Nature and Passion: From Prague to Verona ^{Summer 2025}

The Berlin Sibelius Orchestra was founded in 1980 to give talented amateur musicians the opportunity to explore and perform the works of Jean Sibelius and other Scandinavian composers. Since then, the orchestra has branched out to perform the major classical and romantic works of the European symphonic repertoire, usually under the direction of members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and with other renowned conductors and soloists. They have given over 100 concerts in Germany, France, Israel, Mexico, Finland and now Canada.

The Orcestre Philharmonia Mundi de Montréal is a non-professional orchestra founded in 2002 and directed by Jean-Pascal Hamelin. The orchestra consists of about 75 musicians and gives at least 3 concerts a year.

The collaboration between the two orchestras began when the Orchestre Philharmonia Mundi de Montréal invited the Berlin Sibelius Orchestra to participate in an orchestra exchange program. Members of the OPMM visited Berlin in the summer of 2023, and this concert is part of the return leg of our project.

Considered “a conductor of great talent” (La Presse) and possessing “the genius of telling music like a captivating story” (L’Actualité, G. Nicholson), Jean-Pascal Hamelin has distinguished himself in Quebec by conducting, among others, the Orchestre Métropolitain, I Musici de Montréal, Les Violons du Roy, and the Orchestre de Trois-Rivières.

Invited by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM), Mr. Hamelin conducted one of the choirs during the performance of Verdi’s Requiem in August 2019 with the OSM, on the esplanade of the Olympic Stadium. In July 2023, he was invited to conduct the Sibelius-Orchester in Berlin. He will lead a 10-concert tour in China in July 2025.

He is currently the conductor and artistic director of the Orchestre Philharmonia Mundi de Montréal (OPMM) and the Chœur Classique Vaudreuil-Soulanges (CCVS). He has also held this position in the past with the West-Island Youth Symphony Orchestra (WIYSO), the Orchestre Symphonique des jeunes de Sherbrooke, and the Chœur du Musée d’Art de Joliette.

Jean-Pascal Hamelin has performed internationally with the National Orchestra of Colombia in Medellín (broadcast on national television), the Dohnányi Budafok Orchestra at the Palace of Arts in Budapest, and the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, with which he recorded the album From the New World. This live recording, released under the Fidelio Musique label, was also nominated at the ADISQ Gala for “Classical Album of the Year – Orchestra.” Jean-Pascal has collaborated with several renowned soloists, including pianists Gabriela Montero and Louis Lortie.

Between September 2010 and April 2017, he conducted a 25-piece orchestra for 83 performances of the show Edgar et ses fantômes in several cities across Quebec. His recording of the music from this show, released on CD and LP under the Octave Classique label, was nominated at the ADISQ in the category “Classical Album of the Year – Orchestra.” He conducted the same show at the Casino de Paris in April–May 2018, under the title Patrick et ses fantômes. A second show, Edgar 2 et ses fantômes, was performed in Montreal and Quebec City for 29 performances between October and December 2017.

Jean-Pascal Hamelin studied orchestral conducting with Raffi Armenian at the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec à Montréal. He also trained in the United States and Europe, notably with Harold Farberman and Gianluigi Gelmetti.