Festival de Lanaudière: Behind the Scenes of Power

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This summer, the 49th edition of Festival de Lanaudière sees the return of established partners and friends as they strengthen their professional and personal ties with this venue—which has become synonymous with summer cultural life in Quebec—as well as welcoming newcomers to the Lanaudière scene.

“The theme of this year’s festival revolves largely around issues of power,” says the festival’s artistic director, Renaud Loranger. From July 3–Aug. 2, a series of concerts and performances will indeed place the audience at the heart of conflicts, rivalries and oppression. The program invites us to become aware of the climate of violence that now prevails in the words of the powerful and in their actions toward the most vulnerable.

Macbeth is undoubtedly the most striking example of this: the story of a quest for power that drives one mad, in the literal sense of the word. Verdi’s opera, based on Shakespeare, will bring the festival to a close at the Amphithéâtre Fernand-Lindsay (see our story on Page 34 with the production’s Lady Macbeth, soprano Saioa Hernández). Richard Strauss’s A Hero’s Life (Ein Heldenleben), a symphonic poem in which the composer portrays himself facing the hostility of the world, fits equally well within this year’s theme. The work will be featured as part of Orchestre symphonique de Montréal’s third and final concert, conducted by Rafael Payare (July 31).

Hanna-Elisabeth Müller.
Photo: Chris Gonz

Paying tribute to those who rebel against the established order, Bernard Labadie and Les Violons du Roy present Portraits de femmes through the lens of Mozart’s works. They will be joined on stage by soprano Hanna-Elisabeth Müller who is making her Canadian concert debut (July 24). Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10, composed as a snub to the memory of Stalin, will fuel the debate on the abuses of power during the OSM’s first concert (July 18).

Among festival newcomers is the joint debut of Orchestre symphonique de Québec and its principal conductor, Clemens Schuldt. Their inclusion could well mark the start of a new chapter for Lanaudière. They will present Grieg’s famous Piano Concerto in A minor with soloist Charles Richard-Hamelin (July 17).

The festival continues its collaboration with Les Arts florissants, founded by William Christie, in a two-part program: a performance of Charpentier’s eponymous opera, as a nod to the ensemble’s history, and the same composer’s La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers (July 11).

Let us conclude by mentioning the opening concert: Nicolas Ellis will conduct Orchestre de l’Agora in Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, the work of a musical rebel, with Maurice Ravel, Claude Champagne and Katia Makdissi-Warren also part of the mix (July 4).