The Opéra de Montréal’s third production of the season is  Giuseppe Verdi’s  Il Trovatore. Leonora will  be played by Hiromi Omura (who got rave reviews for her portrayal of Madama Butterfly in 2008, also heard in Simon Boccanegra in 2010) and the title role by Korean tenor Dongwon Shin. Canadian baritone Gregory Dahl,mezzo-soprano Laura Brioli and bass Ernesto Morillo will also be heard, as well as Gaétan Sauvageau, Karine Boucher, Riccardo Iannello and Jean-Michel Richer (the latter three are members of Atelier lyrique). The premiere is tomorrow night and shows will also be held on January 24, 26 and 28.

Do you know Il Trovatore? But, of course, even without knowing it, as this video demonstrates.

I finally saw The King’s Speech last week. Yes, I know, everyone has seen it several times, got a copy of the DVD for Christmas, critics have hailed the film, and why would I wait so long to see it? I must admit, when everyone seems enthusiastic about something, I’m generally more cautious about attending. Well, in this case, I was more than pleased with the film, led by two remarkable actors, Colin Firth and Goeffrey Rush, and supported by some very beautiful photography.

It was also most interesting to examine how classical music was woven into the narrative structure. Mozart’s overture to Nozze di Figaro is used as background -  or rather drowning – music when Bertie, not yet king, records a monologue from Hamlet for Lionel  and excerpts from the sublime Clarinet Concerto accompany the speech therapy montage. Beethoven shows up twice as well, with excerpts from the slow movement of the “Emperor” Concerto but especially with the Allegretto of this Seventh Symphony, used when King George makes his first wartime speech, adding density and emotion to the moment. I must admit that the night after I saw the film, that particular music haunted me several times…

Here is the scene, for your enjoyment.

It will be launched officially on January 31 but, just for you, here a few glimpses of Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà’s newest album, A Time for Us. It features some of the most beautiful movie soundtracks, all favourites of the violonist. She explains how she went about in  selecting the pieces:

“I have chosen musical moments that speak to me, film music that is particularly appealing, and great musical pieces that inspire images.
My relationship to this music is not the kind chosen by composers, who have created emotions that are attached to images, to a reality conceived for film. Rather, I was inspired by pure music, ignoring conveyed images, and taking it elsewhere in order to recreate my own musical universe. What I feel when I play these works comes from the music, and my approach has been comparable in all respects to the one I favour when working on my repertoire. That is why pieces that are first of all functional go beyond their role by defying time and, breaking out of their framework, become masterpieces. ”

Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà will also soon present two concerts featuring film music, one in Montreal (February 28, at Maison symphonique de Montréal) and one in Quebec (March 22, at Palais Montcalm).

We ended the year with a bang, so why not start it the same way, with this contagious hommage to ABBA performed by Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà, for example.

What better to end the year than with Leonard Bernstein’s “Mambo” from West Side Story, as performed at the last Nuit blanche by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, under the direction of Nathan Brock. I dare you not to move!