Editorial

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What better way to celebrate the summer in music than to fête the 70th birthday of Canadian composer Jacques Hétu, whose Fanfare for Lanaudiere (1989) greets every visitor to the Lanaudiere Festival. In Quebec classical music circles, this fanfare is as much a theme for music in the summer as Dolores Claman’s HNIC theme song is to hockey. René Champigny brings us an intimate portrait of Hétu (both the man and the compositions), whose love of nature is beautifully captured by photographer Mathieu Roy on the cover of this issue. Amazingly, even at 70, Hétu is as prolific as ever.

Music making is about collaboration, and there is something special when it’s a family affair. For the second time as professionals, pianist Alain Lefèvre and his younger brother, the violinist David, will team up in two concerts this summer, and LSM speaks with both brothers. Finally, we profile Armenian pianist Nareh Arghmanyan who took the Montreal International Music Competition by storm.

The July-August issue wouldn’t be a summer issue without our Summer Readings feature, which includes recommendations from author Yann Martel. We also introduce our Summer Listening feature, a roundup of inexpensive box sets.

This issue concludes our 12th full year of publishing, which saw the launch of our new multi-disciplinary arts magazine La SCENA, the only such title in Montreal. For 2008-2009, we will continue this publishing plan: 4 issues of La SCENA (including La Scena Musicale as an insert), 6 stand-alone issues of La Scena Musicale, two issues of The Music Scene Ontario to serve the Ontario market and our award-winning website SCENA.org. Watch out for our special Fall Arts Preview issue of La SCENA, which will be distributed on August 26, in time for the beginning of school; this issue (at least 84 pages) will be the largest and most comprehensive coverage of the Quebec Arts Scene. Preorder the issue now; and for arts groups, book your ads by August 14.

Have a great artistic summer.