Triumphant Shostakovich closes Montrealers' European tour

Rafael Payare

Rafael Payare conducts the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal

Víkingur Ólafsson, Rafael Payare and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal

By Mark Pullinger, 29 October 2022

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“a gnarly contrabassoon growled like a Russian basso profundo oktavist”

Reviewed at Royal Festival Hall, London on 28 October 2022

Moussa, Elysium

Ravel, Piano Concerto in G major

Kaldalóns, Ave Maria

Shostakovich, Symphony no. 10 in E minor, Op.93

Orchestre symphonique de Montréal

Rafael Payare, Conductor

Víkingur Ólafsson, Piano

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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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.