From The Editor

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Just as every September brings a new school year, it also marks the start of a new season of music and arts programming; live music and arts are alive and well.

September and the fall also augur renewal, and for La Scena Musicale a new level of maturity as we turn 18 and enter our 19^th publishing year with fresh vigour and new ideas and initiatives.

First, we are pleased to welcome back La Presse journalist Caroline Rodgers as co-editor-in-chief. Caroline signs the September cover story on Jean-Willy Kunz. This issue also features an extensive interview with Canadian heldentenor Ben Heppner, a continuation of our series on Quebec composers, a 14-page Fall Arts Preview supplement including a look at Canadian musicians abroad and our annual Guide to Fall Festivals. All year long, you can look forward to LSM’s regular features, including our extensive concert listings, important news in music and the arts, Jazz column, and CD reviews.

For our 19^th season, La Scena Musicale continues its schedule of seven issues (five bilingual regular editions and two national editions) plus an annual arts resource guide. More importantly, we are continuing our roots of creative and insightful articles, along with providing quality information on music and arts events. Distribution increases by 11% to 25,000 copies per regular issue.

In anticipation of Montreal’s 375th anniversary, in 2017, we will be launching a new section in our October issue, “Montreal Cultural Metropolis,” along with more colour pages.

Future initiatives include a reprogramming of our award-wining website SCENA.org, the LSM Mentorship Program, and the Next Great Art Song, in time for our 20^th anniversary.

In order for LSM to have a solid base of support to carry us to the next 18 years and beyond, we are launching a subscription campaign to add 1000 to 1500 new subscribers. New incentives include our translation supplement, exclusive to subscribers. We are offering a new, whiter paper version of the magazine for subscribers: this issue illustrates the difference, with 32 out of the 48 pages of the internal pages in a whiter paper (white factor of 80), while 16 pages are printed in greyer newsprint (white factor of 57). In partnership with Espace 21 Records, the Discovery CDs return as weekly downloads; that means 52 full-length CDs in the next 12 months. For September, the downloads include CDs of the great late Licia Albanese, Carlo Bergonzi and Lorin Maazel. For new subscribers, we are encouraging the live-concert outings with a $20 gift discount coupon ($40 for 2 years) for a concert ticket at one of our participating partners. (See ad on page 27). Finally, we are offering subscriptions as a fundraising tool; partnering high school music programs and amateur ensembles can keep up to 50% of the amounts raised. We hope you will help by subscribing.

Our 2014 Fundraising Fund campaign continues with our next Online Auction: items include a painting by the late composer Otto Joachim, and signed batons from Charles Dutoit, Fabien Gabel, Alain Trudel and Boris Brott. Visit www.lascena.ca.

Have a great fall music season!