Grand marathon of concerts, archives and interviews
ICI Musique has chosen their own way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Société de musique contemporaine de Montréal (SMCQ), within the framework of the (Montreal/New Music) MNM festival, with its theme of Back to the Future.
The festival would be at a loss without the inestimable contribution of the radio and television archives of the Société Radio-Canada. The SRC has always been key a player in the evolution of contemporary music. Moreover, under the theme “Radios, universités et création musicale: synergies croisées,” the Horizons musicaux contemporains conference, featuring the participation of ICI Musique, will highlight the role of the radio-broadcasting media (Monday, February 27th, 9 am to 5 pm, Cinquième Salle, Place des Arts).
ICI Musique suggests several events for appreciating or discovering new music:
- From February 22nd, the web radio program Musique contemporaine will be broadcast on icimusique.ca and on the Ici Musique mobile application.
- On Thursday, February 23rd at 8 pm on the ICI Musique program Soirées Classiques, Walter Boudreau and Mario F. Paquet will relate the history of the SMCQ.
- From Thursday, February 23rd, 10 pm, until Friday, February 24th, 10 pm, icimusique.ca/smcq50 will host a 24-hour marathon featuring concerts, archives, interviews with major SMCQ artists, including two live concerts marking its musical path.
- On Friday, February 24th at 11:30 am, there will be a direct webcast of the recital taking place at studio 12, Maison de Radio-Canada (Montreal) featuring Quebec pianist Louise Bessette. She will be interpreting meditative works by Arvo Pärt, John Cage, John Adam, Giacinto Scelsi and Canadian composers John Rea, Ann Southam, André Villeneuve, Alexina Louie, Jeanne Landry, Serge Provost and François Dompierre.
- Also on February 24th, at 7:30 pm, icimusique.ca will present the video webcast of Berliner Momente, direct from Pollack Hall (Shulich School of Music, McGill University) as part of the (Montreal/New Music) MNM festival. This concert will feature the first two of 5 movements of Berliner Momente, an orchestral megacycle (1988-2008). Composer Walter Boudreau was the recipient of a career grant from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, for this work. Of note, Berliner Momente I was commissioned by Radio-Canada to celebrate the 750th anniversary of Berlin. The works will be performed by the McGill Symphony Orchestra by the Symphony orchestra of McGill, under the baton of Walter Boudreau, SMCQ conductor and artistic director!
News written by Vincent Poirier Ruel and posted on Wednesday, February 15, 2017.