Report | 29th Prix Opus: Composers Thankful for Performers

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Thirty-three winners were presented the fruits of their labour one by one—collecting single or, in some cases, multiple awards—at the 29th edition of Prix Opus held at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Bourgie Hall on Feb. 8

Collective and individual accomplishments were celebrated, as respectively evidenced by the performer-of-the-year award going to Quatuor Quasar and Marie Nadeau-Tremblay for her album Obsession.

Maxime Goulet won the coveted composer-of-the-year award and used his platform time to acknowledge performers and ensembles who commission works from composers and support their primary mission to create new music.

Journalist and media outreach personality Alain Brunet was presented with the annual tribute award. He called himself a “cultural ambassador” in front of the audience, rejecting the term “music critic.” He spoke of the sacrifices he made throughout his lifetime; evenings spent at concerts rather than with his two children, tension with La Presse in the face of diverging viewpoints and conflicts with partners. Brunet said that his former partners would not have presented him with a tribute award for his work. In his inimitable style, Brunet was his own self-portrait, speaking with candour.

With respect to the orchestra, this year’s ceremony showcased the musical ensemble Cordâme and included string players, Éveline Grégoire-Rousseau on harp, Isaiah Ceccarelli on percussion and mezzo-soprano Coral Egan. Musical influences were scattered around the four corners of the world, so to speak, with jazz and other arrangements by double-bass player Jean Félix Mailloux predominant. However, it felt like the singer could not fully adapt her voice to one musical genre or another, whether imbued with a Western, Eastern or jazz-like resonance.

Throughout the evening, Simon Blanchet joined forces with CQM General Director Dominic Trudel to announce that composer Alexandre David would be part of the Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur official programming (in addition to winning the discovery-of-the-year award). This was an opportunity to pay tribute and give a standing ovation to Chapelle predecessor Guy Soucie, who would have loved to see the Chapelle completely renovated had he not grown ill and died too soon.