2009-2010 SEASON

2010-2011 SEASON

2011-2012 SEASON

2011-2012 SEASON

Overtures for the overture

An inspiring and majestic concert!

October 28, 2011 |  Friday - 7:00 pm - conference - 8:00 pm - concert
October 29, 2011 | Saturday - 7:00 pm - conference - 8:00 pm - concert
October 30, 2011 | Sunday - 1:00 pm - conference - 2:00 pm - concert

Guest Conductor: Christophe Rousset, harpsichord (France)
Lecturer: Philippe Gervais

Jean-Philippe Rameau: Overtures and Suites from Dardanus and Castor et Pollux

Jean Fery- Rebel: Les Éléments – opera-ballet

The genius of Rameau, a master of harmony, will be revealed in overtures from his great lyric tragedies, while Rebel will show his command of styles both eccentric and graceful. Under the direction of Christophe Rousset, an internationally renowned French harpsichordist at the peak of his career.

 

BACH – Desires of the Soul

A stirring evening that will touch your soul!

Montreal Bach Festival 2011

November 18, 2011 | Friday - 7:00 pm - conference, 8:00 pm - concert
November 19, 2011 | Saturday - 7:00 pm - conference, 8:00 pm - concert
November 20, 2011 | Sunday - 1:00 pm - conference, 2:00 pm - concert

Guest Conductor: Jaap ter Linden (Holland)
Soloist: Meg Bragle, alto (United States)
Lecturer : Carol Bergeron

Johann Sebastian Bach: Cantatas BWV 54 and 170, Brandenburg Concerto no 3, BWV 1048, Oboe concerto adapted from BWV 1056

For Johann Sebastian Bach, the soul longs above all for eternity in the presence of the Beloved. His music can touch the heart in a single harmony.  The memorable raw silk voice of alto Meg Bragle will be on display in the midst of Arion’s rich orchestral colours, resulting in a performance of supreme emotional intensity. Under the direction of Jaap ter Linden, one of Arion Baroque Orchestra’s favourite collaborators.

Commedia dell’arte

A flamboyant program embracing music and comedy! 

February 17, 2012 | Friday - 7:00 pm - conference, 8:00 pm - concert

February 18, 2012 | Saturday - 7:00 pm - conference, 8:00 pm - concert

February 19, 2012 | Sunday - 1:00 pm - conference, 2:00 pm - concert

Guest Conductor : Jaap ter Linden, cello (Australia)
Guest soloist : Dmitry Sinkovsky, violin (Russia)

Lecturer : Lucie Renaud
Concert presented by The Montreal High Lights Festival

Johann David Heinichen: Concerto from the Dresden Concerti – in the Venetian style Luigi Boccherini: Symphony “La Casa del Diavolo”  Giovanni Battista Pergolesi: Sinfonia “Lo Frate ‘nnamurato”, for strings and basso continuo  Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer: Concertino from the Concertini Armonici  Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto for 2 oboes, 2 horns, violin, stings and continuo

With energy and enthousiasm, violinist Dmitry Sinkovsky and conductor Jaap ter Linden are firing up the stars of the Arion Baroque Orchestra. Almost all of musical Europe has come together to tread the stage in order to entertain you with an array of pleasures to amuse the heart and the mind!

 

Music at Zimmermann’s Coffee-House

A touching and soul-stirring virtuosic fusion!

March 16, 2012 |  Friday - 7:00 pm - conference, 8:00 pm - concert
March 17, 2012 | Saturday - 7:00 pm - conference, 8:00 pm - concert
March 18, 2012 | Sunday - 1:00 pm - conference, 2:00 pm - concert

Guest Conductor : Rachel Podger, violin (United Kingdom)
Lecturer: François Filiatrault

Johann Sebastian Bach: Concertos for violin, strings and basso continuo BWV 1041 and 1042 Georg Philipp Telemann: Tafelmusik

 

This program will transport you to the heart of Leipzig, in the Zimmermann Coffee House, the beloved location of Bach and Telemann.  The Orchestra offers tender and serene music through a selection of German violin concertos, under the direction of guest conductor and internationally acclaimed violinist, Rachel Podger.

 

Heroines and Femmes Fatales

Passion, seduction, and jealousy expressed through opera!

April 27, 2012 |  Friday - 7:00 pm - conference, 8:00 pm - concert
April 28, 2012 | Saturday - 7:00 pm - conference, 8:00 pm - concert
April 29, 2012 | Sunday - 1:00 pm - conference, 2:00 pm - concert

Guest Conductor : Alexander Weimann, harpsichord (Canada)
Soloist : Karina Gauvin, soprano (Canada)
Lecturer: Claudio Ricignuolo

Excerpts from operas and other instrumental pieces by Handel, Leo, Porpora, Porta, Vinci and Vivaldi

Arion will close its season by paying homage to Handel’s beloved diva: Anna Maria Strada, pairing a dramatic style with a smoothness of expression. The wonderful Karina Gauvin will bring all of these qualities to life through dazzling arias and spectacular vocal effects.  Arion will be led by the inspired and imaginative Alexander Weimann.

This concert will be recorded under the ATMA label and will be released in the Fall of 2013.

 

 

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2010-2011 SEASON
Dazzles and Captivates!

 

The Full-blooded and the Melancholic

Works by C.P.E. Bach (1714-1788)

Guest Conductor and Soloist: Mahan Esfahani, harpsichordist (*in replacement of Gary Cooper)

Soloist: Claire Guimond, flute

Programme: Concertos for flute and harpsichord plus symphonies

Dates: Friday, 11 March and Saturday, 12 March 2011 at 8:00 pm

Sunday, 13 March at 2:00 pm

Location: Redpath Hall

Let there be light! Lively and luminous music – full of surprises!

While the great minds of the Enlightenment were wrestling with rationalizing the instincts, the music of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach made its mark in the opposite direction giving feelings free rein, exploring the inner reaches of the human soul, the half-tones, the unspoken, and setting them to music. Follow conductor and harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani (*in replacement of Gary Cooper) and discover the multiple facets of this pivotal figure in musical history who also inspired Haydn and Beethoven as well as Mozart who proclaimed, “He’s the father and we are the children.”

 

Velvet

Works by Graupner (1683-1760), Vivaldi (1678-1741), Caldara (1670-1736) and Telemann (1681-1767)

Guest Soloists: Suzie LeBlanc, soprano

Eric Hoeprich, chalumeau

Dates: Thursday, 24 February and Friday, 25 February 2011 at 8:00 pm

Location: Saint Viateur Church

Truly, velvet for the ears!

Sweetness and sensuality are intertwined when the chalumeau of Eric Hoeprich, the instrument’s leading player on the international scene, is joined to the exceptional voice of Suzie LeBlanc in this unique programme. The chalumeau, the clarinet’s ancestor, was treated in a complementary manner by composers in the baroque era. Caldara used it most often with the human voice, while Telemann and Graupner preferred to revel in the subtlety of its low-register tessitura – a marriage of sounds well worth getting to know.

 

Alla Tedesca: Wind-borne Baroque!

Works by Johann Friedrich Fasch (1688-1758) and Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)

Guest Conductor & soloist: Mathieu Lussier, basson

Dates: Thursday, 20 January 2011 and Friday, 21 January 2011 at 8:00 pm Sunday, 23 January 2011 at 2:00 pm

Location: Redpath Hall

Two rare pearls with an irresistible draw!

A period rich in stylistic and instrumental discoveries, the Baroque age produced numerous outstanding pages that bring out the best in wind instruments. For its thirtieth anniversary, Arion Orchestre Baroque went off the beaten path and burrowed into the past to unearth hidden treasures of that century by two of the most sought-after composers of their time: Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) and Johann Friedrich Fasch (1688-1758). With the talented Mathieu Lussier conducting, the Arion team will make you reverberate to the sounds of an array of concertos, quartets and sonatas written by these two wind-borne virtuosos! An irresistibly inspiring performance!

 

St John Passion by J.S. Bach

Work BWV 245 by J.S. Bach (1685-1750)

Opening Concert of the 2010 Montreal Bach Festival

Guest Conductor: Alex Weimann, organ

Soloists: Les Voix Baroques (13 voices)

Dates: Friday 26, November and Saturday, 27 November at 8:00 pm

Location: Saint Viateur Church

Experience love and music through this immortal work’s intensity and exaltation

This exceptional dramatic work has lost none of its relevance in the nearly three hundred years since its creation. Rediscover St John Passion under a new light, faithful to Bach’s intimate vision. The arias comment on and illustrate the content, the chorales take it up again and magnify it, the instrumentation accompanies it softly, and the choir becomes a partner to the action and a symbol of the congregation. Unity, intimacy and introspection all come together in this work.

 

 

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2009-2010 season

A luminous and energizing season!

Handel : Fireworks, Arion & Tafelmusik!

Thursday & Friday October 1 & 2
Salle Claude-Champagne
Guest Conductors: Jaap ter Linden, Cellist (Netherlands) and Jeanne Lamon, Violinist (Canada)

What better way to highlight the 250th anniversary of the great Handel’s death than to bring together Canada’s two most renowned baroque orchestras conducted by two outstanding conductors. For this concert event, Arion and Tafelmusik will join forces forming one large orchestra of over 50 musicians to play the dazzling score written for the Royal Fireworks. The programme also includes the instrumental suite from Rameau’s last opera, Les Paladins, a lyric comedy based on a fable by La Fontaine set somewhere between enchantment and entertainment.

C.P.E. Bach: Concertos & Symphonies

Friday & Saturday  November 20 & 21
Salle Claude-Champagne
Guest Conductors: Gary Cooper, Harpsichordist (Great Britain)

The second among Johann Sebastian Bach’s four musician sons, Telemann’s godson, and source of inspiration for Mozart and Haydn, Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach indeed made his mark on the instrumental music of his era. This remarkable composer himself said, “A musician cannot move anyone unless he himself is moved.” He was associated with Empfindsamkeit (sensitivity), a musical current in reaction to the rationalism of the time.  The British conductor and harpsichordist Gary Cooper will lead you on a discovery of his work via symphonies and concertos.

Purcell: Incidental Musicke

Thursday & Saturday February 11 & 13 Sunday February 14
Redpath Hall
Guest Conductors: Elizabeth Wallfisch, violinist (Australy)

Purcell dabbled in nearly all the musical genres, both vocal and instrumental, thanks to his complete musicianship, his overflowing inspiration and his great sense for innovation. This powerful musical dramatist was equally at ease with operas, masques and semi-operas (as English Restoration operas were known) but this Englishman also left us numerous musical scores for the theatre written to enhance the stagecraft of his contemporaries. Step into this multi-faceted universe led by the guest violinist and conductor Elizabeth Wallfisch, a musician of rare talent and contagious energy.

J.S.Bach: Cantatas and Concertos

Thursday & Friday March 11 & 12 
Salle Claude-Champagne
Guest Conductors: Alex Weiman, Harpsichordist (Canada)
Soloist: Christine Brandes, soprano (USA)

“Whoever sings prays double” wrote Luther so it is not by chance that in Bach’s immense production cantatas take a place of the first rank. Whether religious, like Cantata No. 199, or secular, like No. 299, their expressivity and universality grabs us. Soprano Christine Brandes, under the direction of Alex Weimann, will demonstrate. You will also hear Mr. Weimann,  on the harpsichord in the Triple Concerto for Flute, Violin and Harpsichord from the Brandenburg Concerto No. 5.

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons

Thursday & FridayApril 30 
Salle Pierre-Mercure
Guest Conductor and Soloist: Stefano Montanari, violinist (Italy)

The Four Seasons has become beyond doubt Vivaldi’s most popular work. A master of the violin himself, the composer was instinctively drawn to passages best suited to a violinist’s fingers, the instrument’s most sonorous registers and a brilliant and incisive bow technique.  Like a poet, he paints nature with vivacity and, beyond that, with accuracy. To fully experience this music Arion is bringing you the brilliant Italian violinist Stefano Montanari to be our guest conductor and soloist.