{"id":110990,"date":"2025-01-14T16:28:43","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T21:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=110990"},"modified":"2025-01-20T10:21:07","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T15:21:07","slug":"preview-pianist-adam-sherkin-premieres-concert-paraphrases-julien-bilodeaus-la-reine-garcon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/01\/14\/preview-pianist-adam-sherkin-premieres-concert-paraphrases-julien-bilodeaus-la-reine-garcon\/","title":{"rendered":"PREVIEW | Pianist Adam Sherkin Premieres Concert Paraphrases Of Julien Bilodeau\u2019s La Reine-gar\u00e7on"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"L:
L: Composer Julien Bilodeau (Photo: Julien Bilodeau, 12\/26\/2024\/CC by SA 4.0<\/a>); R: Pianist Adam Sherkin (Photo courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pianist Adam Sherkin offers a program of contemporary music that includes a unique preview of the Canadian Opera Company\u2019s new production in a free lunchtime concert. It\u2019s part of the COC\u2019s Free Concert series, and takes place at the Richard Bradshaw amphitheatre on January 23.<\/p>\n

La Reine-gar\u00e7on is one of the most highly anticipated new productions at the Canadian Opera Company in recent years. It will be the first COC\/Op\u00e9ra de Montr\u00e9al co-production, and gets its Toronto premiere later this month.<\/p>\n

Adam Sherkin and his Piano Lunaire commissioned La Reine-gar\u00e7on\u2019s composer Julien Bilodeau to write six paraphrases for piano from the opera, which Sherkin will tour this winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough these three paraphrases, the listener will be transported on a condensed journey that recounts the highlights of the opera while being able to appreciate a mode of pianistic writing that is both virtuoso and poetic,\u201d says Bilodeau in a statement.<\/p>\n

Composer Julien Bilodeau<\/h3>\n

Julien Bilodeau first studied music at the Conservatoire de musique de Montr\u00e9al, followed by four years at the Institut de recherche et coordination acoustique\/musique (IRCAM) et au Centre de cr\u00e9ation musicale Iannis Xenakis (CCMIX) in Paris, and then further studies at the Hochschule f\u00fcr Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfort, Germany.<\/p>\n

In 2006, he won the Canada Council for the Arts Robert Flemming prize for emerging composers. Julien\u2019s earlier orchestral works were influenced by European music of the 19th and 20th centuries.<\/p>\n

His works for orchestra have been performed by the Orchestre symphonique de Montr\u00e9al, the Orchestre m\u00e9tropolitain du Grand Montr\u00e9al, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, among others. He\u2019s written commissions for the OSM and l\u2019Orchestre de la Francophonie, and his work has been performed by l\u2019Ensemble Moderne and l\u2019Orchestre des Am\u00e9riques de New York, among others.<\/p>\n

In 2017, he composed his first opera, Another Brick in the Wall: The Opera, adapting the music from the Pink Floyd album of the same name. Since Then, Bilodeau has devoted his practise to composing operas.<\/p>\n

La Reine-gar\u00e7on: Queen Christina of Sweden<\/h3>\n

Christina was Queen of Sweden from 1632 until 1654. But, before that, she was a child who was brought up as a boy by her father, Gustavus Adolphus\u00a0, who died when she was only seven. She inherited the throne on his death, but wouldn\u2019t rule in her own right until the age of 18.<\/p>\n

Queen Christina is credited with establishing a university and promoting learning. She also became known for her outsized spending habits, occasional wearing of masculine attire, and her close relationship to the performing arts communities of her time.<\/p>\n

In the end, she abdicated the throne because of her conversion to Cathlolicism, coupled with her refused to marry \u2014 the latter decision shaped no doubt in some way by her childhood. She settled in Rome, and became one of the few women buried in the Vatican Grottoes.<\/p>\n

The opera\u2019s story takes place in Uppsala Castle in 1649 as Queen Christina brings Ren\u00e9 Descartes to her kingdom to help her navigate the many forces that influence her. She\u2019s caught up between a sense of duty to the throne, and its necessity of producing an heir, and her love for another woman, the clash of feminine and masculine values in her world, and faith vs knowledge.<\/p>\n

The COC production stars sopranos Kirsten MacKinnon<\/strong> and Kirsten LeBlanc<\/strong> as the Swedish queen.<\/p>\n

The original music was composed by Julien Bilodeau, with French libretto by Michel Marc Bouchard.<\/p>\n

The Concert<\/h3>\n

The free concert takes place at noon at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre on January 23.<\/p>\n

The composer will also be present and a part of the presentation on January 23. The concert program also includes Bilodeau\u2019s Four Spring \u00e9tudes (revised 2024), two \u00e9tudes by Gy\u00f6rgy Ligeti, and Thomas Ad\u00e8s\u2019 Blanca Variations (2015), along with Sherkin\u2019s own set of Variations on Punch’s Resolve( after Harrison Birtwistle’s \u201cPunch & Judy\u201d).<\/p>\n