OSM tour in Europe | Mélanie La Couture takes the torch

Arriving in office three months ago as CEO, Mélanie La Couture is entitled to a fantastic dive thanks to this tour. The one who spent around ten years within the OSM (she was chief operating officer from 2007 to 2013), before climbing the ranks which allowed her to become CEO of the Cardiology Institute from Montreal, returns to the orchestra.

She succeeds Madeleine Careau who, thanks to her legendary energy, has built a solid reputation. She remains the one who allowed the orchestra to experience a more serene climate while ensuring a very enviable financial vitality. The ex-head leaves her successor a house where everything is in order.

“Madeleine did a lot for the orchestra and a lot for me too,” says Mélanie La Couture. She created the COO position for me. I owe him a lot. I will try to honor him. »

Mélanie La Couture therefore moves from a universe linked to life and health sciences to another which belongs to the world of the arts. Quite a gap, one might say. Not for the new CEO of the OSM. “It remains management, and management of two important institutions that aim for excellence. I will work with Rafael as I worked at the Heart Institute with the directors of research, teaching and prevention. »

Armed with this will, the new conductor is not afraid to say that she does not have much musical knowledge, apart from that acquired during her previous years at the OSM.

This European tour allows us to see once again to what extent culture and the means to promote it take a disproportionately more important place than at home. Living in Lyon since September, I can't believe the scale of the theater price lists. The young audience is particularly pampered. And the effects are being felt. Many spectators in their twenties come to the theater, but also to the concert. All of this is enough to make us envious.

Mélanie La Couture intends to take advantage of this tour to bring back ideas. “We are looking at this very closely. There is someone from customer service who is with us to review everything we do here. There are the prices that we can offer, but we must continue to work on the taste for culture. And you have to do that very young. »

When you have a healthy orchestra in your hands, what can you do to improve it? What are the construction sites? “As with all cultural institutions, it’s about bringing people back into the theater,” says Mélanie La Couture. I would say that since the end of the pandemic, there are still around 20% of spectators that we have to bring back. There are also mobility issues to convince people from the suburbs to come to the city center. »

The formula of Concerts 5 to 7, made up of a short program, that of the Exploded Concerts, designed for young audiences, or that of the OSMose Concerts, for children, are all concepts that the OSM has put in place to attract new audiences. Mélanie La Couture intends to continue in this direction. “Our responsibility is to bring them to the concert at least once. It's like broccoli. Someone has to introduce you to them for the first time so that you learn to appreciate them. »

A big announcement

Among Mélanie La Couture's mandates is to maintain the Music for Children program created by Kent Nagano. Since his arrival in Montreal, Rafael Payare has often spoken about El Sistema, another music education program created in Venezuela and from which he comes.

The new musical director wants to integrate this experience into the existing one. However, El Sistema's approach is based on work within orchestras made up of young people from primary and secondary schools.

Will we soon be entitled to this in Montreal and elsewhere in Quebec? I share my deduction with Rafael Payare and Mélanie La Couture. I face silence, but also broad smiles. “All I can say is that we are dreaming of this and there will be a big announcement about it in January. »