Before attending like thousands of people at the free concert of the Orchester symphonique de Montréal, our journalist was able to speak with conductor Rafael Payare on the occasion of the kick-off of the Classical Spree.
“The miracle of music when it goes boom!” “, evoked the conductor Rafael Payare before the free concert of the Orchester symphonique de Montréal (OSM) on the Esplanade of the Olympic Park.
The power of a tune could not be more visceral and boiling than during the encore, as the 77 musicians and their maestro surprised the audience with Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries, made famous notably by the film Apocalypse Now.
It was grand, and it went boom!
Thousands of spectators were already seduced by the program for the kick-off of the Classical Spree which brought together, in the words of its spokesperson, Magalie Lépine-Blondeau, “airs that are part of our lives”, but whose not everyone necessarily knows the titles and composers.
Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard – star of the Metropolitan Opera – sang two excerpts from Rossini’s famous opera The Barber of Seville. For her part, South Korean violinist Bomsori performed Waxman’s Carmen Fantasie, according to Bizet. The two guest soloists shone with their poise and elegance.
The public was also able to savor the Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky. A more daring musical choice for an outdoor concert, with its sinuous restrained tunes, but what an epic finale carried by the fiery gestures of Rafael Payare, who had swapped his jeans and red sneakers worn in rehearsal for a black and white tuxedo ! The giant screens made it possible to see, beyond his wandering hair, his gaze and his gestures so enamored with his score.
Usually, during his official trips, Rafael Payare sits next to his driver Marcel. But for the purposes of our interview conducted on the way to the Maison symphonique at the Esplanade of the Olympic Park, he gave up his passenger seat to the photographer from La Presse.
The OSM at the Olympic Park after Metallica? “It works”, launched Rafael Payare, before recalling the existence of the album S
“A dream”, he says to describe his new life in Montreal and his first year in charge for the OSM’s 88th season.
“My daughter is going to start school next week,” he says of Ariadna, his eldest, while his youngest, Elina, is just 18 months old.
“We lived through the freezing rain storm, the power outage…” he jokes. But also the good weather and the summer season which is fantastic. »
“We really feel at home”, continues more seriously the one who is in a relationship with the renowned American cellist Alisa Weilerstein, featured this Thursday evening in a concert presented at the Ravinia festival in Chicago.
The ninth music director in the history of the OSM does not like to be called maestro. He prefers Rafael, which certainly makes him less intimidating to interview than a Kent Nagano or a Charles Dutoit.
“Rafael, it works,” he tells us with humility.
One thing is certain, people feel that he is an accessible leader. Last year, Rafael Payare and the OSM team had even underestimated the number of spectators of Latin origin who would come to meet him during the concert on the Esplanade of the Olympic Park, so much so that e had planned time on Wednesday for a walkabout before the concert.
Rafael Payare autographed the hats of Maya and Natalia, the daughters of Geovanna Garcia Camacho and her husband Jorge De la Torre. The family moved to Montreal from Mexico… 15 days ago! It was already their second visit to the Olympic Park since the quartet was also at the Metallica show.
It was thanks to the interview granted by Rafael Payare to the Latinos en Montréal website that the family learned of the concert. “The girls are playing music. You had to be there,” says Geovanna, who is already in love with Montreal. “A magical town,” she said.
For her part, Adelina Rodriguez had brought a flag from Venezuela. She arrived with her daughter Avelina at 4 p.m. – after a visit to the Botanical Garden – to get a front row seat in front of the stage and in the hope of meeting Rafael Payare. ” It warms my heart. I’m so proud of him and the way he represents us,” said Adelina, who was able to exchange a few words and have her picture taken with her compatriot.
Wednesday marked the start of a marathon for Rafael Payare as he will conduct nine concerts until Sunday during the Classical Spree. “A crazy but wonderful week,” he laughs.
On Saturday, he will be at the helm of the first of two complete performances of Carmina Burana at the Maison symphonique, and he will be at the free concert presented at Complexe Desjardins with an orchestra made up of amateur musicians.
Not to mention that it will once again welcome the young Ensemble Obiora, made up of musicians from diverse backgrounds, to the sound of Mozart’s Little Night Music. On the same program scheduled for 4:15 p.m., OSM principal violinist Andrew Wan will share center stage with Tanya Charles Iveniuk for the Symphonie concertante by the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a composer nicknamed the “Black Mozart” – born slave in Guadeloupe and adored by Queen Marie-Antoinette. “An incredible violinist and composer,” says Rafael Payare. And a great fencer. »
Until Sunday, 26 indoor concerts and 100 free activities are offered to the public. “Exposure to classical music is important,” says Rafael Payare, whose background embodies the Classical Spree mandate of discovery and accessibility.
José Antonio Abreu created El Sistema, the famous Venezuelan musical program from which emerged Rafael Payare, who learned the horn there and then succumbed to the powerful emotion of being part of an orchestra. “The feeling that it’s bigger than you. »
It was later that Rafael Payare was overwhelmed by the power of the wand-holder, upon seeing Giuseppe Sinopoli at work. “He was from Italy and didn’t speak Spanish, but his energy could change the sound of the orchestra,” he says.
A unique energy also animates Rafael Payare. Know that he and the other darling conductor of Montreal, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, write text messages regularly. They first met in New York at Carnegie Hall in 2021. “It’s like we’ve known each other for a long time. »
The two conductors relax the decorum of classical music while excelling in their prestigious position as respective conductors.
Nervousness is not something that inhabits Rafael Payare. “I may be hungry and hot, but be nervous?” No”, says the one who constantly has a score in mind, and who loves when it goes… boom!
