Music in the News news

Le jeune baryton-basse canadien Philippe Sly fait ses débuts scéniques en Europe à Paris, sur la scène de l'Opéra Comique, dans Au Monde. Nous le rencontrons pendant les répétitions de l'opéra de Philippe Boesmans pour recueillir ses impressions, parler de sa voix, de ses expériences déjà riches et multiples et de son implication entière dans la musique et le chant. Lisez l'entrevue ici.

As part of the Montréal en Lumière Winter Festival, internationally renowned pianist Dénes Várjon was invited to perform a solo recital at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music. Currently a professor at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, Várjon’s program was fit for a conservatory, a sort of chronological overview of the literature with Classical and Romantic standards, a piece from the warhorse cabinet and a touch of modernist flare. The evening was a display of varying styles and challenges that demonstrated Várjon’s adaptability and dexterity.

Geoffrey Conquer, student of Marina Mdivani and Zhenni Li, student of Stéphane Lemelin, were declared joint winners of the Schulich Concerto Competition, piano.  Conquer, who performed the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor and Li who performed the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, will both play with the McGill Symphony Orchestra in the 2015-2016 season. 

The String Area Winner of the McGill concerto competition is violist Marina Thibault, a student of André Roy.  In the competition she performed the Schnittke Viola Concerto. The other finalists were Veronika Cherniak, student of Andrew Wan; Elizabeth Skinner, student of Axel Strauss; Maïthéna Thibault, student of Andrew Wan.  Congratulations to all who participated.

The Schulich School of Music is delighted to announce the appointment of internationally-renowned violist Steven Dann as Catherine Thornhill Steele Chair in Viola starting September 2015, for a period of three years. Steven Dann's career has covered a wealth of violistic possibilities. As principal viola of some of the world's leading orchestras, as a veteran of the string quartet and chamber music world, as soloist and recitalist and as a dedicated teacher.

The Composition Area of the Schulich School of Music is pleased to announce that one of its former students, Thierry Tidrow (BMus, Honours Composition and Major Music Theory, 2009) is the recipient of the 2014 Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music. During his bachelor's program, Mr. Tidrow studied composition with Professors Christoph Neidhöfer and Brian Cherney. An interview with Thierry Tidrow about his winning work may be found on the website of the Canada Council for the Arts (see sidebar)

Professor Richard King received two Grammy awards this past weekend in the categories of Best Contemporary Instrumental Album ("Bass & Mandolin"  Chris Thile & Edgar Meyer) and Best Orchestral Performance (John Adams: "City Noir"  David Robertson, conductor, St. Louis Symphony)  both on the Nonesuch label.  With these two latest awards, Prof. King now has a total of 14 Grammy awards. 

Chair of Music Performance Stéphane Lemein has recently released a CD of piano quintets with the Quatuor Arthur-Leblanc. Read more from Le Devoir critique Christophe Huss's February 6th review in which he describes the recording  as 'intelligently programmed- a real jewel.'  (Full review in French)  Quintettes avec piano de Pierné et Vierne ATMA ACD2 2384 Quatuor Arthur-Leblanc, Stéphane Lemelin (piano).  

Risk produced  an archival CD for a community in the Gaspé, and the prize recognizes the remarkable docmentation or research in a field connected to dance, music, song, and traditional Francophone storytelling within the Americas.    The CD was the result of extensive research into the musical traditions of the Gaspé community.  Laura Risk and her collaborator Glen Patterson first digitized and catalogued over 70 hours of recordings and then selected the 46 tracks that are found on the recording.  The CD is accompanied by a bilingual booklet which also contains photographs.   

Nominations for Canada's top music prize, the Junos, were announced last week.  Schulich and McGill grads & faculty factor into 22 nominations:

A valued member of the Schulich School of Music since 2007, Professor Mark Fewer was recently named a William Dawson Scholar, an award which recognizes a faculty member's outstanding and original contributions as well as their world-class caliber. Fewer is a highly-regarded soloist and chamber musician, whose performances of both classical and jazz have been described as “genre-bending”. He has appeared widely in North America and also abroad throughout Europe, Australia, and the Far East.

Description: EDEA 472 students in their final semester of their Music Education degree are combining with volunteer members from the New Horizons Montreal Band, a intergenerational concert band now in their second year of operation. The seniors are learning how to play band instruments (most are in their 2nd year of this process), and the McGill Students are learning to become teachers.

The Schulich School of Music is thrilled to announce the appointment of legendary Canadian tenor Ben Heppner to the voice faculty of the Schulich School of Music for the academic year 2015-16. One of Canada’s greatest artists, Mr. Heppner has received acclaim on the world’s most prestigious opera stages, including the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, La Scala, and the Vienna State Opera. Mr. Heppner will teach over a dozen voice students and contribute immensely to the rich and dynamic life of the Voice Area at the School.

Professor Fabrice Marandola is interviewed by Le Devoir in a special section dedicated to the grand opening of Le Vivier at his new address, the 'Gesù-Centre de création' in Montreal. Le Vivier comprises 34 music ensembles and organisations dedicated to new music. Fabrice Marandola has been the President of the Board of Directors since last fall. Read the full article here.  

Read the full Radio-Canada article here.