A Night in Lisbon at Bourgie Concert Hall

Soprano Marie-Josée Lord and the McGill Chamber Orchestra

Since 2003, Marie-Josée Lord has been winning over Quebec audiences with her enveloping voice and charismatic stage presence. She will, once again, seduce you with this concert of Spanish and Portuguese music with the McGill Chamber Orchestra conducted by Boris Brott on November 5, at 7:30pm at the acoustically superb Bourgie Concert Hall at the Museum of Fine Arts. A free pre-show talk will take place at 6:30pm for all ticket holders.

A Night in Lisbon is a program encompassing tradition, modernity and passion in works by Enrique Granados, Pable de Sarasate, Joaquin Rodrigo, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and Canadian composer Nicole Lizée

The first work of the concert will be The Red Room by young Montreal composer Nicole Lizée. Inspired by the room of the same name featured in David Lynch’s surrealist and absurdist television drama Twin Peaks, the work is structured as one fluid, continuous movement where ideas take shape and recede and are revisited again and again in different permutations.

Marie-Josée Lord will perform the Canciones amatorias (Love Songs) by Enrique Granados (1867-1916). These songs are a collection of seven originally written for voice and piano but presented at this concert in an arrangement for string orchestra by François Vallières. The accompaniment of the first and third songs are reminiscent of Renaissance songs accompanied by the lute, while the fourth and fifth movements explore the torments of love, and the last two songs praise its triumph and glory. Granados’ music is a strong symbol of the renewal of Spanish music at the turn of the 20th century.

The McGill Chamber Orchestra will follow with the Spanish Suite for Strings by Pablo de Sarasate (1844-1908) who was a virtuoso violinist and composer. Arranged by Stephanie Chase, this piece is a collection of three works by Sarasate. Lyric Latin melancholy and dancing rhythms of the czardas will envelop the audience from start to finish of this most beautiful orchestral piece.

The soulful Marie-Josée Lord will then return to perform a traditional Portuguese song, Duas Lagrimas de Orvalho (Two tears of dew) which was made famous by fado singer Carlos do Carmo. ‘Fado’ is Portuguese soul music which is melancholic and usually accompanied by instruments of the guitar family. The main themes center around nostalgia, sadness, unsatisfied passions and daily-life stories. The piece will be presented at this concert in a version for soprano and string orchestra arranged by Simon Leclerc.

One of the most celebrated Spanish composers of the 20th century was Joaquín Rodrigo (1901-1999) who left behind a varied catalogue of vocal music, chamber music, and much more. Marie-Josée Lord will perform Rodrigo’s Cuatro Madrigales Amatorias (Four Love Madrigals) arranged by François Vallières for voice and string orchestra. These songs pay homage to two great traditions in Spanish music history: the ‘vilhuela’, an instrument close to the lute, and the ‘villancicos’, a musical genre similar to the French Noëls of the Baroque era.

The Latin inspired concert could not end without the famous and powerful work of Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) called the Bachianas Brasileiras No 5. Villa-Lobos was one of the most important South American composers in history. The Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 with lyrics by Manuel Bandeira was originally written for voice and eight cellos and is probably his most famous work. The soulful piece will be presented in an arrangement by Simon Leclerc for voice and string orchestra.

Tickets start at $19.25 and can be purchased through the box office of the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (1380 Sherbrooke West)
by calling 514-285-2000 #4 or on the internet: www.mbam.qc.ca