The Québécois classical milieu got together yesterday, Salle Claude-Champagne, to celebrate the excellence and vitality of our musical scene. Without much surprise, Gilles Tremblay’s opera L’eau qui danse, la pomme qui chante et l’oiseau qui dit la vérité was the clear winner of this gala, as it was named “premiere of the year” and “musical event of the year.” (Let’s remember here that close to 100 artists, all Canadian, embarked on this crazy but fabulous adventure.) Tremblay received the title of “composer of the year” as well. The jury members also chose to salute Ensemble Caprice, not once but twice; first for its remarkable performance of Bach’s B minor Mass (category “Concert of the year – medieval, Renaissance and baroque repertoire”) and then as “performer of the year.” It was the first time in the 14 editions of the gala that an ensemble was rewarded in this category.

Les coups de cœur d’Alain Lefèvre, a program presented at the Lanaudière festival last July, won the prize as “concert of the year – regions,” while pianist Serhiy Salov‘s album, The Sacred Spring of Slavs, got the “Recording of the year – modern and contemporay repertoire” statuette.

Two other Analekta albums were nominated, in the “Recording of the year – medieval, Renaissance and baroque repertoire” category: Francesca Caccini: O Viva Rosa (Shannon Mercer, Luc Beauséjour, Amanda Keemaat, Sylvain Bergeron) and Telemann and the baroque Gypsies by Ensemble Caprice.

Quebec City’s effervescent musical scene was highlighted, as the “specialised presenter of the year” was given to the Club musical de Québec, which celebrates its 120th season this year, and the Homage Prize awarded to Élise Paré-Tousignant, teacher and visionnaire, an essential part of the musical scene, including at Domaine Forget and Palais Montcalm.

The compleat list of winners is accessible here. Congratulations to the winners and the nominees!

After receiving a Felix two years in a row in the “Website of the Year” category, www.Analekta.com was a finalist in the 2010 Boomerang Contest in  the “E-Commerce Category”.

This new recognition, this time from the industry of marketing, advertising and medias, highlights Analekta’s commitment to position itself as a player to be reckoned with in the world of classical music online… and gives a boost of energy to those who believe classical music and new technologies can go hand in hand.

With its user experience about to be shortly reexamined in partnership with Adviso, a company specializing in ergonomics, and Motion in Design, Analekta’s Internet agency, you’re just beginning to savour your experience with Analekta.com.

Analekta received 5 Félix at the ADISQ Galas, held yesterday in Montreal, including the very prestigious statuette of “Producer of the Year,” which recognizes the efforts of the label to promote our local artists. Furthermore, for a second consecutive year, www.analekta.com, now entirely transactional, the meeting ground for classical music lovers, has been named “Website of the year.”

A natural follow-up to the one highlighting music of Philip Glass, winner of a Félix in 2009, Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà’s saluted album Arvo Pärt : Portrait was recognized in the category “Classical Album of the Year: Orchestra and Large Ensemble.”

In the category “Album of the Year: Soloist and Small Ensemble”, Canadian pianist André Laplante, hailed for his virtuosity and musicianship, won the trophy for his recording of the first of Liszt’s Années de pélerinage (Switzerland).

Jardins d’images, pianist Alain Lefèvre’s fourth album of compositions, has also been recognized in the category “Album of the Year – Instrumental”. Lefèvre (who also played in the opening segment of the Gala) was also nominated in the “Classical Album of the Year: Orchestra and Large Ensemble” category, with his brother Alain Lefèvre and the London Mozart Players.

Congratulations to all winners and to other Analekta nominees: Concert parisien with Luc Beauséjour, Hélène Plouffe, Grégoire Geay and Juan Manuel Quintana, harpist Valérie Milot, the Ensemble Caprice and the OSM.

Yesterday, the ADISQ announced the nominations for its next series of galas and Analekta received 10 of those, among them “Producer of the Year”, “Label of the Year” and “Internet Site of the year,” category in which the label won a Felix in 2009, following the launch of its brand new Website.

In the category “Album of the Year: Soloist and Small Ensemble”, we find André Laplante’s  interpretation of the first of Liszt’s Années de pélerinage, Concert parisien with Luc Beauséjour, Hélène Plouffe, Grégoire Geay and Juan Manuel Quintana, as well as Valérie Milot’s first album. The young harpist was Radio-Canada Musique Revelation for the year 2009-2010.

In the category “Classical album of the Year: Orchestra and Large Ensemble”, regulars of the ADISQ galas are saluted: Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà, the Ensemble Caprice as well as Alain Lefèvre, David Lefèvre and the London Mozart Players. Alain Lefèvre is also nominated in the “Album of the year – instrumental” category for Jardin d’images (Picture Garden), the pianist’s fourth album of compositions.

Also, in the category “Classical album of the year – vocal,” the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal under the direction of Kent Nagano is nominated for the album Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth), an album Analekta has commercialised for the Canadian market.

The ADISQ (Association de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo) will announce the names of the winners at a gala hosted by Rémi-Pierre Paquin, at Metropolis in Montreal, November 1, at 7:30 p.m. (to be broadcast on MusiquePlus, Musimax starting and on the Web at 8 p.m.) Of course, we’ll keep you updated on the results!

It is today at the Hôtel du parlement that Prime Minister Jean Charest will salute the excellence of 34 citizens with the Ordre national du Québec. You may remember that François Mario Labbé, president and founder of the Analekta label as well as cellist and conductor of I Musici de Montréal Yuli Turovsky are among the people to be honoured. Congratulations are in order!