Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) presents

Charlie Chaplin’s The Immigrant

Explore the world of short films with Thomas Ospital, an organist who specializes in accompanying silent films.

Set out on an adventure with Chaplin’s Tramp character, the eternal vagabond, in The Immigrant, a gem of the genre! This cinematic concert also features the pictorial world of Canadian filmmaker Norman McLaren with the experimental film Neighbours, and Spook Sport, an animated short film modelled on the music of Saint-Saëns’ Danse macabre.

Thomas Ospital

Titulaire of the grand organ at Saint-Eustache Church in Paris, Organist in Residence at Maison de la Radio (Radio France Concert Hall) and recently appointed Organ Professor at the Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP). Thomas Ospital is a young artist who has quickly earned a place amongst the world’s finest concert organists.

A laureate of several competitions, he was awarded First Prize at the 2009 International Competition of Organ in Saragossa, Spain, the Duruflé-Prize and the Audience Prize at the 2012 International Chartres Competition, and Second Prize at the 2013 International Xavier Darasse Competition in Toulouse. In May of 2014 he took the Grand Prize Jean Louis Florentz and the Audience Prize at the International Organ Competition of Angers under the direction of the Académie des Beaux-Arts. And most-recently, in November of 2014 he was awarded Second Prize, Audience Prize and the Florentz Prize at the International Chartres Competition.

Mr. Ospital is equally at home performing as a solo recitalist or with choir or orchestra. He is also eager to perpetuate the art of improvisation in all of its forms, including the accompaniment of silent films. His performances have taken him throughout Europe, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Greece, Germany, Switzerland and Holland. He has also performed in Russia and in North America, where in 2012 he served for six months as Young Artist in Residence at the Cathedral-Basilica of Saint Louis King of France in New Orleans, USA.

Born in 1990, Thomas Ospital began his musical studies at the Conservatoire Maurice Ravel in Bayonne, France, completing his studies with Esteban Landart in 2008 (Mention Très bien à l’unanimité). From 2008 until 2015 he was a student at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris where he earned five First Place prizes in organ, improvisation, harmony, counterpoint and fugue. His teachers at the Paris Conservatoire included Olivier Latry, Michel Bouvard, Thierry Escaich, Philippe Lefebvre, László Fassang, Isabelle Duha, Pierre Pince and Jean-François Zygel.

Mr. Ospital currently serves as Titular Organist of the largest pipe organ in France; the Grand Organ at St. Eustache in Paris.  He took up the post in 2015 when he succeeded Jean Guillou.  Mr. Ospital is also the newly-appointed Organist in Residence at the Maison de la Radio (Radio France) where he presides over the new concert hall organ built by Grenzing

Program

Charlie CHAPLIN, The Immigrant (1917), (25 min.)
Norman MCLAREN, Neighbours (1952), (8 min.)
Norman MCLAREN, Spook Sport (1940), (8 min.)
Finalist film from the Kino Montreal Competition

Maison symphonique
Saturday, March 23, 2024 at 7:30pm

To purchase your tickets visit: www.placedesarts.com