The Montréal Symphony Orchestra (OSM) closed the summer season with a free outdoor concert on Thursday, and kicked off a new era at the same time.
For the first time since he arrived in the city, the orchestra’s new music director, Rafael Payare, hosted a concert with the public at the city’s Olympic Stadium.
“It’s really the beginning of a new chapter,” said Marianne Perron, the OSM’s senior director of music programming.
“We are more than excited, ecstatic about the fact that we can offer this concert to our community so it’s very, very special for us.”
People in attendance were treated to a “musical voyage” with classical music from different corners of the world, including France, Germany, Russia and Latin America.
The choice of music for this concert is a tasting menu of sorts for what the orchestra will offer under Maestro Payare’s direction.
“Just to try a little sneak peek of everything. All the pieces have a lot of colours and a lot of fireworks,” said Payare.
On Sept. 1, Maestro Payare took over as the orchestra’s musical director from maestro Ken Nagano.
Maestro Payare became the ninth music director in the history of the orchestra and the very first of Latin American origin, being born in Venezuela.
Montrealers seem enthusiastic to see what he will bring to the table.
The free concert hosted 3,500 people who, according to organizers, reserved all tickets online in less than one hour.
“We just want to celebrate that everybody is here together again. The orchestra missed the audience, the audience missed the orchestra,” said Payare.
“We are finally here. This is a big celebration that’s the whole idea of tonight.”
Maestro Payare will be in Montréal as the orchestra’s music director for the next five years.