In Montreal, journalist Louis-Philippe Messier travels mostly on the run, his desk in his backpack, on the lookout for fascinating subjects and people. He speaks to everyone and is interested in all walks of life in this urban chronicle.
Montreal is currently welcoming 24 of the best young pianists in the world for the Montreal International Musical Competition. I decided to challenge these virtuosos to play in the antithesis of the Maison symphonique: a busy bar in the Plateau.
Have you ever been to the Maison symphonique de Montréal? Its acoustics are so wonderful that, in the silence, you can hear someone breathing a hundred meters away.
Wednesday evening, at Bily Kun, a famous bar on Avenue du Mont-Royal, it was the opposite of the religious silence typical of the classical scene: a hubbub of laughter and voices.
Under the gaze of the stuffed ostrich heads which decorate the walls of the place, two pianists with dazzling careers, loaded with prizes and honors, played for The newspaper.
Chopin and Abreu
“I’m going to attack with Frédéric Chopin’s Scherzo number one because it’s vigorous and technically impressive,” explains Jaeden Izik-Dzurko, a British Columbian who was celebrating his 25th birthday the evening of the interview and who was planning to start his evening with a sandwich at Schwartz’s.
One of the favorites for CMIM 2024, Izik-Dzurko was already a finalist in 2021, but it was then the Korean Su Yeon Kim who took top honors.
Newly accustomed to the high-end itinerancy of the international classical musician, the young specialist in romantic music recently performed in Zurich, Budapest and Barcelona. He lives half in Germany, half in Italy.
“To fit into the energetic atmosphere of the bar, I will play a transcription of Tico-Tico by Zequinha de Abreu by pianist Marc-André Hamelin,” announces Élisabeth Pion.
Originally from Otterburn Park, the 28-year-old won the Rio de Janeiro International Piano Festival in Brazil last October, notably with this Tico-Tico that Quebecers associate with Alys Robi.
She now lives in London and will be the local star of this edition which mainly receives talent from the rest of the world.
Louis-Philippe Messier
Keyboard Gladiators
Will Élisabeth Pion and Jaeden Izik-Dzurko find themselves among the six finalists of the competition who will play with the OSM during the last event?
The fight will be merciless.
The competition stretches over 11 days and includes a succession of 12 different performances: six for the first round, four for the semi-final and two for the final… not including a closing ceremony.
“It’s quite primitive, but I think human beings like competitions!” laughing philosopher Élisabeth Pion.
Hearing Chopin and Abreu resounding in the tumult of a 5 à 7 at the Bily Kun had something surreal.
“I’m a musician and I’ve never heard someone play with so much passion and elegance in a bar!” exclaims Daniel Connolly, from the folk group Horsebath, who happened to be there.
The arthritic strings of the Bily Kun’s old upright piano will not soon forget this evening.
The winner of CMIM 2024 will be entitled to more than $200,000 in scholarships and prizes, as well as an album recorded with the Steinway label.
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