2016-2017 Season Unveiling

Press Release – For immediate release. PDF Version

Jeunesses Musicales Canada’s 67th Artistic Season

Happy Hour Concerts – Cushion Concerts – Emerging Artists Concerts – Prize Winners’ Concerts – Opera

Montreal, April 29, 2016 – Jeunesses Musicales Canada (JMC) is pleased to announce its 2016-2017 season of unwavering dedication to the dissemination of music, featuring concerts at Joseph Rouleau Hall in Montreal’s JMC House; tours in Quebec, Ontario, and Atlantic Canada; and this year’s opera, a production of La Traviata. JMC’s 2016-2017 offering is full of kid-friendly programming packed with enough boldness and excellence to inspire older kids and teens as well.

There is a seat for both the young and the young at heart in the intimate Joseph Rouleau Hall. This season, 15 concerts across three series – Happy Hour Concerts and Prize Winners’ Concerts for general audiences, and Cushion Concerts for young audiences – will be presented at JMC House, just steps away from Mont-Royal metro station.

At Happy Hour Concerts, guests enjoy a casual cocktail atmosphere starting at 5:15 p.m before entering the hall at 6 p.m. for an invigorating, hour-long concert with no intermission, featuring the best young professional musicians in Canada. In 2016-2017, prepare to be blown away by the virtuosity of Bogdan Dulu in High-Voltage Piano; enamoured with the originality of the Architek Percussion Ensemble in Marimba Plus; swept off your feet by the charming Magali Simard-Galdès, winner of the Maureen-Forrester Prize, in The Voices of Women with Olivier Hébert-Bouchard at the piano; and transported to early-20th century France with La Belle Époque reuniting young violinist Kerson Leong and talented pianist Philip Chiu.

Discover the inspiring artists who stood out in their respective disciplines this year by winning an award of excellence in an upper-level Montreal-based music institution, with the Prize Winners’ Concerts. Featured artists include pianist Steven Nguyen (McGill Schulich School of Music), pianists Marine Blassel and Ghazi Mehdi (Université de Montréal Faculty of Music), and 2015 Peter Mendell Prize-winning violinist Elizabeth Skinner.

Concertinos Famille , presented Sundays from 10 to 11:30 a.m., initiate children to the beauty of classical music in a fun and educational setting. In 2016-2017, JMC will have the pleasure of presenting seven concerts, including the new Le chant de l’alouette* concert as well as proven hits La marmite ensorcelée*, Recorders on the Run, Le grand bal de Noël*, The Story of Babar, Giggle and Stomp and, back by popular demand, Fred Piston and his 7 Trumpets.

Emerging Artists Concerts allow young artists to tour Western Quebec and Ontario (Western tour), as well as in the East of Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia (Eastern tour). All our artists are selected for their strong musicality, their powerful interpretations and the originality of their show. Come applaud the musicians that will make up the elite of Canadian music in the coming years.

Alma Innamorata

Avec l’ensemble Les Songes

Passionate love, faithful love, naive love and jealous love. Come and discover Italian Baroque music of the 18th century through Ensemble Les Songes. Ensemble Les Songes, on the scene of several major reputable festivals and broadcast on ICI Musique, is the coming together of four dynamic young performers with a passion for baroque music . Four instruments, four personalities, all sharing the same desire to make you love the soul, the alma innamorata.

High-Voltage Piano 

With Bogdan Dulu

Striking a balance between tradition and modernity, Bogdan Dulu revisits the concept of “pianistic virtuosity” with a spectacular execution of the great piano masterpieces. Enter this wondrous musical universe where the spotlight is on pianist-composers in an intimate yet virtuosic recital setting. From Haydn to Chopin, and featuring the dazzling music of Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin, rediscover the splendour of the piano through the skillful hands of this brilliant performer.

Voices of Women

WithMagali Simard-Galdès and Olivier Hébert-Bouchard

Maureen Forrester Prize Tour

This concert features the works of female composers, pioneers of the modern recital that were acknowledged yet largely overlooked. Though their timid voices grew alongside the giants of music history, Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn, and Alma Mahler made invaluable contributions to composition and the vocal repertoire. Their work has paved the way for 20th and 21st century female composers, such as Canadian Ana Sokolovic. Soprano Magali Simard-Galdès and pianist Olivier Hébert-Bouchard will present a repertoire that is bold yet accessible with a feminine flare. Punctuated by anecdotes on the lives, loves, and losses of these women, this performance unites their passion for the voice.

Marimba Plus

With Architek Percussion

Presented by Montreal group Architek Percussion, Marimba Plus is a concert influenced by the rhythmic realities of our daily lives. The repertoire, almost exclusively by Canadian composers, takes the audience down unexpected musical paths where jazz, world music, and pop influences intersect in a unique concert that’s all about mallets! From Russia’s traditional choirs to the Montreal Metro, prepare to be transported by the rhythmic symbiosis of this exceptional ensemble.

The Belle Époque

With Kerson Leong and Philip Chiu

The unique ambiance of early 20th century France comes to life in this concert. Ravel, Poulenc, Fauré, and Debussy are featured in an exceptional evening of music that takes the audience on a voyage through time and emotion by way of the great violin repertoire. Immerse yourself in the Belle Epoque atmosphere with the young violin virtuoso Kerson Leong, joined by Philip Chiu on piano, for an evening imbued with French charm, and a playful salute to François Dompierre’s Les Diableries.

About the Emerging Artists Concerts

JMC is the only organization offering a complete concert tour experience through its network of Centres and volunteers. Artists recruited through auditions across Canada have the opportunity to perform recitals in various locations for a variety of audiences. Thanks to a network of over 300 volunteers bringing concerts to halls and schools, JMC was one of the first organizations to present professional-level concerts in remote areas far-removed from large metropolitan areas. Over the years, JMC has supported over 2,000 artists including, among others, Joseph Rouleau, Maureen Forester, Louis Quilico, the Orford Quartet, James Ehnes, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, André Laplante, and Stéphane Tétreault, who are all now internationally renowned members of this country’s artistic elite.

*Concerts marked with an asterisk are presented in French only

About Jeunesses Musicales Canada

A non-profit organization, Jeunesses Musicales Canada (JMC) has a dual mission: to promote the performance of classical music, especially for young audiences, and to help young professional instrumentalists, singers and composers to develop their careers at the national and international levels. Thanks to a network of over 300 volunteers JMC became one of the first organizations to present professional calibre concerts in outlying regions far from major urban centres. Since its inception, JMC has presented tens of thousands of concerts to young audiences, families, and the general public from coast to coast across Canada. Now, a typical JMC season includes over 800 concerts and upwards of 650 workshops, delivered by over 120 artists in some 200 venues across Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes. JMC reaches an audience of about 140,000 people each, 100,000 of which are children between the ages of three and 12. 

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