Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) presents

Barber’s Superb Violin Concerto

A former OSM Competition winner, the charismatic Canadian violinist Blake Pouliot joins forces with the Orchestra in Barber’s Violin Concerto. A masterpiece at turns lyrical or introspective, its last movement driven by a rhythmic fury, this concerto is an unquestionable tour de force for the soloist. The Negro Folk Symphony by African-American composer William Levi Dawson delivers a unique fusion of spirituals and post-Romantic symphonic aesthetics, with a few discreet nods to European composers.

Artists
Roderick Cox, conductor

Winner of the 2018 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award by the U.S Solti Foundation, Berlin-based American conductor, Roderick Cox, has been praised as a conductor who is “paving the way” (NBC News) and recognised as a “trailblazer…a conductor who will be amongst the vanguard” (Minnesota StarTribune)

Recent highlights include his debuts with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Malmo Symphony, Lahti Symphony, Boston Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, New World Symphony, and Orchestre de Paris; as well as returns to Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Seattle Symphony and Aspen Music Festival Chamber Orchestra.

With a passion for education and diversity and inclusion in the arts, Roderick started the Roderick Cox Music Initiative (RCMI) in 2019 — a project that provides scholarships for young musicians from historically marginalized communities, allowing them to pay for instruments, music lessons, and summer camps. Roderick and his new initiative will be featured in an upcoming documentary called Conducting Life.

Born in Macon, Georgia, Roderick attended the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University, and then later attended Northwestern University graduating with a master’s degree in 2011. He was awarded the Robert J. Harth Conducting Prize from the Aspen Music Festival in 2013 and has held fellowships with the Chicago Sinfonietta as part of their Project Inclusion program and at the Chautauqua Music Festival, where he was a David Effron Conducting Fellow. In 2016, Roderick was appointed as Associate Conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra, under Osmo Vänskä, for three seasons, having previously served as assistant conductor for a year.

Blake Pouliot, violin

Described as “immaculate, at once refined and impassioned,” (ArtsAtlanta) violinist Blake Pouliot (pool-YACHT) has anchored himself among the ranks of classical phenoms. A tenacious young artist with a passion that enraptures his audience in every performance, Pouliot has established himself as “one of those special talents that comes along once in a lifetime” (Toronto Star).

Winner of the Grand Prize at the 2016 Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Manulife Competition, Blake Pouliot’s 2023/24 symphonic highlights include Shostakovich 1, Bruch 1, Tchaikovsky, Korngold and Sibelius concerti across the US and Canada with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal with Roderick Cox, Artis-Naples and NAC Ottawa with Alexander Shelley, Quebec City Symphony and Clemens Schuldt amongst others.

During his time as Soloist-in-Residence of Orchestre Métropolitain in 2020/21, Pouliot and Yannick Nézet-Séguin performed Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 and Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons, which led to Pouliot’s 2022 debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Kimmel Centre, performing John Corigliano’s The Red Violin (Chaconne for Violin and Orchestra) with Nézet-Séguin. Highlights elsewhere include Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal in 2022/23, with Angela Hewitt and Bryan Cheng, as well as performances of the Paganini, Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns concerti and Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy in subscription concertos across North America.

Program
TCHAIKOVSKY, The Tempest, Fantasia for Orchestra, op. 18 (18 min.)
BARBER, Violin Concerto, op. 14 (25 min.)
William Levi DAWSON, Negro Folk Symphony (30 min.)

Pre-concert: a recital will be presented before the October 12 concert at 6:30pm and before the October 14 concert at 1:30pm. All ticket holders are welcome! (duration: 30 minutes)

Maison symphonique
Thursday, October 12, 2023 at 7:30pm
Saturday, October 14, 2023 at 2:30pm

To purchase your tickets visit: www.placedesarts.com