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.

What is CAMMAC

Playing for the Dancing, a photo by susanvg on Flickr.
Photos: Week of July 1, 2013

I've written about CAMMAC before - my yearly trip to my Shangri-La - Early Music Week.

Music, nature, friendship, laughter, freedom from responsibilities... with people from different parts of Canada, the US (one woman drove all the way up from Kentucky) and even Europe. Classes and concerts move back and forth from French to English, but most of all to the language of music we all share.



Evening concerts by the staff are of the highest caliber. And the audience is probably one of the most appreciative - with avid Early Music buffs in every seat.



The teachers throw in a lot of fun at the concerts, without diminishing the high level of their performance. Here is a recorder quartet performing The Jogger by by Dick Koomans (after jogging in and doing a few stretches)



The week swirls by. It is always hard to go back to reality, to say goodby to the many CAMMAC friends who live in other places. I have very good friends I met at CAMMAC, including my spouse! And we are lucky enough to be able to continue playing music together all year round.

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You can read other posts I have written over the years about CAMMAC here

Montreal Baroque Festival

Harpsichord, a photo by susanvg on Flickr.

I spent the long weekend (here in Quebec June 24 is La Fête Nationale) at the Festival Montréal Baroque, now in its eleventh year. This is a special music festival with a different theme each year. This year's theme was New Worlds with concerts of South American baroque music, music representing the creation of the earth, complete with baroque dancers and circus performers, concerts by large groups and intimate concerts. Each year there is an incredible degree of creativity vis-a-vis the venue and the concerts themselves.



This year the festival also celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Société de la Flûte à Bec de Montréal. Each of the groups had an opportunity to play before the main concerts. In addition there was a marathon of the 143 pieces by van Eyck, a Dutch recorder player of the 17th century. He was blind and would play the popular melodies of his day and then improvise variations. These have been written down. I participated in the marathon, playing 2 pieces.



Some evenings go on long after the concert, with young  (and sometimes older) musicians sight-reading through music in the festival cafe. There is camaraderie between the professionals and the pre-professionals as well as with festival goers like me. We all feel part of the festival.

Here are some posts from previous festivals

2009 Susie,
2010 Flûte Alors!  Starting the Parade
2011 Festival Montréal Baroque
2012 Natural Trumpets, Horse Ballet

Belle Danse

Belle Danse, originally uploaded by susanvg.

A week full of concerts - what a delight. Tuesday's concert was presented by Ensemble Masques. They were joined by Les Jardins Choréographiques, a baroque dance group. It was an incredible evening of music from the time of Louis XIV, whose court was the venue of many grand spectacles incorporating music, dance, theatre and costume. In many ways it was where ballet started as dance masters were numerous and for the first time they notated the dance movements and gestures.

The dancers were delightful, costumes were sumptuous and the music was lovely. Altogether - a feast!