Fifteenth Montreal Baroque Festival

Festival Montréal Baroque: June 22 - 25

A highlight of my year is always the Festival Montréal Baroque - a four day early music festival full of magnificent works, humour, new discoveries, friendship and surprises. This year's theme was the circus and it started with sheer delight - a parade through part of Old Montreal to the venue of the first concert: Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours. It was led by La Carmagnole, a circus band playing mainly Klezmer music and dressed as ravens. A raven "couple" danced along while two stilt walkers juggled and danced with people in the crowd.

It was extraordinary to watch the ravens dance - the female raven was a puppet, but behaved perfectly raven-like.



This raucous band was followed by a more serious concert: Monteverdi's Vespers led by Matthias Maute, one of the co-directors of the festival. Absolutely splendid.



Susie Napper, the founder of the festival has to be one of the most creative programmers. Relying heavily on local talent (Montreal has a large number of early music groups and performers) with a few people from outside she (and now along with Matthias) puts together an incredible array of concerts - about 15 over the course of the four days. There are also outdoor concerts, lectures, an exhibit area for instrument makers and other music related vendors... In addition she arranges with a local cafe to host the young musicians who play while festival performers and attendees can enjoy a bite to eat or a refreshing drink.



One concert featured some of the younger groups each along with a circus performer. All was choreographed - good music but also great fun and quite a spectacle as acrobats, a woman on silks, a man on a loose wire, a clown, each in turn amazed the audience.

This concert was dedicated to the memory of Nicolas Fortin, who died far too young. He had been the director of operations.



In addition to great music, it is always interesting to see the venues Susie discovers for the concerts. This year concerts were held in the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours, the crypt of the church, a couple of halls at UQAM (Université de Québec à Montréal), the Church of St. John the Evangelist, Musée d'art contemporain and at Notman House (former home of the Montreal photographer, William Notman).



This year included a keyboard festival - three concerts dedicated to early keyboard - harpsichord, clavichord and fortepiano. I heard this young musician who is studying in Amsterdam both in solo performance on clavichord and fortepiano and with his "page turner" who is actually a cellist.



From a moving concert by Red Owl to an opera that Bach might have written had he followed the route of Handel instead of being a church composer, the festival touches on every human emotion and always ends with a sense of joy.

Thank you, as always, Susie - and also to Matthias for a memorable few days.

Last Day of the Baroque Festival

Photos: June 26, 2016

I started my day with a concert by Paolo Pandolfo, who played his own arrangements for viola da gamba of two of Bach's cello suites. He plays with passion, taking risks, exploring the music. Even if you don't agree with all he did, it is hard not to be moved by his playing. I particularly liked the slow movements.




An early afternoon concert with Alkemia was  a delight. Gilles Cantagrel played Bach's brother with the four above playing four of Bach's children. They played and sang.



Then they were joined by "Papa" Bach, none other than Luc Beauséjour. The group even got the audience to sing two pieces in four part harmony. There were enough good singers there that those, like me, could find the notes and sing along.

The day was very hot. The Arts Building offered a little respite from the heat. My friends and I perched on the cool stone staircase waiting for the next concert. One advantage - we got to hear Lina Tur Bonet warm up for her concert as she checked out the acoustics.



More Bach for solo violin - quite a workout for the violinist!



The table was set for the final tea as we walked into Redpath Hall for the final tempestuous concert - three Bach cantatas.

The festival is the brainchild of Susie Napper, who for years was the sole artistic director. Now in its fourteenth year, the festival is direction is shared by her and Matthias Maute.



As is customary at the end of the festival, volunteers holding banners lead the musicians and audience out. We were treated to an instrumental rendition of the last chorale as we exited.



Thank you to all who organized (a special thanks to Susie Napper, Matthias Maute and Nicolas Fortin), who played and who participated in any way in the festival. It is always something I look forward to. But now.... I'm tired and can only imagine how you feel!

Saturday at the Baroque Festival

Photos: June 25, 2016

Another long day of concerts... We started the day in Redpath Museum, with a concert of nyckelharpa, a Scandinavian instrument. All the compositions were played by the composer, Jean-François Bélanger but were based on the Scandinavian style of music. The earliest references to this instrument date from the middle ages; images are found in artwork.



It is quite a complex instrument with strings that are bowed. The player presses on keys which then depress the strings allowing for changes in pitch much like a string player would depress a string with his/her finger. The sound is similar to a hurdy-gurdy which is in the same family of instruments.



Bélanger also had a tenorharpa (a lower pitch); it was easier to see the action of the keys on this instrument.



A concert by Vincent Lauzer was held in the Osler Library. It was definitely not baroque, though all the pieces by contemporary composers all by one of whom was in the room. Four of the six pieces were composed specifically for Vincent. It was a technical challenge for Vincent (but, as always, he was up to it) and an aural challenge for the audience who are more used to baroque sounds. He convinced me - I quite enjoyed the concert.



The head librarian of the Osler Library of the History of Medicine invited us to see the "old" part of the library, actually a recreation of the original Osler Library which was moved in the 1960's when the medical faculty moved to the McIntyre Building. It contains thousands of old volumes housed in beautiful wood cabinets. The ashes of Osler and his wife are also housed there so it is a mausoleum as well as a library.



It was back to the Redpath Museum and another concert under the dinosaur. I had not been in the museum since I was about ten, so it was fun to pass by items on my way up the stairs that triggered memories.



A concert of Spanish music from both baroque and renaissance times was pared to the essentials according to guitarist, David Jacques. Strip away the extraneous instruments and with just guitar and percussion you can hear the essence of this music. The museum was hot, perhaps fitting for music from Spain.



Ziya Tabassian, an extraordinary percussionist, uses all parts of his body to provide the rhythms and textures for the music.



This renaissance guitar, much smaller than a modern guitar and smaller than the baroque guitar can still fill a room with sound. It was hard to keep still to the Spanish rhythms with pulses changing from 3 beats to 2 beats. In my mind I could see dancers swaying, stamping, but with the dignity and elegance that Spanish dancers posses.



In the evening we were treated to a lot of dance, a co-production Le Nouvel Opéra  and the Abbaye royale de Saint-Riquier with choreography by Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière, above, and Mickaël Bouffard. It was based around the fictional widow of Jean-Féry Rebel and all the music was his, played on two harpshichords.



Lively dancing, a script done in old French making it harder for me to understand. There were some delightful moments.

Four concerts... I just couldn't do the fifth. After all there is more to come.

A Full Day at the Montreal Baroque Festival

Photos: June 24, 2016

The Montreal Baroque Festival got off to a delightful start on Thursday evening. The theme of this year's festival is Tempest in a Teapot or Tempête dans un Verre d'Eau. After each of the "Main Concerts" a taste of tea is served in a glass.



(Photo from June 23)

All concerts feature stormy titles and many notes! And many are in unusual spaces.



So many concerts, I had to pace myself. The festival is like a musical marathon - many concerts over a 3 1/2 day span in a great variety of venues. Pictured above is Sonate 1704 - a spectacular concert featuring the soprano Jacinthe Thibault, a singer I had not heard before. I was very impressed.

Spanish violinist, Lina Tur Bonet, is here for a series of three concerts featuring the solo violin sonatas and partitas. The acoustics in this part of Marché Bonsecours are surprisingly good. And the music - always of top quality.



Susie Napper, the founder of the festival now shares direction with Matthias Maute. Friday's concert at Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours featured Ensemble Caprice with a very interesting programme of a blend of Baroque music and Métis music.



 Ensemble Caprice was joined by the Métis Fiddler Quartet. The music was, at times lively, at times fluffy and at times very moving. We live in a time when we are finally valuing the history, philosophy and lives of the native people's of Canada. The Métis are a mix of aboriginal and European (mostly French) and their songs need to be shared and valued.



After the concert the music spilled into the street as the Métis Fiddler Quartet continued the music outdoors.



The day did not finish there...




The last concert of the evening was held in the crypt of the church - a dark and intimate setting. Ensemble La Chamaille and Autour de la Flûte joined forces to present sonatas by Boismortier for five flutes. It was a very mellow end to the day.



All the flutes were made by Boaz Berney, including the bass baroque flute which he, himself played.



The mouthpiece has to be curved as otherwise it would be too long for the player to reach the embouchure.

A very full day!

Festival Montréal Baroque

Looking back to the end of June... Festival Montréal Baroque.

A highlight of my year is always the Montreal Baroque Festival - a few days of frenzied concert-going with friends - friends from Toronto and friends of the many musicians who teach at CAMMAC. The directors, Susie Napper and Matthias Maute, always plan a wide array of interesting concerts.



From France - Ensemble Fuoco e Cenere, who treated us to a musical and alimentary feast - a concert full of humour and charm. 



And delectable morsels to sample after the concert.



Concerts held in unusual spaces - even early in the morning. This was a concert of medieval music, built around the themes found in Rabelais' novels.



Or music accompanied by painting according to theories proposed at the time of Telemann.




Concerts that feature bright, young talent along with more seasoned musicians...





Watching the masters and marvelling at the up and coming.



And then it was over -the magic dissolving for another year. This event always launches my summer.

Montreal Baroque Festival

A highlight of my year is the Montreal Baroque Festival. Until last year the artistic director was Susie Napper. Now she shares the job with Matthias Maute. I have finally learned that one can't get to every concert without being sleep deprived. In addition, the concerts start to blur. So this year I was a bit more judicious - not more than about 2 concerts per day over the four days of the festival. Add a few informal events and it was still a bit of sensory overload but great fun and wonderful music.



Outdoor concerts can be a challenge. This one by Passiflore was accompanied by sirens, car horns and a rally for a fundraiser that was happening down the street. I have heard this group in a more intimate setting without the microphones which were necessary here and it was a delightful experience. Despite the cacophony around them, they still managed to share some wonderful music and it was nice to see the passersby stop for a while to enjoy.



One evening a musical scategories game was played in a local cafe. Each round was followed by a musical interlude featuring one of the many early music ensembles from Montreal. Les Voix humaines, seen here, have been on the scene for a long time. Others are just starting out. There is so much talent and such a variety of groups. Montreal is a haven for those, like me, who enjoy early music. Susie Napper and Margaret Little are the core and founders of the group. They were joined by four other viola da gamba players for a concert of music by Lupo as part of the festival.




La Petite Harmonie (you can see the horn player from the photo at the top) consists of wind instruments. I'll be watching for their concerts. They also played in the orchestra for the final concert of the festival - Ensemble Caprice presented an all Beethoven evening with a piano concerto played by Tom Beghin (he also played a solo concert of Beethoven sonatas - I find his playing very moving) as well as Beethoven's Pastorale Symphonie. Beethoven is outside what is normally thought of as early music, but it was interesting to hear on the kind of instruments Beethoven would have composed for. Modern instruments have a different timbre.



I always enjoy hearing Flûte Alors! - all recorder players. Of course - I am a little biased, being a recorder player myself. These young musicians  form a wonderful quartet. Their ensemble playing is tight and beautifully in tune.

Concerts of high quality - mingling of audience and musicians, - the audience feels invested in the festival. May it continue for many years!