Bourgie Hall presents

Discovering Medtner

Charles Richard-Hamelin and Myriam Leblanc

Nikolai Karlovitch Medtner, a younger contemporary of Scriabin and Rachmaninov – though certainly lesser known – devoted himself, like them, mainly to piano works. However, Medtner did produce a Suite and a Sonate-Vocalise for voice without text and keyboard. As for his Mélodies oubliées, they are written solely for the piano. This composer’s art “embodies a blend of the Russian soul and the German spirit,” according to the pianist Alexandre Paley. For many, this recital will be one of pure discovery.

Artists

Myriam LeBlanc, soprano

The young coloratura soprano Myriam Leblanc is the recipient of several prizes: first prize and Audience Choice Award at the Trois-Rivières Symphony Orchestra Competition, Young Lyric Ambassador 2014 (Québec Bavaria prize), winner of an Audience Choice Award in the Center Stage competition of the Canadian Opera Company, third prize in the Auditions Nouvelles Découvertes competition of the Ottawa Choral Society, winner of the excellence grant awarded annually by the Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal and the first prize at the Mathieu Duguay Early Music Competition at the Lamèque International Baroque Music Festival in 2017. Myriam Leblanc is a versatile artist who works as much in the classical world as in the bel canto, as in the baroque. She is recognized for her timbre of great purity, for her supple and warm voice and her great mastery in both technical and musical expressiveness.

“It’s like a brandy distillate, absolutely transparent … Her name is Myriam Leblanc and in my opinion she has been one of the most beautiful voices, perhaps the most beautiful, to come out of the Quebec breeding ground in the past 10 years …” – Christophe Huss, Samedi et rien d’autre, December 2020

Formerly a member of the Atelier lyrique of Montreal Opera, Myriam Leblanc has been a guest soloist of prestigious: Montreal Symphonic Orchestra, Trois-Rivières Symphonic Orchestra, Québec Symphonic Orchestra, Saskatoon Symphonic Orchestra and Metropolitain Orchestra.

Charles Richard-Hamelin, piano

Silver medalist and laureate of the Krystian Zimerman Prize at the 2015 International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Canadian pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin is standing out today as one of the most important musicians of his generation. In 2014, he also won the second prize at the Montreal International Musical Competition and the third prize at the Seoul International Music Competition in South Korea. Charles is the recipient of the Order of Arts and Letters of Quebec and the prestigious Career Development Award offered by the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto.

“Charles Richard-Hamelin is clearly a musician-pianist: fluent, multi-faceted and tonally seductive […] Melodic inflection is curvaceous, natural and discreetly sensuous.” — Jeremy Siepmann, BBC Music Magazine

Recently, the second volume of his complete Beethoven sonatas for violin and piano with Andrew Wan was released, as well as a new Chopin recital featuring the 24 Preludes, the Andante spianato and the Grande polonaise brillante, Op. 22.

Program
MEDTNER Suite-Vocalise, Op. 41, No. 2
Mélodies oubliées for solo piano, Op. 39
Sonata-Vocalise, Op. 41, No. 1

Wednesday, November 17, 2021 at 7:30 pm
To purchase your tickets visit: www.mbam.qc.ca

Bourgie Concert Hall
1339 Sherbrooke Street West,
Montreal, Quebec
H3G 2E8