Margaret Maria and Donna Brown explore the relationships between artists and their muses, in Between Worlds LiveEvents March 10, 2025 71 Bourgie Hall presents Between Worlds The result of a collaboration between cellist-composer Margaret Maria and soprano-poet Donna Brown, Between Worlds explores the relationships between artists and their muses. This is complemented by the world premiere of I Am Breathing Stars, their most recent piece, taken from their upcoming album. These two creators and their fellow artists invite us to a galvanizing afternoon of music. Artists Donna Brown, soprano Donna Brown studied voice, piano and composition privately in Ottawa, and at McGill University in Montreal, before pursuing further studies with Noémie Perugia in Paris. She received scholarships from the Franz Schubert Institute in Austria, the Herbert Von Karajan Institute in Salzburg (to study with Edith Mathis), and the Fondation Royaumont in France, to study with Daniel Ferro. She also studied with Randy Michaelson in Venice. Brown quickly became a leading soprano in Europe after her 1982 professional stage debut as Micaela in Peter Brook’s Tragedy of Carmen. She sang in the celebrated opera production for three months in Paris, and in its subsequent tour throughout Europe. She made Paris her home for the next 20 years, moving back to Canada in 1997. She has performed an extensive repertoire of opera, recital, and oratorio works throughout Europe and the world. She has sung for the world’s top conductors, including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Helmuth Rilling, Kent Nagano, Trevor Pinnock, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Kurt Masur, Armin Jordan, Carlo Maria Giulini, William Christie, Daniel Barenboim, Jeffrey Tate, Bernard Haitink, and Peter Maag. Donna Brown’s floating, clear soprano voice is exceptional in its ability to express emotion and intelligence while maintaining technical precision. Her dramatic expressiveness has been ideal for her operatic roles, yet she is able to establish an intimate connection with audiences in her recitals. In October 2001, La Scena Musicale described “her expressive, nuanced singing, coupled with pure, gleaming tone and overall lovely stage presence.” Frédérique Cambreling, harp The French harpist Frédérique Cambreling was the principal harpist at the Orchestre National de France from 1977 to 1986. Then a soloist at the Ensemble Intercontemporain from 1993 to 2018, where she dedicated herself to working with leading composers in the development new expressive possibilities for her instrument. To this goal, composers such as Wolfgang Rihm, Andreas Dohmen, Luis de Pablo, and Philippe Schoeller have written new works for her. Frédérique Cambreling has also collaborated as a soloist with the ensembles of SWR, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra, the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, and the Orchestre National de Lyon. From 2002 to 2011 she taught at the Musikene Conservatory in San Sebastián in the Basque region of Spain. She was also a member of the Trio Salzedo from 2010 to 2023, a group for which many composers have enriched the repertoire. She is a professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris. Margaret Maria, compositions and cello Margaret Maria’s creativity knows no bounds. Seamlessly drifting between genres and going where her spirit takes her, you will find a variety of music – some expected and some unexpected. Venturing into her creativity is a shapeshifting activity in itself. Opening up to her sonic world and exploring all its dimensions is the fascination. Initially a cellist with a traditional classical performance past, she has broken out of every mould to create something unique and always from the heart. As a graduate of the Curtis institute of Music and a professional cellist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the National Arts Centre Orchestra, she soaked up the music of the past to enable her to create music of the future. Molinari Quartet Internationally acclaimed by the public and the critics since its foundation in 1997, the Molinari Quartet has given itself the mandate to perform works from the 20th and 21st centuries repertoire for string quartet, to commission new works and to initiate discussions between musicians, artists and the public. Recipient of twenty-seven Opus Prizes awarded by the Quebec Music Council to underline musical excellence on the Quebec concert stage, the Molinari Quartet as been described by the critics as an “essential” and “prodigious” ensemble, even “Canada’s answer to the Kronos or Arditti Quartet”. The Molinari Quartet has established itself as one of Canada’s leading string quartets. Olga Ranzenhofer, violin Antoine Bareil, violin Frédéric Lambert, viola Pierre-Alain Bouvrette, cello Program SCHAFER Theseus for harp and string quartet Margaret MARIA I Am Breathing Stars for soprano, string quartet and harp The Golden Mean – String Quartet No. 1 Between Worlds for soprano, string quartet and harp (poetry by Donna Brown) Sunday, March 16, 2025 at 2:30pm To purchase your tickets, visit: www.mbam.qc.ca/en/bourgie-hall/
