For his 45at edition, the Festival de Lanaudière will combine national and international big names in orchestral music in a well -tried classical repertoire, including works by Beethoven, Mahler, Mozart, Bach and Ravel.
The Orchester symphonique de Montréal (OSM), the Orchester Métropolitain (OM) and Les Violons du Roy were among the prestigious ensembles that responded to this outdoor event to be held in Joliette from June 30 to August 7..
The first two nights were dedicated to OSM and its star guest, violinist Hilary Hahn. The new music director of the Montreal orchestra, Rafael Payare, will be the first to lead the Fifth Symphony by Mahler and two concertos by Prokofiev.
The next day, OSM will perform pieces by French Impressionist composers Ravel and Debussy, as well as Hungarian Bartók; a program grouped under a theme The fun of summer.
After its summer tour in South Korea, OSM will return to Lanaudière at the end of July to present the orchestral version of the ballet Daphnis and Chloeby Ravel, with the help of the Festival Choral Ensemble.
July 9 is a chance to hear two of Quebec’s most famous pianists, Charles-Richard Hamelin and Marc-André Hamelin (no family ties), who will be working together for the first time. The two musicians will perform Concerto for two pianos of Mozart, accompanied by Les Violons du Roy and their founding conductor Bernard Labadie.
OM and its conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin will ensure the closing of the festivities, with the first interpretation of the opera’s first act the valkyrieby Wagner, taken from his monumental tetralogy The Nibelung Ring. Three famous Wagnerian singers Christine Goerke, Brandon Jovanovich and Franz-Josef Selig, will star in this concert.
The festival will conclude with a piano performance by Quebecer Hélène Grimaud, in conjunction with OM, playing pieces by Mendelssohn and Schumann.
All of these events will take place at the outdoor Fernand-Lindsay amphitheater, which hosts fourteen Grand concerts this year, including Concerts in Brandenburg, by Bach, performed by the Canadian Brass Quintet; three Beethoven symphonies performed by the German orchestra Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin; ang bird catalog, by Messiaen, to be delivered by French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard in four blocks spread over 24 hours; and a pastoral ode by Handel, to be set to the music of the French ensemble Les Arts florissants.
The Festival de Lanaudière has recruited Benoît Brière this year to serve as speaker. I am honored to be an ambassador of this event that I love so muchsaid the actor in a press release.
The festival’s artistic director Renaud Loranger, meanwhile, wants to highlight the entertaining potential of classical music, which he says constitutes a refuge of mankind in these times of uncertainty.
The Festival is a call for rebirth through culture and beauty, for the rebirth of values of dignity and virtue through timeless art.argument of Mr. Loranger.
” If the difficulties our planet is going through upsets the balance of power and alters modes of perception, music remains an unshakable haven of authenticity. “
Tickets are currently on sale for the Festival de Lanaudière, which also offers 10 concerts in Lanaudoise churches, as well as the Hors les murs series, which focuses on emerging artists. (New window).
Source: Radio-Canada
