The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal announced an "Open Doors with Music", an open house to which the entire Montreal community and all visitors are invited, from Thursday to Saturday, September 8 to 10. OSM Music Director Kent Nagano devised this program in order to welcome the greatest possible number of people to participate in the celebrations surrounding the opening of the OSM's new home. The public will discover the diverse features of the hall during guided tours featuring performances by established and emerging pianists, a string orchestra, a contemporary ensemble, and Inuit throat singers, as well as various duos, trios and quartets from the 17 regions of Québec.
During the open house, the public will first visit an exhibit detailing the major stages of the hall's construction as well as its specific design points, then enjoy a guided tour leading to the lobbies and the auditorium, where a presentation of the hall's features will be given.Kent Nagano, who presented his vision of the open house on video, stated: "The City of Montreal will now have a new house of music, thereby joining other great cities whose presence, dynamics, history, and cultural tradition, define our international community. In this new focal point of our special city fellow citizens will find a lively meeting point, a beautiful architectural and acoustic setting which illuminates the exchange of inspiring ideas of all kinds. The OSM invites the public to come discover with us this remarkable new environment during open doors that will celebrate in music the rich cultural mosaic found in Quebec, with performances by musicians and ensembles coming from the entire province."
The 17 regions of Québec will be represented by the following artists: the Gaulin-Riverin piano and saxophone duo (Abitibi-Témiscamingue), the Saint-Germain string quartet (Lower Saint Lawrence), the contemporary music ensemble Erreur de type 27 (Capitale-Nationale), a Latin-jazz trio made up of Jean-Pierre Lambert, Daniel Bonin and Serge Durocher (Centre-du-Québec), a traditional music trio comprising Raynald Ouellet, Normand Legault and Benoît Legault (Chaudière-Appalaches), the Orchestre à cordes de Baie-Comeau under the direction of Martin Caron (North Shore), the pianist Tristan Longval-Gagné (Eastern Townships), a ragtime trio comprising Gabriel Bourque, Caroline Leblanc and David-Alexandre Brousseau (Gaspésies-Îles-de-la-Madeleine), a traditional music trio made up of Jean-François Gagnon-Branchaud, Réjean Brunet and Simon Beaudry (Lanaudière), the pianist Marie-Hélène Trempe (Laurentians), the vocal ensemble Qw4artz (Mauricie), the throat singers Evie Mark and Akinisie Sivuarapik (Nord-du-Québec), the guitar quartet from the Conservatoire de Gatineau (Outaouais), a flute and double bass duo comprising Joël Girard and Étienne Morissette (Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean), the violin and piano duo Brière-Richard (Laval) and the Ensemble vocal Polymnie under the direction of Louis Lavigueur (Montérégie).
Biographies of these artists are available at www.osm.ca.
OSM CONCERT REMINDER FOR THE INAUGURAL PERIOD
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (September 7, 9 and 10)Kent Nagano will then conduct Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with soprano Erin Wall (Canada), mezzo-soprano Mihoko Fujimura (Japan), tenor Simon O'Neill (New Zealand) and bass Mikhail Petrenko (Russia), while Toronto's Tafelmusik Chamber Choir will join forces with the OSM chorus.
A family concert in the Children's Corner series conducted by Kent Nagano (Sept. 11, 2:30 p.m.)Videos