35th Anniversary Grand Concert

Having won numerous prestigious awards throughout his career and being highly sought after by various organizations, composer John Rea sees his works performed in Canada, the United States, and Europe. He explores a wide variety of genres: chamber music, musical theater, electroacoustic music, stage music, and works for large ensembles such as symphony orchestras, ballets, choirs, and opera. He also writes about music and has published many articles.

For more than twenty years, his reorchestration (1995) for twenty-one musicians of Alban Berg’s opera Wozzeck, Op. 7—commissioned and premiered by the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne—has been presented around the world in more than a dozen new productions. He also completed a reorchestration for twenty-eight musicians of Berg's Three Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6, thanks to a commission jointly awarded by the Musikkollegium Winterthur (Switzerland) and the NEM.

Until the year 2019, John Rea taught composition, music theory, and orchestration at McGill University, where he was the dean of the Faculty of Music (1986-1991), now the Schulich School of Music. He co-founded two music societies in Montreal (Les Événements du neuf and Traditions musicales du monde) and was a member of the artistic committee of the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec for twenty-five years. The Society named him Composer of the Year for its Hommage series during the 2015-16 season.

Having won numerous prestigious awards throughout his career and being highly sought after by various organizations, composer John Rea sees his works performed in Canada, the United States, and Europe. He explores a wide variety of genres: chamber music, musical theater, electroacoustic music, stage music, and works for large ensembles such as symphony orchestras, ballets, choirs, and opera. He also writes about music and has published many articles.

For more than twenty years, his reorchestration (1995) for twenty-one musicians of Alban Berg’s opera Wozzeck, Op. 7—commissioned and premiered by the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne—has been presented around the world in more than a dozen new productions. He also completed a reorchestration for twenty-eight musicians of Berg's Three Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6, thanks to a commission jointly awarded by the Musikkollegium Winterthur (Switzerland) and the NEM.

Until the year 2019, John Rea taught composition, music theory, and orchestration at McGill University, where he was the dean of the Faculty of Music (1986-1991), now the Schulich School of Music. He co-founded two music societies in Montreal (Les Événements du neuf and Traditions musicales du monde) and was a member of the artistic committee of the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec for twenty-five years. The Society named him Composer of the Year for its Hommage series during the 2015-16 season.

Kaija Saariaho studied composition under the supervision of Paavo Heininen at the Sibelius Academy, then at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg with Brian Ferneyhough and Klaus Huber, graduating in 1983. In 1982, she took courses in computer-assisted music at IRCAM in Paris, where she settled. Subsequently, the computer has always been an important element of her compositional technique. 

She gained an international reputation with her works Verblendungen (1982-84) and Nymphea (1987) for string quartet and electronic devices, commissioned by Lincoln Center for the Kronos Quartet. Saariaho also engaged in a number of multimedia productions, such as the complete ballet Maa (1991) and a pan-European collaborative project to produce a CD-ROM, Prisma, about her life and work. In 1999, Saariaho completed a major work for choir and orchestra titled Oltra mar, which was premiered by the New York Philharmonic and Kurt Masur on November 11, 1999, as part of their millennium commission series.

These last three projects led Kaija Saariaho to her next major work, her first opera, L’amour de loin, which was jointly commissioned by the Salzburg Festival and the Théâtre du Châtelet, and premiered on August 15, 2000, at the Salzburg Festival. The libretto was written by Franco-Lebanese author Amin Maalouf, the opera was staged by Peter Sellars, and the SWR Baden-Baden Orchestra was conducted by Kent Nagano.

Kaija Saariaho studied composition under the supervision of Paavo Heininen at the Sibelius Academy, then at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg with Brian Ferneyhough and Klaus Huber, graduating in 1983. In 1982, she took courses in computer-assisted music at IRCAM in Paris, where she settled. Subsequently, the computer has always been an important element of her compositional technique. 

She gained an international reputation with her works Verblendungen (1982-84) and Nymphea (1987) for string quartet and electronic devices, commissioned by Lincoln Center for the Kronos Quartet. Saariaho also engaged in a number of multimedia productions, such as the complete ballet Maa (1991) and a pan-European collaborative project to produce a CD-ROM, Prisma, about her life and work. In 1999, Saariaho completed a major work for choir and orchestra titled Oltra mar, which was premiered by the New York Philharmonic and Kurt Masur on November 11, 1999, as part of their millennium commission series.

These last three projects led Kaija Saariaho to her next major work, her first opera, L’amour de loin, which was jointly commissioned by the Salzburg Festival and the Théâtre du Châtelet, and premiered on August 15, 2000, at the Salzburg Festival. The libretto was written by Franco-Lebanese author Amin Maalouf, the opera was staged by Peter Sellars, and the SWR Baden-Baden Orchestra was conducted by Kent Nagano.

Maxime McKinley was born in Sherbrooke in 1979 and lives in Montreal. He was awarded the Prix avec grande distinction from the Conservatoire de Montréal in 2004, where he studied composition with Michel Gonneville. In 2009, he completed a PhD in composition at the University of Montreal, under the supervision of Isabelle Panneton.

Since 2007, he has regularly stayed in Paris, where he further honed his skills with Martin Matalon and Gérard Pesson. Maxime McKinley has received commissions from several ensembles and organizations from a wide range of backgrounds. His works have been performed by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitan Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Esprit Orchestra of Toronto, Toronto New Music Concerts, the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Montreal Youth Symphony Orchestra, Camerata de las Américas, Clavecin en concert, the Francophonie Orchestra, Ensemble Caprice, Ensemble Contemporain de Montreal, Transmission, Meitar Ensemble, Quatuor Bozzini, Molinari Quartet, New Orford String Quartet, Tana Quartet, Fibonacci Trio, Hochelaga Trio, duos Andrew Wan/Jonathan Crow, aTonalHits, Elinor Frey/Mélisande McNabney, Mandolini/Poulin, as well as by soloists such as Daniel Añez, Louise Bessette, Caroline Cren, Julie-Anne Derome, Jérôme Ducharme, Pablo Gómez, Vincent Lauzer, Matthias Maute, Matan Porat, and Andrea Tyniec, and singers like Marie-Annick Béliveau, Émilie Laforest, and Vincent Ranallo.

His music is regularly programmed in Quebec, elsewhere in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Colombia, Germany, England, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and some of his pieces have been recorded under the labels Analekta, Kohlenstoff, Mel-Bay, and Starkland.

Maxime McKinley was born in Sherbrooke in 1979 and lives in Montreal. He was awarded the Prix avec grande distinction from the Conservatoire de Montréal in 2004, where he studied composition with Michel Gonneville. In 2009, he completed a PhD in composition at the University of Montreal, under the supervision of Isabelle Panneton.

Since 2007, he has regularly stayed in Paris, where he further honed his skills with Martin Matalon and Gérard Pesson. Maxime McKinley has received commissions from several ensembles and organizations from a wide range of backgrounds. His works have been performed by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitan Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Esprit Orchestra of Toronto, Toronto New Music Concerts, the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Montreal Youth Symphony Orchestra, Camerata de las Américas, Clavecin en concert, the Francophonie Orchestra, Ensemble Caprice, Ensemble Contemporain de Montreal, Transmission, Meitar Ensemble, Quatuor Bozzini, Molinari Quartet, New Orford String Quartet, Tana Quartet, Fibonacci Trio, Hochelaga Trio, duos Andrew Wan/Jonathan Crow, aTonalHits, Elinor Frey/Mélisande McNabney, Mandolini/Poulin, as well as by soloists such as Daniel Añez, Louise Bessette, Caroline Cren, Julie-Anne Derome, Jérôme Ducharme, Pablo Gómez, Vincent Lauzer, Matthias Maute, Matan Porat, and Andrea Tyniec, and singers like Marie-Annick Béliveau, Émilie Laforest, and Vincent Ranallo.

His music is regularly programmed in Quebec, elsewhere in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Colombia, Germany, England, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and some of his pieces have been recorded under the labels Analekta, Kohlenstoff, Mel-Bay, and Starkland.

Philippe Leroux has composed around fifty works, including acousmatic pieces, vocal music, chamber music, symphonic orchestra pieces, and electronic device music, commissioned by French and international institutions (French Ministry of Culture, Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, SWR Radio Baden-Baden, IRCAM, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ictus, 2e2m, INA-GRM, Koussevitzky Foundation, etc.). His compositions are featured in major international festivals such as the Festival Présences of Radio France, Agora Musica, Roma-Europa, Manca, Bath Festival, Donaueschingen Festival, Barcelona Festival, Ultima in Oslo, Tempo in Berkeley, as well as by BBC Symphony Orchestras in London and Scotland.

Philippe Leroux has received numerous awards, has published several articles on contemporary music, and gives lectures as well as composition courses notably at the Royaumont Foundation, at IRCAM, in prestigious universities in the United States, and at the National Superior Conservatories of Music in Paris and Lyon. From 2001 to 2006, he taught composition at IRCAM within the framework of the Composition and Computer Music Curriculum; in 2005 and 2006, he was also a composition professor at McGill University in Montreal under the Langlois Foundation. From 2007 to 2009, he was in residence at the Arsenal de Metz and the National Orchestra of Lorraine. In September 2009, he was appointed guest professor of composition at the University of Montreal for two years.

Philippe Leroux has composed around fifty works, including acousmatic pieces, vocal music, chamber music, symphonic orchestra pieces, and electronic device music, commissioned by French and international institutions (French Ministry of Culture, Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, SWR Radio Baden-Baden, IRCAM, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ictus, 2e2m, INA-GRM, Koussevitzky Foundation, etc.). His compositions are featured in major international festivals such as the Festival Présences of Radio France, Agora Musica, Roma-Europa, Manca, Bath Festival, Donaueschingen Festival, Barcelona Festival, Ultima in Oslo, Tempo in Berkeley, as well as by BBC Symphony Orchestras in London and Scotland.

Philippe Leroux has received numerous awards, has published several articles on contemporary music, and gives lectures as well as composition courses notably at the Royaumont Foundation, at IRCAM, in prestigious universities in the United States, and at the National Superior Conservatories of Music in Paris and Lyon. From 2001 to 2006, he taught composition at IRCAM within the framework of the Composition and Computer Music Curriculum; in 2005 and 2006, he was also a composition professor at McGill University in Montreal under the Langlois Foundation. From 2007 to 2009, he was in residence at the Arsenal de Metz and the National Orchestra of Lorraine. In September 2009, he was appointed guest professor of composition at the University of Montreal for two years.