{"id":100286,"date":"2023-11-09T15:37:21","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T20:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=100286"},"modified":"2023-11-09T15:37:21","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T20:37:21","slug":"preview-montreals-les-9-bring-nocturnes-album-release-party-toronto-november-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2023\/11\/09\/preview-montreals-les-9-bring-nocturnes-album-release-party-toronto-november-22\/","title":{"rendered":"PREVIEW | Montr\u00e9al&#8217;s Les 9 Bring Their NOCTURNES Album Release Party To Toronto On November 22"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_100288\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-100288\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-100288\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/11\/Copy-of-PREVIEW-14.jpg\" alt=\"Montr\u00e9al's Les 9 (Photo courtesy of the artists)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/11\/Copy-of-PREVIEW-14.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/11\/Copy-of-PREVIEW-14-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/11\/Copy-of-PREVIEW-14-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/11\/Copy-of-PREVIEW-14-768x402.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-100288\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Montr\u00e9al&#8217;s Les 9 (Photo courtesy of the artists)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>With a new album, string ensemble Les 9 will hit the road with a mini-tour that takes them to Toronto on November 22, followed by Montr\u00e9al and Qu\u00e9bec City.<\/p>\n<p>NOCTURNES is the latest release from the ensemble, which dropped on November 8, 2023. The selections on the digital release are united by a theme of the singular beauty of the nighttime.<\/p>\n<h3>Les 9<\/h3>\n<p>Montr\u00e9al&#8217;s Les 9 is the brainchild of Vincent B\u00e9langer, who wanted to create his own version of the cello ensembles of Europe. Les 9 is made up of 8 young Canadian cellists and a double bassist.<\/p>\n<p>Their repertoire takes timeless works from the Western classical music canon and reworks them with the ensemble&#8217;s specific sonorities. They also blend in modern music and original compositions for a complementary yet unique mix.<\/p>\n<p>Artistic Director Vincent B\u00e9langer is a composer and educator as well as an experienced professional cellist. He studied in France, where he won several awards as a soloist and chamber musician. He&#8217;s tackled a wide variety of musical genres from rock to classical in his various projects, and worked as the Artistic Director of a UK-based classical label. He has toured across Canada and in Asia as a musician.<\/p>\n<p>B\u00e9langer founded Les 9 in 2019 to explore the beauty of the lower strings. \u201cThe sound of Les 9 is a journey to discover the beauty of harmony in spite of our dissimilarities,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n<h3>NOCTURNES<\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s the third album for Les 9, and the concert tour is the first time the tracks will be performed live.<\/p>\n<p>The music comes from a variety of sources, united by the emotionalism of its effect. Some pieces, like Camille Saint-Sa\u00ebns&#8217;s Le Cygne and Debussy&#8217;s Sonate au Clair de lune, are familiar, but singular in their instrumentation.<\/p>\n<p>String harmony is the element that the group uses skilfully to create sonic environments and moods. \u201cWe&#8217;ve blended ancestral melodies with contemporary sensibilities to create a tapestry of sound that will resonate with every soul in the room,\u201d says Vincent B\u00e9langer.<\/p>\n<p>Arrangements on the album were created by Montr\u00e9al composers Joey Reda and Francis Choini\u00e8re. \u201cThis team offers a wonderfully innovative fusion of musical and visual ideas, giving birth to NOCTURNE&#8221;, explains B\u00e9langer.<\/p>\n<p>The ensemble\u2019s composer-in-residence Christian Thomas also contributed to the album in the form of the track La veuve et la lune, based on a text by poet Michel Tremblay. The track references the composer\u2019s piece Messe solennelle pour une pleine lune d&#8217;\u00e9t\u00e9, part of an opera which featured soprano Lyne Fortin. Thomas, a long time collaborator with Les 9, adapted the piece for the ensemble.<\/p>\n<p>Tickets and information about the Toronto show on November 22 [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rcmusic.com\/events-and-performances\/gfn-productions-presents-nocture-les-9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HERE<\/a><\/strong>]. Information about the other dates, presented by GFN Productions, [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.les9.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HERE<\/a><\/strong>].<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Are you looking to promote an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/advertising\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0e101a\"><u>event<\/u><\/span><\/a>? Have a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/masthead\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>news tip<\/u><\/a>? 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