≈ 2 hours · With intermission
Last updated: January 23, 2020
The Orchestre Métropolitain made its first appearance at the NAC in 2010, joining forces with the NAC Orchestra to perform Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand, and they returned in 2013 to play again with the NAC Orchestra, this time performing works by Strauss. In 2015, they presented their own concert in Southam Hall featuring music by Elgar, Tchaikovsky and Strauss. All of these concerts were performed under the direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Repertoire
Symphony No 5, Op. 81
I. Prologue: Allegretto
II. L’Invasion (The Invasion): Vivace
III.L’Occupation (The Occupation): Adagio
IV. Liberté (Liberty): Andante
Jacques Hétu (1938–2010) is one of the most performed Quebec composers, both at home and abroad. Born in Trois-Rivières, he studied composition with Clermont Pépin at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal and later in Paris with Henri Dutilleux and Olivier Messiaen. Jacques Hétu’s style is a happy mix of classical forms, romantic sensibility, and modern musical languages. His works are solidly built and generally quite lyrical. They often generate considerable power and his orchestrations are especially colourful and sparkling. Hétu composed more than 80 works in every classical genre, including chamber music, symphonic music, and vocal music.
Commissioned by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Hétu’s Symphony No. 5 was premiered by the TSO conducted by Peter Oundjian for the New Creations Festival in February 2010. Here is how Hétu described his work:
I. Prologue (Paris before World War II): The city slowly awakens and gradually becomes something resembling a giant merry-go-round. Noisy children, murmuring throngs, joyous processions, and the confusion of an approaching fun fair interact and blur into one.
II. The Invasion (The War): Breathless, agitated, violent, dramatic music. A motif is heard in the unison winds with continuous embellishment from the strings. This culminates in dense polyphony in which different sections of the orchestra compete for prominence. The short and somewhat calmer passage of this scherzo is a lament that will be developed in the following movement. The opening section is heard again in abridged form.
III. The Occupation (The German occupation): A sort of funeral march. The music proceeds slowly, in a supplicating manner. This is halted by an anguished cry consisting of the overtone series of the note C piled up in an enormous tutti. Unison strings lead to an expressive motif that will become the subject of a series of developments while accelerating. A more tranquil episode is heard in the winds, followed by an abridged return of the opening march material. A final transformation in the brass leads to the coda, where the anguished cry is amplified.
IV. Liberty (The hope for liberation): Thousands of copies of Paul Éluard’s poem “Liberté” were dropped over Occupied France by RAF planes during 1942. The poem expresses the desire to write the word “liberté” in every way possible at every stage of life. This incantatory poem, a hymn to all periods of a person’s life, still has universal reverberations today.
Musically, each stanza is treated in the manner of a short dramatic scene. The orchestral colour and vocal treatment vary from stanza to stanza. The last line of each stanza, “J’écris ton nom” (I write your name), serves as a recurring motif.
The first main section comprises the stanzas concerning recollections from childhood: “cahiers d’écoliers” (schoolboys’ copybooks); “images dorées” (gilded images)—and communion with nature—“chaque bouffée d’aurore” (every whiff of daybreak); “sueurs de l’orage” (labour of storms).
The second, more intimate section opens with the a cappella choir evoking, first, the gentleness of night—“Sur la lampe qui s’allume” (On the lamp that kindles); next, tenderness, sensuality—“toute chair accordée” (all accordant flesh)—and hope. Then the tone becomes discouraging, with “refuges détruits” (ruined shelters) and “marches de la mort” (steps of death).
In the powerful final section, “Sur la santé revenue… par le pouvoir d’un mot” (On health returned … by the power of a word), the word “liberté” surges forth like a victory march.
Program note by Claude Ricignuolo; translated by Craig Schweikert
Mass in C Minor
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Great Mass in C minor premiered in Salzburg on October 26, 1783.
A large part of Mozart’s catalogue is comprised of sacred music, including no fewer than eighteen masses. Most were written when the composer was in the service of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Hieronymus von Colloredo (1732-1812).
After definitively moving to Vienna in 1781, Mozart wrote only two more masses: the Great Mass in C minor (1782) and the Requiem (1791). In contrast to the latter, which was commissioned, the Great Mass was composed in fulfillment of a vow. Mozart had promised to write the work if his future wife Constanze Weber, then seriously ill, was restored to health. While the Great Mass was never completed (it is missing more than half the Credo and the entire Agnus Dei), the work was nonetheless premiered in Salzburg, with excerpts from earlier masses filling the gaps, during a trip Wolfgang and Constanze made shortly after their marriage.
Considered one of Mozart’s greatest masterpieces, the Great Mass in C minor foreshadows the Requiem with its dramatic character and contrapuntal richness, evidence of Mozart’s veneration of the music of Bach.
– Program note by Claude Ricignuolo, translation by Craig Schweickert
Artists
Yannick Nézet-Séguin is currently in his 12th season with The Philadelphia Orchestra, serving as music and artistic director. An inspired leader, Yannick is both an evolutionary and a revolutionary, developing the mighty “Philadelphia Sound” in new ways. His collaborative style, deeply rooted musical curiosity, and boundless enthusiasm have been heralded by critics and audiences alike. The New York Times has called him “phenomenal,” adding that “the ensemble, famous for its glowing strings and homogenous richness, has never sounded better.”
Yannick has established himself as a musical leader of the highest calibre and one of the most thrilling and sought-after talents of his generation. He became the third music director of New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 2018. In addition, he has been artistic director and principal conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain since 2000. In 2017 he became an honorary member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He served as music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic from 2008 to 2018 (he is now honorary conductor) and was principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic from 2008 to 2014. He has made wildly successful appearances with the world’s most revered ensembles and at many of the leading opera houses.
Yannick has shown a deep commitment to expanding the repertoire by embracing an ever-growing and diverse group of today’s composers and by performing the music of under-appreciated composers of the past. In 2018 he signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon. Under his leadership The Philadelphia Orchestra returned to recording with 13 releases on that label, including Florence Price Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3, which won a Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance in 2022.
A native of Montreal, Yannick studied piano, conducting, composition, and chamber music at Montreal’s Conservatory of Music and continued his studies with renowned conductor Carlo Maria Giulini; he also studied choral conducting with Joseph Flummerfelt at Westminster Choir College. Among Yannick’s honours are an appointment as Companion of the Order of Canada; Companion to the Order of Arts and Letters of Quebec; an Officer of the Order of Quebec; an Officer of the Order of Montreal; an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres; Musical America’s 2016 Artist of the Year; Echo Klassik’s 2014 Conductor of the Year; a Royal Philharmonic Society Award; Canada’s National Arts Centre Award; the Prix Denise-Pelletier; the Oskar Morawetz Award; and honorary doctorates from the University of Quebec, the Curtis Institute of Music, Westminster Choir College of Rider University, McGill University, the University of Montreal, the University of Pennsylvania, Laval University, and Drexel University.
To read Yannick’s full bio, please visit philorch.org/conductor.
French-Canadian mezzo-soprano Julie Boulianne is acclaimed for the vocal agility and expressive power of her dark-hued tone, focusing on the works of Berlioz, Mozart, and Rossini.
During the 2021–22 season, she returned to the Metropolitan Opera as the title role in Massenet’s Cinderella, in a new production for family audiences; the Wiener Staatsoper as Charlotte in Werther, and both the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden and the Glyndebourne Festival as Dorabella in Così fan tutte. Additionally, in her native Québec, she joined Opéra de Montréal as Rose Valland in the world premiere of Julien Bilodeau’s La beauté du monde and Opéra de Québec as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. On the concert stage, she performed César Franck’s Redemption with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été with the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon, and Ravel’s Shéhérazade and Cinq mélodies populaires grecques with Orchestre Classique de Montréal.
In March 2009, Naxos Records released a recording of Shéhérazade and L’enfant et les sortilèges featuring Julie Boulianne and the Nashville Symphony, which was nominated for the GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Album. She can also be heard on a 2011 ATMA Classique release of Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and Kindertotenlieder. She recorded L’Aiglon by Ibert and Honegger under the baton of Kent Nagano released by Decca in 2016, and two CDs with Luc Beauséjour released by Analekta: Handel & Porpora – The London Years, and recently, Alma Opressa, Vivaldi – Handel: Arias.
French-Canadian bass-baritone Philippe Sly has gained international recognition for his “beautiful, blooming tone and magnetic stage presence” (San Francisco Chronicle). He is the first prize winner of the prestigious Concours Musical International de Montréal, a grand prize winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and was awarded Concert of the Year in Romantic, Post-Romantic and Impressionist Music at the 16th annual ceremony of the Gala des prix Opus.
In 2022–23 Philippe Sly will debut at Opernhaus Zürich for Lakmé (Nilakantha) and the Bayeriche Staatsoper for Semele (Cadmus) and return to the Wiener Staatsoper for Don Giovanni (Leporello). On the concert stage he will appear with the New York Philharmonic for J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and the National Arts Centre (Canada) for Mozart’s Requiem.
Last season he debuted with Opéra de Québec for Don Giovanni (title role), and the Matsumoto Festival in Le nozze di Figaro (title role) and returned to the Wiener Staatsoper for Le nozze di Figaro (title role) and Don Giovanni (Leporello). On the concert stage he appeared in St. Matthew Passion with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and St. John Passion and Mozart’s Requiem with Les Violons de Roy. In the 2020–21 season, he made his debut at the Wiener Staatsoper in Le nozze di Figaro and returned to Orchestre Métropolitain and Les Violons de Roy for their annual Galas.
Recent performances include the world premiere of Harry Stafylakis’s Into Oblivion with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra; Mozart’s Requiem with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra; J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Orchestre symphonique de Montréal conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Gulbenkian Orchestra (Portugal); Handel’s Messiah with the University Musical Society; and Mozart Mass in C Minor with the National Arts Centre (Canada) and Maison Symphonique de Montreal. Additionally, he returns to the Paris Opera (Garnier) for productions of Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte as well as performances of Schubert’s Winterreise with Le Chimera Project.
Philippe Sly’s solo recordings are available on Analekta Records.
Since its founding in 1981, the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal (OM) has had but one mission: to share its passion for symphonic music and make it accessible to all. Building on its special relationship with audiences, the quality of its concerts and its many recordings, the OM has made a place for itself, becoming in the process one of Quebec’s leading cultural ambassadors and acquiring an enviable international reputation. At the Orchestre’s helm for the last two decades, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin has developed an exceptional rapport with his musicians. In September 2019, the OM announced the lifetime extension of his contract, a rare commitment for such a young conductor and an orchestra.
The recipient of numerous national awards, the Orchestre Métropolitain owes its international reputation largely to the some 20 recordings it has made for the Canadian ATMA Classique label. Published in the spring of 2018 and showered with critical praise, its complete Bruckner symphony cycle is proof of the Orchestre’s daring as well as its excellence. The OM’s collaboration with the famous Deutsche Grammophon label began in 2017, first with tenor Rolando Villazón and bass Ildar Abdrazakov on a disc titled Duets, then for Verdi, a solo album with the latter artist.
In November 2019, encouraged by the success of its highly lauded 2017 European tour, the OM embarked on a tour of four U.S. cities – Chicago, Ann Arbor, New York City and Philadelphia – with its conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin and one of the world’s most acclaimed singers, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato.
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