Kent Nagano dirige l'intégrale des quatre symphonies de Brahms au Festival de Knowlton

Kent Nagano et l'OSM dans l'intégrale des quatre symphonies de Brahms au Festival de Knowlton

Montréal et Knowlton, le 22 juillet 2009 – Maestro Kent Nagano, directeur musical de l'OSM et directeur artistique du Festival de Knowlton, dirigera l'OSM dans l'intégrale des quatre symphonies de Johannes Brahms lors de quatre concerts qui auront lieu à Knowlton les 7, 8, 13 et 16 août Ces concerts seront jumelés à des œuvres de musique vocale, interprétées par certains des artistes lyriques les plus en demande sur la scène internationale.

« Avec les quatre symphonies de Brahms, Kent Nagano, directeur artistique du Festival de Knowlton, lance le début des présentations symphoniques au festival », a expliqué Marco Genoni, directeur exécutif du Festival de Knowlton. « . Les spectateurs qui auront la chance d'assister aux quatre symphonies dans un contexte champêtre auront également l'occasion de voir et d'entendre de grands artistes lyriques de renommée internationale, parmi lesquels certains n'ont pas chanté au Québec depuis un long moment. »

Les concerts mettront en vedette les artistes suivants :

· Le 7 août, la mezzo-soprano Marie-Nicole Lemieux interprétera la Rhapsodie pour alto, chœur d'hommes et orchestre de Brahms et les Deux chants pour voix d'alto, dans lesquels dialoguent deux voix d'alto, l'une humaine et l'autre instrumentale (la partie d'alto sera assurée par Neal Gripp, alto solo de l'OSM).

· Le 8 août, le ténor héroïque Ben Heppner fera un retour des plus attendus au Québec dans six lieder de Richard Strauss, dont le sublime Morgen, cadeau de mariage du compositeur à sa femme Pauline.

· Le baryton Thomas Hampson se joindra à l'OSM le 13 août lors du troisième concert de cette série, dans trois lieder de Strauss rarement interprétés.

· Et finalement, le 16 août, lors du concert de clôture du Festival, les sopranos June Anderson, Sumi Jo et Susan Platts offriront des extraits du pétillant opéra Le Chevalier à la rose, de Richard Strauss. Ce concert, sera suivi d'un grand pique-nique champêtre avec Kent Nagano, les artistes et musiciens de l'OSM.

Les symphonies de Brahms, véritables monuments du genre, sont des œuvres de musique pure et doivent leur puissance au talent du compositeur à jouer avec le langage musical. Un univers vaste et glorieux attend donc l'auditeur prêt à consacrer quatre soirées à la musique orchestrale de Brahms. Que ce soit le combat héroïque de la Première Symphonie, la beauté idyllique de la Deuxième, la mélancolie automnale de la Troisième ou la majesté imposante de la Quatrième, ces chefs-d'œuvre sauront révéler toute leur splendeur.

Devant le remarquable succès remporté l'été dernier, le Festival de Knowlton devient une manifestation annuelle d'envergure internationale. Du 4 au 16 août, se succéderont concerts symphoniques, soirées d'airs d'opéra, présentation en version orchestrale de l'opéra Bel Canto La Sonnambula de Vincenzo Bellini, récitals, concerts de la relève, classes de maître pour jeunes chanteurs et activités d'initiation à la musique pour enfants.

Les biographies d'artistes, la programmation et les coordonnées de la billetterie sont disponibles sur le site du festival au www.festivaldeknowlton.com

Le Festival de Knowlton est présenté par la société Festival de musique de Knowlton inc. avec la participation de l'Orchestre symphonique de Montréal et avec la collaboration de l'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia de Rome. Le Festival s'appuie également sur l'apport important de plusieurs commanditaires et partenaires financiers dont Bombardier inc., BFL Canada, le Cabinet de relations publiques NATIONAL, le Mouvement des caisses Desjardins, Tourisme Québec, La Ville de Lac Brome, Swiss International Air Lines, Groupe StrataTech et Ultramar.

Cinq grands chefs d'orchestre au Festival de Knowlton

CINQ GRANDS CHEFS D'ORCHESTRE AU FESTIVAL DE KNOWLTON

Montréal, le 7 juillet 2009 – Du 4 au 16 août, cinq chefs d'orchestre parmi les plus renommés dirigeront au Festival de Knowlton : Kent Nagano, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Carlo Rizzari, Bernard Labadie et Massimiliano Muralli.

Kent Nagano y dirigera sept concerts. Directeur musical de l'Orchestre symphonique de Montréal et de l'Opéra d'état de Bavière à Munich, et directeur artistique du Festival de Knowlton, maestro Nagano dirigera l'OSM dans l'intégrale des quatre symphonies de Johannes Brahms, qui seront jumelées à des œuvres de musique vocale, interprétées par certains des artistes lyriques les plus en demande à travers le monde les 7, 8, 15 et 16 août. Il dirigera également l'Orchestre du Festival dans deux représentations en version concert de l'opéra La Sonnambula de Vincenzo Bellini, avec la soprano Sumi Jo dans le rôle-titre, les 9 et 15 août.

« Kent Nagano a déjà affirmé que la mise sur pied du Festival de Knowlton était un rêve qui se concrétisait. Ceci n'est pas une affirmation gratuite, de la part d'un musicien qui a déjà atteint les plus hauts sommets au cours de sa carrière », a affirmé Marco Genoni, directeur exécutif du Festival.

Le 4 août, Carlos Miguel Prieto dirigera le Youth Orchestra of the Americas dans un programme qui comprend notamment la Symphonie « du Nouveau Monde » de Dvořák. M. Prieto est considéré actuellement comme l'un des jeunes chefs les plus dynamiques. Il occupe simultanément quatre postes de directeur musical dans son Mexique natal ainsi qu'aux États-Unis.

Le chef d'orchestre italien Carlo Rizzari, actuellement assistant d'Antonio Pappano à l'Orchestre de l'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, mène une importante carrière. Élève du légendaire Carlo Maria Giulini, il fut finaliste du Concours international de direction d'orchestre Kirill Kondrashin. Il dirigera le concert Bel Canto du 10 août.

Un concert des Violons du Roy dirigés par leur chef Bernard Labadie, qui fera ses débuts au Metropolitan Opera de New York en septembre 2009 dans La Flûte enchantée de Mozart sera présenté le 11 août et mettra en lumière des pages de Handel – notamment son célèbre Water Music –, compositeur dont on célèbre cette année le 250^e anniversaire de décès.

Le directeur d'orchestre Massimiliano Muralli dirigera des chanteurs de la relève dans des extraits d'I Capuleti e I Montecchi de Bellini le 14 août. En tant que chef assistant à La Scala, à l'Opéra d'état bavarois de Munich et au Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, M. Muralli a travaillé avec des chefs salués dont Kent Nagano, Zubin Mehta et Riccardo Muti. Il a également collaboré avec le Philharmonique de Munich et l'Orchestre symphonique de la radio bavaroise.

Devant le remarquable succès remporté l'été dernier, le Festival de Knowlton devient manifestation annuelle d'envergure internationale. Du 4 au 16 août, se succéderont concerts symphoniques, soirées d'airs d'opéra, présentation en version concert de l'opéra Bel Canto La Sonnambula de Vincenzo Bellini, récitals, concerts de la relève, classes de maître pour jeunes chanteurs et activités d'initiation à la musique pour enfants.

Biographies d'artistes, programmation et billetterie au www.festivaldeknowlton.com

Le Festival de Knowlton est présenté par la société Festival de musique de Knowlton inc. avec la participation de l'Orchestre symphonique de Montréal et avec la collaboration de l'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia de Rome. Le Festival s'appuie également sur l'apport important de plusieurs commanditaires et partenaires financiers dont Bombardier inc., BFL Canada, le Cabinet de relations publiques NATIONAL, le Mouvement des caisses Desjardins, Tourisme Québec, La Ville de Lac Brome, Swiss International Air Lines, Groupe StrataTech et Ultramar.

OSM Concert in Santa Monica, California

Seven OSM musicians in concert

at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, California

under the direction of Kent Nagano

The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal is pleased to announce that the seven musicians in the Orchestra who took part in the tour to Nunavik in September 2008 will be presenting a new concert under the direction of Kent Nagano on Saturday, May 16. Marianne Dugal (violin), Jacques Lavallée (percussions), Brian Robinson (basse), Mathieu Harel (bassoon), Alain Desgagné (clarinet), James Box (trombone) and Paul Merkelo (trumpet) will be playing at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, California, in the company of throat singers Taqralik Partridge and Evie Mark. The Broad Stage, an intimate venue for 500 spectators inaugurated in 2005, is a one-of-a-kind setting for concerts, visual-art exhibits, dance recitals, stage works, chamber-music performances and poetry readings. The chairman of the board is Dustin Hoffman, a graduate of Santa Monica College.

The ensemble will revisit Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale. The text, presented this time in English, will be narrated by James Cromwell, who has latterly been seen in the films W (playing George Bush, Sr.) and The Queen (in the role of Prince Philip). The Devil will be played by Hattie Winston and the Soldier by Jordan Belfi. Directing duties have been assigned to William Friedkin, director of the movies The Exorcist, Cruising, Deal of the Century and To Live and Die in L.A., among others, and winner of an Oscar in 1971 for The French Connection. Alexina Louie’s Take the Dog Sled, a work commissioned for the musicians’ Far North tour, will also be performed. That piece, inspired by Inuit culture, is scored for seven musicians and two throat singers, Evie Mark and Taqralik Partridge. The program will be completed by the Bach Chaconne (performed by violinist Marianne Dugal) and Stockhausen’s In Freundschaft (for solo bassoon, performed by Mathieu Harel).

The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal is presented by Hydro-Québec

OSM / It's better with Orchestra! : Dress rehearsal open to the public

It's Better with Orchestra! : Dress rehearsal open to the public

Be the first to experience a unique encounter between the worlds of radio and classical music

Tickets at $30 / $15 for 15 to 30 year olds

In light of the strong demand for tickets to the concert It's Better with Orchestra!, the OSM is unusually opening its dress rehearsal to the general public. That rehearsal will be held on Sunday, March 22, 2009, at 10 a.m. in Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts. Under the direction of Maestro Kent Nagano, this will be the sole opportunity, for those who have been unable to obtain tickets for the concert itself (taking place that same afternoon), to hear the world premiere of the Concerto for radio host and orchestra.

Inspired by the radio program C'est bien meilleur le matin and its intimate and friendly formula, the work, commissioned by the OSM from composer Simon Leclerc (music of Dracula and of the movie Le dernier continent) will feature three big names from French-language radio: host René Homier-Roy along with journalists Catherine Perrin (entertainment) and Marc Laurendeau (press review) from the same program, which has aired on the Première Chaîne service of Radio-Canada since 1997. The three guest "soloists" will blend their voices with those of the instruments of the Orchestra in a dialogue, in music and words, on subjects of current interest.

"The first time Kent Nagano talked to me about the project I thought he was joking," confesses composer Simon Leclerc. "Mr. Nagano explained to me that he was fascinated by the virtuosity of the host and by the musicality that the show C'est bien meilleur le matin gave off. He wanted to transpose that world to an original work for symphony orchestra. After thinking about it for a few months, I suggested I compose a concerto for radio host and orchestra, a work inspired both by the concerto grosso and by the symphonic poem. He was excited by the idea." From current affairs to the performing arts by way of sports and the weather, Homier-Roy, Perrin and Laurendeau will guide listeners through a work in which instruments also have "something to say."

"Surprisingly," says host René Homier-Roy, "I never thought it was a joke. The Maestro's extreme intensity when he was making those strange remarks — that what we were doing was something like music, that the rhythm of the show had a musicality of its own, and likewise our voices — his seriousness and the sparkle I saw in his eye led me to believe, right away, that this crazy idea he had in his head was infinitely interesting. And it turns out I was right..."

The stage at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier will be set up like a radio studio with microphones and the traditional half-moon desk, helping bring to life the complete experience of a radio morning show for music lovers. The ninety-minute program will begin with the outstanding violinist Viviane Hagner in a performance of the Beethoven Violin Concerto, a composition both spiritual and intense. Rounding off the program will be Ottorino Respighi's remarkable symphonic poem The Pines of Rome, one of the OSM's biggest hits on disc.

Tickets for this dress rehearsal in the Musical Sundays series are available now at a cost of $30. A new feature this year at the OSM: those between the ages of fifteen and thirty can attend all concerts in the regular-season programming for only $15 per concert. To get your tickets and not miss out on this very special rendezvous, contact the box office at (514) 842-9951 or visit our website at www.osm.ca.

Art & Fine Lliving with Jona Partners with OSM Bloch Concert March 30-31

Art & Fine Living with Jona Partners Nagano OSM in Bloch's Avodath Hakodesh 

By Jona Rapoport
Jona Rapoport Artist Management/Radio Host
February 16, 2009


The Montreal Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kent Nagano, will perform Ernest Bloch's magnificent oratorio, Avodath Hakodesh (Sacred Service), on March 30th and 31st at Salle Wilfrid Pelletier of Place des Arts in Montreal.

This rarely performed work of soaring beauty and subdued lyricism brings together world-famous baritone Dwayne Croft, narrator Sherill Milnes and the OSM Chorus for an exceptional celebration of Jewish liturgy.Brahms Second Piano Concerto is also on the program, with Yefim Bronfman a soloist.

Jona Rapoport is honoured to partner with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra for this presentation. Her radio show, Art & Fine Living with Jona, is currently the media partner of The Centaur Theatre Company and The Opera de Montreal.

The concert will receive extensive coverage on Jona Rapoport's radio show throughout the months of February and March.

Don't miss this extraordinary event – call 514-842-9951 or visit www.osm.ca for tickets and information.

Find Art & Fine Living with Jona on www.radio-shalom.ca.

Art & Fine Living with Jona Partners with OSM Bloch Concert March 30-31

Art & Fine Living with Jona Partners Nagano OSM in Bloch's Avodath Hakodesh

By Jona Rapoport
Jona Rapoport Artist Management/Radio Host


The Montreal Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kent Nagano, will perform Ernest Bloch's magnificent oratorio, Avodath Hakodesh (Sacred Service), on March 30th and 31st at Salle Wilfrid Pelletier of Place des Arts in Montreal.

This rarely performed work of soaring beauty and subdued lyricism brings together world-famous baritone Dwayne Croft, narrator Sherill Milnes and the OSM Chorus for an exceptional celebration of Jewish liturgy.Brahms Second Piano Concerto is also on the program, with Yefim Bronfman a soloist.

Jona Rapoport is honoured to partner with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra for this presentation. Her radio show, Art & Fine Living with Jona, is currently the media partner of The Centaur Theatre Company and The Opera de Montreal.

The concert will receive extensive coverage on Jona Rapoport's radio show throughout the months of February and March.

Don't miss this extraordinary event – call 514-842-9951 or visit www.osm.ca for tickets and information.

Find Art & Fine Living with Jona on www.radio-shalom.ca.

Mari Kodama, DSO-Berlin, Kent Nagano - Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2

Beethoven

Piano Concerto Nos. 1 & 2

AN 2 9955

Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

Kent Nagano, honorary conductor

Mari Kodama, pianist

Release date: January 27, 2009

Montreal, January 27, 2009 ― Kent Nagano, Music Director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and General Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich since 2006, conducts once more the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, an orchestra he knows well as he was its Artistic Director from 2000 to 2006, and pianist Mari Kodama in a recording devoted to Ludwig van Beethoven's first two piano concertos.

In November 1792, shortly before his 22nd birthday, Ludwig van Beethoven moved to Vienna. Among the compositions which he took from Bonn was a Piano Concerto in B-flat major–the Concerto No. 2–, a work with which he introduced himself to the musical public. Even after the successful first performance Beethoven made changes on at least three occasions. In no other work by Beethoven can we trace so clearly the various stages of its musical development.

Chronologically, Beethoven's First Piano Concerto was his second. It already contains what was later to characterize the concertos and symphonies of the classical Viennese composer: intensive thematic work, subliminal links between the movements, but above all the principle of contrast between the various planes of the composition. In a sense, these two concertos serve as translation of the sound of the times, beneath a European horizon.

Pianist Mari Kodama has established an international reputation for her musical sensitivity and outstanding virtuosity. In performances throughout Europe, the USA and Japan, she has consistently proven the profound aesthetics of her very personal and unique style. Recent concert highlights include Beethoven concerto performances with orchestras in Berlin, Montreal, Baden-Baden, Bad Kissingen, Singapore and Osnabrück, and in appearances at the Schleswig-Holstein and Bad Kissingen Festivals.

Kent Nagano has established a reputation as a gifted interpreter of both the operatic and symphonic repertoire. He was Music Director of the Opéra National de Lyon, Music Director of the Hallé Orchestra and Associate Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. In 2003, Kent Nagano became the first Music Director of Los Angeles Opera. A very important period in his career was his time as Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin from 2000-2006 after which he was then given the title Honorary Conductor.

www.analekta.com http://www.dso-berlin.de

OSM / January at the OSM

KENT NAGANO in Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring Bach’s Mass in B Minor presented in collaboration with Tafelmusik The world’s great concert halls: a program paying tribute to the OSM on tour

January at the OSM

OSM Standard Life Competition: prize-winners’ concert

Montreal, January 5, 2009 – The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal is launching the new year with seven concerts in January 2009. Music director Kent Nagano rejoins the OSM musicians for two exceptional programs. The first features a pair of masterworks of the early 20th century, The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky and The Song of the Earth by Gustav Mahler. Like a cubist painting by Picasso, the Rite proposes a new conception of musical time, which becomes a multifaceted mosaic. The Song of the Earth, meanwhile, inspired by a collection of Chinese poems rewritten by Mahler himself, remains one of the most sublime examples of music ever imagined.

Kent Nagano will also be conducting the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir, specialists in the music of Bach, who will be joined by some musicians from the OSM in the Cantor of Leipzig’s majestic Mass in B Minor, a monument of the sacred choral repertoire. A unique musical event in Montreal, the Mass is being given at the OSM for the first time in over 20 years.

The excellence of the OSM has been confirmed in a dazzling way in the course of some 40 national and international tours, during which the Orchestra has had the privilege of playing in several of the mythical concert halls of the world. These include Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Royal Festival Hall in London and Suntory Hall in Tokyo. The musicians, under the direction of conductor in residence Jean-François Rivest, will be revisiting some of the works performed in those halls.

Over the years, the OSM Standard Life Competition has become a compulsory stage for many young musicians, not only from Montreal but from across Canada, an indispensable springboard as they aspire to a musical career. The 69th edition, devoted to voice and to winds, was held this past November, and the two winners who tied for the Grand Prize, Hubert Tanguay-Labrosse and Keith Dyrda, will be the guest soloists for the first concert of 2009, under the direction of Mark Wigglesworth. Hearing them will help listeners understand just why they so unambiguously bowled over the members of the prestigious jury.

Information and reservations: 514 842-9951 or www.osm.ca

THE JANUARY CONCERTS:

January 11 at 2:30 p.m. (Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier) Musical Sundays: OSM Standard Life Competition. Mark Wigglesworth, conductor; Hubert Tanguay-Labrosse, clarinetist and Keith Dyrda, trombonist.

January 13 and 14 at 8 p.m. (Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier) Grand Concerts: The Rite of Spring with Kent Nagano. Kent Nagano, conductor; Christian Gerhaher, baritone; Stuart Skelton, tenor.

January 16 at 8 p.m. and January 18 at 2:30 p.m. (Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier) Panasonic Signature Performances: Bach’s Mass in B Minor. Kent Nagano, conductor; Sibylla Rubens, soprano; Renata Pokupic, mezzo-soprano; Christoph Genz, tenor; Detlef Roth, bass; Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra & Chamber Choir.

January 20 at 8 p.m. (Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier) Air Canada Classical Escapes: The World’s Great Concert Halls: The OSM on Tour. Jean-François Rivest, conductor; Hélène Guilmette, soprano; Brian Manker, OSM principal cello.

January 21 at 10:30 a.m. (Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier) Symphonic Matinees: The World’s Great Concert Halls: The OSM on Tour. Jean-François Rivest, conductor; Hélène Guilmette, soprano; Brian Manker, OSM principal cello.

Information on the month’s concerts:

Musical Sundays:

OSM Standard Life Competition

Two grand prizes were awarded at the 69th edition of the OSM Standard Life Competition, which took place last November. “Exceptionally, given the remarkable level of the two first prizes in the woodwinds and brass categories, the jury decided unanimously to award two OSM Standard Life Grand Prizes,” Mr. Welz Kauffman, chairman of the jury, explained at the time. We will therefore be hearing Keith Dyrda, a bass trombonist born in Manitoba in 1981, in the Concerto by Henri Tomasi, composed in 1956, a work featuring an especially refined orchestration and brimming with rhythmic energy; while clarinetist Hubert Tanguay-Labrosse, born in Québec in 1989, will be performing Carl Maria von Weber’s Concerto No. 1, which wonderfully exploits the expressive powers of the clarinet and abounds with brilliant use of tone coloration, especially in the instrument’s low and middle registers.

The concert will take place under the direction of British conductor Mark Wigglesworth, winner of the Kondrashin International Conducting Competition in 1989, a guest of the great European and American orchestras, and who led the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the closing ceremonies of the 2000 Olympic Games. In the second part of the program he will conduct Sergei Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 2, a work of subtle architecture and of exemplary mastery and maturity. The author Michel-R. Hofmann describes it admirably in these terms: “All the poetic intensity of a beautiful Russian landscape, with its tall white birches, its serene, almost smiling melancholy, its distant hues of blue, can be heard to sing in it . . . against a tranquil and rippling background of strings.”

A Yamaha pre-concert will be presented in the Piano Nobile by Marie-Josée Simard at 1:30 p.m. Recognized as an outstanding performer on percussion instruments, she has been heard in numerous concerts in Canada, Mexico, Paris, New York, and in Poland and Belgium as well as on tour in China and Korea, and has been forging a reputation for excellence on the national and international scene for 25 years. She will be heard in Wind and the Bamboo Grove for marimba by Keiko Abe, Élan for vibraphone by Francois Bourassa, and Marshmallow for marimba by David Freedman.

Musical Sundays

January 11 at 2:30 p.m.

Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Place des Arts

Mark Wigglesworth, conductor

Hubert Tanguay-Labrosse, clarinetist

Keith Dyrda, trombonist

Carl Maria von Weber Clarinet Concerto No. 1

Henri Tomasi Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra

Sergei Rachmaninov Symphony No. 2

1:30 to 2 p.m.: Yamaha Pre-concert with Marie-Josée Simard.

Tickets starting at $24.75

Information and reservations: 514 842-9951 or www.osm.ca

Grand Concerts:

The Rite of Spring with Kent Nagano

This program, under the direction of music director Kent Nagano, tackles two masterpieces written at almost the same time, but with fundamentally different esthetics. The Rite of Spring constitutes one of the pillars of musical modernism. As was the case with Petrushka, The Rite of Spring was born of a vision that came to Stravinsky in 1910. He wrote in his autobiography, Chroniques de ma vie: “I had a glimpse in my imagination of the spectacle of a great pagan rite: wise elders, sitting in a circle and observing a young girl dance herself to death, a girl they are sacrificing to the god of spring to earn his benevolence. This was the theme of The Rite of Spring.” The ballet is divided into two tableaux: Adoration of the Earth (sacred dances progressively transform into savage trances that end in combat between rival tribes who carry the young girls off), and The Sacrifice (one of the girls must be sacrificed to the Earth, and dies after a frenetic dance). It will be recalled that the OSM won a Félix award for record of the year in 1985 for its recording of this work.

In the second part of the concert, Kent Nagano will conduct Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth), the penultimate work finished by Gustav Mahler. This “symphony with voices” marks, for its composer, a return to life after a series of severely testing experiences. In 1907, in the space of three months, he was forced to resign his post at the Vienna Court Opera, to which he had dedicated 10 years of his life; he lost his older daughter, Maria Anna (“Putzi”), who was only four; and he was diagnosed with a grave heart defect. The themes dealt with are therefore of a poignant humanity: the difficulty of the human lot, man’s essential needs, consolation. Made up of six lieder with orchestra, sung alternatively by tenor and baritone voices, the work is a poem of the human condition, of detachment from appearances to unite with the eternity of the Earth.

Baritone Christian Gerhaher has collaborated in his career with the likes of Helmuth Rilling and the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Sir Neville Marriner, Philippe Herreweghe, Heinz Holliger and Trevor Pinnock. His last disc was named best vocal recording by Gramophone magazine in 2006. Australian tenor Stuart Skelton, a member of the Metropolitan Opera and the Bayerische Staatsoper, will sing in place of Edgaras Montvidas who was originally announced.

Grand Concerts

January 13 and 14 at 8 p.m.

Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Place des Arts

Kent Nagano, conductor

Christian Gerhaher, baritone

Stuart Skelton, tenor

Igor Stravinsky The Rite of Spring

Gustav Mahler Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth)

Pre-concert discussion at 7 p.m.: Catherine Mercier interviews musicologist Guy Marchand.

Tickets starting at $24.75

Information and reservations: 514 842-9951 or www.osm.ca

Panasonic Signature Performances:

Bach’s Mass in B Minor

Bach’s Mass in B Minor, one of the monuments of the sacred choral repertoire, is a profoundly expressive and humanistic profession of faith and a touching appeal for mercy. Some musicologists (Gilles Cantagrel, in particular) have noted the ecumenical aspect of the work, Catholic in form and Lutheran in spirit. The fact that Bach, a Lutheran, conceivably dedicated the work to the Elector of Saxony, who was in the process of converting to Catholicism, may partially account for this. The score was not published until 1833, decades after Bach’s death, and the composer therefore never heard a complete version performed. The premiere seems to have taken place in Leipzig in 1859. Musically speaking, what is to be found in the mass is mastery of the horizontal dimension of counterpoint and the vertical dimension of harmonization of the basso continuo.

Kent Nagano will be conducting the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir, specialists of this repertoire. The soloists will be German soprano Sybilla Rubens, who has recorded Bach cantatas as well as the St. Matthew Passion, and who was heard with the OSM in last season’s Christmas Oratorio; Croatian mezzo-soprano Renata Pokupic, who sang the Mass in B Minor in 2004 at the BBC Proms with Sir John Eliot Gardiner before undertaking a tour with him; German tenor Christoph Genz, first prize at Leipzig’s Bach Competition and at England’s Grimsby International Singers Competition and who has recorded the St. John Passion with Ludwig Güttler as well as Bach cantatas with Sir John Eliot Gardiner; and German bass Detlef Roth, who sang in Bach’s St. John Passion with the OSM in 2006 and in the Christmas Oratorio last season.

Panasonic Signature Performances

January 16 at 8 p.m. and January 18 at 2:30 p.m.

Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Place des Arts

Kent Nagano, conductor

Sibylla Rubens, soprano

Renata Pokupic, mezzo-soprano

Christoph Genz, tenor

Detlef Roth, bass

Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir

Johann Sebastian Bach Mass in B Minor

Pre-concert discussion at 7 p.m. on January 16 and at 1:30 p.m. on January 18. Kelly Rice welcomes musicologist Guy Marchand.

Tickets starting at $24.75

Information and reservations: 514 842-9951 or www.osm.ca

Air Canada Classical Escapes:

The World’s Great Concert Halls: The OSM on Tour

The period of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal’s great international tours began in April 1962, when the OSM traveled to Europe for the first time, under the direction of conductors Zubin Mehta and Jacques Beaudry, with stops in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Vienna and Paris. The first visit of a Canadian orchestra to the old world, the tour was the result of lengthy negotiations. Audience excitement was especially intense in Russia, where the Orchestra filled every hall, including the 6,000-seat Kremlin Palace. Since then, the OSM has had the opportunity of being heard all over Canada, in Europe, the United States, South America, Asia, and in the Canary Islands. This program offers a reinterpretation of some of the works performed on tour – such as the Mother Goose Suite by Maurice Ravel, the Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun by Claude Debussy and the symphonic poem Don Juan by Richard Strauss – or certain scores associated with a city visited by the Orchestra: Saint Petersburg (at the time Leningrad) with the Variations on a Rococo Theme by Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, Leipzig (a city associated with the genius of Bach) or Vienna (which saw the premiere of several Mozart operas).

Air Canada Classical Escapes

January 20 at 8 p.m.

Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier de la Place des Arts

Jean-François Rivest, conductor

Hélène Guilmette, soprano

Brian Manker, OSM principal cello

Maurice Ravel Mother Goose Suite

Johann Sebastian Bach Cantata BWV 21, “Seufzer, Tränen, Kummer, Not”

Johann Sebastian Bach Cantata BWV 211, “Heute Noch”

Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky Variations on a Rococo Theme

Claude Debussy Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Nozze di Figaro, “Deh vieni, non tardar”

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Recitative and concert aria “A Berenice… Sol nascente in questo giorno,” K. 70/61c

Richard Strauss Don Juan

Tickets starting at $24.75

Information and reservations: 514 842-9951 or www.osm.ca

Symphonic Matinees:

The World’s Great Concert Halls: The OSM on Tour

A repeat of the program of the day before, minus one of the Bach cantatas and Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun.

Air Canada Classical Escapes

January 21 at 10:30 a.m.

Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Place des Arts

Jean-François Rivest, conductor

Hélène Guilmette, soprano

Brian Manker, OSM principal cello

Maurice Ravel Mother Goose Suite

Johann Sebastian Bach Cantata BWV 211, “Heute Noch”

Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky Variations on a Rococo Theme

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Nozze di Figaro, “Deh vieni, non tardar”

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Recitative and concert aria “A Berenice… Sol nascente in questo giorno,” K. 70/61c

Richard Strauss Don Juan

Tickets starting at $24.75

Information and reservations: 514 842-9951 or www.osm.ca

The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal is presented by Hydro-Québec

in association with National Bank