Bourgie Hall presents

Gordon Bintner, bass-baritone & Michael McMahon, piano

Renowned Canadian bass-baritone Gordon Bintner, who leads a thriving career both at home and abroad, and pianist Michael McMahon present an evening of Romantic lieder and 20th-century French and English art songs.

Soprano Natasha Henry, student at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, will give a 15-minute performance at the beginning of the concert.

Artists
Gordon Bintner, bass-baritone

Gordon Bintner amassed a broad and impressive operatic repertoire across six seasons as a member of Oper Frankfurt’s ensemble including Argante (Rinaldo), Chorèbe (Les Troyens), Graf (Capriccio), Harlekin (Ariadne auf Naxos), Count (Schreker’s Der ferne Klang), Vladislav (Smetana’s Dalibor), Escamillo (Carmen) and Don Polidoro (Cimarosa’s L’italiana in Londra). He has recently made notable debuts at Opéra National de Paris as Junior in Bernstein’s A Quiet Place under Kent Nagano, at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte conducted by Julia Jones, at San Francisco Opera in Robert Carsen’s classic production of Eugene Onegin and at Opéra national de Lyon in the title role of Le Nozze di Figaro under Alexandre Bloch.

A native of Canada, Bintner is a former member of the Opera Studio of Canadian Opera Company and has since returned as a regular guest to that stage including in his role debut as both Eugene Onegin and Belcore in L’Elisir d’amore and, most recently, as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte and as Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, conducted by Harry Bicket. A graduate of its prestigious Young Singers Project, he has also performed at Salzburg Festival as Astolfo in Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia, conducted by Marco Armiliato, as Phorbas in Enescu’s Oedipe under Ingo Metzmacher and as the Herald in Verdi’s Otello under Christian Thielemann. 

Gordon Bintner’s 2023/24 season includes first performances at Teatro Regio di Torino as Ruggiero in a new production of Halévy’s La Juive under the baton of Daniel Oren, two productions at Opéra national de Paris as Oronte in David McVicar’s new staging of Charpentier’s Médée under William Christie and as Guglielmo conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado, and the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni under Johannes Debus at Canadian Opera Company.

The Grand Prize Winner of the OSM Standard Life Competition (2011) and first prize and People’s Choice Award recipient of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio Competition (2012), Gordon Bintner’s discography to date includes Junior in Bernstein’s A Quiet Place recorded with Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Kent Nagano (Decca Classics, 2018) and the Count in Schreker’s Der ferne Klang (OehmsClassics, 2021). An avid recitalist, Bintner made his debut at London’s historic Wigmore Hall last season with acclaimed pianist Kirill Gerstein in a programme of Busoni, Beethoven and Kurt Weill and this season performs a programme of Brahms, Finzi, Schubert and Schumann at Montreal’s Salle Bourgie together with accompanist, Michael McMahon.

Michael McMahon, piano

Pianist and vocal coach Michael McMahon studied at McGill University with Charles Reiner. With the aid of the Canada Council for the Arts, he completed his studies in Vienna at the Franz Schubert Institute and the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst, and in Salzburg at the International Summer Academy held at the Mozarteum. During this time, he studied with such legendary artists as Erik Werba, Hans Hotter, Elly Ameling, Jörg Demus and Kim Borg.

Michael McMahon maintains an active performing schedule. He has performed throughout Canada, Europe and the USA with singers such as Catherine Robbin, Karina Gauvin, Lyne Fortin, Dominique Labelle, Wendy Nielsen, Annamaria Popescu, Maureen Forrester, Richard Margison, Nathan Berg and Kevin McMillan, earning him the reputation of being a “luxury partner.” He has been a guest artist with such organizations as Les Violons du Roy, L’Opéra de Montréal, Les Grands Ballet Canadiens, the Ladies Morning Musical Club, Société Pro Musica, CBC McGill, the Women’s Musical Club (Toronto), the Wexford Festival, the André Turp Society and Debut Atlantic.

At McGill, where he is currently an associate professor, Michael McMahon teaches in both the Voice and Piano areas. He has led the very popular Song Interpretation class with baritone Jan Simons since 1984. He also teaches English and German diction for singers and is a vocal repertoire coach. In addition to his duties as Professor at the Faculty of Music, Michael McMahon has had a long association with Atelier lyrique de L’Opéra de Montréal and the Banff Centre for the Arts, where he has worked regularly as a vocal coach. Many of the singers and pianists that he has coached are working in major opera houses around the world. He is often asked to be an adjudicator for competitions and has also given master classes for singers and pianists across the country. He has made numerous broadcast recordings for the English and French networks of the CBC, as well as for the BBC, RBTF, Radio Suisse Romande and Radio France. With four Juno nominations to his credit, his recordings for the Marquis, CBC Records and Analekta labels have met with critical acclaim.

Program
SCHUBERT Selection of five lieder
R. SCHUMANN Sechs Gedichte von Nikolaus Lenau und Requiem [Six poems by Nikolaus Lenau and Requiem], Op.90
BRAHMS Deutsche Volkslieder [German Folk Songs], WoO 33 (excerpts)
IBERT Quatre Chansons de Don Quichotte
FINZI Let Us Garlands Bring, Op. 18

Friday, November 10, 2023 at 7:30pm

To purchase your tickets visit: www.mbam.qc.ca/en/bourgie-hall/