COMPETITION THIS YEAR IS TRULY INTERNATIONAL
Every year we accept delivery of a roster of contestants from the Montreal International Musical Competition.
Underline the adjective “international.” For the first time since its inception in 2002, the contest includes no Canadians among the inaugural field of 24.
It is remarkable news. While there have been a few years ( as one might expect) when no Canadians make the finals, the MIMC is nonetheless the competition that handed first- prize victories to soprano Measha Brueggergosman ( 2002), soprano Marianne Fiset ( 2007) and bass- baritone Philippe Sly ( 2012). The competition also recognized the potential of pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin with a second prize in 2014. Last year, soprano France Bellemare placed third.
“Obviously, we would have liked to have Canadian contestants,” said Christiane LeBlanc, executive and artistic director of the MIMC since 2012. “We have a best Canadian candidate prize as well as a best Québec candidate prize, both worth $ 5,000.
“That being said, we totally respect and honour the preselection jury’s decisions.”
Conspiracy? Not likely. The squad charged with evaluating audio- visual submissions ( this year the competition is
devoted to the violin) comprised Jonathan Crow, Boris Kuschnir, Douglas McNabney, Lucie Robert and Andrew Wan. Only Kuschnir, an Austrian citizen born in Kyiv and educated in Moscow, is not Canadian. The others either live or have lived in Montreal.
LeBlanc suggests a sudden increase this year in applications as a cause for the anomaly. “Choosing 24 contestants out of 206 instead of 120 or so might have made the difference.”
In other respects the field conforms to type. South Korea remains a disproportionately strong source of talent with six
entrants, surpassed only by seven from the United States ( although the tabulation here is vexed by the double Korean- American nationality of one contestant). The first- and second- prize winners last year were tenor Keonwoo Kim and soprano Hyesang Park, both South Koreans.
There are three competitors from Japan, two from France and one each from Bulgaria, China, Finland, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Russia, Taiwan ( cross- appointed to the U. S.) and Ukraine ( ditto, see above). Women outnumber men 12 to 6 and the average age is 23. For what it is worth, only two of the American hopefuls have non-Asian surnames ( and one of these is cross- appointed to Ukraine).
The money is Canadian. First prize, offered by the City of Montreal, is worth $ 30,000; second prize ( from the Canimex company), $ 15,000; and third prize, $ 10,000. Other finalists get $ 2,000.
While the Canadian and Quebec awards will obviously go unclaimed — Bellemare took both last year — there are other laurels. The $ 4,000 André-Bachand Award ( funded by Jean-Claude and Raymond Bachand) goes to the top interpreter of the imposed Canadian piece ( the composer of which will be identified in April).
Montreal luthiers Wilder & Davis are behind a $ 3,000 award for the best semifinal recital. Tourisme Montréal supports a $ 2,000 award for the best performance of a sonata and the Montreal Bach Festival sponsors a Bach award worth $ 1,000 ( plus a recital in the festival itself ).
Music- loving philanthropist Noël Spinelli is behind the new $ 1,000 Paganini Award, which goes to the contestant who gives the best performance in the quarter- finals of a Caprice from Paganini’s Opus 1. All this brings the total MIMC cash purse ( not counting concerts, management and other benefits) to $ 86,500.
On the jury are Pierre Amoyal ( France), Boris Brott ( Canada), Boris Garlitsky ( Russia), Ida Kavafian ( Armenia/ U. S.), Mihaela Martin ( Romania), Vera Tsu Wei- Ling ( China) and Kathleen Winkler ( U. S). MIMC chairman André Bourbeau, a former Quebec minister of finance, is, as always, the non- voting president.
Quarter- finals ( May 23 to May 25) and semifinals ( May 27 and 28) will be held at Bourgie Hall of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Finals ( May 30 and 31) and the gala concert ( June 2) are at Maison symphonique with the OSM led by Giancarlo Guerrero.
Canadian nationalists might be disappointed, but there is an alternative. The Stanley Cup playoffs will be in full swing and there are sure to be Canadian teams to cheer for. Right?
As always, the MIMC offers webcasts. For more information go to www.concoursmontreal.ca.
The atmosphere in the choral world appears to be co- operative, not competitive. On the evening of March 12, the St. Lawrence Choir ( 45 to 50 voices) and Voces Boreales ( 21 voces, um, voices) collaborate on a purely a cappella program at the Saint-Pierre-Apôtre Church at 1201 Visitation St. near the Beaudry métro.
Leipzig is the theme. Among the composers are Bach, Mendelssohn, Reger, Grieg and the very young Wagner.
Conducting duties are shared by Philippe Bourque ( artistic director of the SLC) and Andrew Gray ( artistic director of Voces Boreales. Gray — future artistic director of Les Petits Chanteurs de Montréal — functions also as the managing director of the SLC.
Rather unfortunately for SLC/ VB, Les Violons du Roy and La Chapelle de Québec as conducted by Bernard Labadie are presenting a Leipzig blockbuster of their own at the Maison symphonique: Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. That is what I call competition.
Both concerts start at 7: 30 p. m. Go to www.violonsduroy.com for information on Les Violons du Roy and www. choeur. qc. ca for information on the SLC/ VB concert.
In my report this week on the OSM’s 2016- 17 season, the composer Brian Current was identified as the winner of the Azrieli Prize in Jewish Music. In fact, he is the winner of the Azrieli Commissioning Competition. The winner of the Azrieli Prize in Jewish Music has not yet been announced.