November at the OSM
FRANZ-PAUL DECKER,
former music director of the OSM, conducts three concerts
Pianist MARC-ANDR HAMELIN
in Strauss's breathtaking Burleske
After a triumphant European tour,
MARIE-NICOLE LEMIEUX sings Mahler
The Beethoven cycle continues
with pianist TILL FELLNER and KENT NAGANO
OSM Standard Life Competition: voice, woodwinds and brass
Children's Corner
Montreal, October 15, 2008 Former OSM music director (1961 to 1967) Franz-Paul Decker will be revisiting the musicians of the Orchestra when he leads a program devoted exclusively to the works of Richard Strauss on November 4 and 6. These concerts will feature pianist Marc-Andr Hamelin, a special collaborator of the OSM for 20 years, in the highly virtuoso Burleske, a concerto work rarely performed.
On November 11 and 12, Maestro Decker will conduct well-known works by Johann Strauss father and son along with other great Viennese classics, resuming a much appreciated tradition of evenings dedicated to Viennese music.
The first shows in the Children's Corner series will take place on November 9 at 1:30 p.m. for the French-language version and at 3:30 p.m. for the bilingual version. Qubec actor Patrice Dubois, in the role of Octavio, will interact with OSM conductor in residence Jean-Franois Rivest, playing the captain. Soprano Kyra Folk-Farber as well as a chorus and musicians from Joseph-Franois Perrault High School will join the OSM for these exciting shows.
The celebrated contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux, who is enjoying an extremely active international career, will be singing Mahler's Rckert-Lieder on November 16, Mahler being a composer with whom she has often been associated. Also on the program: Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 and Escenas de pjaros, the work with which Barcelona composer Ramon Humet won the International Olivier Messiaen Prize at the OSM's 2007 composition competition as well as the 24th Queen Sofia Composition Prize in 2006.
On November 26 and 27, OSM music director Kent Nagano will lead the Orchestra and Austrian pianist Till Fellner in Beethoven's sublime Concerto No. 4.
Finally, the stages and activities of the 69th edition of the OSM Standard Life Competition, dedicated to voice, woodwinds and brass, are open to the public free of charge and will take place from November 26 to 30.
Information and reservations: 514 842-9951 or www.osm.ca
THE NOVEMBER CONCERTS:
November 4 and 6 at 8 p.m. (Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier) Grand Concerts: Decker and Strauss a historic meeting. Franz-Paul Decker, conductor; Marc-Andr Hamelin, pianist.
November 9 at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. (Thtre Maisonneuve) Children's Corner: Adventure at sea, The further travels of Octavio. Jean-Franois Rivest, conductor; Marie-Lou Dion, scriptwriter and director; Patrice Dubois, actor; Kyra Folk-Farber, soprano. At 1:00 and at 3:00 p.m.: meeting with musicians from Joseph-Franois Perrault High School.
November 11 at 8 p.m.(Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier) Air Canada Classical Escapes: Viennese Evening. Franz-Paul Decker, conductor; Ulrike Steinsky, soprano; Alois Haselbacher, tenor. At 7 p.m.: pre-concert discussion: Jean-Franois Rivest, OSM conductor in residence, presents the concert program.
November 12 at 10:30 a.m. (Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier) Symphonic Matinees: Viennese Evening. Franz-Paul Decker, conductor; Ulrike Steinsky, soprano; Alois Haselbacher, tenor.
November 16 at 2:30 p.m. (Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier) Musical Sundays: Marie-Nicole Lemieux Sings Mahler. Roberto Minczuk, conductor; Marie-Nicole Lemieux, contralto.
November 26 and 27 at 8 p.m.(Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier) Grand Concerts: Till Fellner and Beethoven's Fourth. Kent Nagano, conductor; Till Fellner, pianist.
November 26 to 29 (Tanna Schulich Hall, Schulich School of Music, McGill University) Semi-finals, finals and master classes of the OSM Standard Life Competition.
November 30 at 7 p.m. (Redpath Hall, McGill University) OSM Standard Life Competition chamber-music concert. Alain Trudel, trombone; Jens Lindemann, trumpet; James Campbell, clarinet; Andrew Wan, concertmaster with the OSM and Grand Prize winner at the OSM Standard Life Competition, 2007 edition.
Information on the month's concerts:
Grand Concerts:
Decker and Strauss: a historic meeting
German conductor Franz-Paul Decker has been a fervent champion of the works of his compatriot Richard Strauss, whom he had the honour of meeting in his youth. Music director of the OSM from 1967 to 1975, he took the Orchestra to new heights and new horizons, to among other places the Osaka World's Fair in 1970, the first of numerous trips the Orchestra would take to Japan.
The musicality and virtuosity of Canadian pianist Marc-Andr Hamelin have earned him legendary status as a piano master. Long renowned for his explorations of unfamiliar works, he is now recognized around the world for his dazzling technique and the originality of his interpretations of the classical repertoire. "For 20 years now," the pianist has said, "I've had the privilege of collaborating regularly with the OSM, which always gives me great pleasure. Furthermore, it seems to me that each time the pleasure only increases, and with the OSM, I always feel as though I'm at home." He will play Burleske, a work of formidable technical difficulty, considered unperformable by Strauss's contemporary the pianist and conductor Hans von Blow.
Grand Concerts
November 4 and 6 at 8 p.m.
Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Place des Arts
Franz-Paul Decker, conductor
Marc-Andr Hamelin, pianist
Richard Strauss Symphonia Domestica
Richard Strauss Burleske
Richard Strauss Suite from Der Rosenkavalier
Tickets from $24.75
Information and reservations: 514 842-9951 or www.osm.ca
Children's Corner:
Adventure at sea, The further travels of Octavio
Children and their parents are invited aboard the great musical vessel of the OSM, skillfully captained by Jean-Franois Rivest. In the traces of the indefatigable voyager Octavio, this time acting as navigator, they will sail the seas with the best crew of musicians going! On the program: all the world's oceans, famous ships, tropical fish, marine monsters, whales, sirens and piratesĶ A thrilling adventure by way of great works of the symphonic repertoire, original compositions and movie music.
Taking part in a show scripted and directed by Marie-Lou Dion are actor Patrice Dubois (interacting with the conductor), soprano Kyra Folk-Farber, the OSM and a girls chorus as well as musicians from Joseph-Franois Perrault High School, everyone under the direction of OSM conductor in residence Jean-Franois Rivest.
Before the shows, in the Thtre Maisonneuve lobbies, the audience is invited to meet some of the young students from the Joseph-Franois Perrault school, who will be presenting the instruments they play.
Following the success of The Enchanted Orchestra (a concert in the 2005 Children's Corner series nominated for "Best young-audience concert" at the Prix Opus) and A Trip Around the World (a concert in the OSM Youth Concerts and Children's Corner presented in 2007), Marie-Lou Dion is back to offer the OSM's young audience a new script, one that she is directing as well. Ms. Dion, who at one point was known mostly as an actress on the small screen, has devoted more of her time over the past 10 years or so to directing, writing for the stage and teaching acting.
Since he left theatre school in Saint-Hyacinthe in 1993, Patrice Dubois has been seen in about 20 stage works in various theatres in Qubec, and in 2007 he became artistic co-director at Thtre PP. On television he has played a number of roles in some 15 series. For more than five years he played the character Victor Dub in Les Poupes russes. He also appears on the series Les Surs Elliott. Patrice Dubois has additionally been involved in the dubbing of about 100 films, of cartoon and of television series.
Canadian soprano Kyra Folk-Farber has appeared at the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver, Jordan Hall in Boston, the Concertgebouw and the Ignatius Huis in Amsterdam and at the Snape Maltings Hall in England. She completed her bachelor's degree in vocal performance at Boston's New England Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Edward Zambara. She is currently doing doctoral studies in voice at the Universit de Montral with Rosemarie Landry and Catherine Svigny.
Children's Corner
November 9 at 1:30 p.m.: French-language show
November 9 at 3:30 p.m.: bilingual show
November 9 at 1:00 and 3:00 p.m.: get-together with musicians
Thtre Maisonneuve, Place des Arts
Jean-Franois Rivest, conductor
Marie-Lou Dion, scriptwriter and director
Patrice Dubois, actor
Kyra Folk-Farber, soprano
Orchestre symphonique de Montral
Girls choir from Joseph-Franois Perrault High School
Musicians from Joseph-Franois Perrault High School
Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov The Sea and Sindbad's Ship, from Scheherazade, symphonic suite, Opus 35 (excerpt)
Richard Strauss Also sprach Zarathoustra, symphonic poem, Opus 30 (excerpt)
Benjamain Britten Moonlight, Four Sea Interludes, from the opera Peter Grimes (excerpt)
Claude Debussy Jeux de vagues, from La Mer (excerpt)
Patrick Sobczak l'abordage, OSM commission
Claude Debussy Sirnes, from Nocturne (excerpt)
Jean Sibelius Tapiola, symphonic poem, Opus 112 (excerpt)
Dimitri Shostakovich Symphony No. 8 in C minor, Opus 65, "Adagio" (excerpt)
Bedrich Smetana The Moldau, from the symphonic cycle M Vlast (excerpt)
Claude Vivier Lonely Child (excerpt)
Bruno Coulais Caresse sur l'ocan, from the soundtrack to the movie Les Choristes (excerpt)
John Williams Prologue, from the soundtrack to the movie Hook (excerpt)
Individual tickets:
Children: $13.75
Adults: $27.50
Information and reservations: 514 842-9951 or www.osm.ca
Air Canada Classical Escapes:
Viennese Evening
(this program is reprised in the Symphonic Matinees series)
Vienna stirs up romantic images of fairy tales with sparkling chandeliers, dazzling ballrooms and beautiful elegant women, in an atmosphere of infectious gaiety and excitement. Vienna is also the city par excellence for music.
The Viennese evenings were among the most loved and best attended when Franz-Paul Decker was music director of the OSM. For a rare occasion the conductor revisits that universe and invites us to an evening of waltzes, polkas, marches and operetta arias. Musical tipsiness and surprises are in store.
At 7 p.m., at a pre-concert discussion, Jean-Franois Rivest, the OSM's conductor in residence, will present the concert program.
Air Canada Classical Escapes
November 11 at 8 p.m.
Symphonic Matinees
November 12 at 10:30 a.m.
Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Place des Arts
Franz-Paul Decker, conductor
Ulrike Steinsky, soprano
Alois Haselbacher, tenor
Johann Strauss II Tritsch-Tratsch Polka
Johann Strauss II Furioso Polka
Johann Strauss II On the Beautiful Blue Danube
Johann Strauss I Radetzky March
and other Viennese classics
Information and reservations: 514 842-9951 or www.osm.ca
Musical Sundays:
Marie-Nicole Lemieux sings Mahler
Marie-Nicole Lemieux is known for her dark, voluptuous voice, an ideal vehicle for the romantic vocal music of Gustav Mahler inspired by texts by the German poet and Orientalist Friedrich Rckert. Mahler composted four of the five songs while staying at Villa Mahler in the summer of 1901. The last song is a poem that Mahler set to music in July 1902 for his wife, Alma Mahler. That evening in her diary she noted: "It almost made me cry. What profundity there is in such a man! And how I am lacking in soul! I am often made aware of just how little I am and how little I possess in comparison with his incommensurable wealth!" At its premire, Mahler enjoyed one of his great successes. Wrote Paul Stefan: "We exulted with [Mahler], we shared, successively, his affliction, his childish moods, joyful or dreamy. We took pleasure in marveling at his knowledge and at his mastery of the small forms, as though at a magnificent flowering of beautiful poems."
This much anticipated concert will be under the direction of Brazilian conductor Roberto Minczuk, a protg of Kurt Masur, who is music director of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and artistic director of the Orquestra Sinfnica Brasileira in Rio de Janeiro.
Musical Sundays
November 16 at 2:30 p.m.
Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Place des Arts
Roberto Minczuk, conductor
Marie-Nicole Lemieux, contralto
Ramon Humet Escenas de pjaros
Gustav Mahler Rckert-Lieder
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4
Tickets from $24.75
Information and reservations: 514 842-9951 or www.osm.ca
Grand Concerts:
Till Fellner and Beethoven's Fourth
Alfred Brendel evoked the intelligence, the sensitivity, the curiosity and the vast esthetic appetite of his disciple Till Fellner, born in Vienna in 1972, winner of the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition in 1993 and one of the most interesting younger pianists on the international scene. He will be performing, under the direction of Kent Nagano, Beethoven's Fourth Concerto, a masterwork of the concerto literature devoid of all formal constraints and overflowing with lyricism and poetry. The piano seems to be in a perpetual state of grace and of improvisation here, supported by an orchestra of great richness. This concerto will appear on an upcoming recording by the OSM.
Kent Nagano will also conduct Bla Bartk's The Miraculous Mandarin, a forebear of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in its orchestration and rhythms, and two Nocturnes by Claude Debussy, both the Bartk and Debussy having been recorded by the OSM, the second honoured with a Juno Award in 1991. "The title Nocturnes is to be interpreted here in a general and, more particularly, in a decorative sense," noted Debussy. "Therefore, it is not meant to designate the usual form of the nocturne, but rather all the various impressions and the special effects of light that the word suggests."
Rounding off the program is Orchestral Theater 1: "Xun" by Tan Dun, author of the score to the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. "Theatrical and ritualistic," wrote Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times, "Tan Dun's music sculpts sound and transforms everything into a riveting experience that is hard to define but very easy to appreciate." In this work Tan Dun has written something that reflects his compositional concepts and his personal ideas. He evokes his childhood memories of shamanistic rituals and integrates them into the symphonic fabric. "Xun" is written for orchestra musicians and their voices.
Grand Concerts
November 26 and 27 at 8 p.m.
Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Place des Arts
Kent Nagano, conductor
Till Fellner, pianist
Claude Debussy Nocturnes 1 and 2
Tan Dun Orchestral Theater 1: "Xun"
Bla Bartk Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin
Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4
Tickets from $24.75
Information and reservations: 514 842-9951 or www.osm.ca
Non-series concerts:
OSM Standard Life Competition
and chamber-music concert
The 69th edition of the OSM Standard Life Competition, devoted to woodwinds, brass and voice, will take place from November 26 to 30, under the presidency of Mr. Jean lie. We must point out the presence of two great ladies of the vocal arts on the jury: Madam Renata Scotto (judge for the finals, voice category), soprano and teacher at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Italy, and Madam Franoise Pollet (judge for the semi-finals and finals, voice category), soprano and teacher at the Conservatoire national suprieur de musique et de danse in Lyon, France. Mr. Jean-Pierre Brossmann, former executive director of Thtre du Chtelet, in Paris, as well as Maestro Kent Nagano, music director of the OSM, will join the jury for the finals. Mr. Welz Kauffman, president and CEO of Chicago's Ravinia Festival, will act as chairman of the jury. Master classes will be offered by oboist Louise Pellerin, trumpeter Jens Lindemann and by singers Franoise Pollet and Renata Scotto.
The Competition will conclude with a chamber-music concert on November 30 at 7 p.m., featuring trombonist Alain Trudel, trumpeter Jens Lindemann, clarinetist James Campbell and violinist Andrew Wan, concertmaster with the OSM and Grand Prize winner at the OSM Standard Life Competition, 2007 edition.
All Competition activities are free of charge and open to the public.
Title sponsor of the competition: Standard Life; principal partner: Espace musique; major partner: Schulich School of Music, McGill University.
Non-series concerts
November 26 to 29: OSM Standard Life Competition
Tanna Schulich Hall, Schulich Music School, McGill University
November 25, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.: master class given by oboist Louise Pellerin
November 26, 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.: woodwinds semi-finals
November 26, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.: master class given by trumpeter Jens Lindemann
November 26, 8:00 to 10:00 p.m.: master class given by soprano Franoise Pollet
November 27, 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.: brass semi-finals
November 28, 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. voice semi-finals
November 28, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.: master class given by soprano and director Renata Scotto
November 29, 9:30 a.m. to noon: woodwind finals
November 29, 1:00 to 3:30 p.m.: brass finals
November 29, 4:00 to 6:30 p.m.: voice finals
November 29, 9:00 to 10:30 p.m.: awarding of prizes
November 30 at 7 p.m.: gala chamber-music concert
Redpath Hall, McGill University
Alain Trudel, trombone
Jens Lindemann, trumpet
James Campbell, clarinet
Andrew Wan, OSM concertmaster
Grand Prize Winner at the OSM Standard Life Competition, 2007 edition
Free admission, open to the public
The Orchestre symphonique de Montral is presented by Hydro-Qubec
in association with National Bank
