Christ Church Cathedral
Forgotten Harmonies: Schubert & Friends
Artists: Magali Simard-Galdès, soprano; Simon Poirier, natural horn; Olivier Godin, Graf fortepiano
Pre-Concert Chat: 07:00pm hosted by David Gordon Duke with Magali Simard-Galdès, Simon Poirier and Olivier Godin.
Runtime: Approximately 70 min + 20-minute interval
Magali Simard-Galdès, EMV’s 2025 Artist-in-Residence, stars in this recital focusing on forgotten treasures by Schubert and his contemporaries. Experience the delightful and evocative lieder and instrumental works of early Romantic composers as they would have been heard in Schubert’s time, performed on the natural horn and fortepiano.
Discover the unique sound of Early Music Vancouver’s Viennese-style fortepiano built by Paul McNulty in 2020, modeled after an early 19th-century piano by Graf. The fortepiano and the natural horn will provide an authentic and evocative soundscape, perfectly suited to the music of Schubert and his era.
Click here to read programme notes by Jean Portuguais, translated by Connor Page
Generously sponsored by David McMurtry
PROGRAMME
Charles Oberthür (1819 – 1895)
Die Heimath
Jan Křtitel Václav Kalivoda (1801 – 1866)
Heimweh
Die Entführung
Franz Peter Schubert (1797 – 1828)
Herbst, D.945 430
Viola, D.786
Interval
Franz Peter Schubert (1797 – 1828)
Auf dem Strom, D.943
Jan Křtitel Václav Kalivoda (1801 – 1866)
Nachtlied eines Einsamen
Sandeep Bhagwati (born 1963)
…von Ferne…
Vinzenz Lachner (1811 – 1893)
Waldhornruf
Magali Simard-Galdès | Sponsored by Denise and Eric Pugash, soprano
Quebec soprano Magali Simard-Galdès is distinguished by a broad repertoire ranging from Baroque music, which she is particularly fond of, to contemporary music, for which she possesses all the precision required.
On the operatic stage, Magali imposes a celebrated presence and theatrical ease. Her ability to blend in with each character has enabled her to take on roles as diverse as Agnès (Benjamin, Written on skin), Musetta (Puccini, La Bohème), Micaëla (Bizet, Carmen), Tytania (Britten, A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Gilda (Verdi, Rigoletto), Roxane (DiChiera, Cyrano de Bergerac), Constance (Poulenc, Dialogues des carmélites) and Nicette (Hérold, Le pré aux clercs), performing in many prestigious venues, such as, the Vancouver and Montreal Operas, Opera Carolina, Toledo Opera, Tapestry Opera and the Wexford Festival Opera, not forgetting the Cologne Opera and the Auditorium du Nouveau Siècle in Lille.
On the concert platform, Magali displays the charisma, performing with world renowned specialist ensembles such as Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, Les Violons du Roy, Arion Orchestre baroque and Ensemble Caprice.
She performs just as regularly with symphonic ensembles and conductors such as Orchestre National de Lille, Orchestre Classique de Montréal, the National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa, the Houston Symphony and Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Orchestre Métropolitain and Orchestre du Festival Classica in Quebec, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jacques Lacombe, Jean-Marie Zeitouni, Bernard Labadie, Jean-François Rivest, Mathieu Lussier, François-Xavier Roth, Jérémie Rhorer and Alexandre Bloch.
Alongside a busy international career, Magali can be regularly heard on Radio-Canada ICI Premiere as an sustainability consultant.
Simon Poirier, natural horn
First prize winner of the International Horn Society's natural horn competition in Ghent, Belgium, hornist Simon Poirier enjoys an active career on the early music scene both in Europe and North America. He regularly collaborates with ensembles such as Europa Galante and Il Pomo d'Oro (Italy); Das Freiburger Barockorchester and Balthasar Neumann (Germany); Les Siècles and Les Musiciens du Louvre (France); Concerto Copenhagen (Denmark); The Orchestra of the 18th Century (Netherlands); Arion Orchestre Baroque, Caprice Ensemble and Pacific Baroque Orchestra (Canada). Recently, Simon joined John Eliot Gardiner's Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique on its European tour of Berlioz's Les Troyens. He also brilliantly took on the solo horn part in the most recent production of Mozart's Mitridate at the Staatsoper unter den Linden in Berlin with Marc Minkowski's Musiciens du Louvre. Being equally at ease on modern instruments, Simon regularly collaborates with ensembles such as Orchestre Métropolitain, Les Violons du Roy, I Musici and the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne. The 25-26 season will see his debut with the Belgian group Collegium Vocale Ghent, in a South Korean tour of Bach’s B minor mass.
Olivier Godin, fortepiano
Appointed Artistic Director of Bourgie Hall at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 2022, pianist, conductor and organist, Olivier Godin leads a brilliant career as a concert artist, chamber musician and educator. He has given recitals alongside numerous lyrical artists, performed in festivals in Canada and abroad, and has worked with world-renowned conductors and stage directors.
Among his many recordings are the complete songs of Poulenc, Fauré, Duparc, Dutilleux, an album of melodies and piano works by Jolivet, Rachmaninov’s complete works for two pianos, Brahms’ Liebeslieder Walzer as well as a solo album of the world premiere of Émile Pessard’s works for piano.
As conductor and director of the opera studies at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, Godin has been at the head of many productions between 2005 and 2018. Since 2017 he has been guest conductor and French lyric diction instructor at Mälardalen University in Sweden, preparing and conducting the institution’s annual opera gala. He participates in several summer academies as a vocal coach and vocal collaborative piano professor. In 2017, along with his colleague Richard Turp, he co-founded the Lachine International Vocal Academy.
