Maple Leaf

Partner Orchestra

Orchestre symphonique de Laval

Orchestra

Alain Trudel, Principal Conductor and Artistic Director

Year founded: 1984

Founded in 1984, the Orchestre symphonique de Laval (OSL) is one of Laval’s main artistic organizations, with a roster of 53 professional musicians. For the last 30 years, the orchestra’s chief mandate has been to offer audiences symphonic music and a pleasurable listening experience in a friendly and inclusive atmosphere focused on closeness with the public. The Orchestre symphonique de Laval’s current Artistic Director, Alain Trudel, is among the most sought-after conductors in Canada.

Each year, the OSL presents six to eight symphonic concerts at Salle André-Mathieu. Since 2014, it has offered concerts with commentary in the afternoon, during dress rehearsals. The OSL places a priority on making classical music accessible to younger audiences by offering a full spectrum of activities, including school matinées, composition workshops, rehearsals in high schools, and concerts presented by young musicians.

In 2013, the Conseil Québécois de la musique handed the orchestra an Opus Award for Production of the Year (Young Audience), for Peter, Babar, and the Wolf. The OSL recently released a record, the first under the baton of conductor Alain Trudel: Respighi’s Il tramonto with soloist Isabel Bayrakdarian (Atma Classique label).

Composer
Photo of Nicolas Gilbert

Nicolas Gilbert

Birthplace: Montreal, QC

Current home: Montreal, QC

Nicolas Gilbert is a composer and novelist living and working in Montreal. He studied composition and analysis at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal with composers Michel Gonneville and Serge Provost, and at McGill University with composer John Rea. His music is performed around the world by orchestras, ensembles, and soloists such as the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Orchestre Métropolitain, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, SMCQ, the Molinari Quartet, the Bozzini Quartet, Quasar, Continuum, and cellist Matt Haimovitz. He is the recipient of numerous grants and awards including the 2008 Composer of the Year Opus Prize awarded by the Quebec Music Council and ten SOCAN Awards for Young Composers. His four novels, Le recital (2008), Le joueur de triangle (2009), La fille de l’imprimeur est triste (2011), and Nous (2013), are published by Leméac and have received positive reviews.

Nicolas Gilbert is professor of composition at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and Composer-in-Residence with the Orchestre symphonique de Laval.

Commission

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October 21, 2017

Toronto Symphony Orchestra

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February 7, 2018

Orchestre symphonique de Laval, Laval

“Towards a higher place or position.
At or to a higher level of intensity,
volume, or activity.
To the place where someone is.
Into the desired or a proper condition.
Into a happy mood.
Out of bed.
Against the current or the wind.
At bat.”

—From the Oxford English Dictionary