Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons
With Guest Director Rachel Podger
Artists: Rachel Podger, solo violin and leader; Pacific Baroque Orchestra; with Myriam Leblanc, soprano; and Marc Mauillon, baritone
Pre-Concert Lecture: 7pm hosted by Christina Hutton.
Run Time: Approximately 90 Minutes, plus an interval
Vivaldi’s best-known concertos for violin and string orchestra revolutionized ideas about what orchestral music could achieve. In these compositions, music has learned to represent flowing creeks, singing birds (of different species, each specifically characterized), a shepherd and his barking dog, buzzing flies, storms, drunken dancers, hunting parties from both the hunters’ and prey’s point of view, even the stillness of frozen landscapes and the warmth of winter fires. We have long looked forward to programming this repertoire and are delighted to present it now with star violinist and guest director Rachel Podger, in collaboration with Vancouver’s own Pacific Baroque Orchestra.
Generously sponsored by The Graham & Gayle Cooke Foundation.
PROGRAMME
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
The Four Seasons
Plus Special Appearances by Festival Guest Artists
Rachel Podger, Solo Violin & Guest Director
“Rachel Podger, the unsurpassed British glory of the baroque violin” (The Times), has established herself as a leading interpreter of baroque and classical music. Fresh from being announced as the winner of two 2023 BBC Music Magazine Awards for Instrumental Recording and Recording of the Year, as 23/24 Artist in Focus for Kings Place, and with two new albums released this month, Rachel was the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Royal Academy of Music/Kohn Foundation Bach Prize in October 2015, Gramophone Artist of the Year 2018, and
the Ambassador for REMA’s Early Music Day 2020. A creative programmer, she is the founder and Artistic Director of Brecon Baroque Festival and her ensemble Brecon Baroque. Tafelmusik is thrilled to welcome Rachel Podger as Principal Guest Director beginning in September 2024.
Rachel is a dedicated educator and holds an honorary position at both the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. She also teaches at The Juilliard School in New York City.
Pacific Baroque Orchestra
The ‘house band’ of Early Music Vancouver, The Pacific Baroque Orchestra (PBO) is recognized as one of Canada’s most exciting and innovative ensembles performing “early music for modern ears.” Formed in 1990, the orchestra quickly established itself as a force in Vancouver’s burgeoning music scene with the ongoing support of Early Music Vancouver. In 2009, PBO welcomed Alexander Weimann as Director. His imaginative programming, creativity and engaging musicianship have carved out a unique and vital place in the cultural landscape of Vancouver.
PBO regularly joins forces with internationally-celebrated Canadian guest artists, providing performance opportunities for Canadian musicians while exposing West Coast audiences to a spectacular variety of talent. The Orchestra has also toured throughout BC, the northern United States, and across Canada. Their 2019 East Coast Canadian tour with Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin culminated in a critically acclaimed album, Nuit Blanches, released by Atma Classique.
Myriam Leblanc, Soprano
A graduate of McGill University, Myriam Leblanc obtained a master’s degree in choral conducting direction from the University of Sherbrooke. She was a First Prize winner and People’s choice Award winner at the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières Competition, a Jeune Ambassadrice Lyrique in 2014 (Prix Québec-Bavière), Audience Choice Award winner at the Canadian Opera Company Centre Stage Competition, Third Prize winner at the Ottawa Choral Society New Discoveries contest, holder of the Excellence grant given annually by l’Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, First Prize winner in the Mathieu-Duguay Early Music Competition at the 2017 Lamèque International Baroque Music Festival. She has been working in the world of music for few years. Leblanc is recognized for the purity of her tone, a flexible and warm voice and her mastery of both technique and musical expressiveness.
In 2016, she made her debut with the Opéra de Montréal in the role of the High Priestess in Verdi’s Aida. La Presse music critic Caroline Rodgers described her voice as one of “rare beauty”. Her more recent performances (2017-2018) include Milica in Sokolovic’s Svadba with Opéra de Montréal, Micaela in Bizet’s Carmen with Opéra de Québec and concerts with conductors such as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Kent Nagano, Matthias Maute and Jonathan Cohen. In 2018-2019, she sang a Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto, the soprano solos on Handel’s Messiah with Ensemble Caprice, the Mendelssohn’s Symphony No.2 “Lobgesang” with l’Orchestre Metropolitain under Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s direction. Recently, she was a soloist with Les Violons du Roy under Jonathan Cohen’s direction.
Marc Mauillon, Tenor/Baritone
An unusually versatile artist, Marc Mauillon is equally at home performing music from the medieval era to the present day. Sometimes a baritone, sometimes a tenor, this chameleon adapts his colours to the music he performs and the characters he embodies. A prolific performer of Baroque and contemporary opera, Mauillon has worked with many of the top directors and early music conductors of the early 21st century. Recent highlights include: Castor et Pollux (Pollux) at the Opéra national de Paris (T. Currentzis/P. Sellars) and Les fêtes d’Hébé (Momus & Mercure) at the Opéra-Comique (W. Christie/R. Carsen).
