Symphonie de la Virée: a must-see! ^{Summer 2024}

Every year, amateur instrumentalists from across Quebec come together under the direction of Adam Johnson to form the Symphonie de la Virée. Join them on an exhilarating journey through a program featuring Bizet’s lively Farandole and Granados’s evocative Spanish dances. Rafael Payare joins the orchestra to conduct the spectacular “Overture” to Verdi’s Nabucco.

Artists' biography

Adam Johnson

Conductor

Canadian conductor Adam Johnson is renowned for his exceptional talent and his charismatic and imposing presence. With the OSM, he conducted over 70 concerts and recorded the album Riopelle symphonique in 2022.

Adam Johnson has also conducted in France, Spain, Germany and the United States, and he worked for three seasons with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. Known for his versatility, Mr. Johnson has performed with dozens of renowned artists in styles ranging from pop to jazz to Broadway repertoire. In 2023, he will direct the orchestra of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens.

Adam Johnson develops materials for music educators and offers workshops and performances to introduce more young people to music. He is a recipient of a Canada Council conducting award, a doctorate in piano performance from the Université de Montréal, and the conducting prize from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal.

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Rafael Payare

Music Director

Rafael Payare’s prodigious musicianship, technical brilliance and charismatic presence on the podium have made him one of the world’s most sought-after conductors. A graduate of the celebrated El Sistema music education program in Venezuela, Mr. Payare began his formal conducting studies in 2004 with José Antonio Abreu. Since winning the prestigious Malko International Competition for Young Conductors in Denmark in 2012, Maestro Payare’s career has advanced rapidly. Since 2015, he has served as Principal Conductor of the Castleton Festival, founded by his mentor the late Lorin Maazel. He was Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Ulster Orchestra from 2014 to 2019 and in 2019, took up the position of Music Director of the San Diego Symphony. In recent years, Rafael Payare has conducted many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, including those of New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Zurich, Berlin, Vienna, London, Munich, Chicago and Paris. He has also made important opera debuts at the Glyndebourne Festival, Stockholm’s Royal Swedish Opera, the Royal Danish Opera, and most recently at London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. In the 2022-2023 season, Payare became the ninth Music Director in the history of the OSM.

To consult:
rafaelpayare.com
Long biography

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Symphonie de la Virée: a must-see! Summer 2024

Adam Johnson

Rafael Payare

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Symphonie de la Virée: a must-see! ^{Summer 2024}