Enigmatic Variations - Orchestre Métropolitain

Dates and Locations Date Location Choose

Sunday
April 4th
3:00 PM

Maison Symphonique de Montréal

Symphonic personalities

Curious
Timeless

Program

COLEMAN

Umoja: Anthem of Unity
DUTILLEUX

Tout un monde lointain…
Elgar

Enigma Variations

Media

Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations reveal a world where intimacy meets grandeur: each variation is a musical sketch of one of the composer’s close friends, in an exceptionally elegant style where tenderness meets orchestral majesty. As for the piece’s hidden theme, it remains a carefully guarded secret that has inspired the imagination for over a century.

Edgar Moreau brings passion to Dutilleux’s Tout un monde lointain…, a modern poetic jewel of the cello repertoire. The orchestra glows with striking colours while the soloist moves deftly between virtuosity and reflection. The program is further illuminated by Valerie Coleman’s Umoja, a vibrant hymn to unity inspired by African rhythms, jazz and classical music, conducted by Roderick Cox.

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Works

COLEMAN

Umoja: Anthem of Unity

DUTILLEUX

Tout un monde lointain…

Elgar

1857 – 1934

Enigma Variations

Conductor & Soloists

Roderick Cox

Conductor

Praised as “a conductor of the first artistic league… leading with clarity, emotional charge, and an unshakable sense of purpose” (Klassik Begeistert), Roderick Cox has built a strong reputation for thoughtful artistry and a diverse repertoire encompassing symphonic, operatic, and contemporary works.

Since the 2024/25 season, Cox has served as Music Director of the Opéra Orchestre National de Montpellier Occitanie, becoming the youngest music director in the institution’s history. In Montpellier, he conducts both operatic and symphonic repertoire, including a new production of Verdi’s La Traviata, Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, Debussy’s La Mer, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4, and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10, among others.

Cox has appeared as a guest conductor with many of the world’s leading orchestras across North America, Europe, and beyond. In the United States, he has conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, as well as the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Detroit, Seattle, and Montreal. In Europe, his collaborations include the Staatskapelle Dresden, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, and the Hallé Orchestra. His international profile also includes debuts in Asia and Australia with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.

Highlights of the 2025/26 season include debuts with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, MDR Leipzig, Orchestre National de Belgique, and the Kansas City Symphony, as well as return engagements with the Rundfunk‑Sinfonieorchester Berlin and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. He will also conduct the Chineke! Orchestra on a major European tour, with performances in London, Paris, Dublin, Dortmund, and Antwerp, reaffirming his commitment to inclusive programming and fresh artistic perspectives.

In opera, Cox made his debut with the English National Opera in 2024, conducting Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. He has also led productions at San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, Finnish National Opera, and the Opéra national de Montpellier, in works including Rigoletto, La Bohème, La forza del destino, and Jeanine Tesori’s Blue.

Cox’s recording projects have received wide acclaim. The New York Times selected his recording of William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony with the Seattle Symphony as one of the five classical recordings to listen to in 2023, while BBC Music Magazine awarded it a five‑star rating. His recording of Tesori’s Blue with the Washington National Opera Orchestra was also nominated for a BBC Music Magazine Opera Award.

In 2019, Cox founded the Roderick Cox Music Initiative, a program dedicated to supporting young musicians of color and expanding access to classical music education. Through scholarships, mentorship, and performance opportunities, the initiative works to foster a more inclusive and representative classical music landscape.
A native of Georgia, Cox studied at the Schwob School of Music and Northwestern University, and completed professional development programs at Aspen, Chautauqua, and with the Chicago Sinfonietta. From 2016 to 2019, he served as Associate Conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä, and he is a recipient of the 2018 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award.

Edgar Moreau

Cello

Born in 1994, Edgar Moreau is a prizewinner of the 2009 Rostropovich Competition, the 2011 Tchaikovsky Competition, and the 2014 Young Concert Artists Competition.

He began playing the cello at the age of four and studied with Philippe Muller at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, later continuing his training at the Kronberg Academy with Frans Helmerson. At just 11 years old, he made his debut performing Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with the Teatro Regio Orchestra in Turin.

Edgar Moreau regularly appears in the world’s most prestigious concert halls, including Carnegie Hall (New York), the Berlin Philharmonie, the Musikverein and Konzerthaus (Vienna), the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), the Hollywood Bowl (Los Angeles), the Philharmonie de Paris and Théâtre des Champs‑Élysées, the Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), Suntory Hall (Tokyo), the Seoul Arts Center, Victoria Hall (Geneva), the Palau de la Música Catalana (Barcelona), La Scala (Milan), La Fenice (Venice), and Wigmore Hall (London). He is also a frequent guest at major international festivals, including Verbier, Salzburg, Gstaad, Montreux, Hamburg, Edinburgh, Saint‑Denis, Menton, Colmar, Lugano, and the Martha Argerich Festival.

He collaborates with internationally renowned conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel, Valery Gergiev, François‑Xavier Roth, Myung‑Whun Chung, Tugan Sokhiev, Marin Alsop, Manfred Honeck, Lahav Shani, Elim Chan, Mikko Franck, Jakub Hrůša, Michael Schønwandt, Alain Altinoglu, Pablo Heras‑Casado, Andris Poga, Susanna Mälkki, Joseph Swensen, Vasily Petrenko, Jukka‑Pekka Saraste, Aziz Shokhakimov, Lionel Bringuier, Andrés Orozco‑Estrada, and Nathalie Stutzmann.

Edgar Moreau has appeared with leading orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Filarmonica della Scala, Munich Philharmonic, Hamburg Symphony, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de France, Brussels Philharmonic, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Turku Philharmonic, Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, Simon Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, and the KBS Symphony Orchestra.

A passionate chamber musician, Moreau collaborates with artists including Martha Argerich, Yo‑Yo Ma, Renaud Capuçon, Khatia Buniatishvili, Daniil Trifonov, Nicholas Angelich, András Schiff, Emmanuel Pahud, Sergei Babayan, Lisa Batiashvili, Julian Rachlin, Alexey Volodin, Nelson Goerner, Ning Feng, Bertrand Chamayou, and David Kadouch, as well as with his siblings Raphaëlle, David, and Jérémie.

Highlights of the 2025/26 season include concerts with the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Thessaloniki Symphony Orchestra, and Taipei Symphony Orchestra, as well as recitals at the Théâtre des Champs‑Élysées, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall, the Al Bustan Festival, the Dresden Musikfestspiele, Villa Musica, and the Théâtre du Châtelet.
During the same season, Edgar Moreau will be Artist in Residence with the Orchestre National des Pays de Savoie. His chamber music projects include the Trio Moreau with his brothers David and Jérémie, duo recitals with David Kadouch, and trio performances with Nelson Goerner and Ning Feng.

An exclusive Erato artist, Edgar Moreau released his debut album Play in 2014 with pianist Pierre‑Yves Hodique, followed by Giovincello with Il Pomo d’Oro and Riccardo Minasi, which received the ECHO Klassik Award (2016). His discography also includes an album of Debussy’s sonatas and trios, Gulda and Offenbach Concertos with Les Forces Majeures and *Raphaël Merlin, A Family Affair (Korngold and Dvořák), and Transmission, celebrating Jewish musical heritage through works by Bruch, Bloch, Korngold, and Ravel.
In September 2023, he released an album of Dutilleux and Weinberg cello concertos with Andris Poga and the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln. His most recent album, Rococo (Warner Classics, November 2024), features Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester under Michael Sanderling, as well as works for cello and piano—including Chopin’s Cello Sonata—with David Kadouch.

Edgar Moreau has received numerous distinctions, including Victoires de la Musique Classique awards in 2013 and 2015, and was named an ECHO Rising Star in 2017. He is a laureate of the Fondation Banque Populaire, received the Young Soloist Award from French public radio stations in 2013, and was supported by the Safran Corporate Foundation and named an Adami Révélation Classique in 2012. Since fall 2023, he has served as Professor of Cello at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris.

Edgar Moreau plays a 1711 David Tecchler cello with a bow by Dominique Peccatte.

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Enigmatic Variations

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