Orchestre symphonique de Montréal presents

Sir Andrew Davis and Louis Lortie meet again

British conductor Sir Andrew Davis directs Louis Lortie and the OSM in a program that includes Chopin’ Piano Concerto no. 1, a powerful work waiting to be discovered!

Artists
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Andrew Davis, conductor

Sir Andrew Davis has served as music director and principal conductor of Lyric Opera of Chicago since 2000. He began his tenure as chief conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in January 2013.
In the 2016-17 season, Sir Andrew conducts three operas at Lyric: Das Rheingold, Les Troyens, and Don Quichotte. After the New Year, Sir Andrew travels to Europe and Australia for concerts and recording sessions for Chandos Records. Engagements this season include the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the Bergen and Royal Liverpool Philharmonics, as well as the Edinburgh International Festival.
Conductor laureate of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (he was previously that ensemble’s principal conductor), Sir Andrew is also conductor laureate of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Conductor Emeritus of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and former music director of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. He has led performances at many of the world’s most important opera houses, among them the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Covent Garden, the Bayreuth Festival, and the major companies of Munich, Paris, San Francisco, and Santa Fe. In addition to those ensembles previously mentioned, he has appeared with virtually every other internationally prominent orchestra, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and all the major British orchestras.
A vast discography documents Sir Andrew’s artistry, with recent CDs including works of Berlioz, Elgar, Grainger, Delius, Ives, Holst (nominated for a Grammy in 2015 for Best Choral Performance), and York Bowen (nominated for a Grammy in 2012 for Best Orchestral Performance). In 1992 Maestro Davis was created a Commander of the British Empire, and in 1999 he was made a Knight Bachelor in the New Year Honours List. He has been awarded an honorary doctorate by Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois.

Louis Lortie, piano – Artist-in-residence of the OSM thanks to the Larry and Cookie Rossy Family Foundation

French-Canadian pianist Louis Lortie has attracted critical acclaim throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States. He has extended his interpretative voice across a broad range of repertoire rather than choosing to specialize in one particular style. The London Times, describing his playing as “ever immaculate, ever imaginative”, has identified the artist’s “combination of total spontaneity and meditated ripeness that only great pianists have”.
Mr. Lortie has performed complete Beethoven sonata cycles at London’s Wigmore Hall, Berlin’s Philharmonie, and the Sala Grande del Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan. Die Welt described his Berlin performances as “possibly the finest Beethoven since the time of Wilhelm Kempff.” As both pianist and conductor with the Montreal Symphony, he has performed all five Beethoven concertos and all of the Mozart concertos. Mr. Lortie has also won widespread acclaim for his interpretation of Ravel and Chopin. He performed the complete works of Ravel in London and Montreal for the BBC and CBC, and is renowned all over the world for his performances of the complete Chopin etudes.
Louis Lortie celebrated the bicentenary of Liszt’s birth in 2011 by performing the complete Années de pèlerinage at international music capitals and festivals, and he returns to Carnegie Hall in 2014 to perform it there. His Chandos recording of this monumental work was named one of the ten best of 2012 by the New Yorker magazine.
He has made more than 30 recordings for the Chandos label, covering repertoire from Mozart to Stravinsky, including a set of the complete Beethoven sonatas and the complete Liszt’s Années de pèlerinage.
Louis Lortie studied in Montreal with Yvonne Hubert (a pupil of the legendary Alfred Cortot), in Vienna with Beethoven specialist Dieter Weber, and subsequently with Schnabel disciple Leon Fleisher. He made his debut with the Montreal Symphony at the age of 13; three years later, his first appearance with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra led to an historic tour of the People’s Republic of China and Japan. In 1984, he won First Prize in the Busoni Competition and was also prizewinner at the Leeds Competition. In 1992, he was named Officer of the Order of Canada, and received both the Order of Quebec and an honorary doctorate from Université Laval. He has lived in Berlin since 1997 and also has homes in Canada and Italy.

Presentation of the concert
Delius,Two Pieces for Small Orchestra (excerpt), no. 1: “On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring” (approx. 7 min.)
Chopin, Piano Concerto no. 1 in E minor, op. 11
Tchaikovsky,Symphony no. 6 in B minor, op. 74, “Pathétique” (approx. 46 min.)

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