In Tuesday’s (3/2) Gazette (Montreal) Arthur Kaptainis writes, “Adopting the irrefutable motto ‘you can never be too classical,’ the MSO Monday unveiled a 2010-2011 lineup that is styled as a farewell to Salle Wilfrid Pelletier of Place des Arts but offers no firm evidence that Kent Nagano, whose contract as music director formally ends in August 2011, will oversee the opening of a new concert hall the following month. … It is certain at least that Nagano will open the 2010-2011 proceedings on Sept. 2 with a free outdoor semi-classical event in front of the construction site of the new hall featuring the Cirque Éloize and mounted by Denis Bouchard … The maestro will also conduct (on May 29 and 31, 2011) what are expected to be the last MSO subscription concerts in Salle Wilfrid Pelletier after a residency of 48 years. … The conductor’s social conscience is evident in a concert with a new work by Jean Lesage paying tribute to Le Bon Dieu dans la rue founder Father Emmett Johns. Another commissioned work is Vols et Vertiges du Gamache by Denys Boulaine with cellist Matt Haimovitz—also of McGill’s Schulich School of Music—as soloist.”
Posted March 2, 2010
