Musical Wednesdays are back at Chalmers-Wesley Church
Submitted by Shirley Nadeau, co-ordinator of the Summer Open Doors Program, Chalmers-Wesley United Church
For the 43rd year, the Musical Wednesdays summer concerts return to Chalmers-Wesley United Church on Rue Sainte-Ursule in Old Quebec.
What started in the mid-1980s as Sunday afternoon organ concerts evolved in recent years into Wednesday noon-hour presentations with a great variety of musicians. The Musical Wednesdays concert series is still attracting appreciative music lovers to the heart of the Old City.
The first, on June 25, features soprano Sharon MacLeod, who will sing classical selections by Orff, Debussy, Handel, Liszt and Mozart, and contemporary pieces by Jake Heggie and Mary Linklater. She will be accompanied by pianist Marie-Hélène Greffard, who will also perform three solo pieces by Denis Bédard, Scott Joplin and Alfred Lefébure-Wély on the organ.
On July 2, listeners will be treated to the rich contralto voice of Priscilla-Anne Tremblay, a member of the Opéra de Québec chorus who has planned a delightful program of arias from works by Vivaldi, Handel, Gluck, Rossini, Verdi and others. She will be accompanied by pianist Jean-François Mailloux, who will also perform solo J.S. Bach’s Partita BWV 825 Sarabande and an excerpt from Massenet’s Cendrillon.
On July 9, tubist Lance Nagels, who was with the Orchestre symphonique de Québec for 44 years, will perform with pianist Jean Sutherland. The unusual combination of tuba and piano will surely delight audiences.
On July 16, Élise Guay and Liette Remon come together to share their love of music with a selection of vieux airs traditionnels québécois on fiddle, flute and bagpipes!
July 23 will see violist Eline Brock (another former member of the OSQ) and Chalmers-Wesley organist Gordon Brown performing together.
On July 30, The classical guitar duo Si ça vous jazz – Denis Poliquin and Marc Bélanger – will perform pieces by Québécois legends Robert Charlebois, Beau Dommage, Harmonium and Félix Leclerc along with music from well-known films and a few original compositions.
One of our favourite regular performers, pianist Alain Châteauvert will return on Aug. 6 with a classical program of works by Beethoven, Debussy, Chopin and Rachmaninoff.
On Aug. 13, we will receive the Duo Cziffra, pianists Ludmilla Guilmault and Jean-Noël Dubois from France who will perform “Exotisme, Sonorités Pittoresques” for solo piano and four hands, featuring works by Debussy, Ravel, Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, Satie and Séverac.
Another of our annual favourites, bagpiper Alan Stairs and drummer Yves Tremblay of the 78th Fraser Highlanders, will delight our audience with their traditional Scottish music on Aug. 20.
We will welcome a saxophone quartet from La Musique du Royal 22e Régiment on Aug. 27.
Finally, the musician who started the summer concert series at Chalmers-Wesley back in the 1980s, organist Jacquelin Rochette, will perform at the last concert on Sept 3.
All Musical Wednesday concerts are free, but we suggest a voluntary contribution of $10 or more to help cover our expenses. We receive financial assistance from the Ville de Québec, the Government of Québec through its Cultural Development Agreement and our local MP, Jean-Yves Duclos. The nearby Café-Bistro Omelette (Café de Paris) on Rue St-Louis also provides gift certificates for the door prize draws at the end of each concert.
