Second Sons & brioches concert with La Follia - Sunday 14, 2024
09 April 2024
The Ensembles
The ensembles are formed in September every year, at the beginning of the season, but new members are welcome at any time. Each ensemble plays in at least one concert per year. Anyone may join any ensemble simply by signing up for it, with the exception of Flutissimo, the highest level group, which requires an audition with the Flutissimo musical director. For more information about the levels, see description of levels. If you are unsure about your choice of ensemble, join us for a free trial.
The ensembles practice approximately every two weeks, from September to June. Since the schedule depends on the schedules of the musical directors, there can be irregularities in the practice frequency. It is therefore very important to look at the details in the calendar.
The ensembles of the Montreal Recorder Society are:
Beginner: Discover the Recorder This group has been cancelled until September 2024.
Intermediate I: Recorder for Fun
Intermediate II: Harmonia
Intermediate III: Flute en Suite Please note that this group is on pause in 2023-2024.
Intermediate IV: La Follia
Concert ensemble: Flutissimo
Musical Director
RECORDER FOR FUN
Level: Intermediate I
Recorder for Fun is a group for learning to play ensemble music by starting with easy pieces.
A typical session of Recorder for Fun starts with the playing of long, sustained notes throughout the entire register of the recorder, making sure to keep hands and face muscles relaxed and to breathe correctly. This is followed by soprano and alto exercises: technique plays an important role in these sessions. These exercises aim at mastering fingering and acquiring ease of execution, which increases the enjoyment of playing the pieces themselves.
The next part of each lesson is where all the exercises start to pay off: work on music with several different parts. Some will take the soprano part, others the alto or tenor recorders and voila, it's music! Pieces are chosen from a wide repertoire ranging from the Renaissance through folk music to blues. Recorders are indeed versatile!
After much intensive work on the music itself, and much laughing and joking, everyone goes home with music to practice for the next session.
MUSICAL DIRECTOR
HARMONIA
Level: Intermediate II
This group, founded in 2016, is for those who are already familiar with the fingerings of the soprano and the alto and who have had some experience with ensemble playing. Its objective is to deepen those abilities by providing an experience with a third instrument and an understanding of musical phrasing as well as a mastery of faster and more complex rhythms.
MUSICAL DIRECTOR
FLUTE EN SUITE Please note that this ensemble is on pause in 2023-24
Level: Intermediate III
This ensemble is for those who are already familiar with the recorders in C and in F as well as with ensemble playing. You will be able to complete your array of instruments with the bass recorder in F and to work on the articulation and the phrasing necessary to properly interpret ensemble music of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Baroque period. You will learn to pay a great deal of attention to accentuation and to the character of the pieces you play in order to respect and to understand the spirit in which those pieces were composed.
This ensemble has been directed by Gilles Plante since 2004. This experienced musician brings his personal and professional touch to the understanding and interpretation of the musical pieces you’ll be studying.
LA FOLLIA
Level: Intermediate IV
The ensemble "La Follia" is a group at the advanced intermediate level. There
are over a dozen members of this group. They are able to take turns playing at
least the four principal instruments, from the soprano to the bass, and some of
them also play the sopranino and the great bass. The group is directed by
Francis Colpron, an expert recorder player of the Baroque repertoire, a
professor at the Univerity of Montreal and the founder and director of the
professional ensemble "Les Boréades". Under his direction, the members improve
their recorder technique and their mastery of the art of ensemble playing as
well as deepening their understanding of the musical literature by exploring a
varied repertoire of works from the Renaissance and the Baroque to the
contemporary era.
MUSICAL DIRECTOR
FLUTISSIMO
Level: concert ensemble
Flutissimo is an ensemble of more than fifteen musicians who play almost all the instruments in the recorder family, from the sopranino to the contrabass, and one of its members also plays the string contrabass.
Since its formation in 1999, this ensemble has been directed by Sophie Larivière, herself an accomplished recorder player and a professional musician recognized worldwide. She has codirected the Ensemble Caprice since 1997.
Founded by the Montreal Recorder Society with the goal providing its advanced members with the possiblity of enjoying a stimulating musical experience and of acquainting the public with the benefits offered by recorder playing, Flutissimo often performs in concerts, especially in Quebec. In 2003, it played host to the Dutch Ensemble Praetorius in Montreal. It has performed jointly with the Manhattan Recorder Orchestra in Montreal in 2004 and in New York in 2006, as well as with l’Ensemble de flûte à bec de Lyon in Montreal in 2009. For its 10th anniversary, it joined up with the reputable Consort des violes des Voix Humaines to give a concert as part of the Montreal Recorder Festival. Flutissimo has often been invited to the Chapelle Notre Dame de Bon Secours, where it recorded a promotional CD in 2008.
Flutissimo reaches a public with very diversified tastes with a repertoire composed of works of all styles from the medieval epoch to the modern era.
For more information about this group, visit https://susanvg.wixsite.com/flutissimo
