Italian Dream - Orchestre Métropolitain

Dates and Locations Date Location Choose

Wednesday
March 13th
7:30 PM

Église Saint-Sixte (Saint-Laurent)

Past

Symphonic personalities

Energetic
Timeless

Program

Strauss

Don Juan
Saariaho

Aile du songe , Concerto for flute (Maison symphonique only)
Mozart

Flute Concerto No. 1 (boroughs only)
Mozart

The Marriage of Figaro, Overture
Strauss

Aus Italien

Media

Conductor

Ariane Matiakh

The concert starts off with a bang as Don Juan bursts onto the stage and dives head first into his romantic—and musical—adventures! From one symphonic poem to the next, Strauss takes us through Italy with Aus Italien, visiting four sunny destinations: the Roman countryside, the nostalgic Roman ruins, the beach at Sorrento and a Neapolitan celebration.

The audience will then take flight with flutist Juliette Hurel’s performance of Aile du songe, a concerto by composer Kaika Saariaho who draws crowds and has worked with an impressive roster of artists such as writer Amin Maalouf and theatre director Peter Sellars.

NEW: DROP-IN MUSIC ACTIVITIES (FREE) – March 17 concert at the Maison symphonique de Montréal

In partnership with Place des Arts, the OM is delighted to present a brand new initiative, offering free playful musical activities for children aged 5 to 10 during this concert. While parents attend a concert, children take part in a creative workshop inspired by the works on the concert’s program. To participate, fill the form before March 10.

Salon Urbain, Place des Arts
1600 Saint-Urbain Street, Montréal

Duration: 2:45
Arrival at 2:30 p.m., departure at the end of the concert, around 5 p.m.

Pre-concert Experience

Works

Strauss

1864 – 1949

Don Juan

Italy enjoyed an enduring fascination and charm as the cradle of the Renaissance and Baroque. For centuries, musicians, writers, painters, sculptors, and architects from all over Europe converged on this peninsula to soak up its culture, history, landscapes, and way of life.

With the discovery of the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and a revival of interest in the vestiges of antiquity, Italy became a mandatory stop on the Grand Tour, a long journey through Europe customarily undertaken by aristocratic and upper-class young men (and a few rare young women) to complete their education. Many literary figures ventured on such journeys: Goethe, Byron, Nietzsche… As for musicians, Mendelssohn, who was born into a wealthy and cultured family, embarked on his own Grand Tour in 1830, spending ten months in Italy. Berlioz, Gounod, and Debussy, all laureates of the prestigious Prix de Rome, sojourned at the Villa Medici. And the great traveller and mystic Franz Liszt spent the final years of his life in Rome, in the shadow of the Vatican.

While Richard Strauss (1864–1949) was neither an aristocrat nor a wealthy bourgeois, he was gifted with many blessings from his earliest years. The son of Franz Strauss—a renowned horn player in the Bavarian Court Orchestra and Bayreuth Festival Orchestra conducted by none other than Wagner—Richard Strauss demonstrated prodigious gifts beginning in childhood. Brought up in the school of Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, and Brahms, only later did he come under the influence of Liszt and Wagner. But after that, his course was set to embrace the symphonic poem and opera. A student of the great Hans von Bülow, Richard Strauss also became a distinguished conductor.  

Strauss recounts in his memoirs that it was his father who funded his first trip to Italy, in 1886. Stops included Verona, Bologna, Rome, Naples, and Florence. This excursion inspired Aus Italien (From Italy), his first attempt at a symphonic poem, whose premiere he conducted in Munich, on March 2, 1887. Based on the principle that new ideas must take on new forms and following the example of Liszt’s symphonic works, Strauss set about developing his own works in the same vein. And while this first incursion into the new form still closely adhered to the model of the Classical symphony, it prefigures, nevertheless, future masterpieces such a Don Quixote and Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

Saariaho

Born 1952

Aile du songe , Concerto for flute (Maison symphonique only)

From the symphonic poem to the poetic concerto

Co-commissioned in 2001 by the Festival van Vlaanderen, the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Aile du songe for flute and orchestra by Kaija Saariaho (1952–2023) was inspired by a collection of poems by Saint-John Perse titled Oiseaux. The composer explained that, “In these poems, Saint-John Perse did not describe the singing of birds. He rather speaks of their flight and uses the rich metaphor of birds to describe life’s mysteries through an abstract and multidimensional language.”   

“I have been very familiar with the flute since my earliest pieces. I like the sound in which breathing is ever-present and with timbral possibilities that befit my musical language: the instrument’s body makes it possible to write phrases that go through grinding textures, coloured with phonemes whispered by the flautist, which gradually go towards pure and smooth sounds.” — Kaija Saariaho   

Aile du songe comprises two parts, “Aérienne” and “Terrestre.” The first part is divided into three sections, and the second part, into two. As the composer explains in the preface to the work, published by Chester Music:

“In Prélude, the flute gradually pervades space and generates the orchestra’s music. In Jardin des oiseaux, the flute interacts with individual instruments of the orchestra, while D’autres rives compares the flute to a lone, high-flying bird whose shadow forms different images played by the strings over the unchanged landscape of the harp, celesta, and percussion.”  

“The first section of ‘Terrestre,’ titled Oiseau dansant, introduces a deep contrast with the other material of the concerto. It refers to an Aboriginal tale in which a virtuosic dancing bird teaches a whole village how to dance. While writing this section, I was especially thinking of Camilla Hoitenga and her personality as a flautist. The finale—Oiseau, un satellite infime—is a synthesis of all the previous aspects, then the sound of the flute slowly fades away.”  

Mozart

1756 – 1791

Flute Concerto No. 1 (boroughs only)

For concerts throughout the city

It was also while travelling that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) composed the Flute Concerto no. 1 in G major, K. 313. En route to Paris along with his mother, it was during a stopover in Mannheim that Mozart made the acquaintance of the surgeon and amateur flutist Ferdinand Dejean, who commissioned him to write three flute concertos and a series of flute quartets. This patron had requested works of lesser difficulty, which he would be able to perform himself. Overwhelmed by other occupations and uninspired by this commission, Mozart produced only two concertos and three quartets, for which he received a meagre 96 of the 200 guilders agreed upon. This concerto unfolds in three movements: a sonata-form Allegro maestoso, whose first theme is a ritornello (a motif repeated at regular intervals, much like a refrain); a tender Adagio ma non troppo, in which the flute engages in a dialogue with the orchestra; and a Rondo that has the distinctive feature of being played at the tempo of a minuet. The beauty of this concerto, a mainstay of the repertoire for flute and a prominent audition piece, completely contradicts Mozart’s purported lack of enthusiasm for the solo instrument.

Mozart

1756-1791

The Marriage of Figaro, Overture

Strauss

1864 – 1949

Aus Italien

“Others compose; I make music history!” —Richard Strauss  

Aus Italien begins with an Andante titled “In the Country” (Auf der Campagna), which serves as the symphonic poem’s introduction. The opening depicts a sunrise—Strauss developed this idea, magnifying it considerably, in his Alpine Symphony. This is followed by various impressions of the countryside surrounding Rome, an inspiration for many painters, and by characterizations of various locations, including the Villa d’Este. Next, we are transported to the ruins of Rome (In Roms Ruinen). The music’s radiant, martial character, evoking the splendours of Imperial Rome, displays the kind of orchestral colours developed later in Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegel. In “At the Beach in Sorrentoˮ (Am Strande von Sorrent), Strauss describes the wind, the sounds of waves, as well as birdsong, but most of all, the quintessentially Italian dolcezza. Lastly, the traveller is irresistibly drawn to the slopes of Mout Vesuvius, and to the heart of Neapolitan folk life (Neapolitanisches Volksleben). One will readily recognize the song Funiculì funiculà, which Strauss, in his youthful naivety, took for a folk song. Unfortunately so, since this song’s composer Luigi Denza proceeded to sue him … and won!  

The birth of a new genre

Richard Strauss stands among the composers who popularized the genre of the symphonic poem, an orchestral composition inspired by an extra-musical element, such as a story or character. leading figure of the modern school.

This genre is thereby consistent with the category of program music, usually a more descriptive kind of work that follows a predefined storyline. Strauss, however, flatly refused to let his symphonic poems be qualified as program music, a term he associated with the kitsch and the picturesque. For him, poetic inspiration is what mattered most; hence, he always spoke in terms of symphonic poems or symphonic fantasias.

Strauss reported being inspired to write the first themes of Don Juan, which he composed in 1888–1889, while at the convent of San Antonio of Padua. Barely two years had passed since Aus Italien and Strauss, who was a mere 24-year-old, carved out a place for himself as an orchestral virtuoso with this second symphonic poem. Inspired by the story of the legendary character of its title, the work is based on an unfinished play by Nikolaus Lenau, some excerpts of which Strauss included in his score.

Don Juan comprises three parts. The first, which describes the hero’s brazen vigour, is full of velocity and lush orchestral colours. This is followed by a section describing the seducer’s conquests, with various amorous-sounding themes heard at the violin and the oboe. The last section introduces the effect of melancholy, announcing the main character’s death: weary of the life he has led and wishing almost to end it, Don Juan confronts the father of one of his conquests in a duel, and succumbs. Don Juan was premiered on November 11, 1889, in Weimar, conducted by Strauss himself. It was triumphantly received, propelling the composer to the status of a

Conductor & Soloists

Ariane Matiakh

Conductor

The 2023/24 season sees Ariane embarking on her second season as Principal Conductor of the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen. Symphonic highlights include works by Ligeti, Mozart, Debussy and Prokofiev. The season also sees Ariane debut with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and she will return to Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, and Orchestre Metropolitain, among others.

Previous guest conductor engagements have included regular appearances with leading ensembles such as Bamberger Symphoniker, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Wiener Symphoniker, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic, WDR, Frankfurt Radio and MDR Symphony Orchestras, Sinfonieorchester Basel, and Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg.

On the opera stage, the 2023/24 season will see Ariane make her debut at Stuttgart Staatsoper and Hamburg Staatsoper conducting Bizet’s Carmen. Opera engagements in recent years included a production of Puccini’s La bohème at the Royal Opera House; a re-invitation brought her to the Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg for a new production of Samson et Dalila and in the summer of 2022 she conducted Bizet’s Carmen in a production by Calixto Bieito at the Norwegian Opera and Ballet.

Today, Ariane’s repertoire covers numerous operas to a wide spectrum of symphonic works and ballets, from the music of the Baroque period to contemporary compositions. Ariane’s discography includes a Grammy nomination for her Capriccio recording of both piano concertos by Zara Levina with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. For the Capriccio label, she has also recorded the works of Johanna Doderer as well as a CD with music by Francis Poulenc and Jean Françaix.

In recognition of her achievements in French musical life and representing French culture abroad, Ariane Matiakh was awarded “Officier de l’Ordre des Arts des Lettres” in 2022.

Juliette Hurel

Flute

Juliette Hurel is well known in both the French and International music world as a highly renowned flautist.

She was unanimously awarded the first prizes for flute and chamber music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris and has won prizes in several major international competitions. In 2004, she was nominated for the “Discoveries of the Year” award in the “Victoires de la Musique Classique”.
Juliette Hurel has performed at prestigious concert venues such as the Cité de la Musique and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, the Grand Théâtre de Provence, Wigmore Hall in London and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. She receives invitations to play at important festivals such as the Festival International de la Roque d’Anthéron, « La Folle Journée » in Nantes, the Festival International de Colmar, Holland Festival, the Cartagena Music Festival and festivals in Tokyo and Bilbao. As a highly sought soloist, Juliette Hurel has played with orchestras from around the world, including the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Colombia, Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Hong-Kong Sinfonietta. She also performs regularly with various orchestras in France.

In 1993, seeking to form a flute and piano duo that could achieve a musical partnership at the highest level, Juliette Hurel began a collaboration with pianist Hélène Couvert. They enjoy discovering and performing (unjustifiably) forgotten works from the repertoire, as well as tackling the great classics. This friendship and successful musical collaboration has resulted in several acclaimed album recordings.

In 2019, Juliette Hurel, Hélène Couvert and actress Julie Depardieu created a musical tribute to the artistic muse and patron Misia Sert, in the form of a show entitled “Misia, Reine de Paris”. It is with enormous pleasure that they continue to perform this work today, and to bring the story of this fascinating woman to life.

Juliette Hurel is very interested in contemporary music and working alongside the composers to fully understand and realise their intentions. She is the inspiration and dedicatee for several commissions, notably the flute concerto “Love songs” by Bruno Mantovani, premiered in 2016 with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and “Chant de Résurrection” for flute and piano by Philippe Hersant, premiered in 2021 with Hélène Couvert.

The discography of Juliette Hurel is rich and varied: Works by Martinu and Prokofiev, French repertoire from the 20th century, the Haydn Flute Sonatas, Concertos for flute and orchestra by C.P.E. Bach (with L’Orchestre d’Auvergne under the baton of Arie van Beek), the albums “Impressions Françaises” and “Dawn of Romanticism”, the complete Mozart Flute Quartets with the Quatuor Voce and the album “Bach-Inspiration”. In 2020, Juliette Hurel and pianist Hélène Couvert recorded a collection of rarely performed works by female French composers (Mel Bonis, Cécile Chaminade, Lili Boulanger) entitled “Compositrices à l’aube du vingtième siècle”. These recordings have received critical acclaim and were hailed by the French and International press. An album of romantic flute music, “Nature Romantique”, featuring Hélène Couvert and cellist Emmanuelle Bertrand, has been released in 2023.

Juliette Hurel has been solo flautist with Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra since 1998, and from 2010 has also taught at the Rotterdam Conservatoire “Codarts”

She is Artistic Director of the “Rencontres Musicales de Noyers sur Serein” and the “Musicales du Golfe”.

Juliette Hurel plays a “Pearl” flute in 18 carat gold.