The Timeless Violin – February 14, 2025 LiveEvents February 5, 2025 62 Bourgie Hall presents The Timeless Violin The brilliant violinist Kerson Leong, Les Violons du Roy and conductor Nicolas Ellis join forces once again to create a program featuring Mendelssohn’s last string quartet, composed in memory of his sister Fanny, and a brand new work conceived especially for this admirable team of performers by Kelly-Marie Murphy, one of Canada’s most accomplished composers. Artists Les Violons du Roy Les Violons du Roy takes its name from the celebrated court orchestra of the French kings. It was founded in 1984 by Bernard Labadie, now styled founding conductor, and continues under music director Jonathan Cohen to explore the nearly boundless repertoire of music for chamber orchestra in performances matched as closely as possible to the period of each work’s composition. Its minimum fifteen-member complement plays modern instruments, albeit with period bows for Baroque and Classical music, and its interpretations are deeply informed by the latest research on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century performance practice. The repertoire of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries receives similar attention and figures regularly on the orchestra’s programs. Nicolas Ellis, conductor Nicolas Ellis is Music Director of the Orchestre National de Bretagne and Principal Guest Conductor of Les Violons du Roy. He is also Artistic Director of the Orchestre de l’Agora, which he founded in Montreal in 2013. Nicolas Ellis is one of the most active conductors on the Canadian scene. He has conducted the Vancouver Symphony, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Orchestre de chambre I Musici de Montréal, the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Opéra de Québec and the Opéra de Montréal. Internationally, he has appeared with the Graz Opera and the San Diego Symphony. In the 2024-2025 season, he makes his debuts with the Tampere Philharmonic in Finland, the Luxembourg Philharmonic, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and conducts a new production of The Magic Flute at the Opéra de Rennes. In Canada, he makes his debut with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and returns to the Orchestre Métropolitain and Opéra de Montréal in a production of L’enfant et les sortilèges. Kerson Leong, violin Kerson Leong has been described as “not just one of Canada’s greatest violinists but one of the greatest violinists, period” (Toronto Star). Forging a unique path since his First Prize win at the International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition in 2010, he continues to win over colleagues and audiences alike with “a mixture of spontaneity and mastery, elegance, fantasy, intensity that makes his sound recognizable from the first notes” (Le Monde). His latest album, featuring the Britten and Bruch violin concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Patrick Hahn for Alpha Classics, was released to widespread critical acclaim, including having been awarded ‘Editor’s Choice’ by Gramophone, ‘The Strad Recommends’ by The Strad, and the ‘Choc de Classica’ by Classica as well as five-star recommendations from the Sunday Times and Diapason among others. Program Kelly-Marie MURPHY Premiere of a work for violin and string orchestra J.S. BACH Chorale Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott, BWV 721 (arr. for violin and string orchestra) Felix MENDELSSOHN String Symphony No. 1 in B minor String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80 (arr. for string orchestra) Friday, February 14, 2025 at 7:30pm To purchase your tickets, visit: www.mbam.qc.ca/en/bourgie-hall/
