The Brott Music Festival has announced that conductor, composer and trombonist Alain Trudel will step in as Interim Artistic Director of the organization in the wake of the sudden loss of Maestro Boris Brott.
Brott’s sudden passing after a traffic accident in April left the classical music community, and in particular its tightly-knit Hamilton, Ontario cohort, in shock. It also left many questions about who would take the helm of the festival that Brott created in 1987 and led until his untimely death.
Trudel, a Montreal native, was well known to Brott and his parents Alexander and Lotte. A talented trombonist as well as a conductor, he’s performed with Brott’s National Academy Orchestra and in the Brott Festival on prior occasions.
“I am humbled to join Brott Music Festival and continue Boris’ extraordinary contributions to music,” said Trudel in a media release. “I can’t wait to get to know Hamilton and to meeting the wonderful audiences that the Festival has built over three and a half decades.
“I know how much Brott Music Festival, the National Academy Orchestra and Brott Opera means to Canadian musicians, emerging opera singers and the cultural identity of this City,” he added. “I will strive to live up to their extraordinary reputation.”
Virtuoso trombonist, composer and conductor…
Maestro Alain Trudel has carved a notable career in the highly competitive world of classical music and beyond.
- Music Director of the Toledo Symphony (USA);
- Music Director of l’Orchestre Symphonique de Laval (QC);
- He has conducted with major orchestras in Canada, the UK, USA, Sweden, Brazil, Italy, Russia, Japan, Hong-Kong, Malaysia and Latin America;
- Nominated for an Emmy® in 2020 for his work with Toledo Ballet’s 79th Nutcracker;
- Six-time Juno nominee, received the Queen’s Jubilee Medal in 2012 & a knighthood by the province of Québec, Chevalier de l’Ordre in 2020.
He is dedicated to working with the next generation of classical musicians, and has served as Principal Youth and Family Conductor with the National Arts Centre Orchestra.
The Brott Music Festival
One of the major music events in Hamilton’s arts calendar since 1987, this summer brings back live and in-theatre concert programming. Highlights include:
- Trudel makes his debut as Interim Artistic Director with Beethoven’s Ninth on June 30 in a program dedicated to the memory of Boris Brott;
- Rossini’s opera La Cenerentola (Cinderella);
- The Festival ends with a fully staged production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music;
- Among others.
Tickets and more information is available here.
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