Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Founded in 1934, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal is one of Canada's premier musical organizations.   From Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, part of the Place des Arts cultural complex located in downtown Montreal, the OSM is heard across the country. Through recordings and international tours, the orchestra has also become an important cultural ambassador, amply fulfilling its mission to promote artistic exchange.   Over the course of its long history, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal has showcased some of Quebec's greatest musicians and creative pioneers. From Wilfrid Pelletier to Kent Nagano - who will take up his baton as the OSM's new Music Director in 2006 - distinguished conductors have made their mark on the organization. These include Désiré Defauw, Igor Markevitch, Zubin Mehta, Franz-Paul Decker, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and, of course, Charles Dutoit, who brilliantly directed the orchestra from 1977 to 2002 (the longest partnership in the OSM's history), and who reached the height of international renown through numerous stellar recordings and touring engagements abroad.   The OSM has produced 88 recordings with Decca, EMI, Philips and CBC Records, earning 46 national and international awards. In December 1984, the OSM became the first Canadian classical ensemble to earn a Platinum Award for Ravel's Boléro, which sold over 100,000 copies in Canada. In February 1996, the OSM and Mr. Dutoit received their first Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording (Berlioz' Les Troyens). In February 2000, they again picked up the prestigious award - this time for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra) for the 1999 EMI recording of Prokofiev's Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 3 and Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 3, with pianist Martha Argerich.   Finally, in November 2001, the OSM received the award for "best concert of the year" at the Gala des Prix Opus of the Conseil québécois de la musique, for its concert version presentation of Richard Strauss' opera Elektra. It also won the same award (classical, romantic and modern category) for Alban Berg's Wozzeck in 2002.

Louis Lortie Louis Lortie is one of the best-known Québécois pianists in Canada and abroad.   Born in Montreal in 1959, he made his debut at age 13 with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. Three years later, he toured the People's Republic of China and Japan with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. In 1984, he won first prize at the Busoni International Competition in Italy and fourth prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition. Since then, he has had numerous touring engagements in Europe, playing on some of the world's most prestigious stages.   A virtuoso performer of Ravel, Chopin and Beethoven, Mr. Lortie has become very well known through his recordings, over 30 of which have been done on the British Chandos label. His CD dedicated to Beethoven's Eroica Variations won the coveted Dutch Edison Award in 1991. His 1986 recording of the complete Chopin Études is one of the most critically acclaimed performances of this work and has been cited in BBC Music Magazine's special piano issue as one of "50 Recordings by Superlative Pianists." His most notable successes also include a recording of Ravel's complete works for piano and the complete cycle of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas. In recent years, Mr. Lortie has completed, with the Residentie Orchestra of The Hague, a series of three recordings of all of Franz Liszt's works for piano and orchestra-a project that has received many accolades.   One of Montreal's biggest musical events in recent years was the Beethoven Plus Festival, a veritable Beethoven marathon during which Mr. Lortie performed, in just a few days, all five piano concertos with the OSM, all 32 piano sonatas, and the entire violin/piano, cello/piano and piano/trio repertoire with violinist James Ehnes and cellist Jan Vogler.

Chantal Juillet Recognized as one of Canada's most gifted violinists, Chantal Juillet has been invited more than once to play with orchestras such as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. She has toured Europe, North America and South America with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal; Spain with the London Philharmonia; and Japan with the NHK Symphony Orchestra.   Chantal Juillet gave her first public performance of Berthold Goldschmidt's Violin Concerto at the Festival de Radio France et de Montpellier, with the Orchestre National de France and Charles Dutoit. She also worked closely with Krysztof Penderecki, giving the North American premiere of his 2nd Violin Concerto, Métamorphoses. In 1997, she premiered the Violin Concerto (specially written for her) of the late André Prévost with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. In August 2000, she premiered Richard Danielpour's Violin Concerto, composed for her and the Philadelphia Orchestra, in honour of her 10th anniversary as Music Director of the Saratoga International Chamber Music Festival in upper New York State.   Her recordings include Stravinsky's Violin Concerto and two Szymanowski concerti with the OSM; works by Ravel, which won the Gramophone Award for the Best Chamber Music Recording in 1997; Goldschmidt's Rondeau and Violin Concerto, conducted by the composer; Korngold, Krenek and Weill's violin concerti with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra; and, most recently, a recording of chamber music with Martha Argerich.

Antonio Lysy "A consummate cellist, Antonio Lysy never ceases to amaze with an impeccable intonation, aristocratic sound, and mesmerizing musicality and focus." -La Presse   A cellist of international renown, Antonio Lysy was a prizewinner in the Oblach International Cello Competition in Italy and has performed in major concert halls worldwide, including Wigmore Hall in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Salle Pleyel in Paris, the Sala Verdi in Milan, and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. As a soloist, he has played with orchestras such as London's Royal Philharmonic, the Camerata Academica Salzburg and the Zurich Tonhalle, as well as Canada's major orchestras, working under distinguished conductors such as Yuri Temirkanov, Charles Dutoit, Yehudi Menuhin and Sandor Vegh.   An accomplished chamber musician, he has shared the limelight with some of the greatest performers of our time, including pianists Stephen Hough, Louis Lortie and Pascal Rogé; violinist Gidon Kremer; and cellist Steven Isserlis, as well as members of the Emerson Quartet. His passion for chamber music led him to set up the annual Incontri in Terra di Siena festival in Tuscany, which he has been directing for close to fifteen years.   Regularly heard on radio in Canada and abroad, Mr. Lysy has recorded for the Claves, Fonè, Pelléas and CBC Records labels. His most recent solo CD, de Bach à Berio, recorded live in 1999 for Pelléas, was critically acclaimed.   For many years, Mr. Lysy was an associate professor at McGill University in Montreal. In the summer of 2003, he accepted a cello teaching position at the prestigious University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where he now resides with his family. His last Montreal recital, in October 2003, was a memorable one, marking the 300th "birthday" of his famed Carlo Tononi cello, of which he has been the proud owner since 1983.   Source : http://antoniolysy.com

Jacques Lacombe Hailed from the start of his career as one of the most promising conductors of his generation, Jacques Lacombe has attained international stature through his artistic integrity and versatile collaboration with various orchestras.   Assistant Conductor to Charles Dutoit at the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal from 1994 to 1998, Mr. Lacombe also served as Assistant Conductor and Chorus Master at L'Opéra de Montréal. He is currently Musical Director and Principal Conductor of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, and will be the OSM's principal guest conductor for a third consecutive season in 2004-2005.   From 1998 to 2001, Mr. Lacombe was Music Director and Permanent Conductor of the Philharmonie de Lorraine in Metz, France. During this time, he directed the Metz Opera in productions such as Lulu (Berg), Carmen (Bizet), Werther (Massenet), Aïda (Verdi) and Anna Bolena (Donizetti), all of which received lavish praise from the critics. His success in Metz was augmented by guest engagements in Europe and North America, including Gounod's Faust at the Badische Staatsoper in Karlsruhe, Germany, and Delibes' Coppelia at London's Covent Garden. He was invited back to direct a production of Massenet's Werther by the Opera Company of Philadelphia following a stellar success there in 1998 with Donizetti's La fille du régiment.   The 2003-2004 season has been an exciting one for Mr. Lacombe. In January of this year, he made his remarkable debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where he directed six performances of Massenet's Werther, with Vesselina Kasarova in the role of Charlotte and tenor Roberto Alagna in the title role.   Source : http://osm.ca

Denys Bouliane Denys Bouliane is one of the most famous Canadian composers on the international scene, and his work has been widely commissioned and performed by reputed orchestras in North America and Europe. He is currently Composer-in-Residence at the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, a position he previously held at the Orchestre symphonique de Québec and the Heidelberg Philharmonisches Orchester. Dividing his time between Montreal and Cologne where he settled down in the 1980s, Mr. Bouliane is also Artistic Coordinator of the MusiMarch Festival, and Co-Artistic Director, with Walter Boudreau, of the new biennial Montreal/New Music Festival.   His works have won a number of awards in Canada and abroad (including the CBC Grand Prize and a prize from the Gaudeamus Foundation in Holland in 1982 for Jeux de Société; as well as the Prize of the Performing Rights Organization of Canada for Douze tiroirs de demi-vérités pour alléger votre descente). The Canadian Music Council named Mr. Bouliane Composer of the Year in 1983, and in 1987 he was awarded the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music for A propos... et le Baron perché? In 1985, the city of Cologne awarded him the Förderpreis für Musik and, in 1989, Le cactus rieur et la demoiselle qui souffrait d'une soif insatiable won the orchestral prize of the international "Forum junger Komponisten" (young composers forum) of West German Radio (WDR). In November 1991, he was the first composer given the Serge Garant Award of the Fondation Émile Nelligan in Montreal for his œuvre. Finally, in December 1999, the Conseil québécois de la musique granted him the Opus "musical personality of the year" award.   Musicologist Peter Niklas has dubbed Mr. Bouliane's style "magic realist": virtuoso technique that verges on the other-worldly in the manner of Jorge-Luis Borges, Italo Calvino and Boris Vian. Somewhat controversial in so-called avant-garde milieux, his music seems to lie on the dividing line between Europe and North America, modernity and postmodernity.