Tempest in a Teapot

Quebecers cope bravely with the whims of Mother Nature. To celebrate this spirit, the 14th Montreal Baroque Festival will let loose a host of cataclysms.

During four days, music lovers will be swept away by the diverse range of emotions engendered by the festival’s rich program. Hold on to your hats as Montreal Baroque storms through the city, from downtown to Old Montreal!

LES GRANDS CONCERTS

As usual, Montréal Baroque will present a series of major musical events, many of which integrate other art forms with music and, once again, demonstrate the creativity of those artists who dedicate themselves to playing on historic instruments.

June 23, 7 p.m. Redpath Hall. La Tempête de Prospero, a combination of highlights of Shakespeare’s literary masterpiece The Tempest with theatre music by Purcell and Blow, will create a flood of emotions. This concert will feature the Bande Montréal Baroque with its special guest artist, the Spanish violinist Lina Tur Bonet.

June 24, 7 p.m. Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel. The festival will return for one day to Old Montreal, where it began, for a concert with Ensemble Caprice and the Métis Fiddler Quartet, which will feature the very best of Métis music in a mixture of classical and folk music.

June 25, 7 p.m. Redpath Hall. In La Veuve Rebel à la foire Ville-Marie, presented by Nouvel Opéra, a stormy quarrel erupts between La Veuve (the widow) and Opera, with its censorship, monopoly, and tyrannical rules.

June 26, 7 p.m. Redpath Hall. The closing concert will feature the creative genius of the great cantor of Leipzig, Johann Sebastian Bach. The Bande Montréal Baroque, directed by Eric Milnes, will accompany four young singers in three cantatas. This concert will later be recorded for release on the ATMA label.

LES CONCERTS INTIMES

Like the colorful rainbow that appears after a storm, the concerts in this series will offer a calm respite to festival-goers.

June 24 June, 2 p.m. Salle de la commune, Marché Bonsecours

June 25 June, 9 p.m. Redpath Hall

June 26 June, 4 p.m. Arts Building, McGill University

Bach’s six Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin will be presented in three concerts in three different halls. Lina Tur Bonet will brave all the squalls of this monumental work in the series Bach en tumultes!

June 23, 9 p.m. Redpath Hall

The celebrated guitarist and composer Tim Brady and his band will be the guests of Les Voix Humaines for the concertTornades fuguées. Electric guitar versus viola da gamba!

June 24, 9 pm. Crypt, Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel

In Brise ou ouragan, the ensemble La Chamaille (five flutes and one lute) will emulate an orchestra.

June 24, 5 p.m. Salle de la Commune, Marché Bonsecours.

In the concert Larmes et Tempêtes! the ensemble Sonate 1704 with soprano Jacinthe Thibault will take a tumultuous journey through the world of composers Clérambeault, Montéclair, and Rebel.

June 25, 11 a.m.

In the concert Rafales scandinaves, virtuoso Jean-François Bélanger will perform on the nyckelharpa, the Swedish keyed violin whose traditions are more than 700 years old.

Two young and upcoming artists will present recitals in this edition of the Montreal Baroque Festival.

June 24, 11 a.m. Salle de la Commune, Marché Bonsecours.

Soprano Odéi Bilodeau, winner of the Mathieu-Duguay competition at the Festival international de musique baroque de Lamèque, will personify L’Impétueuse, a concert presented with Martin Robidoux.

June 24, 2 p.m. Osler Library of the History of Medicine, McGill University.

Young and daring recorder virtuoso Vincent Lauzer will tackle works by Québécois composers in the concert Perturbationsmétéorologiques.

June 26, 11 a.m. Arts Building, McGill University

Thunder and lightning are in the air whenever fiery Italian gambist Paolo Pandolfo is in town.

June 25, 4 pm.

Guitar and percussion will be featured in Los rafales de vento, a unique musical adventure led by David Jacques and Ziya Tabassian.

LES CAUSERIES

There will be stimulating conversation at the conferences and talks presented during the festival. Whether stormy or not, the debates are always lively. On the program: a talk by Michael Bristol, on June 23 at 5 pm, and a breakfast-talk by French musicologist Gilles Cantagrel on June 24 at 9 a.m.

The magic of the festival will extend to Phillips Square and Place d’Armes where free outdoor concerts will be held: starting at noon on June 23, 24, 25, and 26 at Phillips Square and on June 24 at Place d’Armes.

Matthias Maute and Susie Napper are the artistic co-directors of the festival and responsible for its program. The Montreal Baroque Festival will be held from June 23 to 26, 2016. Tickets and information: www.montrealbaroque.com or 514 845-7171.

About the Montreal Baroque Festival

A proud member of the NovAntica network (www.novantica.org), the Montreal Baroque Festival is a major annual celebration of early music. The festival welcomes artists, both established celebrities and up and coming youngsters, who delight audiences with their performances of Baroque sounds from around the world.