et ce, avec raison! Quelque soit le répertoire qu’il choisit de nous offrir, on peut toujours compter sur lui pour passer une soirée sans pareille. Bien qu’il fête ses soixante-quinze ans dans quelques semaines, Oliver Jones est comme un grand vin, il se bonifie constamment!

L’année dernière, Oliver Jones rendait hommage à Oscar Peterson; cette année, c’est Ollie lui-même que nous voulons célébrer. N’attendez plus pour vous procurer vos places, car la fête sera grandiose!

Profitez des forfaits Repas et concert au Bistro 4 Saisons d’Orford et de nos divers abonnements. Obtenez des rabais alléchants et courez la chance de gagner votre abonnement ou un des superbes paniers de produits Bleu Lavande.

Consultez notre brochure et notre site web pour tous les détails ou contactez la billetterie du Centre d’arts Orford au 819-843-3981 ou sans frais au 1-800-567-6155.

http://www.arts-orford.org/

The Baltic Sea Festival 2009: 28 August - 3 September in Stockholm

"I'm extremely happy that the Baltic Sea Festival concept has become so generally accepted – that there is so much enthusiasm about it and that the public have really found their way to us. This year's programme is really exciting, especially as we have again gained some 'new friends', who are coming to Stockholm for the first time", says Esa-Pekka Salonen.

For the seventh year in a row, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Valery Gergiev and Michael Tydén will present the Baltic Sea Festival (28 August – 3 September 2009) and follow their concept of linking topics relevant to society with outstanding concerts presenting musicians, composers, orchestras and choirs from around the Baltic Sea and the whole world. As in previous years, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is one of the Baltic Sea Festival's partners and is organising a seminar on the collaboration of Baltic Sea issues.

"We believe that culture and music can be important channels through which to build a sustainable society together. With the Baltic Sea Festival we wish to mark the positive collaboration between countries and people!", says the Manager of Berwaldhallen, Michael Tydén

This year's festival program will focus on the Year of Remembrance and Peace, amongst others. It exploits the relationship between Sweden and Finland in various ways, including two concerts with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and works by Finnish and Swedish composers like Jean Sibelius, Kaija Saariaho and Anders Hillborg, amongst others. The World Orchestra for Peace will be visiting Stockholm for the first time to honour and commemorate human suffering during the Second World War. Valery Gergiev will be conducting. The final concert will see Berwald Concert Hall's own chief conductor Daniel Harding together with Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir performing Verdi's Requiem.

Esa-Pekka Salonen will open the festival with the European premiere of his own violin concerto which is dedicated to the soloist of the evening, Leila Josefowicz, and has been premiered during his final concert series in Los Angeles. The programme will be completed with Stravinsky's "Oedipus Rex".

The festival also presents additional concerts in Helsinki and St Petersburg as well as a "mini-festival" in Brussels.

Please find the detailed program of this year's festival below and here: http://www.pr2classic.de/newsartist.cfm?LID=1&AID=33&TASK=SINGLE&PNID=1712

Baltic Sea Festival 2009 – program

28 August, 7.30pm, Stockholm, Berwaldhallen – Opening concert

Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen

Salonen: Violin Concerto (European premiere)

Stravinsky: Oedipus rex

Leila Josefowicz – Violin

Jorma Silvasti – King Oedipus

Jekaterina Gubanova – Iokaste

NN – Kreon

Stephen Milling - Teiresias

29 August, 3pm, Stockholn, Adolf Fredriks kyrka

Swedish Radio Choir, Peter Dijkstra

Music by Sven-David Sandström and Frank Martin

29 August, 8pm, Stockholm, Berwaldhallen

Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, John Storgårds

Program TBA

30 August, 3pm, Stockholm, Berwaldhallen

Helsinki Philharmonic, John Storgårds

Hillborg: Exquisite Corpse

Hakola: Uruppförande

Klami: Tseremissiläinen Fantasia

Saariaho: Asteorid 4179: Toutatis

Sibelius: Symphony No. 2

Samulti Peltonen, Cello

31 August, 7.30pm, Stockholm, Berwaldhallen

Sankt-Christopher Chamber Orchestra, Donatas Katkus

Mendelssohn: String Symphony No. 12

Tamulionis: Toccata diavolesca

Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 1

Serksnyte: De profundis

Shostakovich: Chamber Symphony for strings op 110a

Mikkel Futtrup, violin

1 September, 6pm, Stockholm, Berwaldhallen
Sinfonia Varsovia, Jacek Kaspszyk
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2

Brahms: Symphony No. 2

Roland Pöntinen, Piano

1 September, 9pm, Stockholm, Storkyrkan, European Workshop for Contemporary Music

Ensemble with musicians from Poland, Germany and Russia, Szymon Bywalec

Schleiermacher: Gesang des Apsyrtos

Zubel: Cascando

Górecki: Musiquette No. 4

Zych: Kaspar Hauser's Friends

Gubajdulina: Reflections on the theme B-A-C-H

Agata Zubel, Soprano

2 September, 7.30pm, Stockholm, Berwaldhallen

World Orchestra for Piece, Valery Gergiev

Penderecki: New Work

Mahler: Symphony No. 5

3 September, 7.30pm, Stockholm, Berwaldhallen – Final Concert

Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Choir, Daniel Harding

Verdi: Requiem

Anja Kampe – Soprano, Michelle DeYoung – Mezzo-Soprano, NN – Tenor, Michail Petrenko – Bass

Third annual Grafenegg Music Festival in Austria opens August 20 with Tan Dun as Composer in Residence

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2009 GRAFENEGG MUSIC FESTIVAL

20^th August – 6^th September 2009

Rudolf Buchbinder, Artistic Director

Tan Dun, Composer in Residence

"The Festival has connected with its audience and also with musicians, including at this year's festival Nicolaj Znaider, Colin Davis, Charles Dutoit and Jean-YvesThibaudet, all of whom appeared to relish the atmosphere and the acoustics of the two halls." FINANCIAL TIMES, 4^th October 2008

London – The Grafenegg Music Festival launched in 2007 under the artistic direction of Rudolf Buchbinder, Austria's most eminent pianist. Now, with the announcement of the programme for 2009, Grafenegg has proved itself the premier location for relaxed, open-air music making, with exceptional artists. Located in glorious parklands, Grafenegg boasts a fine open-air auditorium Wolkenturm built for the purpose with a capacity of 1730, and a new 1300-seat auditorium.

The Grafenegg Music Festival is the culmination of a summer programme that opens on Friday June 19th with a Midsummer Night's Gala featuring Lang Lang and Janine Jansen. Musical Summer is a series of Saturday evening concerts, five with the Tonkünstler Orchestra - Grafenegg's resident orchestra - and two each from the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO). The orchestras will be resident in Grafenegg from two to four weeks. Buchbinder – who is the artistic director for both Musical Summer and for the Festival – resents the straight-jacket imposed on artists by 'themed' festivals, and consequently gives the artists that he invites carte blanche to perform the repertoire of their choice. "Our maxim is and will remain quality, and that applies to our artists just as much as it does to the programmes we offer at Grafenegg." As a performer, Buchbinder is confident of his audiences' ability to discern and the Festival's box-office receipts would seem to bear out his confidence.

Testament also to Buchbinder's strategy is the line-up for orchestras and soloists for this year's Festival. Zubin Mehta, who appeared with the Israel Philharmonic in 2007, is returning in 2009 with the Vienna Philharmonic; the London Symphony Orchestra whose first concerts at the Festival were with Valery Gergiev, are returning this year for two concerts with Sir Colin Davis, who last year conducted the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra in Grafenegg. The Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra are also returning in 2009, this time with Jonathan Nott and Matthias Goerne. New to Grafenegg are the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic under Sakari Oramo, the Budapest Festival Orchestra with Iván Fischer, the Philharmonia Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with Sir Roger Norrington. Also appearing are soloists Leonidas Kavakos, David Blackadder, Annette Dasch and Emanuel Ax, as well as Andreas Scholl who will be appearing with The Shield of Harmony.

The Festival opens with opera stars, Joseph Calleja and Ferruccio Furlanetto singing a programme of arias and duets, and accompanied by the Tonkünstler Orchestra conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada, the orchestra's newly appointed chief conductor. Tonkünstler's subsequent performances at the Festival include a performance of Carmina Burana conducted by outgoing chief conductor, Kristjan Järvi (29^th August), and the final concert of the Festival, when the Festival's composer in residence Tan Dun will conduct the world premiere of his own Earth Concerto for stone and ceramic instruments with orchestra.

Oscar and Grammy winning composer Tan Dun composed Earth Concerto for stone and ceramic instruments with orchestra as the result of a commission from Grafenegg Music Festival and will conduct its premiere alongside Piano Concerto "The Fire", also written by Tan Dun, and Manuel de Falla's Suite El Amor Brujo. Earth Concerto is the third and final work of a concert trilogy, the other parts of which - Paper Concerto for paper percussion and orchestra and Water Concerto for water percussion and orchestra - will be performed the previous week. Earlier on September 6^th will be a concert of Tan Dun's chamber music and a screening of his films The Map and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

In addition to the main concerts, there will be Prélude concerts on Saturdays and Sundays at 4.30pm; and pre-concert talks by eminent musicologists before each of the main concerts. In all, 15,000 tickets will be available ranging in price from €10 to €99, including access to the magnificent grounds of Grafenegg Castle any time during the day of the concert.

The completion of the 1300-seat auditorium in 2008 in a recently converted riding school completed the €25 million development at Grafenegg, which started in 2007 with the opening of the Wolkenturm, a 1730-seat open-air auditorium. Set in 32 hectares of landscaped gardens, Grafenegg Music Festival takes place in the grounds of Grafenegg Castle, which belongs to the family of Tassilo Metternich-Sándor, Prince of Ratibor and Corvey. Grafenegg is in the Wachau valley - bordering the Danube – an area known for its picturesque medieval villages, and to wine connoisseurs, as the home of the Grüner Veltliner, a variety of grape that produces some of the world's finest white wines.

"Beyond a doubt, the Music Festival remains the highlight of Grafenegg. With the expansion of the Musical Summer we now want to put the facility to its best possible use and at the same time offer a summer residence for young, dynamic orchestras." RUDOLF BUCHBINDER, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Artistic Director: RUDOLF BUCHBINDER

Pianist and musical ambassador, Rudolf Buchbinder has a formidable reputation and is dedicated to the performance of what has been called the 'New Testament' in piano literature—all 32 piano sonatas by Beethoven. He has played concerts featuring the complete cycle of the Beethoven Sonatas in more than 30 cities worldwide, including Berkeley, Munich, Vienna, Hamburg, Zurich, and Buenos Aires. He owns more than 18 complete editions of Beethoven's sonatas and has an extensive collection of autograph scores, first editions, and original documents. With a discography that extends to more than 100 recordings, Buchbinder has received numerous accolades for his performances, of which a recent highlight was a series of concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic featuring Mozart's twelve piano concertos recorded for DVD.

Venues for 2009: AUDITORIUM & OPEN-AIR STAGE "WOLKENTURM"

The new 1300 seat auditorium has been designed by Dortmund based architects Schröder Schulte-Ladbeck and compliments the open-air stage Wolkenturm (Pillar of Cloud) with which the first festival was inaugurated in 2007.

Orchestra in Residence: TONKÜNSTLER ORCHESTRA

The Tonkünstler Orchestra is one of the most important institutions of traditional Austrian musical culture, but for several years now it has also been pursuing unconventional paths into the orchestral future. As Austria's first orchestra to employ an education officer, the Tonkünstler brings its special expertise to the Grafenegg Music Festival, a series of Sunday morning family education workshops – Tonspiele – designed to enable audiences to develop their own relationship with the orchestra.

"Not by chance do events take place on the grounds of Schloss Grafenegg , the ancient castle of the Metternich family. Indeed, the festival is the result of a confluence of separate but complementary interests. One is the urge of the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Vienna to have a summer home. Another is the desire of the government of Lower Austria to attract tourists to the regions, which is also home to some of the country's finest wine-producing areas. Prince Tassilo Metternich-Sándor, the family patriarch, saw possibilities for safeguarding the renovation and maintenance of the castle, a tourist attraction in its own right. When the eminent Austrian pianist Rudolf Buchbinder signed on as artistic director, he brought with him a pipeline to top talent." INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE 5 September 2008

Complete Festival programme at www.grafenegg.at/programme/festival.

Un mois de pur ravissement musical avec le Festival de musique de chambre de Montréal !

Festival de musique de chambre de Montréal
14e édition

1er au 30 mai 2009

Un mois de pur ravissement musical !

Église St-James
463, Sainte-Catherine Ouest, Montréal / Métro Place-des-Arts

Sala Rossa
4848, boulevard St-Laurent, Montréal

Biletterie : 514.848.9696 / 514.489.7444
www.festivalmontreal.org <http://www.festivalmontreal.org>

Montréal, le 14 avril 2009 – C’est à un mois de pur ravissement musical auquel vous convie le Festival de musique de chambre de Montréal, qui se déroulera du 1er au 30 mai prochain, principalement à l’Église St-James de Montréal, mais aussi à La Sala Rossa, pour ce qui est de la toute nouvelle série Chamber Rock McAuslan.

La programmation, époustouflante et d’une qualité artistique sans pareille, propose des prestations musicales d’artistes au sommet de leur art tels que Anton Kuerti, Lara St-John, André Laplante, Oliver Jones, Nathalie Paulin, Jonathan Crow, Florence K et Ivo Janssen, en plus d’accueillir de prestigieux ensembles tels que l’incomparable Quatuor Guarneri, pour leur dernier concert au Canada et le Quatuor Afiara.

De plus, le Festival innove cette année en proposant une passionnante nouvelle série de concerts, la série Chamber Rock McAuslan. Née de la constante volonté d’innover du Festival, elle propose un mariage unique de styles musicaux. On pourra ainsi entendre les artistes indi-rock Torngat et Courtney Wing & the Liederwolfe Collective ainsi que Philippe B., auxquels s’associeront des musiciens de formation classique tels que la marimbiste Anne-Julie Caron, le Quatuor à cordes Roddick et l’accordéoniste Vladimir Sidorov.

Le réputé violoncelliste et directeur artistique Denis Brott a fondé le Festival de musique de chambre de Montréal en 1995 dans le but d’atteindre un vaste public au moyen de concerts novateurs, qui associent musique de chambre et autres formes d’art telles que le théâtre, la danse et les arts visuels. Le Festival accueille des musiciens de réputation internationale, du Canada et de l’étranger, et donne aussi à des jeunes l’occasion de se produire en compagnie d’artistes réputés, ce qui suscite de passionnantes rencontres musicales. Enfin, le Festival se distingue par sa volonté de présenter tous ses concerts dans des lieux qui témoignent de la richesse culturelle et patrimoniale de Montréal.

Les Estivales de Musique au Coeur du Médoc

LES ESTIVALES DE MUSIQUE AU CŒUR DU MEDOC

Festival de musique classique dans le Médoc

Du 2 au 16 juillet 2009

Pour leur sixième édition, les Estivales de musique au cœur du Médoc, association parrainée par le célèbre musicien et chroniqueur de France inter, Frédérique LODEON, organise une série de 6 concerts dans les hauts lieux viticoles.

Les châteaux prestigieux du Médoc (Lagrange, Branaire Ducru, Talbot, Lafite Rothschild, Malleret, Loudenne) dévoileront les prestations des lauréats des grands concours internationaux.

Leurs prestations seront clôturées par une dégustation de vins.

Ce festival, alliant musique et vin lors des concerts-dégustation a pour mission de faire découvrir au grand public les talents les plus prometteurs de la musique classique, rencontre d'excellence, d'exigence et de tradition.

Programmation 2009

Jeudi 02 juillet à 21H

Duo lyrique au Château Lagrange / Saint Julien Beychevelle

Isabelle Druet (Mezzo Soprane) et Szabolcs Brikner (Ténor)

1^er et 2^nd prix du concours reine Elisabeth Bruxelles 2008

Accompagnement piano : Stéphane Jamin.

Mardi 07 juillet à 21H

Récital d'alto au Château Branaire Ducru / Saint Julien Beychevelle

Arnaud Thorette

Lauréat concours Gênes, Paris, Nüremberg, Haverhill.

Mercredi 08 juillet à 21H

Flûte et Harpe au Château Talbot / Saint Julien Beychevelle

Seiya Ueno et Rino Kageyama

Lauréats du concours Rampal Paris 2008 et Laskin Paris 2008

è Présence et commentaires de Frédéric Lodéon

Jeudi 09 juillet à 21H

Piano au Château Lafite Rothschild / Pauillac

Jean Frederic Neuburger

Lauréat des concours Long Thibaut, Valence, Etlingen et nominé aux Victoires de la musique 2007

Mercredi 15 juillet à 21H

Duo de violons au Château de Malleret / Le Pian Médoc

Sarah Nemtanu (révélation de l'année soliste aux Victoires de la musique 2007) et sa sœur Deborah Nemtanu

Lauréates des concours Ravel, Stradivarius.

è Exposition de l'artiste Cathy Schein (du 2 au 20 juillet au Château)

Jeudi 16 juillet à 21H

Quintette à vent au Château Loudenne / Saint Yzans de Médoc

L'ensemble à vent Aquillon, 1^ier prix du concours ARD de Munich en 2006

En savoir plus :

www.estivales-musique-medoc.com

Deep Wireless Festival of Radio & Transmission Art

NEW ADVENTURES IN SOUND ART Presents:

DEEP WIRELESS FESTIVAL of RADIO & TRANSMISSION ART

May 1 - 31, 2009 at Artscape Wychwood Barns and Gladstone Hotel

http://www.deepwireless.ca

Toronto, ON, April 1, 2009: New Adventures in Sound Art is pleased to launch the 8^th edition of the Deep Wireless Festival of Radio & Transmission Art, taking place May 1-31, 2009. As part of a month-long celebration of radio and transmission art, NAISA presents cutting edge performances, a theatre production, sound installations, new commissions for CBC's Outfront, special radio broadcasts, a compilation CD and the Radio Without Boundaries conference. "In an era when the channels for creative radio are rapidly being extinguished, Deep Wireless returns every May to bring people together from around the world who are continually pushing the creative boundaries of the world's oldest electronic media as well as redefining radio and transmission through new technologies."– Darren Copeland, Artistic Director, New Adventures in Sound Art.

The month-long festival is launched with a whirlwind first week of activities beginning on May 1^st with an open house at the NAISA space where the public and media are invited to experience radio and transmission first-hand as well as to sample upcoming highlights of the festival. Then on May 3^rd in Mississauga the soundscape becomes the focus for International Dawn Chorus Day - a worldwide celebration of Nature's daily Miracle, the chorus of sound initiated by birds at sunrise. The environs provide the concert, as Mark Cranford from the South Peel Naturalists' Club will be on-hand to help identify the performers all of which will be recorded for later broadcast. Then on May 6^th at Theatre Direct's Loop Studio and May 7^th at the Gladstone Hotel, NAISA launches three installations: Phoning in the Answer by John Gzowski and Camellia Koo, the Radio Art Salon curated by Darren Copeland and GOWANUS: Over/Under-Water by Kevin T. Allen. When we think of communications technology there is always a physical component. The rotary telephone had its handset, the radio its dial. With the installations at Deep Wireless, listening becomes a physical encounter – an ear to the handset, a gaze into a stereoscope with accompanying binaural soundscapes, and a listening lounge for radio art using a modified hair salon dryer dome.

On May 7^th the NAISA space becomes both the venue and conduit for its annual translocal event in a realization of Quasimodo the Great lover, by Alvin Lucier and directed by Matt Rogalsky and Laura Cameron. Whale and bird sounds are transformed by their passage through acoustic spaces and connected via the internet across Lake Ontario and then down to the bottom of the Americas in Buenos Aires. Canadian performers include dreamSTATE at the NAISA space in Toronto, Gayle Young/Reinhardt Reitzenstein in Grimbsy, Laura Kavanagh/Ian Birse in Buenos Aires and Matt Rogalsky/Laura Cameron in Kingston.

The week ends with two cutting edge performances on May 8^th and May 10^th by Benoît Maubrey (director of Die Audio Gruppe, Germany), as Feedback Fred and Toronto dancer Marie-Josée Chartier as the Audio Ballerina both perform wearing electronics clothes. FEEDBACK FRED, equipped with an oversized loudspeaker box on his back and a microphone-mask, "feeds back" his own voice through the interaction of his wearable PA system and physical gyrations throughout the performance space. This personality can be likened to a cross-cloning of Hamlet and an electronic-laden Hunchback of Notre-Dame. The AUDIO BALLERINA uses -- among other electronic instruments-- light sensors that enable her to produce sounds through the interaction of her movements and the surrounding light (PEEPER choreography). Via movement sensors, she can also trigger electronic sounds that are subsequently choreographed --or "orchestrated"-- into musical compositions as an audio ballet.

Threshold Theatre joins forces with NAISA to present i dont want to be an inside me anymore an adaptation of the radio documentary by Darren Copeland based on the autobiography i dont want to be inside me anymore by Birger Sellin and performed by German actor Sebastian Schäfer. Birger Sellin is determined to throw off the loneliness that "like a great clod of earth" threatens to "weigh down his soul." But, despite the eloquence and power of his writing, he remains severely autistic; his world is unbelievably remote from ours. Yet the uncompromisingly honest messages he sends to "humanity-without-me" will touch all those who read them and serve as he hopes, as inspiration for others who must struggle to express ideas and emotions locked deep inside themselves.

May 27^th the NAISA space is the venue for the annual RADiO iN AMBiENCE performances co-presented with the AMBiENT PiNG. Listen to Vancouver sound/radio artist Kristen Roos with Anna Friz and Nilan Perera as they coax the radio ether into an outer-worldly electro ambient chill.

The Radio Without Boundaries conference will close the month-long celebrations May 28 – 30, 2009 as it explores the many potentials, boundaries and artist perspectives of radio. Conference speakers include keynote speakers Gregory Whitehead (USA), Hank Bull (Can) and Brandon LaBelle (Germany/USA), Chris Brookes (Can), Andrea Dancer (Can), Paul Ingles (USA), Neil Sandell (Can) and many more. Workshops by Chris Brookes, Andra McCartney and others will be offered during the conference for attendees only. The weekend also includes performances that will surprise and delight audiences both familiar and unfamiliar with radio art. Kristen Roos (of Ghost Station fame at Nuit Blanche 2007) performs using radio transmitters, Italian Alessandro Bosetti performs using his Mask/Mirror, a sampler that processes recordings of spoken language in real time. And finally, performances that challenge disciplinary boundaries by the Deep Wireless Ensemble this year consisting of sound and media artist Jessica Thompson, musician and sound artist François Girouard, sound artist Brandon LaBelle, and actor and interdisciplinary artist Lisa Pijuan-Nomura. Also included are works commissioned by CBC Outfront by Paolo Pietropaolo, Hélène Prévost, Iain Reid and Andra McCartney.

NAISA will launch its 2-CD set Deep Wireless 6 Radio Art Compilation CD that includes radio art collected in response to the 2008 call for submissions on the theme Ecology: water, air, sound. This radio art compilation was curated from these submissions and represents the many talented radio and sound artists world-wide.

The Deep Wireless festival is partially funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Council, and the SOCAN foundation.

New Adventures in Sound Art is a non-profit organization that produces performances and installations spanning the entire spectrum of electroacoustic and experimental sound art. Included in its Toronto productions are: Deep Wireless, Sound Travels, and SOUNDplay.

What: Deep Wireless

Where: Various venues at the Artscape Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie Street including: the NAISA Space (#252), Theatre Direct's Loop Studio (#170), the LOOP Centre for Lively Arts and Learning (#176) as well as The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St W

When: May 1 - 31, 2009

Singles tickets: $5-$15

Conference Pass – includes Radio Without Boundaries plus 6 performances: $150/130

Performance Pass – includes 6 performances: $40/30

Passes and tickets can be purchased online at www.naisa.ca

www.deepwireless.ca

Toronto Summer Music Festival announces 2009 lineup

Fourth Annual

TORONTO SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVAL

From July 21 to August 14

Renowned conductor and Artistic Director Agnes Grossmann is thrilled to present the fourth annual TORONTO SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVAL (TSMF) in Toronto this summer. The finest artists from the world of chamber music will come to the city from July 21 to August 14, 2009. This year's Festival theme, Eternal Stars, will highlight the performances from such distinguished artists as Menahem Pressler and Anton Kuerti, as well as star composers, three of whom have significant anniversaries this year - Joseph Haydn, Felix Mendelssohn, and Bohuslav Martinu.

One of the biggest highlights of the Festival will be the return of perhaps the most outstanding chamber musician of our time, pianist Menahem Pressler. On July 23, Menahem Pressler & Friends - his relatively newly formed quartet - will play piano quartets by Mozart and Dvorak.

For the second consecutive year, the Festival will open at the spectacularly refurbished Carlu Concert Hall, formerly the Eaton Auditorium. On Tuesday, July 21 TSMF will present two extraordinary Canadian artists, together for the first time - Grammy and Juno award-winning violinist James Ehnes and Leeds International Competition winner, pianist Jon Kimura Parker. The duo will perform pieces by Mozart, Prokofiev, Kernis, and Ravel.

The TSMF will also be the first to present another exciting, newly-formed duo - Ian Swensen and Mayumi Seiler. On August 4, these two brilliant violinists, both of whom are accomplished soloists as well as chamber musicians, will perform rare Baroque pieces as well as Bartok's Duos and Shostakovich's Three Violin Duos.

Duo concerts will also include the immensely popular Canadian pianists James Anagnoson and Leslie Kinton (who most recently sold out concerts at The Royal Conservatory) on July 28. They will play, among other pieces, Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K. 448, the only composition Mozart wrote for two pianos. In the last duo recital, on August 8, French star flutist Patrick Gallois and Swedish pianist Cecilia Löfstrand will present Sonatas by Gaubert, Prokofiev, and Poulenc, as well as Desbrière's Cinq Pièces Étrangers.

On July 25, the foremost Japanese string players - cellist Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi & Friends (violinist Yasuko Ohtani and violist Yoshiko Kawamoto) - will unleash the power of Czech folk music in Martinu's String Trio No. 2. The program also includes one of Mozart's greatest achievements in the field of chamber music, his Divertimento in Eb Major, K. 563.

On July 30, the celebrated Leipzig String Quartet will make their annual pilgrimage to the TSMF, this time with clarinetist Karl Leister, who served as the principal clarinetist of the Berlin Philharmonic. He will join the Quartet in Brahms' Clarinet Quintet in B Minor. On July 31, the Penderecki String Quartet, one of Canada's most celebrated ensembles devoted to exciting new music, will play Hatzis' award-winning Quartet No.2, The Gathering. On August 6, two of Canada's up and coming young quartets - Cecilia String Quartet & Tokai String Quartet will join forces to perform Mendelssohn's Octet in Eb Major, op. 20.

Another Toronto favourite group and Juno award-winners, the Gryphon Trio, will appear on August 11 with soprano Monica Whicher in a programme of Scottish Folk Songs. Other works on the programme will include Hayden's Trio in C Major and Mendelssohn's Trio No. 2 in C Minor.

Legendary pianist Anton Kuerti will present the only solo recital during the Festival on August 1, after selling out his TSMF concerts for two consecutive years. Haydn, Mendelssohn, Schuman, and, of course, Beethoven will be on the programme of this renowned Beethoven expert.

Opera Extravaganza on Thursday, August 13, will feature some of the star alumni of the TSMF Academy Opera Studio, accompanied by the National Academy Orchestra, and conducted by TSMF Artistic Director Maestra Agnes Grossmann. The evening will be filled with some of the most beautiful and powerful operatic arias, duets, and ensembles.

Prior to each concert lecturers such as Iain Scott, Keith Horner, and composer Christos Hatzis, will introduce the works being performed that evening. The Lecture Series are free.

Agnes Grossman said: "This summer we are celebrating two composers, who have been shining key figures in the evolution of the musical universe: Joseph Haydn - father of the Viennese classical period in the age of Enlightenment and Felix Mendelssohn - "the brightest light amongst composers of the Romantic Era" (Robert Schumann). Through our great performers, Toronto Summer Music's 2009 Festival, with this year's theme "Eternal Stars", will celebrate for our fourth season, stellar moments of musical interpretation."

TORONTO SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVAL

July 21 - August 15, 2009

James Ehnes & Jon Kimura Parker: Tuesday, July 21 at 8pm *

Pressler & Friends: Thursday, July 23 at 8pm **

Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi & Friends: Saturday, July 25 at 8pm **

Anagnoson & Kinton: Tuesday, July 28 at 8pm *

Leipzig String Quartet with Karl Leister: Thursday, July 30 at 8pm ***

Penderecki String Quartet: Friday, July 31 at 8pm **

Anton Kuerti: Saturday, August 1 at 8pm ***

Swensen & Seiler: Tuesday, August 4 at 8pm *

Cecilia String Quartet & Tokai String Quartet: Thursday, August 6 at 8pm **

Gallois & Löfstrand: Saturday, August 8 at 8pm **

Gryphon Trio with Monica Whicher: Tuesday, August 11 at 8pm **

Opera Extravaganza: Thursday, August 13 at 7:30pm ***

Festival passes ($120 - $300) and single tickets ($20 - $75) are available online www.torontosummermusic.com or by calling 416.597.7840

*Carlu Concert Hall, 444 Yonge Street, 7th Floor, Toronto

**Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building, University of Toronto, Faculty of Music, 80 Queen's Park Crescent, Toronto

***MacMillan Theatre, Edward Johnson Building, University of Toronto, Faculty of Music, 80 Queen's Park Crescent, Toronto

52nd Annual Monterey Jazz Festival

52nd Annual Monterey Jazz Festival Presented By Verizon

Celebrates The Joy Of Jazz With Legendary Icons, Classic Tributes And Young Upstarts On 9 Stages For 3 Days Of Nonstop Jazz Entertainment, September 18 - 20, 2009

2009 Artists-In-Residence Wynton Marsalis And The Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra Headline Arena/Lyons Stage

Dave Brubeck Quartet Celebrates 50th Anniversary Of Time Out

Conrad Herwig’s Latin Side All-Star Band Plays The Music Of Miles Davis

And John Coltrane Commemorating 50th Anniversary

Of Kind of Blue and Giant Steps

American Icon And Folk Pioneer Pete Seeger Makes MJF Debut

Showcase Artist Joe Lovano Performs With NEA Jazz Master Hank Jones,

Us 5, John Patitucci Trio, Conrad Herwig

Commission Artist Jason Moran & The Bandwagon

Debuts Signature Piece, “Feedback”

Debut Of Monterey Jazz Festival All-Stars Featuring Kenny Barron,

Regina Carter, Kurt Elling And Russell Malone

Sunday Night’s Arena Show Features Three Generations Of Pianists:

Corea, Clark & White, Dave Brubeck Quartet, Jason Moran & The Bandwagon

March 30, 2009; Monterey, CA; The Monterey Jazz Festival Presented by Verizon will once again celebrate the joy of jazz as it launches its fifty-second edition with a variety of legendary performers, American icons, and visionary new artists in weekend of jazz, blues, folk, and American song that has characterized the world-renowned event on the oak-studded and beautiful land of the Monterey Fairgrounds, the location of the Festival since its inception in 1958. The 52nd Monterey Jazz Festival Presented by Verizon takes place September 18 - 20, 2009.

Tickets are on sale now by phone at (925) 275-9255 and on the Monterey Jazz Festival’s website, montereyjazzfestival.org. Full Weekend Arena Packages are available from $225; Daily Grounds Tickets are from $35; Full Weekend Grounds Tickets are $110.00. MJF’s new Family Discount Pack is $80 for 2 Adult and 2 Youth Tickets.

The Arena/Jimmy Lyons Stage will be the focal point of the Festival, with a lineup that is a celebration of the past, present, and future of American music with multiple award-winning artists and special projects, including NEA Jazz Master Hank Jones with Grammy winning saxophonist Joe Lovano (MJF/52 Showcase Artist); the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, led by 9-time Grammy-winning trumpeter Wynton Marsalis (MJF/52 Artists-In-Residence); the Monterey Jazz Festival All-Stars featuring pianist Kenny Barron, violinist Regina Carter, vocalist Kurt Elling, and guitarist Russell Malone; the gifted bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding; vocalist extraordinaire Dee Dee Bridgewater; the incomparable Grammy-winning pianist George Duke; the incendiary Jason Moran & The Bandwagon (MJF/52 Commission Artist); and the highly-anticipated super-trio of 15-time Grammy winner and NEA Jazz Master, pianist Chick Corea with legendary bassist Stanley Clarke and fiery drummer Lenny White.

A celebration of strings will also be featured in the Arena with soulful roots/blues guitarist and vocalist, Susan Tedeschi; the American icon and folk music pioneer Pete Seeger; and the gospel-soaked baptismal blues of John Scofield and the Piety Street Band.

Special golden anniversary celebrations of classic and historic jazz recordings from 1959 will fill the Arena with Conrad Herwig’s Latin Side All-Star Band (with special guests, the 5-time Grammy-winning trumpeter Randy Brecker and Joe Lovano, playing the music of Miles Davis and John Coltrane to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the beloved and influential jazz classics, Kind of Blue and Giant Steps. NEA Jazz Master, living legend and pianist Dave Brubeck returns to the stages of Monterey for his 15th appearance to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his world-wide best selling and groundbreaking recording, Time Out.

The fruits of music education will also take center stage in the Arena, with the top high school big band -- selected at the Monterey Jazz Festival’s Next Generation Festival (April 3 - 5, 2009) -- kicking off the Sunday Arena program, followed by MJF’s own Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, featuring Wynton Marsalis and the top high school musicians in the country.

Tickets are on sale now by phone at (925) 275-9255 and on the Monterey Jazz Festival’s website, montereyjazzfestival.org. Full Weekend Arena Packages are available from $225; Daily Grounds Tickets are from $35; Full Weekend Grounds Tickets are $110.00. MJF’s new Family Discount Pack is $80 for 2 Adult and 2 Youth Tickets.

2009 ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE, SHOWCASE ARTIST AND COMMISSION ARTIST

In 2009, members of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will serve as the Festival’s Artists-In-Residence, with participation at the Next Generation Festival, April 3 - 5, 2009, the MJF Summer Jazz Camp in June 2009, and at MJF/52. Featured members of JALC members include saxophonist Sherman Irby, trumpeter Sean Jones, trombonist Vincent Gardner, drummer Ali Jackson, and the 9-time Grammy-winner and Pulitzer Prize recipient, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. At MJF/52, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will be performing both in the Arena and on the Grounds.

Grammy-winning saxophonist Joe Lovano will be the MJF/52 Showcase Artist, and will put in four different performances with a myriad of groups: as a co-leader with NEA Jazz Master Hank Jones, featuring bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade; in Mr. Patitucci’s Trio (also with Brian Blade); leading the intergenerational US5, with bassist Esperanza Spalding, pianist James Weidman, and drummers Francisco Mela and Otis Brown Jr.; and as a featured member of Conrad Herwig’s Latin Side All-Star Band playing the music of Miles Davis and John Coltrane.

Pianist Jason Moran serves at the MJF/52 Commission Artist. Described by Rolling Stone magazine as "the most provocative thinker in current jazz," Moran’s piece, “Feedback,” will be debuted by his ensemble, The Bandwagon on the Arena stage, and the group will perform an additional set on the Grounds.

The longtime and growing tradition of Arena artists performing on the grounds is also unusually rich for MJF/52 -- patrons will be able to catch sets from Conrad Herwig’s Latin Side All-Star Band, the Monterey Jazz Festival All-Stars featuring Kenny Barron, Regina Carter, Kurt Elling, and Russell Malone; Esperanza Spalding; John Scofield, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Joe Lovano with John Patitucci and Brian Blade; and Jason Moran & The Bandwagon on Grounds stages throughout the weekend.

MJF/52: DAY BY DAY

Friday, September 18 in the Arena will kick off MJF/52 with an extravaganza of talent -- starting off with the MJF debut of up-and-coming bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding; followed by the latest edition of the Monterey Jazz Festival All-Stars featuring pianist Kenny Barron, violinist Regina Carter, vocalist Kurt Elling, guitarist Russell Malone, bassist Kiyoshi Kitigawa and drummer Johnathan Blake. Closing the Arena’s first evening is Conrad Herwig’s explosive Latin Side All-Star Band featuring Randy Brecker and Joe Lovano, updating Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue and John Coltrane’s Giant Steps in honor of the 50th anniversary of their release.

Friday night on the Grounds, New Grooves comes back to Dizzy’s Den for 7th year. Kicking it off is the return of the deep soul of vocalist Lizz Wright, followed by breakout sensation Esperanza Spalding in her second set of the evening. Across the pathway in the Night Club, the Scott Amendola Trio will get the venue’s evening of to a quirky bebop-oriented set, followed by the stellar John Patitucci Trio, featuring Joe Lovano and Brian Blade. Closing the Night Club will be Forro in the Dark, performing the Brazilian-folk dance music that has world-wide appeal. On the outdoor Garden Stage, the Roger Eddy Group gets the music started with his West Coast-flavored jazz, followed by the straight-ahead 2009 Berklee-Monterey Quartet, a harbinger of future musical talent. Global Noize -- a mash-up project headed by keyboardist Jason Miles and DJ Logic -- closes out the Garden stage on an inclusive world music note. In the Coffee House Gallery, fans will be treated to three sets from pianist Jonathan Batiste, the next generation of a New Orleans musical dynasty. In Lyons Lounge, DJ Vinnie Esparza will shake things up with an extended set of Salsa, Afro-Latin and Brazilian music.

Saturday, September 19 in the Arena features an afternoon of radically different guitar styles: John Scofield and the Piety Street Band opens the day with a sanctified set of New Orleans and Gospel-inflected blues, followed by American icon and visionary acoustic folk pioneer Pete Seeger in a very special and historic MJF debut. Soulful blues guitarist and lauded vocalist Susan Tedeschi also debuts on Saturday to close the afternoon with another MJF first. Saturday night’s Arena program returns with three classic jazz acts -- starting the evening is the Joe Lovano and Hank Jones Quartet, featuring John Patitucci and Brian Blade; followed by vocalist, jazz ambassador, radio personality, and actress Dee Dee Bridgewater. Closing the evening is the Jazz at Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, the Artists-In-Residence of MJF/52.

Saturday on the Grounds will get off to a rousing start with a wide variety of performers and styles on the Garden Stage, including a tribute to Charles Brown from pianist Martin Headman; the Texas blues of guitarist, vocalist and songsmith Ruthie Foster; the raucous and funky New Orleans All-Stars featuring Henry Butler and Cyrile Neville; the soul-pop of guitarist and vocalist Raul Midón; and the Afro-Brazilian funk of Wayne Wallace and Rhythm & Rhyme.

Dizzy’s Den will open on a “Blue Note” with an historical conversation with Blue Note label president, Bruce Lundvall and Mosaic Records founder and 3-time Grammy-winner, producer Michael Cuscuna. Journalist Dan Ouellette returns with his longtime MJF favorite, the DownBeat Blindfold Test -- this time with legendary pianist George Duke. The Monterey Jazz Festival All-Stars with Kenny Barron, Regina Carter, Kurt Elling, and Russell Malone will put on their second show of the weekend, followed by the groove-oriented Soulive, featuring John Scofield. Closing out Dizzy’s will be Dee Dee Bridgewater, also her second appearance of the weekend. Visitors in the intimate and dynamic Coffee House Gallery will be treated to three sets each of classic and progressive jazz from the Weber Iago’s “The Dhanyavad Project” and the Peter Erskine and Alan Pasqua Trio.

In the Night Club, the day gets off to a youthful start with the top college vocal group from MJF’s Next Generation Festival, followed by the Monterey Bay Jazz Orchestra. The evening’s shows will simmer with the Cuban and Latin jazz of the Rodriguez Brothers, the burnin’ post-bop trumpet of Ambrose Akinmusire (a former MJF Next Generation Jazz Orchestra member) and regale in a special tribute from Conrad Herwig’s Latin Side All-Star Band, playing the music of Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter.

On the other end of the grounds in Lyons Lounge, DJ Vinnie Esparza will pump out a second extended set of Soul-jazz, Afro-Latin and Brazilian music in what has become an ongoing tradition (now in it’s third year at MJF) in pushing the musical envelope.

Sunday, September 20th in the Arena reflects MJF's 52-year support of jazz education with the top high school big band from the Next Generation Festival, followed by followed by MJF’s own Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, featuring Wynton Marsalis and the top high school musicians in the country. The Grammy-winning George Duke closes the afternoon set. Sunday night celebrates Three Generations of Pianists, with the premiere of the MJF/52 Commission piece, “Feedback” and set from Jason Moran & The Bandwagon, followed by the incomparable Dave Brubeck Quartet as they celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Brubeck’s groundbreaking recording Time Out. Capping off the Arena’s Sunday program is the highly-anticipated super-trio Corea, Clark & White. Featuring former Return to Forever members the 15-time Grammy winner and NEA Jazz Master, pianist Chick Corea, trendsetting bassist and Grammy winner Stanley Clarke, and influential drummer and Grammy winner Lenny White, the MJF/52 Arena program will end on a highly eclectic and electric note.

Sunday will be no less eclectic on the Grounds. The Night Club will host the top eight student groups from MJF’s Next Generation Festival, with the evening’s concerts featuring the pianist and NEA Jazz Master Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabackin Quartet, followed by Jason Moran & The Bandwagon.

Dizzy’s Den will feature an afternoon of jazz education and music, with a conversation with NEA Jazz Master Toshiko Akiyoshi, hosted by journalist Yoshi Kato, followed by a Jazz Journalists Association panel entitled Jazz…and the DJs Who Played the Records. Dizzy’s Den will enjoy an evening of jazz stardom with shows from Joe Lovano leading US5, with bassist Esperanza Spalding, pianist James Weidman, and drummers Francisco Mela and Otis Brown Jr. The closing show in Dizzy’s Den will feature the Jazz at Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis.

The outdoor Garden Stage will have the top college big band from the Next Generation Festival, followed by master trumpeter, Scotty Barnhart. Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodriguez will close out the afternoon’s Garden Stage. The evening shows will subvert the norm with the debut of Buffalo Collision, a collective-improv supergroup featuring pianist Ethan Iverson and drummer Dave King of the Bad Plus, with New York downtown improvising legends saxophonist Tim Berne and cellist Hank Roberts. The Shotgun Wedding Quintet will bring their own contemporary take on the acoustic tradition with a blend of hip-hop and jazz to end the evening.

DJ Logic will take a turn in Lyons Lounge with an extended evening set, and the Coffee House Gallery will host the Terrence Brewer Trio for two sets of boss guitar; a clinic with the 2009 Berklee-Monterey Quartet, followed by two sets from the visionary pianist, the Vijay Iyer Trio.

All weekend long in the evening, Lyons Lounge at the end of Lyons Lane will pulse with Samba, Afro-Cuban, funk and Soul-jazz sounds of Vinnie Esparza (Friday and Saturday) and DJ Logic (Sunday) -- both DJs are returning for encore performances. Lyons Lounge and Lyons Lane are named in honor of MJF founder Jimmy Lyons. The Lounge will again offer fans a hip jazz club to chill out on the north end of the Grounds, departing from the acoustic offerings of the Festival.

Also on the Grounds, a companion exhibit in the Coffee House Gallery celebrates the 70th anniversary of Blue Note Records, entitled Somethin' Else: The Art of Blue Note Records, which showcases the iconic photography of Francis Wolff combined with the classic Blue Note record designs by Reid Miles. The art of over thirty classic albums will be displayed in what will be a visual feast of landmark graphic design from the world’s most celebrated jazz label. In addition, Blue Note recording artists will have a strong presence at MJF/52 with Artist-In-Residence Wynton Marsalis, Showcase Artist Joe Lovano, and Commission Artist Jason Moran. In what has become a signature MJF welcome, Sue Downs will be performing on the Yamaha Disklavier on the Courtyard Stage, at the entrance of the Festival grounds.

The Jazz Theater will show simulcasts of the Arena shows all weekend long in the 900-seat venue. In addition, there will also be special film screenings of the Ralph J. Gleason presentation, The Anatomy of Vince Guaraldi, the official documentary authorized by the Guaraldi family about the influential and popular West Coast pianist, hosted by Toby Gleason (Saturday); and Music Is My Life, Politics My Mistress: The Story of Oscar Brown Jr. about the American singer, songwriter, playwright, poet, and civil rights activist, presented by director and producer, donnie l. betts (Sunday).

NEW FAMILY DISCOUNT PACK / 4TH ANNUAL FAMILY DAY

New for 2009, families can take advantage of MJF’s Family Discount Pack, which includes two Adult Grounds Tickets and two Youth Grounds Tickets (2 - 18 years old) for only $80 on Friday, $100 on Saturday or Sunday--a savings of up to $20. With kids under 2 years free, the family can enjoy MJF/52 together and save. Families will enjoy the music, exhibitions, food, beverages, an international shopping bazaar, and much more on the 20 acres of beautiful forested fairgrounds, with lots of room to roam, play, and picnic.

Sunday, September 20th marks the Festival’s 4th Annual Family Day! Families and children of all ages can participate in special activities, hear the country’s top student jazz musicians, and join in the fun with the return of the popular Percussion Playshop, MJF’s innovative “Instrument Petting Zoo” with high-tech, professional gear provided by Yamaha. The younger set can also bounce in the “Jazzy Jumper” on the West Lawn.

‘FORE’ AND MORE

The Festival's 11th Annual Golf ‘n’ Jazz Tournament will be a spectacular outing at the Links at Spanish Bay in Pebble Beach, rated as one the “Top 100 Golf Resorts” by Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Poll for 2008. Participants will enjoy world class golf with guest artists, lunch, awards ceremony, Callaway Golf putting contest, great prizes, and much more on Thursday, September 17, 2009. To register, please visit montereyjazzfestival.org, call (831) 373-3366, or e-mail jazzinfo@montereyjazzfestival.org. All net proceeds benefit MJF's Jazz Education Programs.

MJF’s Front Box Auction presents a golden opportunity for jazz fans to enjoy the Monterey Jazz Festival while supporting jazz education. The Front Box Auction opens on March 30, 2009 at 9:00 am and concludes on June 1, 2009 at 4:00 pm Pacific Time; patrons can bid to sit at the front of the Arena with three of their closest friends in four Front Box seats for the 52nd annual MJF. For more information, please visit montereyjazzfestival.org.

During the Festival, fans are also encouraged to visit the MJF Education Booth in the center of the midway to participate in the MJF Silent Auction featuring unique jazz memorabilia and collector’s items, with all auction proceeds benefiting MJF’s Jazz Education Programs.

PARTNERS IN JAZZ

· Every year, partners play an important role in helping the Festival fund its Jazz Education Programs, with efforts led by Presenting Partner, Verizon, now celebrating their 25th year in partnership with the Monterey Jazz Festival!

· Best Buy returns for the second year, partnering with MJF/52 and with the Next Generation Festival. Best Buy will host an expanded store at the center of the midway, where artists will be signing CDs.

· Korbel Champagne once again hosts Klub Korbel, a champagne bar in the Fairgrounds' Turf Club Patio featuring Arena simulcasts

· Monterey County favorites, Jekel and Five Rivers Wines return as Official Wines, served throughout the MJF/52 grounds

· Yamaha, a long time partner of both the Festival and MJF's Jazz Education Programs, will once again be providing Yamaha pianos and drums on MJF/52 stages, and music on the Yamaha Disklavier with on the Courtyard Stage

· North Coast Brewing Company returns as Official Beer for MJF/52, with a variety of North Coast brews available all around the grounds of the Monterey Jazz Festival, led by their lauded Brother Thelonious Belgian-style abbey ale

· Apple/iTunes will be providing free music sample download cards to all MJF/52 attendees, featuring a collection of Monterey Jazz Festival artists

· Returning Bay Area Media Partners, the San Jose Mercury News and KKSF, as well as DownBeat magazine, will be helping MJF get the word out about the Festival and its Jazz Education Programs

The Monterey Jazz Festival also receives invaluable support for the Festival and its Jazz Education Programs from the National Endowment for the Arts, Surdna Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, David & Lucile Packard Foundation, D'Addario Music Foundation, Bank of America Charitable Foundation, Joseph Drown Foundation, Harden Foundation, William McCaskey Chapman & Adaline Dinsmore Chapman Foundation, Dunspaugh-Dalton Foundation, Inc., Monterey Peninsula Foundation, Pebble Beach Company Foundation, Rotary International, as well as from generous individuals like you.

The Monterey Jazz Festival encourages jazz fans to purchase tickets early for the 52nd Annual Monterey Jazz Festival Presented by Verizon. Arena Packages traditionally sell out quickly and are available only on a first-come, first-serve basis. Grounds Tickets will increase by $5 per day Tuesday through Sunday of Festival week, (September 15 - 20) so fans are advised to act quickly and save on the already low price of Grounds Tickets!

Tickets are on sale now by phone at (925) 275-9255 and on the Monterey Jazz Festival’s website, montereyjazzfestival.org. Full Weekend Arena Packages are available from $225; Daily Grounds Tickets are from $35; Full Weekend Grounds Tickets are $110.00. MJF’s new Family Discount Pack is $80 for 2 Adult and 2 Youth Tickets.

MJF/52 Highlights Include:

• Return of jazz legends Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, John Scofield, Dave Brubeck
• World Premiere of Commission Artist Jason Moran & The Bandwagon’s “Feedback”
• Showcase Artist Joe Lovano performs in trio, quartet, quintet, and big band groups
• Artists-In-Residence Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performs in the Arena and Grounds
• American icon and folk legend Pete Seeger, blues guitarist Susan Tedeschi, and new sensation Esperanza Spalding make debuts at MJF
• 50th anniversary celebrations of classic jazz recordings with Conrad Herwig’s Latin Side All-Star Band playing Kind of Blue and Giant Steps; Dave Brubeck plays Time Out
• Monterey Jazz Festival All-Stars features Kenny Barron, Regina Carter, Kurt Elling, and Russell Malone
• Lyons Lounge features Vinnie Esparza and DJ Logic remixing soul-jazz, salsa, hip-hop, and Afro-Cuban
• Friday’s "New Grooves" features Esperanza Spalding, Lizz Wright, and Global Noize
• New Orleans and Gulf Coast music celebrated with Jonathan Batiste, New Orleans All-Stars featuring Henry Butler and Cyrile Neville, John Scofield’s Piety Street Band, Wynton Marsalis, Ruthie Foster, and Martin Headman’s “Tribute to Charles Brown”
• Special conversations with Blue Note’s Bruce Lundvall and Michael Cuscuna; Toshiko Akiyoshi; DownBeat Blindfold Test with George Duke
• Blue Note’s 70th anniversary celebrated with Somethin' Else: The Art of Blue Note Records with iconic photography by Francis Wolff and classic designs by Reid Miles
• Return of Sunday's “Family Day” with fun for all ages
• Film screenings of The Anatomy of Vince Guaraldi and Music Is My Life, Politics My Mistress: The Story of Oscar Brown Jr.
• Continued releases from Monterey Jazz Festival Records, featuring rare and rarified recordings from the last 50 years on CD in conjunction with Concord Music Group

52nd Annual Monterey Jazz Festival Presented by Verizon, September 18 - 20, 2009

Artists-In-Residence: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis

Showcase Artist: Joe Lovano

Commission Artist: Jason Moran & The Bandwagon

ARENA ARTISTS

FRIDAY NIGHT (Sept. 18)

Conrad Herwig’s Latin Side All-Star Band with special guests Randy Brecker and Joe Lovano; Monterey Jazz Festival All-Stars featuring Kenny Barron, Regina Carter, Kurt Elling, and Russell Malone; Esperanza Spalding

SATURDAY (Sept. 19)

Susan Tedeschi; Pete Seeger; John Scofield and the Piety Street Band; Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis; Dee Dee Bridgewater; Hank Jones & Joe Lovano Quartet with John Patitucci and Brian Blade

SUNDAY (Sept. 20)

George Duke; Next Generation Jazz Orchestra with special guest Wynton Marsalis; Top High School Big Band from the Next Generation Festival; Corea, Clarke & White; Dave Brubeck Quartet; Jason Moran & The Bandwagon

GROUNDS ARTISTS

FRIDAY NIGHT (Sept. 18)

NEW GROOVES with Esperanza Spalding, Lizz Wright, Global Noize; John Patitucci Trio with Joe Lovano and Brian Blade; Jonathan Batiste; Scott Amendola Trio; Forro in the Dark; Roger Eddy Group; Berklee-Monterey Quartet 2009; Vinnie Esparza

SATURDAY (Sept. 19)

Monterey Jazz Festival All-Stars featuring Kenny Barron, Regina Carter, Kurt Elling, and Russell Malone; Conrad Herwig’s Latin Side All-Star Band; Dee Dee Bridgewater; Soulive with Special Guest John Scofield; Peter Erskine & Alan Pasqua Trio; the New Orleans All-Stars featuring Henry Butler and Cyrile Neville; Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet; Rodriguez Brothers; Raul Midón; Wayne Wallace and Rhythm & Rhyme; Martin Headman, Ruthie Foster; Vinnie Esparza; Weber Iago Trio; DownBeat “Blindfold Test” featuring George Duke; conversation with Blue Note’s Bruce Lundvall and Michael Cuscuna; The Anatomy of Vince Guaraldi (film)

SUNDAY (Sept. 20)

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis; Jason Moran & The Bandwagon; Joe Lovano’s Us 5 with Esperanza Spalding, James Weidman, Francisco Mela and Otis Brown Jr.; Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Quartet; Vijay Iyer Trio; Buffalo Collision; DJ Logic; Scotty Barnhart; Terrence Brewer Trio; Alfredo Rodriguez Trio; the Shotgun Wedding Quintet; Family Day with the Country’s Best High School and College Bands; conversation with Toshiko Akiyoshi; Music Is My Life, Politics My Mistress: The Story of Oscar Brown Jr. (film)

ALL WEEKEND

Sue Downs on the Yamaha Disklavier; Arena Simulcasts in the Jazz Theater and Klub Korbel; Coffee House Gallery Exhibit: Somethin' Else: The Art of Blue Note Records - Iconic photography by Francis Wolff, classic designs by Reid Miles

Partial list, with more artists to be announced. Artists subject to change.

Tickets are on sale now by phone at (925) 275-9255 and on the Monterey Jazz Festival’s website, montereyjazzfestival.org. Full Weekend Arena Packages are available from $225; Daily Grounds Tickets are from $35; Full Weekend Grounds Tickets are $110.00. MJF’s new Family Discount Pack is $80 for 2 Adult and 2 Youth Tickets.

Final Programming for 2009 Ojai Music Festival (June 11-14) Announced

2009 OJAI MUSIC FESTIVAL MUSIC DIRECTOR EIGHTH BLACKBIRD AND

OJAI ARTISTIC DIRECTOR THOMAS W. MORRIS ANNOUNCE

FINAL PROGRAMMING FOR OJAI’S 63^RD SEASON JUNE 11 TO 14

“an electrifying confluence of artists, music, theater and ideas”

(Thomas W. Morris)

March 11, 2009– Ojai, California…Thomas W. Morris, artistic director of the Ojai Music Festival and Ojai’s 2009 music director eighth blackbird have announced the final programming for the 2009 Ojai Music Festival, which takes place from Thursday, June 11 to Sunday, June 14, 2009. This season, the four-day Festival, which for six decades has become well known for its fearlessness in championing pioneering musical ideas and personalities, pushes the envelope again with programming that reflects the qualities that have made eighth blackbird a growing musical phenomenon—genre-defying variety in wildly collaborative and visually dramatic presentations.

Mr. Morris and eighth blackbird have gathered many of today’s finest musicians, ensembles, and composers for what Mr. Morris describes as “a wild and diverse musical party of extraordinary talents.” Among them are freewheeling chamber ensemble Tin Hat; the matchless recorder quartet from Berlin, QNG; American pianist Jeremy Denk; composer/guitarist Steven Mackey, actor/singer Rinde Eckert, and renowned sound sculptor Trimpin.

In programming the Festival, eighth blackbird flutist Tim Munro explains, “Variety is important. We talk often about creating a well-balanced meal—not too salty or spicy or sweet—where all elements combine.” The result is a Festival of music that is both fresh and familiar presented with a time-honored Ojai Music Festival aesthetic. The centerpiece of the Festival is the world premiere of a work co-commissioned by the Ojai Music Festival—Steven Mackey’s Slide*—a concert-length, multidisciplinary, music/theater work about the seduction and manipulation of the American psyche, which Mr. Eckert describes as “concert theater, distinct from an oratorio for its involvement of the instrumentalists as theatrical role players.”

Also featured in the Festival will be such treasured masterpieces of the repertoire as J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations performed by Jeremy Denk in his Festival debut, the world premiere of a semi-staged performance of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire directed by Mark DeChiazza with speaker Lucy Shelton doing sprechstimme, and Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians.

The Festival opens and closes with concerts that are distinctively the mark of eighth blackbird. The opening concert includes Thierry de Mey’s Musique de Tables, John Luther Adams’s Dark Waves, Takemitsu’s Rain Tree, and George Crumb’s Music for a Summer Evening. The Festival closes with a four-hour Marathon Finale in three parts, featuring all Festival artists in a visual and aural display of fearless virtuosity and unconventional music-making, highlighted by Reich’s Double Sextet written for eighth blackbird, Lisa Bielawa’s Kafka Songs performed by Tin Hat’s Carla Kihlstedt; John Cage’s Construction No. 3, as well as a new work by Nathan Davis for Trimpin and his sculptural creations. Capping the Festival will be Louis Andriessen’s highly charged Workers Union.

Ara Guzelimian, dean of the Juilliard School and former artistic director of the Ojai Festival, will moderate the Festival Symposium, which takes place this year at the Matilija Auditorium. Mr. Guzelimian will discuss The Creation of Slide with Steven Mackey and Rinde Eckert, The Creation of a Festival with eighth blackbird, and finally, The Creation of a Performance with Jeremy Denk.

Trimpin, the innovative MacArthur Foundation Award-winning sound sculptor/composer/inventor, returns to Ojai with two interactive art and sound installations in Libbey Park—“Sheng High” and “Giuter-Toy.” He will also be featured in one of three free Ojai bonus events at the Ojai Theater—a sneak preview of an upcoming feature-length documentary. The two other bonus events are “Trembling Air” featuring flutists Tim Munro and Alexis Kenny in a concert showcasing the diversity of the flute and “BREATHtaking” with QNG in a concert of contemporary repertoire for recorders of all sizes and shapes, which includes the world premiere of a work commissioned for them from composer Éric Marty by the Canada Council for the Arts

Concerts will take place outdoors at the Libbey Bowl under a canopy of live oaks and safeguarded by the sacred “Wedding” tree, a sycamore thought to have taken root when the first “Americans” set foot on our shores. Other events will be held at Libbey Park, the Ojai Theater and Matilija Auditorium, the site of the original Festival concerts in 1947.

Concert Insights—Musicologist Christopher Hailey and featured artists will engage in a discussion about every Libbey Bowl concert one hour before each of those performances.

2009 Ojai Music Festival Programs

Thursday, June 11, 2009

6:00 p.m. Libbey Park

Trimpin will give the first of two free, live demonstrations of two new interactive sound sculptures created for the Ojai Music Festival. The first is “Sheng High.” Based on the ancient Chinese instrument, the sheng, the music produced by “Sheng High” is activated by a motion sensor. At the same time, an arm moving over an eight-foot disc on the floor of the instrument allows viewers to see and hear the composition simultaneously. The second instrument is “Giuter-Toy,” made from modified plastic toy guitars in all colors. The buttons on the toys are replaced with switches and then hooked up to a computer, producing compositions incorporating 80 different sounds, from musical notes to singing, talking, hip hop sounds, drumming, etc. The music is activated by inserting a coin.

8:00 p.m. Libbey Bowl – Opening Concert

The Ojai Music Festival opens with a program demonstrating how nature inspires the creation of beautiful music with John Luther Adams’s Dark Waves; Takemitsu’s Rain Tree, George Crumb’s Music for a Summer Evening, and Thierry de Mey’s Musique de Tables.

Friday, June 12, 2009

1:00 to Matilija Auditorium – Symposium-Session I

2:00 p.m. Ara Guzelimian in conversation with Steven Mackey and Rinde Eckert – The Creation of Slide

2:15 to Matilija Auditorium – Symposium-Session II

3:15 p.m. Ara Guzelimian in conversation with eighth blackbird – The Creation of a Festival

3:30 to Matilija Auditorium – Symposium-Session III

4:30 p.m. Ara Guzelimian in conversation with Jeremy Denk – The Creation of a Performance

8:00 p.m. Libbey Bowl – Tin Hat Sets Stage for Slide* World Premiere

Tin Hat sets the evening’s stage with an eclectic mix of chamber music with their improvisational stamp. The world premiere of Slide follows. An Ojai Music Festival co-commission, composer/guitarist Steven Mackey, actor/singer Rinde Eckert, and eighth blackbird are featured in this audacious music-theater collaboration with the instrumentalists doubling as theatrical role players.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

11:00 a.m. Libbey Bowl – Jeremy Denk Contrasts Bach and Ives

In what he describes as “a painterly contrast,” pianist Jeremy Denk will pair Bach’s “luminous and serene” Goldberg Variations with the “raucous” Ives Sonata No. 1. Though written a century apart, Mr. Denk calls both “spartan and spiritual.”

2:00 p.m. Ojai Theater – “Trembling Air” – Bonus Event

Flutists Tim Munro from eighth blackbird’s and Australia’s Alexis Kenny play a program that stretches the flute to unimaginable limits, even transforming it into a drumset in Harold Meltzer’s Trapset.

4:30 p.m. Ojai Theater – Trimpin Private Screening – Bonus Event

A preview of an upcoming documentary about the life and work of Trimpin is a special presentation for Festival attendees only.

8:00 p.m. Libbey Bowl – Pierrot Lunaire and West Coast Premiere of Quasi Sinfonia

This concert opens with eighth blackbird performing the West Coast premiere of David M. Gordon’s Quasi Sinfonia, a modern take on the traditional symphony, which includes such “alternate instruments” as harmonicas; pitch pipes; kazoos; slide whistles; duck, deer, and goose calls and three melodicas. It follows with a semi-staged and costumed performance of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire with speaker Lucy Shelton, directed by Mark DeChiazza and described by eighth blackbird as “a work of fevered intensity, dark gallows humor and touching pathos.”

11:00 p.m. Ojai Theater – “BREATHtaking” – Bonus Event

QNG—Quartet for New Generation—will showcase the recorder in all its forms in an innovative program entitled “BREATHtaking.” The program includes two works by Fulvio Caldini, one of which is composed around the medieval melody Beata Viscera; Paul Moravec’s Mortal Flesh, based on an ancient hymn; Wojtek Blecharz’s Airlines incorporating unconventional sounds and articulations; and the world premiere of a work commissioned for QNG by the Canada Council on the Arts by composer Éric Marty in which the artists create a surreal soundscape.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

11:00 a.m. Libbey Bowl – Music for 18 Musicians

Music for 18 Musicians, Steve Reich’s seminal chamber work of musical minimalism, will be performed by eighth blackbird and friends, a super ensemble created for this occasion by eighth blackbird, who call this work “a pivotal moment in 20^th-century music.”

2:00 p.m. Libbey Park – Trimpin Returns

Trimpin returns to Libbey Park for a second free, live demonstration of his newest interactive sound installations “Sheng High” and “Giuter-Toy.”

4:00 p.m. to Libbey Bowl – Marathon Finale in Three Parts

8:00 p.m. A fitting conclusion to the 2009 Ojai Music Festival is the Marathon Finale, incorporating all of this year’s Ojai artists in performances that include Reich’s Double Sextet, Lisa Bielawa’s Kafka Songs, John Cage’s Third Construction, and Louis Andriessen’s Worker’s Union, plus a newly commissioned work for Trimpin and his sculptural creations.

The Ojai Music Festival in California’s Ojai Valley enjoys a worldwide reputation for providing artists with the freedom to present music they are passionate about in a place so idyllic that filmmaker Frank Capra transformed the area into Shangri-La for his 1937 film Lost Horizon. All concerts take place at the outdoor Libbey Bowl, once marked sacred by the ancient Chumash Indians, where inspiration and creativity still flourish. From its founding in 1947, a healthy spirit of eclecticism and musical daring produced concerts that were fun and inspiring. That spirit was reinforced in 1954 with the appointment of Lawrence Morton as the Festival artistic director. A man of broad musical tastes, Mr. Morton was a visionary whose constant curiosity and unwavering integrity shaped the festival’s future direction. Under his leadership, the Ojai Music Festival developed an enduring concept whereby the artistic director engages a different music director each year, around whose musical ideas that year’s Festival is built. Thomas W. Morris, the Festival’s current artistic director, began his tenure at Ojai in 2004. Among the Festival’s diverse music directors have been such renowned musical personalities as John Adams, Emanuel Ax, Pierre Boulez, Aaron Copland, Ingolf Dahl, Peter Maxwell Davies, Lukas Foss, John Harbison, Oliver Knussen, Kent Nagano, Igor Stravinsky, Michael Tilson Thomas, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mitsuko Uchida, Robert Spano, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and last year, David Robertson. The Ojai Music Festival is located in California’s Ojai Valley, 75 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

Grammy Award-winning sextet eighth blackbird is known for its provocative and engaging performances for ever-growing audiences. Combining virtuosity with a fresh sense of irreverence and panache, the sextet—comprising Tim Munro, flutes; Michael J. Maccaferri, clarinets; Matt Albert, violin and viola; Nicholas Photinos, cello; Matthew Duvall, percussion+; and Lisa Kaplan, piano—debunks the myth that contemporary music is only for a cerebral few. The ensemble is praised for its performing style—often playing from memory with virtuosic and theatrical flair—and for making new music accessible to wide audiences. Since its founding in 1996, eighth blackbird has commissioned and recorded new works from such eminent composers as Steve Reich, George Perle, Frederic Rzewski, Joseph Schwantner, Jennifer Higdon, Stephen Hartke, Derek Bermel, David Schober, Daniel Kellogg, and Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez. The ensemble has won numerous awards and honors, including the American Music Center’s Trailblazer Award and a Meet the Composer Award in 2007, the 2000 Naumburg Chamber Music Award, and was the first contemporary music group to win the Grand Prize at the Concert Artists Guild International Competition, Cedille Records has released four albums by eighth blackbird, including strange imaginary animals, which won the 2008 Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance. The group derives its name from the Wallace Stevens poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.”

Steven Mackey’s first musical passion was playing the electric guitar in rock bands in northern California. He later discovered classical music and has composed for orchestras, chamber ensembles, dance and opera. The composer/guitarist/ music educator has received commissions from American Composers Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony Orchestra, and the San Francisco Symphony, among others. He previously worked with Rinde Eckert on his monodrama Ravenshead, which has been performed over 100 times and was named “Best New Opera of 1998” by USA Today. Since the mid-1980s Mr. Mackey has resumed his interest in the electric guitar and regularly performs his own work. He recorded his own work on Lost and Found, and other recordings include Tuck and Roll conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. Both recordings made The New York Times year-end top ten list. Mr. Mackey is professor of music at Princeton University, and as co-director of the Composers Ensemble at Princeton he coaches and conducts new work by student composers.

Rinde Eckert, a finalist for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in drama, is a writer, composer, performer, and director. His opera/new music theatre productions have toured throughout America and to major festivals in Europe and Asia. A classically trained singer known for his flexible and inventive singing voice, Mr. Eckert is also a multi-instrumentalist, who has performed in multi-media theater pieces with the Paul Dresher Ensemble and the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, among others. But, in recent years, it is his work as a solo artist that has attracted increasing attention. His modern treatment of a variety of vernacular and classical music straddles the boundaries between time-honored and the new, the mysterious and the familiar, defying stylistic pigeonholes. Mr. Eckert begins a three-year residence at Princeton University in 2009.

Forging a new acoustic sound that defies categorization while striking universal chords, San Francisco-based, multi-instrumentalist Tin Hat makes freewheeling chamber music for the 21st century, combining many genres of music, including southern blues, bluegrass, neoclassical, eastern European folk music, and avant-garde. The ensemble – Carla Kihlstedt, Mark Orton, Ben Goldberg, and Ara Anderson - has garnered widespread critical acclaim for its five CDs and high marks for their captivating performances, sometimes including original soundtracks for classic silent film animation from Russia. Tin Hat’s international audiences have grown over the years through many concert tours in the United States and in Europe. Hailed for "interweaving Old World Europe with post-modern America, south-of-the-border sensuality with concert-hall propriety, and odd-metered syncopation with deeply soulful grooves" (The New York Press), the ensemble has created an original American ethnic music.

QNG (Quartet New Generation) are four recorder virtuosos from Berlin who are known to mesmerize audiences with their theatrical flair and innovative programming that juxtaposes contemporary and early music, confirming the recorder’s viability as a modern classical instrument. The members of QNG—Susanne Frohlich, Andrea Guttmann, Hannah Pape, and Heidi Schwarz—perform on more than 20 different recorders of varying sizes and shapes and are continuously searching for new possibilities of sound and expression. With a large repertoire of European works, the collective has begun commissioning American composers, such as Stephen Taylor, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Gordon Beeferman and Nissim Schaul, among others. Founded in 1998 at the Amsterdam Conservatoire and the University of the Arts, Berlin, the quartet in numerous competitions, including the 1996 German Music and 2004 Concert Artists Guild International Competition.

Pianist Jeremy Denk commands a broad and challenging solo and chamber music repertoire ranging from J. S. Bach, through Schubert, Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Messiaen, and Bartok, to Tobias Picker. Mr. Denk earned a Master’s degree from Juilliard and is a double-degree graduate of Oberlin College and Conservatory in chemistry and piano. Known for his interesting programming, his recitals have combined Ives’s “Concord” Sonata with the final sonata of Beethoven, and a medley of Bach chorales and chorale-preludes with American Rags and Stephen Foster ballads. An avid chamber music artist, Mr. Denk, has collaborated with the Borromeo, Brentano, Mirò, St. Lawrence, Shanghai and Vermeer Quartets, and has appeared at all major chamber music festivals. He has played several recital tours with violinist Joshua Bell since their first performance together at Spoleto in 2004. Mr. Denk is also well known for “Think Denk,” his popular blog.

Trimpin, the Mac-Arthur “genius grant” award-winning sound sculptor, composer, musician, and inventor, describes his work as “an ongoing exploration of the concepts of sound, vision, and movement, experimenting with combinations that will introduce our senses of perception to a totally new experience.” Although he uses the latest technology available, he works with “natural” elements—water, air, light, fire, etc.—and reconfigures them in new and unusual applications, pushing them to the limits. Currently, an artist-in-residence at the California Arts Institute, Trimpin’s sound sculptures, both whimsical and serious, have appeared all over the world. He previously exhibited his interactive Conloninpurple installation at Ojai’s 60^th anniversary season in 2006

Pianist Amy Briggs is both a leading interpreter of the music of living composers and an artist who brings a fresh perspective to music of the past, with performances as a soloist and chamber musician across the United States, Europe, Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and Asia. As a pianist for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW ensemble, she has worked with such major composers as Augusta Read Thomas, Pierre Boulez, Marc-Anthony Turnage, Oliver Knussen, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Osvaldo Golijov. Her recordings include two critically acclaimed discs of David Rakowski’s Piano Etudes on Bridge Records with a third to be released shortly; discs of solo and chamber music on the ART and Wergo Records label; and an upcoming album of solo piano tangos from the 20^th and 21^st centuries. Ms. Briggs earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance at Northwestern University as a student of Ursula Oppens.

Soprano Lucy Shelton enjoys an international career of recital, chamber, opera and orchestral performances in repertoire ranging from the Baroque to the Contemporary. A foremost interpreter of today's composers, she has premiered more than 100 works, many of which have been written for her by such composers as Elliott Carter, Mario Davidvosky, Oliver Knussen, and Charles Wuorinen. International appearances include Pierre Boulez's Le Visage Nuptial under the composer's direction; Kurtag's The Sayings of Peter Bornemisza; Saariaho and Berio with the Ensemble InterContemporain; and staged performances of Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire. A native of California, her primary mentor was mezzo-soprano Jan de Gaetani. She has taught at the Britten-Pears School and in America at the Eastman School, Cleveland Institute, New England Conservatory of Music, and since 1996 has been a resident artist faculty member at the Tanglewood Music Center.

As the child of two Broadway and Hollywood dancer/actors, Mark DeChiazza grew up exposed to theater, dance, film, and the visual arts. Trained as a modern dancer and actor, he has performed all over the world in works of dance and dance-theater. A member of Susan Marshall’s company, he contributed to the company’s collaborative creation of work and also collaborated with her on the Leonard Cohen/Philip Glass production Book of Longing and on the eighth blackbird and Bang on a Can work, Singing in the Dead of Night. He has directed at Manhattan Theater Source; pilot episodes of the TV series Selectmen, and the short film Speck’s Last. His one-act play The Dead Salesman was performed by Houston’s Theater Southwest. and he has just completed his first full-length play Cut. Mr. DeChiazza is currently a member of Metropolitan Opera Ballet and is directing Phenomenon, which will premiere in 2010.

Thomas W. Morris, recognized as one of the most creative leaders in the music industry, assumed the position of artistic director of the Ojai Music Festival in 2004. His tenure extends through 2011. As artistic director, Mr. Morris is responsible for identifying and engaging each year’s festival music director and working together with each, to create festival programming. In February 2004, Mr. Morris retired as executive director of The Cleveland Orchestra, a position he held since 1987. He served in a number of capacities, including general manager of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1969 to 1985, where he had overall responsibility for the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, Tanglewood, and Symphony Hall. In addition to his Ojai post, Mr. Morris is active as a consultant, teacher, and writer.

Tickets and Information

Ojai Music Festival single tickets range from $35 to $95 for reserved seating; lawn seats are $15. (Reserved section tickets increase the week of the Festival.) Series tickets are also available and range from $150 to $309 for a full series and $125 to $255 for a mini series. Ojai concerts take place at the Libbey Bowl at East Ojai Avenue in downtown Ojai.

Tickets for the Festival Symposium on June 12 in Matilija Auditorium at Matilija Junior High School are $30 in advance or $35 the day of the event. Matilija Junior High School is located at 703 El Paseo Road.

The three June 13 bonus events all take place at the Ojai Theater at 145 East Ojai Avenue and all are free. For the 2 p.m. Trembling Air” and 11 p.m. “BREATHtaking” events, subscribers and donors will be given first-priority seating, and the balance of the tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Reserved seating for the Trimpin private screening at 4:30 p.m. is available only to Ojai Music Festival attendees and donors.

To purchase tickets, to make reservations for the Trimpin bonus event, or for additional information, call 805-646-2094. Or visit www.OjaiFestival.org

Concierge Service

Ojai Music Festival provides a complimentary Festival concierge service for accommodations and assistance with other Ojai activities. The Festival also has special room rates for patrons at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa and other participating hotel partners, including the Su Nido Inn and Casa Ojai. The direct line to the Festival concierge is 805-646-2094, Ext. 110.

*SLIDE is a co-commission of Stanford Lively Arts at Stanford University, The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at University of Maryland, Meet The Composer’s Commissioning Music/USA program, Charles C. Jett, Nancy R.G. Church M.D., and Herb and Belle Goldman, The Modlin Center at The University of Richmond

The 2009 Ojai Music Festival, Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University, Corporate Funding by The Boeing Corporation, and The Music Department at Princeton University

SLIDE was commissioned as part of a national series of works from Meet the Composer's Commissioning Music/USA program, which is made possible by generous support from the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Francis Goelet Trust, the Helen F. Whitaker Fund, Target, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

18e Édition Festival De Musique du Maghreb

Les Productions Nuits d'Afrique présentent

 

18^e  édition

FESTIVAL DE MUSIQUE DU MAGHREB

19-20-21 mars 2009

 

L'évènement annuel transfrontalier qui arabise…

 

 

 

Montréal, le 4 mars 2009-  Initié par les Productions Nuits d'Afrique, le Festival de Musique du Maghreb célèbre cette année sa 18ème édition…

18 années remplies de découvertes, de mélange des genres, des styles et de sonorités maghrébines...

18 années au coeur des influences tant traditionnelles que contemporaines, où le Festival de Musique du Maghreb est devenu un évènement majeur et l'un des premier a proposé une vitrine montréalaise consacrée à l'Afrique du Nord.

 

A travers des sons de folklore, raï, gnawa, berbère et andalou, le Festival de Musique du Maghreb est un rendez-vous annuel et incontournable pour tous les amateurs de la culture maghrébine. Au delà de la Méditerranée et des dunes du Sahara, la musique du Maghreb, où toutes les cultures se mélangent... aux accents d'Oran, d'Alger, de Tunis, de Casablanca, de Fès.

 

Cette année encore, la programmation s'annonce des plus riche, originale et festive ! Pour cette nouvelle édition, une soirée supplémentaire a été ajoutée au programme, afin de profiter pleinement de la richesse de la Musique du Maghreb.

 

En grande nouveauté, le jeudi 19 mars, le Festival de Musique du Maghreb met l'honneur à la soirée SLAM alikoum. Se partageront sur la scène du mythique Club Balattou, deux artistes, dignes représentant de la vague « Slam » qui déferle ces derniers mois.

Queen Ka, la reine du Slam, propose une poésie urbaine touchante et authentique. En plus de ses compositions originales issues de son spectacle « Delirium », Queen Ka mettra en scène des textes du célèbre poète tunisien  Abou El Kacem Chebbi, qui fêtera cette année le centenaire de sa naissance. Un slam exploratoire et unique en son genre, a travers lequel Queen Ka compte bien donner aux textes du poète toutes leurs oralités.

Mohammed, assurera la première partie de la soirée, au rythme des mots et des rimes qu'il manie subtilement, abordant des thèmes dépassant les frontières politiques et religieuses,  tel que l'amour, la solitude, l'incompréhension, l'amertume...

 

En primeur, le vendredi 20 mars, au Kola Note, Le MAGHREB dans tous ses états, dans la grande métropole, promet d'être un kaléidoscope festif et inédit des cultures d'Afrique du Nord.

Initié par le groupe Bambara Trans, le plateau se veut représentatif de toute la richesse et la diversité de la musique du Maghreb. Six chanteurs, issus des groupes maghrébins les plus populaires à Montréal, Nazir Bouchareb, Hassan El Hadi, Elyes Landoulsi, Abdel Karim Saada, Hamza Abouabdelmajid sont invités à venir habiter la scène collectivement.

Aux rythmes de la musique Châabi, du Raï, du Gnawa, de la musique Arabo-Andalouse, ils offriront aux spectateurs, avides de découvertes, les multiples sons et couleurs du grand maghreb.

 

En exclusivité, pour la soirée Aux Rythmes du Raï, le samedi 21 mars, au Kola Note, les Productions Nuits d'Afrique sont fières d'accueillir la star incontestée du Raï venue tout droit d'Algérie : Hakim Salhi, accompagné pour la première fois à Montréal de deux danseuses de ballets folkloriques algériens. Chorégraphié par Hakim Sahli, l'ensemble nous fera danser toute la soirée sur des rythmes de châabi et de raï, reflétant la beauté, l'originalité et la diversité culturelle de l'Algérie. En 2008, le spectacle d'Hakim Salhi a été acclamé par la foule lors du Festival International Nuits d'Afrique, et obtenu le coup de cœur du Festival.

Le groupe Syncop assurera la première partie du spectacle, promettant aux spectateurs un voyage dans la chaleur enivrante du désert et l'agitation contagieuse de la musique urbaine montréalaise.

 

A découvrir, voir et revoir, le Festival de Musique du Maghreb vous souhaite de fascinantes soirées en compagnies de tous ces artistes.

 

 

Un oasis musical à travers la méditerranée…….

 

Les Productions Nuits d'Afrique présentent

 

18^ème édition

FESTIVAL DE MUSIQUE DU MAGHREB

 

Jeudi 19 mars dès 21h00

au Club Balattou

4372, boul. St-Laurent (coin Marie-Anne)

514-845-5447

www.balattou.com

Vendredi 20 et Samedi 21 Mars dès 21h00

au Kola Note

5240 ave du Parc (coin Fairmount)

Info : (514) 274-9339       

www.festivalnuitsdafrique.com

 

19ème édition du Festival Musiques ET Monde

Musique Multi-Montréal présente :

LE 19^e FESTIVAL MUSIQUES ET MONDE

Du 17 au 25 avril 2009

Maison de la culture Ahuntsic-Cartierville

Un pur délice! On en aurait pris encore pendant des heures.

Y Bernard, Le Devoir, avril 2007

Une centaine d'artistes originaires d'une vingtaine de pays

17 événements pour tous les âges, pour tous les goûts et de toutes les cultures ;

Un vibrant hommage à la beauté du monde.

DES MUSIQUES

Le Festival Musiques ET Monde, c'est l'espace et la liberté d'expression de toutes les cultures musicales du monde d'ici. Chaque musique, riche de son histoire et de son passé, s'épanouit au contact des autres.

ET DU MONDE …

Philippe Fehmiu, en fin connaisseur, animateur à Radio-Canada, homme de cœur et amoureux des musiques, parraine pour une seconde année, cette 19^e édition;

De grandes soirées consacrées aux premières Nations ou aux Femmes du Monde avec entres autres les Samian, Soraya Benítez, Sara Rénélik et Caravana Flamenca;

Des invités remarquables avec: Juan Sebastian Larobina, Djoumbush, Musa Dieng Kala, The Bills (Vancouver), Lubo & Kaba Horo, Mel M'Rabet;

de spectaculaires Découvertes MMM 2009 : Forrotimo, Apadooraï, Merovitch Project, Francesca Kanapathy, Garbanzo, Nexus, Inés Canepa, Valleson et Sonia Falkovitch.

Un artiste directement de Madagascar en résidence de création: Theodore Rakotovao Nomenjanahary et encore plusieurs invités.

Musique Multi-Montréal

Depuis 1991, MMM a découvert les Lhasa de Sela, Lilison di Kinara, Kiya Tabassian, Paul Kunigis et Jeszcze Raz, Vladimir Sidorov, Le Trio de guitares de Montréal, Liu Fang, Soraya Benitez, Carlos Placeres, Hassan El Hadi, Marco Calliari, Sergiu Popa, Soleil Tzigane, Les Gitans de Sarajevo, Les Charbonniers de l'Enfer, Eval Manigat, etc.

Exclusivité et entrevue sur demande.

Isabelle Gauthier (514) 856-3787 poste 223

info@musiquemultimontreal.com

Study shows Project Niagara could generate millions of dollars in economic activity and create hundreds of jobs

Project spearheaded by the NAC and TSO has potential to become “next great cultural tourism destination”

(Niagara-on-the-Lake) – A feasibility study presented last night to Niagara-on-the-Lake Town Council by representatives from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) and National Arts Centre (NAC) shows that Project Niagara – a proposed 17-week international music festival to take place on the shore of Lake Ontario – could generate more than a hundred million dollars in economic activity and create hundreds of jobs over several years.

Project Niagara is an initiative of the TSO and NAC. The two organizations have been working together on Project Niagara’s development and feasibility since 2004. They are hoping to launch the festival during the bicentennial celebrations marking the War of 1812.

Monday night, before a well-attended Niagara-on-the-Lake Town Council meeting, Project Niagara Project Manager Kari Cullen provided an outline of the feasibility study for the proposed music festival.

Prior to the meeting, Andrew Shaw, President and CEO of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Peter Herrndorf, President and CEO of the National Arts Centre, issued the following statement: “This feasibility study tells us beyond a shadow of a doubt that Project Niagara is a very strong concept, located in the right place, at the right time. With its proximity to the Shaw Festival, Niagara Falls and one of the world’s most diverse wine regions, Project Niagara has the potential to become Canada’s next great cultural tourism destination.”

Mr. Herrndorf was on hand for last night’s meeting, along with Cathryn Gregor, Chief Operating Officer for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Alan Latourelle, CEO of the Parks Canada Agency, the responsible custodian of the land on Lakeshore Road, on the northwestern side of Niagara-on-the-Lake where Project Niagara would be located. The 268-acre site was overwhelmingly chosen over several sites in the Niagara Region based on criteria related to unique beauty, size, and ambient noise.

The Project Niagara Phase 2 Feasibility Study outlines the following points:

· During its construction phase, Project Niagara would generate $106 million in various types of additional economic activity, including the creation of about 500 full time equivalent jobs.

· In its fifth year of operation, Project Niagara would generate about $93 million in various types of additional economic activity, including the creation of 707 full time equivalent jobs.

· Capital costs for Project Niagara are estimated at $76.5 million – this breaks down as $37 million for all buildings on site, $18 million in site preparation, $11 million in landscaping, and $10 million for technical equipment.

· The feasibility study’s findings support that $25.5 million would be a reasonable amount of money to be raised through sponsorship and private donations. Project Niagara will request that the Federal and Provincial governments each match the private funds raised to achieve its capital cost target of $76.5 million.

· Project Niagara will be run as an independent national cultural institution with its own Board of Directors. TSO and NAC representatives will sit on this board as ex-officio members.

Project Niagara has committed to working with the Region and the Town to help address any issues relating to transportation and sewage infrastructure.

Project Niagara is also working with the Parks Canada Agency on environmental assessment requirements with respect to the potential impact of the festival on flora and fauna in order to guide its activities on site.

Financial backing for the Project Niagara development work and analysis to date has come from the NAC and TSO, as well the Province of Ontario, Falls Management Corporation, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation and the Niagara Economic Development Corporation.

Last week, Janice Thomson, Executive Director of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Chamber of Commerce, made a presentation to the Niagara-on-the-Lake Town Council to table more than one hundred individual letters of support from local residents, visitors and businesses of Niagara-on-the-Lake voicing their support for the creation of Project Niagara.

Click here to read the Project Niagara Phase 2 Feasibility Study. For more information about Project Niagara, please visit www.projectniagara.ca.

Sonny Rollins Kicks off TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival

Jazz Festival Tickets on sale now!
Saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins
at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts

"Rollins who has continued to walk his own course during his more than 50-year career, is arguably the greatest saxophone
player since Charlie Parker's explosion on the scene in the '40s." - Downbeat Magazine

"The last jazz immortal." - The Village Voice

Toronto – When Sonny Rollins picks up the tenor saxophone, the world listens. On Friday, June 26, 2009, hear one of jazz's most iconic figures at the prestigious Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts as the TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival kicks off its 23rd anniversary with saxophone giant Sonny Rollins.

The TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival, on its opening night, welcomes Rollins, the most formidable of all jazz improvisers who has carved an impressive career for over half a century. Working alongside heavyweights such as Miles Davis and Bud Powell before the age of 20, Rollins quickly established himself in the early '50s as the most brash and creative young tenor in the scene. Today, he remains as one of the surviving few great jazz immortals from the golden era.

At 78 years old, Rollins is still at the top of his game. His accomplishments in the last decade alone speak to the depth of his talent: in 2000 he won his first Grammy Award, with a following second Grammy in 2004; in that same year Rollins was also a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; and Sonny, Please, released in 2006, was described as perhaps his strongest studio album in a decade or more.

The sounds of jazz will have feet tappin' and fingers snappin' as the 23rd edition of the TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival swings and jives its way into summer, running from June 26 July 5, 2009. Be a part of the action as more than 1,500 musicians, performing in over 350 concerts, descend upon Toronto for the city's largest music festival. Get jazzed this summer!

SONNY ROLLINS
Friday, June 26, 2009 - 8pm
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
145 Queen Street West
Tickets on sale now at
Four Seasons Centre Box Office: 416.363.8231 or 1.800.250.4653
visit www.torontojazz.com

WSO New Music Festival 2009 Program Info

WSO 2009 New Music Festival Spotlights Musical Innovation

December 11, 2008 - The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s New Music Festival, sponsored by IMRIS Inc, is sure to heat up Winnipeg stages January 31 to February 6, with the theme: Extase.

Passion and ecstasy are perfect words to describe this year’s NMF concerts, which will include several world premieres, fantastic Canadian and internationally-renowned talent such as cellist Matt Haimovitz, filmmaker Guy Maddin, pianist Pascal Gallet, and percussion group Scrap Arts Music and the use of newly invented and unusual instruments.

"Innovation is a major sub-theme of the festival this year," said Vincent Ho, WSO Composer-in-Residence and NMF curator, who will also premiere two of his own pieces during the festival. "I am so excited about the vast amount of creative energy and amazing talent we’ve been able to put together for this year’s festival lineup. Every one of the seven concerts offers something different and engaging,"

The opening night concert on Saturday, January 31 sets the tone for the festival, with Turangalila-symphonie by Olivier Messiaen. Inspired by the legend of Tristan and Isolde, the epic ten-movement symphony speaks to themes of romantic love and loss. The symphony also features soloist Jean Laurendeau on ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument, whose eerie and wavering sound has been used in such recent film scores as Amélie and There Will Be Blood.

An interesting use of instruments highlights two other concerts in the festival. On Thursday, February 5, Scrap Arts Music excites the senses with intricate rhythms, raw energy, athletic choreography and the hottest and most inventive reuse of materials on stage today.

The Festival closes on Friday, February 6 with a blast of innovation as musical Renaissance man (and member of Scrap Arts Music) Greg Kozak unveils his latest invention, The Chariot of Choir. The 32-foot stainless steel percussion instrument will be used in the world premiere performance of Kozak’s CBC-commissioned Composition for Chariot of Choir and Strings.

Another notable concert will be the presentation of the 1928 film The Passion of Joan of Arc, performed live with the score Voices of Light, written in 1994 by Richard Einhorn for choir, soloists and orchestra. Guy Maddin hosts this special event on Wednesday, February 4, to offer his insight into the film, which is considered a cinematic landmark.

Tickets for the 2009 New Music Festival are on sale now. Pass prices are: $69.00 (regular), $59.00 (seniors), and $39.00 (students). Single tickets are $16.50 (regular) and $10.00 (students). Single ticket prices do not include the opening night concert (regular Masterworks pricing applies) and the closing night concert (regular Musically Speaking pricing applies). NMF programs will be available for purchase at a cost of $2.

Plan to create international summer music festival in Niagara Region receives boost

Plan to create international summer music festival in Niagara Region receives boost

(Niagara-on-the-Lake) – Niagara-on-the-Lake Town (NOTL) Council gave its support on Monday, December 2, to a project to create an international music festival in their community.

The music festival, with the working title Project Niagara, is an initiative of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the National Arts Centre. The two organizations have been working on development and feasibility of Project Niagara together since 2004. Financial backing for their work to date has come from the two organizations themselves, as well the Province of Ontario, Falls Management Corporation, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation and the Niagara Economic Development Corporation.

Janice Thomson, Executive Director of the NOTL Chamber of Commerce, made a presentation to Town Council on Monday.

“I am here this evening to tell you of the support that does exist in this community for Project Niagara,” Thomson told NOTL councillors and a packed chamber. “In a few days, I have received more than one hundred individual letters of support from residents, visitors and businesses of Niagara-on-the-Lake voicing their support for the creation of Project Niagara on the Parks Canada Lakeshore Property.”

Thomson asked that councillors send a strong message to the Regional, Provincial and Federal governments of their support for the project.

Councillor Dennis Dick put forward the following motion, seconded by Councillor Jim Collard:

“THAT the Council of the Corporation of the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake reaffirm support, in principle, the plans as proposed by “Project Niagara” to institute a Music Festival at the site known as the DND lands in Niagara-on-the-Lake; AND further that ‘Project Niagara’ keeps the Town updated as needed on new developments in order that the residents of Niagara-on-the-Lake are informed; AND that the Region of Niagara, MPP Kim Craitor Provincial Government and The Hon. Rob Nicholson, MP and the Federal Government be informed of our continued support.”

Council approved the motion.

Representatives of the National Arts Centre and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra will present Project Niagara’s feasibility study to NOTL Town Council on Monday, December 15th.

To view the letters presented to Council in support of Project Niagara please go to www.niagaraonthelake.com, or http://blog.projectniagara.org.

Festival international d'opéra à Québec

Des fonds pour le Festival international d'opéra à Québec

(Québec, le 11 novembre 2008) - L'Opéra de Québec, qui travaille depuis plusieurs mois sur un projet de Festival international permanent d'Opéra pour la ville de Québec, en collaboration avec Ex-Machina/Robert Lepage, l'Orchestre symphonique de Québec et le Grand Théâtre de Québec, reçoit avec enthousiasme l'engagement du gouvernement du Québec à verser un montant de 125 000 $ pour assurer le démarrage du Festival prévu en 2010.

L'Opéra de Québec et ses partenaires perçoivent ce geste comme une reconnaissance des efforts et des succès du milieu culturel lors des célébrations du 400^e anniversaire de Québec, et surtout comme un encouragement à la poursuite du développement du secteur culturel dans la Capitale, du développement du public local et touristique, ainsi que du développement d'une signature culturelle de niveau international pour la ville de Québec.

-30-

Hélène Hall

Directrice des communications et du développement / 4418.529.3734

SHIFT Festival

SHIFT

Movement and meaning between Canada and the Netherlands

A Festival of Canadian and Dutch Music, Film and Literature

Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ in Amsterdam: November 18 – 22, 2008

Harbourfront and the Music Gallery in Toronto: February 25 – March 3, 2009

http://www.shift-festival.ca/

For Immediate Release – Toronto, October 31, 2008: Continuum Contemporary Music is pleased to announce SHIFT, a festival of Canadian and Dutch music, film and literature, taking place November 18-22, 2008 in Amsterdam and February 25-March 3, 2009 in Toronto. Programmed by some of Canada’s top artistic voices – Continuum Contemporary Music, Authors at Harboufront Centre and The Images Festival, in collaboration with The Netherlands’ influential Muziek Centrum Nederland (formerly Gaudeamus) and the internationally acclaimed Asko|Schönberg and Ives ensembles -- in Amsterdam SHIFT is hosted by the architecturally stunning new Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ while Canadian activities take place at Toronto’s jewel of the waterfront, Harbourfront Centre, as well as the Music Gallery.

Amsterdam events include concerts, pre-concert talks moderated by well-known Dutch cultural critics, a live VPRO Radio broadcast, film and live music collaborations, late night screenings of film and video, and panel discussions featuring authors from both countries, one of which will be recorded for later broadcast on CBC radio. With 36 Canadian artists represented, 29 of them present, SHIFT is the largest festival of Canadian art to take place in Europe in many years. Added to those numbers are 42 Dutch musicians, composers, filmmakers and writers, making SHIFT an exceptional cultural event.

SHIFT was conceived by Continuum’s Artistic Director Jennifer Waring during her Metcalf Foundation funded residency with Gaudeamus in 2005-06. At its root, the festival is an investigation of the bond between the two markedly different countries, created during the Second World War and through the subsequent wave of immigration to Canada, and provides a new perspective on the relationship. She writes, “The Netherlands is small, rich in human history, and still comparatively uniform in makeup; Canada is large, young as a modern state, and diverse in its population. In these rather obvious factors the countries are diametrically opposed, and to an expatriate – a privilege I had on and off over seven years – the contrast is a head-swiveling, breathtaking experience that can provoke hyperactive theorizing. But a base of common outlook and perception prevents total disorientation and makes comparison possible. Beyond these is an ineffable but strong affinity.”

SHIFT’s musical highlights include:

• On November 18, a performance by the one of the world’s premiere new music ensembles, the ASKO|Schönberg Ensemble, with internationally acclaimed Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan and conductor Etienne Siebens. The programme features premieres funded by The Canada Council for the Arts by James Rolfe and Michael Oesterle, as well as the Dutch premiere of Lettura di Dante by the late Claude Vivier and a new work by the young Dutch composer Corrie van Binsbergen;
• On November 19, a performance by Quatuor Bozzini, twice winner of the Prix Opus from Conseil québécois de la musique featuring works by Canadian composers Martin Arnold and Michael Oesterle, and Dutch composers Richard Ayres, Hanna Kulenty and Martijn Voorvelt.
• On November 20, a joint concert by Continuum and the Ives Ensemble. Recognized as leaders in new music in their respective countries, IE and Continuum premiere music written for the combined ensembles – Linda Bouchard (CA) (funded by the Canada Council for the Arts) and Guus Janssen (NL) (funded by Nederlands Fonds voor de Podiumkunsten NFPK+) and for the separate ensembles – Makye Nas (NL) for Continuum, and Gyula Csapo for IE. Continuum also performs raW (by James Rolfe), winner of the 2006 Jules-Léger Prize. The concert will be broadcast live by VPRO Radio.

SHIFT features an ambitious programme of film and music collaboration in Notes on Composing: 5 collaborations in film and music, November 21. The result of a programming collaboration between Continuum Contemporary Music and The Images Festival, Notes on Composing features world premieres of five short films with live music performed by Continuum and violinist/composer Malcolm Goldstein. Most of the collaborating artists had never met or worked together – as Images Festival Artistic Director Pablo de Ocampo writes, “these collaborations represent something of a leap in faith, or a dare on the part of all the parties involved.”

• Winnipeg-based Guy Maddin (a multiple award-winner at local and international film festivals including Best Canadian Feature at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival for My Winnipeg) working with the brilliant British/Dutch composer Richard Ayres;

• video artist Vera Frenkel (winner of the 2006 Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts, the Canada Council Molson Prize, the Bell Canada Award for Video Art, the 2006 Governor General’s Award and a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts) working with acclaimed Toronto percussionist and composer Rick Sacks;
• Canadian filmmaker Daïchi Saïto working with one of the originators of North American musical experimentalism, Montreal-based Malcolm Goldstein;
• environmental biologist turned filmmaker Christina Battle working with Toronto composer Martin Arnold;
• Toronto-based filmmaker and poet Clive Holden working with Rotterdam composer Oscar van Dillen.

The program will be repeated in Toronto on opening night of The Images Festival in April 2009.

SHIFT will also feature two nights of screenings of short films from Canada and The Netherlands, curated by The Images Festival and The Impakt Festival (Utrecht) respectively.

Programming for the literature component of SHIFT has been undertaken by Authors at Harbourfront Centre, with events in Amsterdam falling under the banner of the International Festival of Authors (IFOA). In its 35 year history, Authors at Harbourfront Centre has presented more than 5,000 authors from more than 100 countries. The world-renowned IFOA, now in its 29th year, annually presents more than 100 authors – established and emerging – from around the world as part of an 11-day festival each October. IFOA Amsterdam is the first time an element of the Festival has been presented overseas. Events in both Amsterdam and in Toronto feature panel discussions in which Canadian and Dutch authors at different stages in their career open up new debates around literature, culture, and shared international perspectives. The line-up for Amsterdam is: From Canada: Dionne Brand (What We All Long For, Inventory), Lewis DeSoto (A Blade of Grass), Helen Humphreys (Wild Dogs, Coventry), Andrew Pyper (Lost Girls, The Killing Circle), and, as event moderator, Eleanor Wachtel (host of CBC Radio's Writers & Company). From The Netherlands: Gerbrand Bakker (The Twin), Lieve Joris (The Rebels' Hour), Lucette ter Borg (The Gift from Berlin), Anja Sicking (The Silent Sin), and, as event moderator, Michaël Zeeman (cultural correspondent for de Volkskrant). Canadian author Richard Clewes (Finding Lily) hosts all events. The discussion moderated by Eleanor Wachtel will be recorded for broadcast on CBC Radio. Continuum has worked with Authors at Harbourfront Centre Director Geoffrey Taylor to set up these author events.

Continuum Contemporary Music presents the work of emerging Canadian composers alongside works by established national and international composers in its concert series, at festivals, on tour, over the air waves and through recordings. The Chalmers Award-winning group has generated interdisciplinary projects with celebrated Vancouver choreographer Conrad Alexandrowicz; Montreal video artist Ramona Ramlochand; and John Oswald. For l'Oreille Fine, Continuum combined new music and philosophy in concerts and a symposium wherein philosophers, poets and critics dealt with the subject of new music. Formed in 1985, Continuum has a core ensemble of flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and percussion which is often varied and combined with electronics. The organization has commissioned and premiered over 100 new works from emerging and established Canadian composers; increasingly it commissions international composers. Continuum toured Canada in 1999 and Europe in 2003, and will be on tour again in the fall of 2008, with performances in Aberdeen, 's-Hertogenbosch, Amsterdam and Huddersfield. It has released two CD's on its own label, recorded one for Centrediscs and has two CD projects in the works.

Established in 1987, The Images Festival is the largest festival in North America for experimental and independent moving image culture, showcasing the innovative edge of international contemporary media art both on and off the screen. From Super-8 and hand-tinted celluloid to the latest video art, Images has presented thousands of films and media based projects in our 21+ year history. Images is committed to an expanded concept of film and video practice: alongside film and video screenings, the festival presents groundbreaking live performances, media art installations in local galleries and new media projects by many renowned Canadian and international artists. We go out of our way and over the edge to provide Toronto with an annual extravaganza of image making. Attended by more than 30,000 people each year, Toronto’s 2nd oldest film festival is a critical forum for the independent media arts in Canada and around the world and provides artists with a supportive and professional forum in which to present their projects. Many influential media artists have been nurtured by Images’ willingness to embrace new creative concepts and modes of expression in the media arts field. The Images Festival exhibits and encourages the work of artists producing film and video outside of mainstream commercial production, distribution systems and aesthetic conventions. In addition to the international competition programs drawn from submissions to the festival, Images includes artists' retrospectives, national and regional cinema spotlights, publishing projects, touring programs and special guest-curated sections.

The world renowned Authors at Harbourfront Centre programme is home to a weekly reading series (September to June), the annual International Festival of Authors (IFOA) (October) and, for younger readers, YoungIFOA (October), ALOUD: a Celebration for Young Readers (May) and Forest of Reading® Festival of Trees™ (May). Established in 1974, Authors at Harbourfront Centre's mandate is to present the world's most important and influential authors and distinctive new writers, Canadian and international, in a forum that celebrates books and writing. The programme provides Canadian authors with an internationally recognized platform on which to present their work, and fosters an awareness in its audiences of the variety and richness of writing from Canada and around the world. Since programming began, Authors at Harbourfront Centre has presented more than 5,000 authors, including 15 Nobel Laureates and countless other prize winners, on its stages. In 1980, the fledgling IFOA became the first international literary festival in North America. At that time it presented 18 poets over 6 days. Twenty-nine years later, IFOA continues to grow. The 2008 festival included nearly 70 public events, featuring writers of fiction, non-fiction, travel writing, poetry, graphic novels, and books for younger readers in a series of readings, interviews, and panel discussions. Annual special events include readings by the authors shortlisted for the three major Canadian fiction awards, the awarding of the $10,000 Harbourfront Festival Prize, and a gala benefit to support of PEN Canada.

Continuum is supported through grants from The Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the city of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council; the Metcalf Foundation's Strategic Initiatives programme; the SOCAN, Emerald and McLean foundations; by patrons Aurora Tewksbury Reford, Ann Southam and Christopher Des Brisay; by the accounting firm Newman & Sversky; and as well, through the generosity of many private donors.

SHIFT is supported by The Canada Council for the Arts, Muziek Centrum Nederland, Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, the Consulate-General of The Netherlands, the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Charles Street Video and a variety of individual and corporate donors.

For more information on SHIFT please contact Festival Coordinator Josh Grossman at (416) 924-4945 or josh@continuumusic.org , or visit www.shift-festival.ca .

Ticket prices will be posted shortly.

York U World Music Fest Nov 6-7

Tour the Globe with York U’s World Music Festival Toronto: Take a sonic trip around the globe with York University’s World Music Festival, two full days of concerts November 6 and 7. Performances take place in the informal, club-like setting of the Martin Family Lounge and the Sterling Beckwith Studio in the Accolade East Building at York’s Keele campus. Admission is free and no passport is required! This whirlwind tour of musical cultures and traditions from five continents ranges from West African drums and classical Chinese orchestra to steelpan, flamenco and Klezmer music. The rotating concert schedule features performances by rising young artists, directed by leading lights of Toronto's world music scene. Produced by Matt Vander Woude and Rob Simms, the lineup highlights some of the 20+ international cultures represented in York's world music program. *** Event Details Locations: Martin Family Lounge (MFL), 219 Accolade East Building & Sterling Beckwith Studio (SBS), 235 Accolade East Building Admission: Free Info: 416.736.2100 x 22926 www.yorku.ca/finearts/music/events Performance Schedule: Thursday, November 6, 2008 10am - 8:30pm 10am SBS West African Drums (Mande) directed by Isaac Akrong 12noon MFL Klezmer Ensemble directed by Brian Katz 1pm SBS West African Drum& Dance (Ghana) dir. by Kwasi Dunyo, Larry Graves 2:30pm MFL Escola de Samba directed by Rick Lazar 4pm SBS Cuban Music dir. by Paul Ormandy, Ruben Esguerra, Steve Mancuso 5:30pm MFL West African Drums (Mande) directed by Anna Melnikoff 7pm SBS Middle Eastern Ensemble directed by Bassam Shahouk Friday, November 7, 2008 10am - 9:30pm 10am SBS Caribbean Ensemble directed by Gareth and Lindy Burgess 11:30am MFL African-American Piano directed by Catherine Wilson 12:45pm SBS Chinese Orchestra directed by Kim Chow-Morris 2pm MFL Korean Drums directed by Charles Hong 2:45pm SBS Japanese Music Ensemble directed by Linda Caplan 4:15pm MFL Flamenco Guitars directed by Roger Scannura 6pm SBS World Music Chorus directed by Judith Cohen 7pm MFL Balkan Music Ensemble directed by Irene Markoff

Changement - Vitrines de la Francofête en Acadie accessible au grand public

L’intégrale des vitrines de la 12^e édition
de la Francofête en Acadie
accessible au grand public !

(Moncton, 29 octobre 2008) - De nombreuses vitrines mettront en vedette des artistes de l’heure lors de la 12^e édition de la FrancoFête en Acadie qui se déroulera du 5 au 9 novembre prochain à Moncton. Musique, danse, théâtre, conte et spectacles pour enfants seront présentés sous forme de vitrines-spectacles. Contrairement aux autres années, toutes les prestations seront ouvertes au grand public.

Le jeudi 6 novembre

La série de vitrines débutera de 10 h à 11 h avec des performances de danse mettant en vedette Louise Moyes, réputée pour mettre en scène des « docu-danses », et le Ballet-théâtre Atlantique au Théâtre Capitol.

De 14 h 30 à 17 h 15, du théâtre et du conte seront présentés au Pavillon Jeanne-de-Valois de l’Université de Moncton. Défileront sur scène : Le noble théâtre des trous de siffleux, les Productions l’Entrepôt, le théâtre l’Escaouette, le conteur Dominique Breau, qui a toujours le tour pour faire rire, et l’auteur, musicien et comédien Stéphane Guertin. Les billets pour cette vitrine seront en vente à la porte seulement au coût de 5 $.

La dernière vitrine de la journée aura lieu au Théâtre Capitol de 19 h 30 à 22 h 45 avec le groupe de rap acadien Radio Radio, Caracol du regretté groupe Dobacaracol, l’artiste acadien Denis Richard qui présentera de toutes nouvelles chansons, le slameur Ivy, le groupe country québécois Madame Moustache ainsi que le célèbre groupe de musique acadienne Grand Dérangement.

Le vendredi 7 novembre

Le vendredi ce sera au tour des petits et des adolescents de faire de nouvelles découvertes artistiques au Pavillon Jeanne-de-Valois de l’Université de Moncton. De 10 h à 11 h 30, les petits pourront découvrir le monde merveilleux du Théâtre Tout à trac qui fera une présentation d’Alice au pays des merveilles, Tante Caroline avec Des ailes et des racines et Daniel Prénoveau et ses instruments du monde. De 13 h à 14 h 30, les ados auront l’occasion d’entendre la musique de George Belliveau, de voir une prestation de Danse l’école 2.0 en plus d’être témoins des prouesses du magicien Danys Hamel. Une contribution volontaire sera acceptée à la porte pour les deux séries de vitrines.

De 15 h à 17 h 45, ce sera l’occasion de découvrir ou redécouvrir des artistes d’ici et d’ailleurs tels que Mathieu D’Astous et Ginette, Michel Thériault, Fredric Gary Comeau, Daniel Roa ainsi que la formation féminine de jazz manouche Christine Tassan et les ImposteurEs. Tous ces artistes défileront sur scène à la Salle Empress du Théâtre Capitol.

En soirée de 19 h 30 à 22 h 45, six artistes et formations musicales seront sur scène au Théâtre Capitol. Les gens pourront voir le maître des rythmes brésiliens Celso Machado, le groupe de musique acadienne-française traditionnelle Gadelle, Raphaël Torr qui offrira un hommage à Joe Dassin, le Moncton Mingus Band qui réunit huit des meilleurs musiciens de Jazz de Moncton, l’artiste acadien bien connu Jac Gautreau et finalement, Paul Kunigis qui présentera des rythmes dignes d’un croisement de cultures unique.

Le samedi 8 novembre

La série de vitrines de la FrancoFête 2008 se terminera le samedi 8 novembre au Théâtre Capitol dès 19 h 30 avec la Soirée Alliances qui présentera des artistes sélectionnés ou accueillis par RADARTS ou ses partenaires nationaux et internationaux. Le public aura la chance de voir la jeune sensation ontarienne Andrea Lindsay, le multi-instrumentiste surdoué Alpha Yaya Diallo originaire de la Guiné et gagnant de 3 prix JUNO, le gagnant de la 39^e édition du Festival de la chanson de Granby, Joce, ainsi qu’Éric Larochelle, récipiendaire du prix Acadie-ROSEQ.

Les billets pour les vitrines-spectacles sont en vente dans le réseau de billetterie du Grand Moncton : Théâtre Capitol, Théâtre l’Escaouette, Centre étudiant de l’Université de Moncton et Frank’s Music ou bien par téléphone au (506) 856-4379 ou 1-800-567-1922 et au www.admission.com. Les billets seront également disponibles à la porte les soirs de spectacle, lorsqu’il en reste. Les billets pour les vitrines de théâtre et de conte seront en vente à la porte seulement.

Produite par le Réseau atlantique de diffusion des arts de la scène (RADARTS), la FrancoFête en Acadie propose une sélection de vitrines et de spectacles de qualité. RADARTS a pour mandat de bonifier, favoriser et développer des stratégies ainsi que coordonner des moyens de diffusion efficaces pour augmenter la circulation de spectacles et la création artistique dans les provinces de l’Atlantique.

Toute l’information sur la FrancoFête en Acadie 2008 et ses activités au www.francofete.com.




Found Footage Festival in Calgary - 11/13 & 11/14

FOUND FOOTAGE FESTIVAL COMES TO CALGARY WITH ALL-NEW SHOW

New York, NY — The Found Footage Festival, the acclaimed touring showcase of odd and hilarious found videos, will make a special two-night appearance in Calgary next month as part of its 2008 North American tour. Hosts Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher, whose credits include the Late Show with David Letterman and The Onion, are excited to present their new lineup of video clips and live comedy at the Plaza Theatre (1133 Kensington Rd. NW) on Thursday, Nov. 13th and Fri., Nov. 14th (7 pm both nights). The event is being sponsored by the Calgary Underground Film Festival (calgaryundergroundfilm.org). Tickets are $15 ($12 for students) and are available in advance at Bird Dog Video (1333 16th Ave. SW).

The Found Footage Festival is a one-of-a-kind event compiles more than an hour's worth of footage from videos that were found at garage sales and thrift stores and in warehouses and dumpsters throughout the country. Curators Pickett and Prueher host each screening in-person and provide their unique observations and commentary on these found video obscurities. From the curiously-produced industrial training video to the forsaken home movie donated to Goodwill, the Found Footage Festival resurrects these forgotten treasures and serves them up in a lively celebration of all things found.

Among the new clips to be featured in the 2008 show:

-17 workplace sexual harassment videos, edited down to three minutes of just the best reenactments
-A brand-new collection of exercise videos featuring Playgirl's 1985 Man of the Year, a scantily-clad Angela Lansbury, and a guru who calls himself "The Laughing Yogi."
-An instructional video on how to toilet train cats

The Found Footage Festival was founded in New York in 2004 and has gone on to sell out hundreds of shows across the U.S. and Canada, including the HBO Comedy Festival at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal. The festival has been featured on National Public Radio, ABC World News, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and G4 TV's Attack of the Show, and has been named a "Critic's Pick" in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle and The Chicago Tribune.

To set up an interview with the curators, please contact Nick Prueher at 347-255-7350, or via email at foundfootagefestival@yahoo.com. Screeners and high-resolution images from the festival are also available upon request. Additional information can be found on the festival's website: www.foundfootagefest.com.

ABOUT THE CURATORS

Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett began collecting found videotapes in 1991 after stumbling across a training video entitled, "Inside and Outside Custodial Duties," at a McDonald's in their home state of Wisconsin. Since then, they have compiled an impressive collection of strange, outrageous and profoundly stupid videos. Pickett, a former Minnesota film technician, and Prueher, a former segment producer at the Late Show with David Letterman, have written for The Onion and Entertainment Weekly and recently directed the feature-length documentary, "Dirty Country" (www.dirtycountrymovie.com), which won the Audience Award at the 2007 South By Southwest Film Festival.

ABOUT THE CUFF

The Calgary Underground Film Festival is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to programming films that defy convention. The CUFF elevates Calgary's cultural landscape with the best in local and international independent cinema, challenging and entertaining audiences with boundary breaking films, compelling artist showcases and engaging events. More information about the CUFF can be found at www.calgaryundergroundfilm.org.

ABOUT THE VENUE

Built in the late 1920s, the Plaza Theatre is Calgary's last operating neighborhood theatre, offering first run art house cinema since 1995. The venue is located at 1133 Kensington Rd. NW (between 10th & 14th Streets). For detailed directions to the theatre, visit www.theplaza.ca. Tickets to the Found Footage Festival are $15 ($12 for students) and are available at Bird Dog Video (1333 16th Ave. SW).

La 12e édition de la FrancoFête en Acadie arrive à grands pas !

La 12^e édition de la FrancoFête en Acadie

arrive à grands pas !

(Moncton, 29 octobre 2008) – Un grand nombre d'artistes participeront à la 12^e édition de la FrancoFête en Acadie qui se déroulera du mercredi 5 au dimanche 9 novembre prochain à Moncton. Cet évènement d'envergure présente des vitrines et des spectacles de tous genres en plus du Cercle des auteurs-compositeurs SOCAN, un spectacle de Coup de cœur francophone ainsi que de nombreux spectacles Artistes au menu dans les restos à l'heure du souper ou encore, pour les couche-tard, la série les Oiseaux de nuit. Une occasion unique pour tous et toutes de découvrir ce qui se fait de mieux sur la scène musicale francophone !

Des spectacles hauts en couleur

Le Cercle SOCAN sera animé cette année par l'artiste vedette du Québec Michel Rivard et aura lieu le mercredi 5 novembre à 20 h 30 au Théâtre Capitol de Moncton. Les artistes invités Édith Butler, Danny Boudreau et Lisa LeBlanc interpréteront, tour à tour, quelques-unes de leurs compositions et discuteront de leur inspiration avec l'animateur de la soirée.

Différentes vitrines artistiques présenteront des artistes du milieu musical et de la danse du jeudi 6 au samedi 8 novembre au Théâtre Capitol et à la salle Empress. Les artistes qui défileront sur scène sont : Louise Moyes, le Ballet-théâtre Altantique, Radio Radio, Caracol, Denis Richard, Ivy, Madame Moustache, Grand Dérangement, Mathieu D'Astous et Ginette, Michel Thériault, Fredric Gary Comeau, Daniel Roa, Christine Tassan et les ImposteurEs, Celso Machado, Gadelle, Raphaël Torr, Moncton Mingus Band, Jac Gautreau, Paul Kunigis, Andréa Lindsay, Alpha Yaya Diallo, Joce et les trois temps et Éric Larochelle.

Une vitrine de théâtre et conte aura lieu au Pavillon Jeanne-de-Valois de l'Université de Moncton le jeudi 6 novembre avec Le noble théâtre, les Productions l'Entrepôt, le théâtre l'Escaouette et les conteurs Dominique Breau et Stéphane Guertin.

Des vitrines jeunesse sont aussi prévues pour les enfants et les adolescents le vendredi 7 novembre au Pavillon Jeanne-de-Valois de l'Université de Moncton. Les petits pourront découvrir le Théâtre tout à trac qui présentera Alice au pays des merveilles, Tante Caroline et Daniel Prénoveau et ses instruments du monde offriront une prestation en matinée. George Belliveau, Danse l'école 2.0 et le magicien Danys Hamel offriront des prestations en après-midi pour les adolescents du secondaire.

Des artistes dans les restos et dans les bars

Une nouveauté, cette année, des artistes offriront des prestations dans différents restaurants de la région dans le cadre de la série Artistes au menu. Les artistes Samantha Robichaud, Natasha Richard, Khalid el Idrissi, Michel Cardin, Manon Charlebois, Mario LeBreton et le Moncton Mingus Band seront en spectacle dans différents restaurants du centre-ville.

La série les Oiseaux de nuit est de retour pour la troisième année consécutive avec plus de spectacles que jamais. Anique Granger, Sage Délire, Samantha Robichaud, Serge Monette, Mike Parker, La ligue du bonheur, Serge Brido, Joseph Edgar, Kevin McIntyre, Khalid el Idrissi, Isaac et Blewett, Claude Cormier, Kaméléon, Les Païens, Ian Levesque, Oumou Soumaré, Hert LeBlanc et la formation Corde à Vent se produiront ainsi dans différents bars de la région de Moncton à partir de 23 h, et ce, jusqu'au petit matin.

Un Coup de cœur francophone en Acadie sera présenté le vendredi 7 novembre avec le groupe Ouanani, composé de musiciens originaires du Sénégal, du Lac-Saint-Jean, de Cuba, d'Italibitibi et du Québec. La première partie de ce spectacle, présenté à 23 h au Bar étudiant l'Osmose de l'Université de Moncton, sera assurée par la violoniste acadienne Dominique Dupuis.

Il est possible de se procurer les billets pour les différents spectacles dans le réseau de billetterie du Grand Moncton : Théâtre Capitol, théâtre l'Escaouette, Centre étudiant de l'Université de Moncton et Frank's Music ou par téléphone au (506) 856-4379 ou 1-800-567-1922 ou bien sur Internet à www.admission.com. Les billets seront également disponibles à la porte les soirs de spectacle, lorsqu'il en reste. Les billets pour les vitrines de théâtre et de conte seront en vente à la porte seulement.

Depuis maintenant trois ans, la FrancoFête en Acadie est mise en œuvre par l'équipe du Réseau atlantique de diffusion des arts de la scène (RADARTS). Il s'agit de l'événement culturel pluridisciplinaire le plus important du Canada atlantique consacré entièrement à la promotion, à la diffusion et à la mise en valeur du produit culturel francophone.

Toute l'information sur la FrancoFête en Acadie 2008 et ses activités au www.francofete.com

Renowned Berkshire Choral Festival seeks Montreal singers for weeklong choral festival

Renowned Berkshire Choral Festival seeks Montreal singers for weeklong choral festival

Montreal, QC – The internationally renowned Berkshire Choral Festival is seeking applications from Montreal singers, ages 18 and up, for the prestigious weeklong singing festival, June 26 to July 4, 2009.

With a handful of spots set aside for local talent, successful applicants will join singers from around the world and be immersed in an intense learning experience under the direction of distinguished composer and conductor Julian Wachner, former music director for Bach-Academie de Montreal and current director for the Grammy award-winning Washington Chorus.

The weeklong choral festival will culminate with a performance of Mendelssohn’s oratorio Paulus (St. Paul) sung in German and accompanied by Orchestre Metropolitain du Grand Montreal at the Eglise Saint-Jean-Baptiste on July 3.

“We are extremely excited for our inaugural visit to Montreal,” says Trudy Weaver Miller, President and CEO, Berkshire Choral Festival. “Montreal’s rich cultural heritage, old-world architectural charm, and world class amenities make it an ideal city in which to host the Berkshire Choral Festival. We look forward to an artistically stimulating summer.”

The 2009 season marks the Berkshire Choral Festival’s first visit to Montreal, which joins the internationally recognized list of Berkshire Choral Festival venues along with Sheffield, Massachusetts, and Prague, Czech Republic in providing choral singers from around the globe with the opportunity to rehearse and perform masterpieces of the choral repertoire in a weeklong singing intensive.

More than 180 singers will not only rehearse, but also live on the sprawling campus of McGill University for the entire week. It is a musically and physically demanding program designed for singers who want to reach more deeply into the choral music experience.

Berkshire Choral Festival will begin accepting on-line registrations October 29, 2008. For further information, or to apply online, visit the Berkshire Choral Festival website at: www.choralfest.org.


About Berkshire Choral Festival
The Berkshire Choral Festival was founded in 1982. It was a new idea about a unique way of learning and singing choral music in a rich and artistically stimulating setting.
Twenty-eight years later, the Berkshire Choral Festival still holds to this philosophy – that choral music is best when it is studied, absorbed, discussed and mulled over by choristers and conductors together – in total immersion – until it makes sense as a genuine revelation and expression of the human spirit.

Le Festival des musiques sacrées

12e saison du Festival des musiques sacrées de Québec
Du 23 octobre au 2 novembre

Deuxième semaine

Lundi 27 octobre, 20 h – Église Saint-Roch
Le hautbois sans frontière
La Bande de hautbois de Québec et l’Ensemble Arundonax de Bordeaux
En première partie : Ara Bartikian, doudouk solo (Arménie)
27,50 $
Présenté en collaboration avec le Conservatoire de musique de Québec

À l’occasion du 400e anniversaire de Québec, le prestigieux Ensemble Arundonax de Bordeaux partagera la scène avec son « cousin » québécois, La Bande de hautbois de Québec, sous la direction de Philippe Magnan, pour offrir un grand concert composé d’œuvres sacrées de Jean-Sébastien Bach, Giovanni Gabrieli et Claudio Monteverdi. L’Ensemble Arundonax, créé à l’initiative de professeurs du Conservatoire National de Région et de solistes de l’Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, est ici jumelé à La Bande de hautbois, tout comme l’est la Ville de Québec à la Ville de Bordeaux.

En première partie, Ara Bartikian (Arménie) proposera des pièces transposées de la liturgie ou d’inspiration mystique qui conviennent tout particulièrement au jeu du doudouk.

Mardi 28 octobre, 20 h – Salle Raoul-Jobin, Palais Montcalm
Splendeurs de Venise
Chœur du Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal
et Les Sacqueboutiers de Toulouse
27,50 $
En co-diffusion avec le Palais Montcalm

L’excellent chœur du Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal (SMAM) et Les Sacqueboutiers de Toulouse recréeront l’ambiance de la basilique Saint-Marc de Venise au milieu du 16e siècle et dévoileront la splendeur de la musique polychorale, véritable « signature » de la musique vénitienne. Cette fois, ce seront les possibilités exceptionnelles de la Salle Raoul-Jobin du Palais Montcalm qui seront mises au service de cette majestueuse musique, caractérisée par des échanges entre les différents ensembles vocaux ou instrumentaux et surtout par de saisissants effets spéciaux.

Jeudi 30 octobre, 20 h – Église Saint-Roch
Requiem de Verdi
Le Chœur de Québec et le Chœur du Vallon (sous la direction de Gisèle Pettigrew)
Un orchestre de 55 musiciens et 4 solistes : Manon Feubel, soprano; Sonia Racine, alto;
Antoine Bélanger, ténor; et Alexander Savtchenko, basse
Direction musicale et artistique : Guy Bélanger
Une production spéciale du Chœur de Québec dans le cadre de son 40e anniversaire
50 $

Afin de souligner ses 40 années de présence au sein de la vie culturelle de la Vieille Capitale, le Chœur de Québec présente le Requiem de Giuseppe Verdi. Présentée dans sa version intégrale, cette œuvre grandiose se veut un hommage aux découvreurs, fondateurs et ancêtres qui ont habité et investi leur vie humble ou glorieuse sur cette terre de rencontre au cours des quatre siècles de notre histoire. Giuseppe Verdi a composé la Messa da Requiem en 1873 <http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/1873> comme si c’était sa dernière œuvre. Ce chef-d’œuvre est rempli de contrastes et sa musique atteint de remarquables sommets d’expression.

Vendredi 31 octobre, 20 h – Église Saint-Roch
Cordes du ciel
Compagnie musicale La Nef
27,50 $
Présenté en collaboration avec la Société de guitare de Québec

Fondée en 1991 et toujours codirigée par Sylvain Bergeron, Claire Gignac et Viviane LeBlanc, La Nef fait preuve d'un talent rare pour réunir autour de projets innovateurs des artistes polyvalents et inventifs, issus des horizons les plus divers. Avec Cordes sur ciel, La Nef démontrera toute la grâce des cordes pincées, notamment le luth, le théorbe et la guitare baroque, dans des pièces issues du répertoire sacré et profane, de l’époque de la Renaissance et du Baroque. Des danses espagnoles viendront clore cette soirée, témoignant ainsi de l’importance de la musique profane dans les offices religieux de l’époque, notamment pour susciter l’intérêt des fidèles et s’assurer de leur assiduité !

Samedi 1er novembre, 20 h – Église Saint-Roch
Adasgiu : Polyphonies corses
Barbara Furtuna
27,50 $

Barbara Furtuna est un quatuor vocal corse formé en 2001 qui réunit des hommes entièrement dévoués à la polyphonie corse, une tradition vieille de plusieurs siècles. Tour à tour intimiste, puissant, sensuel et viril, son répertoire est à la fois bien encré dans la tradition et tourné vers l’avenir. Ce concert s’appuie sur le Sacré, indissociable de la polyphonie corse, dont le dénuement et la sincérité touchent à ce que nous avons de plus intime pour atteindre au fil des chants une légèreté et une fraîcheur inédites. Une expérience remplie d’émotions d’où jaillira une agréable sensation de bonheur !

Dimanche 2 novembre, 10 h 30– Église Saint-Roch
La Grand-messe de Gilles Vigneault
Avec l’orchestre et le chœur du Conservatoire de musique de Québec
Direction : Gilles Auger
Louise DeLisle Bouchard, chef de chœur; et les solistes Valérie Bélanger, soprano;
Andréanne Moreau, mezzo soprano; Guillaume Boulay, ténor; et Emmanuel Lebel, baryton
** Complet **

Présenté en collaboration avec le Conservatoire de musique de Québec
Célébration eucharistique de la Messe de la Toussaint concélébrée par Réal Grenier, curé de la paroisse Saint-Roch, et l’abbé Mario Dufour, fondateur du Festival.

Célébrations spéciales à l’Église Saint-Roch

Pendant la durée du Festival, la paroisse Notre-Dame-de-Saint-Roch offrira, dans le cadre de ses services religieux, un programme musical sous la direction artistique de l’organiste titulaire Esther Clément.

Samedi 1er novembre, 16 h
Simon Tremblay, trompettiste
Esther Clément, organiste titulaire

Activités gratuites à la Bibliothèque Gabrielle-Roy

Mercredi 29 octobre, 18 h 30
Salle polyvalente du 3e étaqe
L’ONF présente Folle de Dieu, un film de Jean-Daniel Lafond
Marie Tifo devient Marie de l’Incarnation – mère, veuve et mystique – et affronte les écrits troublants de celle qui a fondé les Ursulines de Québec en 1639. Construit comme un thriller spirituel, ce film trace un étonnant portrait de cette « folle de Dieu ».

Du 23 octobre au 2 novembre 2008
Lundi au vendredi, 8 h 30 à 21 h
Samedis et dimanches, 10 h à 17 h
Art sacré, actes créateurs
Exposition regroupant quelques-unes des photographies du livre publié aux Éditions Sylvain Harvey.
Cette exposition s’adresse aux gens intéressés par le patrimoine religieux, l’architecture, l’histoire de l’art ou la photographie. Sa simplicité rejoint le public appréciant tant les belles images que les beaux livres.

Une collaboration de l’Institut Canadien de Québec

Cours de maîtres

Conservatoire de musique de Québec
Mercredi 29 octobre, 10 h à 11 h
Jean-Yves Gicquel (cor anglais)
Une collaboration du Conservatoire de musique de Québec

Pavillon Casault de l’Université Laval, local 1531
Vendredi 1er novembre, 10 h midi
Sylvain Bergeron (luth)
Une collaboration de la Société de guitare de Québec

CIFF 2008 Award Winners

THE CALGARY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2008 AWARD WINNERS

Calgary, AB – The Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) is pleased to announce the award-winning films of the 2008 festival. This year's picks represent the best and the brightest of cinema from Canada and abroad, and awards were given for excellence in both short and feature-length work.

The following categories were represented, and awards were handed out to six deserving filmmakers who demonstrated outstanding achievement in their art form.

BEST OF ALBERTA SHORTS AWARD

The Real Place by Cam Christiansen

Cam Christiansen took home the Best of Alberta Shorts Award for the second year running with his sophomore effort The Real Place. Cam won this award last year with his debut short film I Have Seen the Future. This second short film was commissioned by the NFB and Cam once again used his trademark animated style to tell the story of playwright John Murrell.

MOVIEOLA BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM AWARD

Next Floor by Denis Villeneuve

Multi-award-winning Canadian director Denis Villeneuve was given the Movieola Best Live Action Short Film Award for his already lauded film Next Floor. The film was awarded the prestigious Canal+ Critic's Week Award at this year's Cannes. Based on an original idea by Phoebe Greenberg, created by Phoebe Greenberg and Carolyn Binet, with screenplay by Jacques Davidts, the film tells the story of a crew of gluttonous banquet guests who participate it what can only be called a ritualistic gastronomic carnage. The film showcases Villeneuve's unique and powerful cinematic voice.

BEST CANADIAN FEATURE

One Week by Michael McGowan

One Week, written and directed by Michael McGowan, was awarded City TV's Best Canadian Feature Award. McGowan can add this prize to his already prestigious collection, which includes: winner of the Writers Guild of Canada's Canadian Screen Writer's Award for Best Screenplay; the Directors' Guild Award for Best Director; five Genie Awards nominations; Grand Prix at the Paris Film Festival; the audience award at the London Film Festival; and the People's Choice Award for the Canadian Film Circuit. As part of the award, McGowan was awarded a $2,500 cash prize.

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

Let the Right One In by Tomas Alfredson

Let the Right One In has been collecting award-after-award during its short time on the festival circuit, and the CIFF Best International Feature Award adds to a long list which includes: the Jury Prize, Best Director, Fant-Asia Film Festival; Jury Prize, Best Film, Fant-Asia Film Festival; Jury Prize, Best Photography, Fant-Asia Film Festival; Best Narrative Feature, Tribeca Film Festival; Nordic Film Prize, Goteborg Film Festival; Nordic Vision Award, Goteborg Film Festival; and the Critic's Award, NatFilm Festival among others. The film has won over 15 International prizes, and continues to amaze critics and audiences alike. Deftly crafted by Alfredson, and powerfully adapted for the screen by John Ajvide Lindquist from his bestselling book of the same name, the film is unlike any vampire movie ever seen - a chilling and beautiful coming of age story.

HotDOCS BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE AWARD

ANVIL! The Story of Anvil by Sacha Gervasi

Adding to her list of prizes, Sacha Gervasi was awarded the HotDOCS Best Documentary Feature Award at this year's CIFF. The film screened at the Sundance Film Festival, and has taken home Audience Awards at both the Los Angeles and Sydney International Film Festivals. It also picked up another Best Documentary Award at the Galway Film Fleadh in July of this year. Follow the band through their mundane daily routines, their disastrous European tour, and regular in-fighting, Anvil! The Story of Anvil is an uplifting, inspirational, and bittersweet look at a band still chasing the elusive dream of fame and renown long past their prime.

AMERICAN EXPRESS PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD

Hope for the Broken Contender, Chris Scheuerman

The American Express People's Choice Award is given to the film of the festival garnering the most audience votes. Once again, this prize has been awarded to a production with a local connection, and is the first award for director Chris Scheuerman. After directing the short film Cornered, upon which Hope for the Broken Contender was based, Scheuerman raised the funds to shoot his first feature by working in Alberta's oil patch for several months to save up the $6500 budget. Shot in Calgary with a cast including former WBA Light Heavyweight Champion Eddie Mustafa Muhammad (who squared off with Robert De Niro in Raging Bull), Pat Fiacco (the Mayor of Regina, and a world class boxing official) and plenty of local Calgary talent, Scheuerman delivered his first K.O. with a film about the tough choices one must make when pursuing a dream.

About CIFF

Founded in 1998, the Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) is a charitable, not-for-profit, cultural organization based in Alberta, Canada. Inspired by the pioneering spirit and maverick ideals of the community, CIFF showcases films that break traditional boundaries and forge new cinematic ground. CIFF celebrates an unparalleled breadth and depth of cultural diversity through the meaningful, accessible, and artistic medium of film and engages thousands of artists to showcase the best films from filmmakers in over 100 countries around the world. CIFF is held annually at the end of September, screening over 200 films and hosting several gala events, awards, and special presentations. For more information visit www.calgaryfilm.com.

CIFF announces Cash Prize

Calgary International Film Festival Announces $25,000 Cash Prize for Movie Mavericks

Calgary, AB – The Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) and American Express confirmed today it will offer a $25,000 cash prize to the winner of its newly created competition, Movie Mavericks. Inspired by the pioneering spirit and can-do attitude of Calgarians, Movie Mavericks will become the flagship of CIFF's program, and will include a competition adjudicated by a jury of well-known maverick filmmakers, an international marketing campaign and $50,000 in scholarship funding for up-and-coming maverick filmmakers enrolled in the SAIT film studies program through the American Express Movie Mavericks Scholarship.

"Movie Mavericks will have a real and significant impact on CIFF and the City of Calgary," Jacqueline Dupuis, executive director, Calgary International Film Festival, said. "It will allow us to differentiate the festival from other film festivals around the globe, attract industry professionals from around the world to CIFF, and create international awareness and cache for Calgary. This will significantly impact tourism and spending in the downtown core during the festival."

Beginning at the 2009 festival, which will run September 18 to 27, 2009, CIFF will curate a selection of films from around the world that exemplify what it means to be a Movie Maverick: films that forge new cinematic ground and break traditional models for success. These films will be showcased for the public in the newly created Movie Mavericks section and entered into competition. The winning filmmaker will win the American Express Movie Mavericks Award, which includes a cash prize of $25,000 donated by American Express.

In mid-2009, CIFF will announce the appointment of a well-known Movie Maverick to attend the festival and serve as head juror to the Movie Mavericks competition. The public will be invited to view the work of this honorary Movie Maverick during special presentation film screenings.


About CIFF
Founded in 1998, the Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) is a charitable, not-for-profit, cultural organization based in Alberta, Canada. Inspired by the pioneering spirit and maverick ideals of the community, CIFF showcases films that break traditional boundaries and forge new cinematic ground. CIFF celebrates an unparalleled breadth and depth of cultural diversity through the meaningful, accessible and artistic medium of film. CIFF engages thousands of artists to showcase the best films from filmmakers in over 100 countries around the world. CIFF is held annually at the end of September, screening over 200 films and hosting several gala events, awards and special presentations. For more information, visit www.calgaryfilm.com.

Le 10e festival d'automne Orgue et Couleurs

LE 10e FESTIVAL D’AUTOMNE ORGUE ET COULEURS SE POURSUIT JUSQU’AU 5 OCTOBRE 2008 AVEC SES GRANDS CONCERTS, SES MIDIS À LA CARTE, SES CONCERTS APÉROS

CONCERTS À VENIR

info-festival et billetterie : 514-899-0938
achats en ligne et info : www.orgueetcouleurs.com

LES GRANDS CONCERTS à 20 h : Les contemporains « REMIX » leurs classiques ; un voyage « interplanétaire » avec l’interprétation de la suite orchestrale Les planètes de Gustav Holst ; un hommage original à Olivier Messiaen ; les chanteurs Marie-Denise Pelletier, Patrick Olafson et trois chanteurs de l’Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, les sopranos Caroline Bleau et Marianne Lambert ainsi que le baryton-basse Stephen Hegedus, nous convient à un récital de grands airs d’opéra et de mélodies de célèbres comédies musicales ; et en clôture du festival, l’Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières (cordes, trompette et percussions) sous la direction de Jacques Lacombe.

LES MIDIS À LA CARTE : Douze jeunes organistes âgés de 14 à 28 ans, étudiants des neuf classes d’orgue des conservatoires et universités du Québec, en prestation lors de cinq récitals dans cinq églises … un menu de choix pour découvrir la relève et la richesse des orgues de Montréal, la ville aux cent clochers.

LES CONCERTS APÉROS à 17 h : Des concerts intimes de musique de chambre, suivis d’une rencontre avec les artistes, agrémentée d’un verre de vin. Dans les chœurs des églises, l’orgue se fait intime et dialogue avec l’art lyrique.

Église Saint-Nom-de-Jésus : 4215, rue Adam (métro Pie-IX, bus 139 Sud)
Église Très-Saint-Rédempteur : 3530, rue Adam (métro Joliette ou Papineau, bus 34 Est)
Église Saint Andrew & Saint Paul : rue Sherbrooke, coin Bishop (métro Peel)
Musée du Château Dufresne : 2929, avenue Jeanne-d’Arc (métro Pie IX)

PROGRAMMATION DÉTAILLÉE

GRANDS CONCERTS
De grandes rencontres entre l’orgue et ses complices

Chaque Grand concert débutera par la Fanfare du 10e Festival d’automne, œuvre en deux versions instrumentales (une pour orgue et quintette de cuivres, l’autre pour orgue et deux cuivres) commandée au compositeur Enrico O. Dastous. Elle sera interprétée par l’organiste Raymond Perrin et les musiciens du quintette de cuivres Buzz : les trompettistes Sylvain Lapointe et Frédéric Gagnon, le corniste Marc-Antoine Corbeil et les trombonistes Jason De Carufel et Sylvain Arseneau (prestation orgue et quintette : les 26 septembre, 3 et 5 octobre // orgue et deux cuivres : les 27 septembre, 2 et 4 octobre).

jeudi 2 octobre (Église Saint-Nom-de-Jésus), 20 h – 15$-20$ • REMIX de classiques!
Les contemporains « REMIX » leurs classiques ! Une soirée où les hommages transcendent les siècles… avec la création d’une œuvre pour orgue et électroacoustique, Chorals ornés (2008), du compositeur montréalais Yves Daoust, d’après des chorals du recueil Orgelbüchlein de J.S. Bach, avec l’organiste Régis Rousseau. En première partie, l’organiste Isabelle Demers joue des œuvres de compositeurs du 20e siècle qui rendent hommage à certains de leurs prédécesseurs : Hommage à Dietrich Buxtehude de Eben (1987), Variations sur un thème de Clément Jannequin de Jehan Alain (1936), Ricercare « Ommaggio a Girolamo Frescobaldi » de Ligeti (1953), Fantaisie et fugue sur B.A.C.H. de Reger (1900).
Concert présenté en collaboration avec Réseaux des arts médiatiques

vendredi 3 octobre (Église Saint-Nom-de-Jésus), 20 h - 20$-25$ • Orgue en orbite
L’organiste Raymond Perrin et les membres du quintette de cuivres Buzz – Sylvain Lapointe et Frédéric Gagnon (trompettes) Marc-Antoine Corbeil (cor) Jason De Carufel et Sylvain Arseneau (trombones) – nous emmènent en voyage « interplanétaire » avec l’interprétation de la suite orchestrale Les planètes de Gustav Holst dans une transcription du compositeur montréalais Enrico O. Dastous où les cuivres et l’orgue résonneront avec éclat et splendeur. En première partie de programme : Fugue en sol mineur BWV 578 de Johann Sebastian Bach, Premier Choral en mi majeur de César Franck, Sextuor opus 335 de Michel Colombier, Fugue sur le Salve Regina de J-Antonio Thompson et Flourishes de Carlyle Sharpe.

vendredi 3 octobre (Église Saint-Nom-de-Jésus), 22 h 28 – 10$ • Banquet pour O
Un hommage original à Olivier Messiaen, soulignant son 100e anniversaire de naissance…
Le temps n’est plus, le temps s’étire et nous hypnotise avec cette ré-interprétation du Banquet céleste de Messiaen qui passe de 10 à 100 minutes ! Euphorie, émotion et envoûtement… une expérience à vivre avec l’organiste Patrick Wedd et un chœur muet qui marquera le passage du temps en allumant une chandelle à toutes les minutes, de 22 h 28 à 00 h 08. Une idée originale de Scott Tresham

samedi 4 octobre (Église Saint-Nom-de-Jésus), 20 h - 20$-25$ • Opéra vs Broadway : une rencontre au sommet
Les chanteurs Marie-Denise Pelletier, Patrick Olafson et trois chanteurs de l’Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, les sopranos Caroline Bleau et Marianne Lambert ainsi que le baryton-basse Stephen Hegedus, nous convient à un récital de grands airs d’opéra et de mélodies de célèbres comédies musicales, faisant ainsi se côtoyer certains des personnages de ces deux univers. Ils seront accompagnés par un quatuor à cordes placé sous la direction du violoniste Philippe Dunnigan, par l’organiste Régis Rousseau et par le pianiste Pierre Benoît qui réalisera également les arrangements.

Au programme : Berger/Plamondon, Le monde est stone (Starmania) // Bernstein, Tonight, Maria et Somewhere (West Side Story) // Bizet, Air du Toréador et Habañera (Carmen) // Catalani, Ebben? Ne andrò lontana (La Wally)
Delibes, Duo des fleurs et Air des clochettes (Lakmé) // Donizetti, Una furtive lagrima (L’Elisir d’amore) // Gershwin, Summertime (Porgy and Bess) // Lerner/Loewe, I could have danced all night (My Fair Lady) // Mozart, Non più andrai (Le Nozze di Figaro), Là ci darem la mano (Don Giovanni), Duo Papageno-Papagena (La Flûte enchantée) // Rodgers/Hammerstein, Some enchanted evening (South Pacific), The hills are alive (The Sound of Music) // Verdi, Addio des passato (La Traviata), Va, pensiero (Nabucco) // Webber, All I ask of you (Phantom of the Opera), Don’t cry for me Argentina (Evita).

dimanche 5 octobre (Église Saint Andrew & Saint Paul), 19 h 30 - 20$ • Symphonies de couleurs
Pour clore le festival et souligner la 1ère édition du nouveau Concours international d’orgue du Canada à Montréal (CIOC), un grand concert avec l’organiste américain James Higdon – membre du jury du CIOC – et l’Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières (cordes, trompette et percussions) sous la directi