Kent Nagano

From the Inkless emailbox, this apparent denial of a three-day-old story that didn’t need denying until now. What follows is the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal’s complete news release, verbatim. Got a truck? See if you can drive it through the hole in this denial: — pw

Paul Wells on the expected departure of the director of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal

Paul Wells picks his favourites from the past year

Lucien Bouchard, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal chairman, announced last night that Kent Nagano has a three-year extension on his contract as music director of Canada’s best orchestra. There had been some question about all this ever since Nagano’s contract at the Bavarian State Opera wasn’t renewed.

Here are some things I’ve been listening to a lot. I recommend each of them highly.

This morning in Montreal, Jean Charest unveiled the design for the new concert hall for the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. Kent Nagano was on board, as was Lucien Bouchard, who’s the chair of the orchestra’s board, and who brings poignant irony with him wherever he goes. Architect for the new hall is Jack Diamond of Toronto’s Diamond and Schmitt Architects, which may help explain why the new hall looks eerily like Schmitt’s Four Seasons Centre, his downtown Toronto opera house. The shape’s different because this room isn’t for opera. But the room vocabulary — Blonde! Beige! — is pure Diamond. Here, they made a video:

…I had a hunch Kent Nagano’s Montreal Symphony Orchestra would get an invite. It has. More news on Thursday.

The Montreal Symphony Orchestra (as we called it at The Gazette; it calls itself the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, even in English) unveiled its 2009-2010 season yesterday, its fourth under Kent Nagano, yesterday.

Two articles from the print edition, which you should buy anyway: I ponder the significance of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra’s odd new CD; and I try to figure out who will replace Stephen Harper as the next federal Conservative leader.