L’Orchestre de la francophonie
presents its 2022 season

A return to in-person performances with four chamber music concerts for live audiences this summer

July 12, 2022

After two years of online academy activities, the Orchestre de la francophonie (OF) is returning to its in-person educational mission from July 4 to July 29. This season, exceptionally, the OF is proposing a chamber music academy, with a progressive return to in-person events leading to a full orchestral academy in 2023.

Jean-Philippe Tremblay • image: Jacques Robert

“While participating in the OF, students are helped to prepare themselves for the competitive world that awaits them by developing the best technical and musical tools. This year, we want to show them the particular aspects of chamber music. They’ll develop group listening skills as they work with their colleagues and benefit from the guidance of coaches and mentors,” explains Jean-Philippe Tremblay, artistic and pedagogical director of the OF since its creation.

The academy is composed of 28 musicians from different countries (Canada, USA, France, Italy, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, Spain, Colombia and Albania). They include players of the flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, French horn, trumpet, violin, viola, cello and double bass, whom the OF will get to know better during their learning experience.

Partnership with Garage à musique

The social and educational mission of the organization continues this year with a component in which the musicians will participate, among others, in activities involving musical engagement on a community or social level.

In partnership with Dr. Julien’s Garage à musique (GAM), the musicians of the OF will first be introduced to social pediatrics and the use of music as a therapeutic tool and as an aid to pedagogical cohesion at GAM. The OF musicians will then lead musical and initiation activities with youths aged 5 to 18.

Special guests and masterclasses

The students will have access to masterclasses with Robert Uchida, Jean-Philippe Tremblay and Douglas Payson Sturdevant. There will also be special presentations by Jeff Nelsen (performance technique without fear) and Dr. John Chong (anxiety, muscular fatigue, depression, stress, nerve entrapment syndrome).

Four in-person concerts

The students will offer four Montreal concerts to live audiences at the Church of St.Andrew and St. Paul and at the Salle Joseph-Rouleau of Jeunesses Musicales Canada (JMC).

Concert 1

Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul, Montreal
July 13, 2022, 7:30 pm

• Giancarlo Scalia, String Quartet
• Amy Beach, Pastorale for Wind Quintet, Op.151
• Wolfang Amadeus Mozart, Flute Quartet in D Major, K285
• Giuseppe Torelli, Concerto in D Major for Trumpet and Strings
• Ludwig Van Beethoven, Septet in E-flat Major, Op. 20

Guest: Robert Uchida, violin

Concert 2

Salle Joseph-Rouleau, JMC, Montreal
July 21, 2022, 7:30 pm

• Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Septet No. 2 in C Major, Op. 114
• Karen Sunabacka, Crazing
• Cris Dirksen, 5 Bucks a Head
• Johannes Brahms, Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34

Guest : Robert Uchida, violin; Serhiy Salov, piano; and Mathieu Gaudet, piano

Concert 3

Church of St-Andrew & St-Paul, Montreal
July 25, 2022, 7:30 pm

• Louis Spohr, Octet in E Major, Op. 32
• Cris Dirksen, White Man’s Cattle
• Felix Mendelsohn, Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20
• Richard Wagner, Siegfried-Idyll

Concert 4

Salle Joseph-Rouleau, JMC, Montreal
July 29, 2022, 7:30 pm

• Paul Hindemith, Kleine Kammermusik, Op.24, No.2
• Fanny Hensel Mendelssohn, String Quartet in E-flat Major
• Ian Cusson, Movement for String Quartet
• Robert Schumann, Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 44

Guest:  Jimmy Brière, piano

Concert tickets are on sale now

Tickets to each concert are available for the low price of $16.50 (plus tax and service charge). Tickets can be booked on the OF website: www.orchestrefranco.com. Just click on The Point of Sale.

About the Orchestre de la francophonie

The OF prepares young musicians who have graduated from top institutions to take upleading positions in nationally and internationally renowned orchestras.

The OF’s program is built around three core objectives: learning, innovating and sharing.

• Learning, by giving the best young instrumentalists the necessary tools – musical and extramusical – to achieve success in a high-level professional orchestral career.
• Innovating, by re-inventing the concert, specifically by daring to adopt new approaches, by presenting concerts in non-traditional formats and locations, and by juxtaposing artistic disciplines so that they can nourish each other.
• Sharing, by stimulating social engagement and community involvement on the part of the OF and its musicians, by creating mutually beneficial partnerships, producing and distributing recordings of the very highest quality, and encouraging sharing, openness and tolerance.

The OF is made possible thanks to the financial support of the Department of Canadian Heritage, as well as generous assistance from, among others, Canimex, the RBC Foundation and Panorama Media.

Images courtesy of l’Orchestre de la francophonie

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