Twenty-six Opus Prizes were awarded by the Conseil québécois de la musique yesterday in Montreal at Salle Claude-Champagne. In the category “Concert of the Year – Montreal”, three of the five nominees were Analekta artists: Ensemble Caprice for its concert “Vivaldi and the gypsies”, Les Idées heureuses for its “Promenade in Munich, Music at Albrecht V court” and baritone Jean-François Lapointe for “Paul Verlaine” (also nominated in the category “Concert of the Year – Classical, romantic, postromantic and impressionist repertoire”). Lapointe was awarded the prize in the “Concert of the Year – Montreal” category.

An Homage Prize was awarded to organist Bernard Lagacé, without a doubt one of the most important organists on the international scene today. Many of his legendary performances were recorded on the Analekta label, including Bach’s complete works for keyboard, launched in 2000. The boxset is still a reference today. To listen to one or the other of those works, you may click here.

The complete list of winners can be accessed here.