The OSM plays exquisitely at Montreal’s Schubert Festival

By Ian Cochrane, 16 January 2020

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Reviewed at Maison symphonique, Montreal on 14 January 2020

Rossini, Il barbiere di Siviglia: Overture

Rossini, Il barbiere di Siviglia: Largo al factotum

Schubert, Symphony no. 3 in D major, D.200

Rossini, Otello: Assisa al piè d'un salice

Rossini, Il barbiere di Siviglia: Una voce poco fa

Schubert, Symphony no. 6 in C major, D.589

Rihab Chaieb, Mezzo-soprano

Dietrich Henschel, Baritone

Kent Nagano, Conductor

Orchestre symphonique de Montréal

Payare and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal welcome Spring

Ian Cochrane, 22nd April

Rafael Payare conducts a scintillating Le Sacre du Printemps in a program that also showcases Bruce Liu's bravura Tchaikovsky.

****1

Rafael Payare and his Montrealers show off their jazz chops

Ian Cochrane, 11th March

Rafael Payare boldly programmes Kinan Azmeh's Suite for Improvisor and Orchestra in a diverse concert bill that also features long-standing Principal Flute Timothy Hutchins.

****1

A national treasure revisits Montreal: Angela Hewitt plays Mozart

Ian Cochrane, 28th February

Angela Hewitt joins the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal for an exquisite rendering of a Mozart concerto, and Leonard Slatkin conducts Tchaikovsky's Winter Daydreams.

****1

Last minute jump-in Hankyeol Yoon saves the day in Montreal

Ian Cochrane, 21st January

Virtuosic Alina Ibragimova joins the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal for a dynamite performance of Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto, while youthful conductor Hankyeol Yoon leads polished Rachmaninov.

****1

Payare, Lamsma and the OSM: Korngold and Bartók in Montreal

Ian Cochrane, 3rd December

The Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM), conductor Rafael Payare, and violin soloist Simone Lamsma joined forces in a program that featured seminal works by two musical titans who settled in the United States after fleeing Europe in the mid-twentieth century.

****1

Faust’s bargain, Berlioz’s triumph in Montréal’s season launch

Ian Cochrane, 17th September

Rafael Payare leads a fevered account of desire, damnation and sonic grandeur, ably supported by Karen Cargill and Andrew Staples.

****1

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Ian Cochrane

Ian Cochrane is a retired music teacher who hails from Montreal, Canada. He holds music degrees from McGill University, the University of Saskatchewan, and the University of Calgary. He has attended conducting seminars at the University of Michigan as well as Northwestern University. Ian has edited a variety of music journals. His articles have been published in both professional and refereed journals. In addition, he has written music curricula- both provincial and national. Ian’s concert reviews have been in published in La Scena magazine. Ian has extensive performance experience as an instrumentalist, chorister, and conductor.