A Grateful Reminder

Two weeks ago I had the privilege of playing once again with Bande Montréal Baroque. This time Tage Alter Musik Regensburg. Our first performance there was the European première of Bruce Haynes' Nouveaux concerts Brandenbourgeois, which was received very well. Performing again with the ensemble brought back many memories and helped me understand a few feelings I've been having recently.
performing two concerts at the

Opera da Camera on Rockethub

Some of you may remember I wrote a bit on Opera da Camera last year. The quartet is busy preparing for their most ambitious project yet: Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, which will be performed at the Théatre Rialto on February 22, 23, and 24. All those details can be found here.

Part of their preparations have included a fundraising drive through Rockethub, a crowd-funding website similar to Kickstarter. In two weeks OdC has managed to raise $760 and they still have 61 days to go (as of today) to reach their goal of $3000. If you're looking for a great Christmas gift, why not donate to this great project? If you give enough, they'll even come perform a private concert for you!

Upon reflection sur la montagne

With the celebrations of the baroque and the sun which shone brightly over it now complete, our hemisphere has now begun to darken, though only slightly, day by day.

Always a display of the highest-quality, the Festival montréal baroque is never short of energetic, fun programming ideas. Over the past two years, I have been very fortunate to have been included as part of its own ensemble, la bande Montréal baroque. My work with them has demanded much from me, yet it is the most fulfilling work I have done.

Horsing around in Montreal

The Festival montréal baroque is celebrating its tenth anniversary this weekend with quite the program. Titled "Apocalypse", in line with the Mayan predictions, the festival lineup was inspired by the themes of revelation and transformation.

One of the main attractions this year is a reproduction of an equestrian ballet first performed in 1612. That's right, horses will be dancing.

The four horses (representing war, pestilence, famine, and death), along with four dancers from the baroque dance troupe Les Jardins chorégraphiques, will be accompanied by a 21-strong band of oboes, bassoons, sackbuts, cornets, fifes, drums, and trumpets as they dance in the open air.

This past Wednesday, the band got its first chance to run with the horses. Not a common gig, the rehearsal was quite the show in itself. With mosquitos flying, barn smells, dogs barking, and plenty of dust, if one were to have been driving by the farm a band of historical musicians would have been the least likely sight to expect to see.

The event looks to be quite the spectacle and I am told that it has been completely sold out for a while now. If you have a ticket, Good on You!

I saw the Angel in the Marble...

Pygmalion and Galatea by Jean-Léon Gérôme

New baroque opera company to present inaugural performance April 13 and 14, at the Rialto Theatre, Montreal.

...and carved until I set it free.


It seems Montreal is never short of enterprising artists. 

Next week, the Collectif Baroque Mont-Royal will present its first production, complete with baroque orchestra: Rameau's acte de ballet, Pygmalion. An ambitious undertaking for the two directors, David Menzies and Susan Toman, who have been chipping away since the summer; Pygmalion will be fully-staged and will be accompanied by its own baroque orchestra.

1729 Reasons to Watch Out for this Ensemble

If you are ever faced with a problem which you feel that, having reviewed all the data, you cannot solve, one might tell you that the answer could be staring right at you. To a certain extent we have all had that experience, for example, my most recent excursion around the house to find my glasses ended up in their discovery upon my nose. 

Ensemble 1729 (From left to right)
Estelí Gomez, soprano
Mark Edwards, harpsichord and organ
Vincent Lauzer, recorder
Joanna Marsden, traverso

Meet Ensemble 1729, a dynamic new group "forged in the fire of Mount-Royal," which focuses on presenting music of the baroque and galant. 

As students of McGill's Schulich School of Music, Joanna Marsen, traverso; Mark Edwards, harpsichord and organ; Vincent Lauzer, recorder; Kate Bennett Haynes, baroque cello; and Estelí Gomez, soprano; began sharing their love for music in 2009. Since then, their performances of thoughtfully-crafted programs have been heard across North America and Europe. 


"We think out our programs with a clear idea of who will be performing with us," says Joanna, whose deep investment in the group is clear from the instant I sat down with her, "once we know who is available, we find the music most suited to them [which fits with the theme of the program]." Though the group has a core of five members, 1729 has been performing this season with quite a variable instrumentation, from three to seven on stage in any given concert.

Agoraphobic? Try Opera da Camera!

Opera da Camera (from left to right)
Taylor White
Meagan Zantingh
 Kathrin Welte
 Benjamin Kwong

Though you and I may not realize it, operatic singers live an interesting dilemma. Their most fruitful work comes, of course, from playing a major role in an opera or appearing in front of an orchestra, interestingly enough but, once out of school, singers don't often get the chance to perform a blend of styles, both popular and classical, in recital. Four very talented graduates of McGill's Schulich School of Music have decided it's time for that to change.

Canada's only recorder quintet? Flute Alors!

photo by Pierre-Étienne Bergeron and Daniel-Jean Primeau
Flute Alors! (from left to right)
Marie-Laurence Primeau
Vincent Lauzer
Alexa Raine-Wright
Caroline Tremblay
Jean-Michel Leduc

Montreal, North America's most European city. A veritable oak of a city with a rich heritage and a deeply-rooted early music community supporting notable groups such as Arion, Ensemble Caprice, and Les Idees Heureuses. The city is also home to many prestigious music schools including Universite de Montreal, McGill University, Le Conservatoire de musique de Quebec a Montreal, and Concordia University.

A typical Saturday evening's choice of concerts include the Opera, the various orchestre (OSM, Arion, I Musici, Orchestre Metropolitaine, etc.), the universities' ensembles, and, occasionally, a bright group of recorder virtuosi named Flute Alors!

TBSI and Festival Montreal Baroque, part 2

Playing with Bande Montreal Baroque was an incredible experience for me. My first rehearsal was the pinch I needed to wake me from the dream-like daze I was in. Everyone around me in Susie's living room has been featured on at least one CD in my library - and I don't have a large collection - and were all ready to take on the new Brandenburgs. Although I had some time to look at the music while in Toronto, I was certainly not ready to pick up on the time-bending and extraordinary articulations so commonly found in the music of Susie and Eric, our director for the Brandenburgs. To everyone else these, what seemed to me, outlandish ideas were expected.

TBSI and Festival Montreal Baroque, part 1

Hello all,

Sorry to be gone for so long but I've been incredibly busy!

I've recently completed my third TBSI and am just finishing up two weeks at the Festival Montreal Baroque playing with la Bande Montreal Baroque before heading back to Ottawa in time for my birthday. It's been a very intense month musically and I'm very grateful for all of the lessons I've learned.