Sunday at the Machine Shop: Cello Passion

NEWS RELEASE

ALGOMA CONSERVATORY CONCERTS

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Algoma Conservatory Concerts presents Sinfonia Toronto with Stéphane Tétreault, cello on Sunday March 5, 2017 at 7:30 pm at The Machine Shop

Re -subscription concert.  Everyone subscribing to the 2017/2018 season at intermission will have several chances to win great prizes.

Tickets:  

• Adults/Seniors:  $35
• 30 years and under:  $10

Available at the Station Mall Box Office or by emailing the Algoma Conservatory algomaconservatory@algomau.ca

About the Orchestra and Cellist:  Sinfonia Toronto:

Acclaimed as "a world-class ensemble" (Russelsheimer Echo, Germany), Sinfonia Toronto is one of Canada's finest chamber orchestras. The orchestra performs its Masterpiece Series in two of Toronto's finest concert halls. It presents its concerts at  CBC's Glenn Gould Studio, where many of its concerts have been recorded for national broadcast and in the Toronto Centre for the Arts. The orchestra has recorded for its own label, Marquis Classics EMI, Cambria and Analekta on iTunes.

Sinfonia Toronto consists of thirteen virtuoso strings. They perform standing, in the tradition of great European chamber orchestras, blending each musician's soloistic energy and passion into a brilliant ensemble style under Nurhan Arman's inspired direction.

The orchestra's repertoire includes all the major compositions for string orchestra from the Baroque through classical, romantic and 20th-Century works. Sinfonia Toronto has premiered many new works, and has been praised by the Canada Council for its commitment to performing music by Canadian composers.

Sinfonia Toronto is heard across Canada and beyond in a wide range of styles. Its CD of music by Mendelssohn, Khachaturian and Shostakovich is broadcast frequently on Classical 96.3 and other classical stations. Their world premiere of the rediscovered Bach aria 'Alles Mit Gott' was recorded by Analekta and released on iTunes. The title work on the orchestra's Marquis Classics CD of music by Canadian composer John Burge, Flanders Fields Reflections, won the 2009 JUNO Award for Best Recording of a New Classical Work. The Hollywood Flute CD, with flutist Louise DiTullio, a new CD titled Premieres featuring violinist Conrad Chow are on Cambria label distributed by Naxos.

Sinfonia Toronto's first international tour in 2008 in Germany was a resounding success, resulting in reviews with headlines such as ''A World-Class Ensemble,'' ''Sinfonia Toronto Inspires,'' and ''Sinfonia Toronto Thrilled the Audience.'' The orchestra's two-week tour of Spain in October 2010 was greeted with calls for encores at each performance, with a thrilling four encores demanded by the audience at the renowned l'Auditori in Barcelona. In April 2015, Sinfonia Toronto made its first tour to United States.

Sinfonia Toronto has collaborated with outstanding soloists of national and international reputation. Among those guest artists sharing the stage with Maestro Arman and Sinfonia Toronto are pianists Andre Laplante, Janina Fialkowska, Richard Raymond, Jane Coop, Robert Silverman and Francine Kay; violinists Lara St. John, Dmitri Berlinsky, Corey Cerovsek, Erika Raum, Scott St. John, Jasper Wood and Judy Kang; cellist Shauna Rolston and Narek Hakhnazaryan, clarinetist Julian Milkis; sopranos Nathalie Paulin and Aline Kutan.

Sinfonia Toronto's performances have been acclaimed by critics in and outside Toronto. The Toronto Star writes of "a remarkable range of colour," "ample eloquence" and "gripping authority." The Barrie Advance headlined "A Treasured Experience" and described a performance ranging from "tender longing" to "gusto." The Toronto Star, again, praised Grieg's Holberg Suite and the Dvorak Serenade, "both of which Arman led in an affectionate, unhurried manner, with an appreciation of their singing qualities," while La Scena Musicale declared, "Nurhan Arman and his orchestra literally conquered us."

Cellist Stéphane Tétreault first made international headlines as the recipient of Bernard Greenhouse's cello, the 1707 "Countess of Stainlein, Ex-Paganini" Stradivarius, on generous loan by Mrs. Jacqueline Desmarais.

In addition to innumerous awards and honours, Stéphane was selected as laureate of the 2015-2016 Classe d'Excellence de violoncelle Gautier Capuçon from the Fondation Louis Vuitton, and received the 2015 Women's Musical Club of Toronto Career Development Award. He was the very first recipient of the Fernand-Lindsay Career Award as well as the Choquette-Symcox Award laureate in 2013. First Prize winner at the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Standard Life-OSM 2007 Competition, he was named Révélation Radio-Canada 2011-2012 in classical music, received the Opus Award for Discovery of the Year in 2013, and was chosen as Personality of the Week in La Presse newspaper in 2012. For three straight years, Stéphane was ranked amongst "CBC Radio's 30 Hot Canadian classical musicians under 30".

Stéphane was also invited to participate in many prestigious competitions, namely the 2008 Geneva International Cello Competition, the 2009 Rostropovich Cello Competition, and the 2011 Tchaikovsky International Competition. He has performed on two occasions with violinist and conductor Maxim Vengerov, has participated in a number of master classes - notably with cellists Gautier Capuçon, Franz Helmerson and Truls Mørk - and has worked with conductors Michael Tilson Thomas, Kent Nagano, Paul McCreesh, Julian Kuerti, Timothy Vernon, James Feddeck, amongst many others. Chosen as the first ever Soloist-in-Residence of the Orchestre Métropolitain, he performed alongside Yannick Nézet-Séguin and others during the 2014-2015 season. In October 2016, he will make his concert debut with the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Nézet-Séguin.

His debut CD, recorded with the Orchestre symphonique de Québec and conductor Fabien Gabel, was nominated as the "Best Classical Album of the Year" at the 2013 ADISQ Gala. He recently released a second CD with pianist Marie-Ève Scarfone featuring works from Haydn, Schubert and Brahms.

Stéphane has garnered great praise from the world's leading music critics: "Tétreault's disc charmed me from the off; this is just pure, lyrical, unadulterated playing of the highest order, with a maturity that belies his 22 years... I can't wait to hear more from him." (Charlotte Gardner, Gramophone) "His vibrato and tone are varied, his bowing techniques immaculate and his awareness of harmony and consequent shading omnipresent." (Joanne Talbot, The Strad Magazine) "The solo playing is astonishingly mature not merely in its technical attributes but also in its warmth, brilliance and subtlety of colour and inflection." (Geoffrey Norris, Gramophone)

Currently 22 years old, Stéphane was a student of the late cellist and conductor Yuli Turovsky for more than 10 years. He holds a Master's Degree in Music Performance from the University of Montreal.

Program 

MORAWETZ Sinfonietta

SAINT-SAENS Cello Concerto No. 1 

GRIEG Sinfonia in G Minor

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