Spectacular Nature! Free Grand Concert at the Esplanade of the Olympic Park

^{Summer 2025}

Distinguished by innate musicianship, a gift for communication, and an irresistibly joyous spirit, conductor Rafael Payare began playing horn in Venezuela’s El Sistema program at age 14 and started his formal conducting studies in 2004 with José Antonio Abreu. Since winning Denmark’s prestigious Malko Competition for Young Conductors in 2012, his career has advanced rapidly. He was Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Ulster Orchestra from 2014 to 2019; has served as Principal Conductor of the Castleton Festival, founded by his mentor the late Lorin Maazel, since 2015; became Music Director of the San Diego Symphony in 2019, and three years later became Music Director of Canada’s Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. In recent years, Payare has conducted many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, including those of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Zurich, Berlin, Vienna, London, Munich, Hamburg, and Paris, besides making important opera debuts at London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; the Glyndebourne Festival; Stockholm’s Royal Swedish Opera; and the Royal Danish Opera.

Godwin Friesen is a pianist and composer from the Canadian Prairies, exuberantly discovering where a life in music can take him. Winning the 2022 Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Competition has led to several collaborations with the orchestra in his current hometown of Montreal. First prize in the 2023 Trondheim International Competition with the Rilian Trio (Daniel Dastoor and David Liam Roberts) has opened doors to professional engagements in Europe and across Canada. Godwin’s musical formation began with singing and playing in the Friesen Family Band. An early piano teacher, Sheila Wright, introduced him to composing; his new compositions inspired by the Psalms have become an important element of his performances, including in his recent duo tours organized by Prairie Debut. After five formative years learning from pianist Bonnie Nicholson in Saskatoon, he studied with John O’Conor at the Glenn Gould School in Toronto and then with Henry Kramer and Jean Saulnier at l’Université de Montréal, where he finished a master’s in 2024.

Pene Pati is revered for his “extraordinary gift for producing a golden thread of sound that can swell without strain to magnificence” (The Telegraph) and is instantly recognizable by his “round and sunshine filled voice,” (Le Monde), with his warm and winning personality endearing him to both audience and critics around the world. The first Samoan tenor to perform on Europe’s top stages, Pene Pati boasts an exceptional versatility in a broad palette of roles from Mozart to Massenet, Donizetti, Gounod, Puccini and Verdi and his self-titled debut album of Italian and French arias earned him the Opus Klassik Newcomer of the Year Award, Best Male Singer at the Opera Critics’ Awards and Opera Magazine Readers’ Award at the International Opera Awards. An exclusive recording artist for Warner Classics, his second album, Nessun Dorma, is released in September 2024.

Pati’s 2024/25 season opens with a return to Opéra national de Paris to debut as Gounod’s Faust, and continues with two highly anticipated debuts at the Royal Ballet and Opera, Covent Garden as Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème under Speranza Scappucci and at the Metropolitan Opera as Duca in Verdi’s Rigoletto conducted by Maurizio Benini. Rodolfo holds a firm position across the current season’s planning, marking important house debuts at Bayerische Staatsoper, Lyric Opera of Chicago and his return to San Francisco Opera and, in concert version with Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, he further expands his repertoire with first performances as Massenet’s Werther. At Osterfestspiele Salzburg, Pene Pati sings Mendelssohn’s Elias under the baton of Maxim Emelyanychev and with Luzerner Sinfonieorchester and Michael Sanderling he performs and records both Mozart’s Requiem and Fazil Say’s world-premiere, Mozart ve Mevlana. In addition to gala concerts in Berlin, Paris and Istanbul, he performs in recital at Opéra national de Bordeaux with pianist Mathieu Pordoy, and together with Amina Edris as part of Les Sommets de la Voix recital series in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.

No challenge is too great for this multitalented man, a graduate of the École Nationale de Théâtre in 1989, who shines equally in acting, directing, hosting, and comedy.

A standout contributor to the shows 100 Limite and Bons baisers de France, André Robitaille is also a formidable host, captivating both young audiences (Vazimolo) and adults alike with shows such as Les mordus, Les forges du désert, C’est juste de la TV (2007–2013), Testé sur des humains, Entrée principale, Bien Bâti, not to mention Les Enfants de la TV (since fall 2014) and La revue culturelle (since 2016). In recent years, he has also hosted several documentaries: Jean-Pierre Ferland, La vie devant moi, Janine Sutto, Dominique Michel, Béatrice Picard, Antonine Maillet, Patsy Gallant, and Ginette Reno.

A sharp and dynamic master of ceremonies, he has led numerous game shows and hosted the Gémeaux Awards gala in 2007. As an actor, he has stood out in youth series such as Les intrépides and Tactik, as well as in dramas like Bombardier, Le retour, Rue L’Espérance, Hommes en quarantaine, 30 vies, and Fugueuse. He also appeared in the series Pour toi Flora and À cœur battant.

A regular on stage, he has made his mark in theatre, participating in over twenty major productions as an actor and directing several comedies. He has also played leading roles in films such as The Age of Ignorance by Denys Arcand and Bon Cop, Bad Cop by Érik Canuel, and appeared in Roméo et Juliette, Monsieur Lazhar, and L’enfant prodige.

His natural ease as a host also led him to radio, where he hosted Les midis fous and Y’é trop d’bonne heure on CKOI in the 1990s, followed by Tout l’monde debout! on Rock Détente from 2005 to 2007.

His excellence as a host has earned him five MetroStar Awards and eight Gémeaux Awards over the years.