Notes

Par/by Wah Keung Chan & Lucie Renaud / May 1, 2002

Version française...

On April 3, following a rather long selection process that had the whole city talking, the Opéra de Montréal finally announced the nomination of conductor Bernard Labadie to the position of Artistic Director. At his press presentation, Labadie addressed all possible concerns: his vision to introduce at least one different opera into the schedule, his goal to present standard repertoire in a different way, including working with some of the best local theatre directors as he had done at the Opéra de Québec, the presentation of at most two baroque operas per year, his desire to improve audiences through special outreach initiatives, and his aim to present outstanding singers nationally and internationally. Labadie's influence will not be felt until the 2003-2004 season. He promises to conduct two productions per year; he will also maintain his involvement with Les Violons du Roy. André Laurin, Chairman of the Board of Directors, hopes that the appointment "will allow the Opéra de Montréal to consolidate its position among the 15 most important opera houses in North America and to enhance its influence both in Canada and abroad." Bernard Labadie is the Opéra de Montréal's third Artistic Director, following Bernard Uzan (1989-2001) and Jean-Paul Jeannotte (1980-1988).

New principal conductor

Vancouver Opera announced last month the appointment of Jonathan Darlington as its Principal Conductor. He will take up his new duties in the 2002-2003 season and will make his debut as Principal Conductor at a gala concert in February 2003. By the terms of his engagement, Darlington will conduct two opera productions each season, as well as orchestral concerts.

Opera Weekend in Toronto

La Scena Musicale's fund-raising opera visit to Toronto on April 20-21 to experience the Canadian Opera Company's productions of Boris Godunov and Giulio Cesare was a success. The Sunday performance of Handel's opera was one of the most musically satisfying performances I can remember. Each aria and duet sung by the five principal soloists, Ewa Podles, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Daniel Taylor, Marie-Nicole Lemieux and Brian Asawa, was wonderful both vocally and musically. The performances of Giulio Cesare were recorded by the CBC and will be broadcast June 1 (CBC Radio Two) and November 16 (Radio-Canada). We would like to thank the COC and Voyages Sol'ex for their generous support.

Les chefs continuent de faire jaser...

Le chef d'orchestre Nurhan Arman, directeur de l'Orchestre symphonique du Nouveau-Brunswick et Sinfonia Toronto, s'est vu récemment confisquer sa baguette au moment où il montait à bord d'un avion qui le ramenait à Toronto. Dans son bagage à main, le chef d'orchestre a l'habitude d'emmener son ordinateur portable, de nombreuses partitions, et un tube en plastique jaune contenant sa baguette. La responsable de la sécurité a déclaré illico qu'il était hors de question, pour la sécurité des passagers, que la dite baguette voyage avec lui. Le chef d'orchestre, outré, aurait déclaré : « Les seules personnes que je pourrais "terroriser" avec une baguette sont les musiciens d'orchestre. »

SOS Competition

Most vocal competitions have an age limit of 32 or 33. Eighty-one-year old soprano and noted teacher Vera Scammon (her students have won over 60 Metropolitan Opera Competitions) launched the SOS (Supporting Our Singers) Fund in early 2000 to provide support for singers over age 32. The first competition held last year in Colorado presented prizes ranging from $500 to $8,000 to 14 singers. Heldentenor James King was among the judges. Applications for the 2002 competition, which will be held in October in collaboration with the Music Department of the Metropolitan State College of Denver, close August 1, 2002. Applicants must not have a professional agent at the time of application. For more information visit < www.verascammonsoscompetition.com >.

Top 5

The Centre Pierre-Péladeau (CPP) has just launched Top 5, a new teen program aimed at encouraging teenagers to participate in the arts. Top 5 allows teens to purchase tickets to shows at the CPP for $5; the program seems like a good complement to our own Bring a Teen program. For more information, visit http://www.Top5.com

Prix

James Ehnes vient de réussir un doublé en remportant cette année encore le Juno du meilleur album classique. Le prix récompense son interprétation des Concertos nos 1 et 3 de Max Bruch (sur étiquette CBC) enregistrée avec l'OSM sous la direction de Charles Dutoit. Le jeune violoniste était également en nomination pour son album Concert français (sur étiquette Analekta), enregistré avec l'Orchestre symphonique de Québec sous la direction de Yoav Talmi. Le ténor Ben Heppner a également remporté une statuette pour son enregistrement d'airs français.

Le 14^e Concours national des chorales d'amateurs de Radio-Canada s'est tenu à la mi-avril. Parmi les lauréats, mentionnons le St. Mary's Children's Choir qui a mérité le 1^er prix dans la catégorie chorales d'enfants, les University of Regina Chamber Singers (1^er prix chorales mixtes), Belle Canto (1 ^er prix voix de femmes), Chor Leoni (1^er prix voix d'hommes), Amabile Chamber Choir (1^er prix jeunes voix mixtes) et Newfoundland Symphony Youth Choir (1^er prix jeunes voix égales). Des prix ont également été remis pour la meilleure interprétation d'une oeuvre canadienne au Concerto Della Donna (enfants) et au Chor Leoni (adultes). Le Grand prix Healey-Willan du Conseil des Arts du Canada a été décerné au Newfoundland Symphony Youth Choir.

Bonnes nouvelles / Good news

Qui a dit que jeux vidéo et musique classique ne pouvaient pas faire bon ménage ? Certainement pas l'Orchestre symphonique de Vancouver qui vient d'enregistrer la trame sonore du nouveau jeu vidéo FIFA 2002, qui se retrouve sur ordinateurs et consoles de jeu vidéo ces jours-ci, juste à temps pour souligner la nouvelle édition de la Coupe du monde de soccer, qui se tiendra au Japon et en Corée. Le mariage ne devrait pas surprendre les amateurs anglais du ballon rond qui ont découvert le chanteur Russell Watson et les nouvelles coqueluches, Opera Babes, à la mi-temps de matchs prestigieux. N'oublions pas que la vague déferlante des « Trois Ténors » avait débuté lors de l'édition 1990 de la Coupe. Ils reprendront d'ailleurs du service le 27 juin, « pour une dernière fois », à l'Aréna de Yokohama, salle de concert qui peut accueillir 10 000 personnes.

From May 31 to June 22, the third Toronto International Choral Festival, entitled "Joy of Singing within the Noise of the World," will bring to Toronto amateur and professional choirs from three continents. The Festival's Education Outreach Program will connect the choirs to students across the Toronto area by way of workshops, open rehearsals, performances and Internet communications. There are two ways schools can "Adopt-a-Choir" (the name of the program). The "live adoption" will permit the schools to attend an open rehearsal of "their" choir, a workshop with the choir or a performance. Through the "virtual adoption," the schools may adopt a choir through the Joy of Singing website. This program will be available on the Web for one year.

Before returning to Montreal for their major annual concert on April 30 and May 1, the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (NEM) gave a series of concerts in Brussels and Lyons in March and were resident artists in New York April 8-12 at Music at the Anthology (MATA). This forum focused on the new generation of composers between the ages of 20 and 30 and featured 5 concerts with 25 composers from 6 countries.

Concours CD I Musici CD Contest

Gagnez des enregistrements de Yuli Turovsky sur Chandos. Une gracieuseté de Chandos et de SRI Canada. Win Yuli Turovsky CDs. Courtesy of Chandos and SRI Canada. www.scena.org

Errata – Due to problems in the production process

• The article "La Passion selon saint Mathieu" (April 2002) appeared with several grammatical errors and the key signatures should have read
• We apologize for the errors. The corrected text can be found on our web site, www.scena.org .
• In the March 2002 issue on Summer Camps, the entry for MidSummer Music by the Lake was printed twice with different information. The correct information is:

MidSummer Music by the Lake, 1332, Deerwood Trail, Oakville, ON L6M 2H4
(905) 333-3357, hamoline@cogeco.ca
Piano, vocal, instrumental (strings, brass, woodwind)
Ages 10-25, August 12-18, August 19-25
Cost: $400/session Scholarship: partial to full tuition
Deadline: June 30