Press Room 
“The fact that we took a long time before becoming an orchestra shows that we took the time to develop ourselves,” said Claire Guimond in an interview with Le Devoir, in comparison to Toronto, where Tafelmusik was born immediately as an orchestra.
Tafelmusik’s example dwells in Claire Guimond, who vows “to work on the comparison”. The Toronto ensemble’s experience is enlightening in many ways and inspires Arion’s development.
Permanence
In October of 2009, interviewed by Le Devoir about the 25 years of Les Violons du Roy, Bernard Labadie identified, among the most important moments of his orchestra’s life, “1992, the year when musicians became permanents, that is to say when we could give them a contract allowing them to live decently. We went from eight or nine weeks of work to twenty.”
It is exactly this turning point inspired Claire Guimond for Arion. “We have a substantial number of activities, but musicians continue to be hired from one project to another. It takes a critical number of activities to change the status of musicians and to employ them on a weekly basis, for a certain number of weeks per year.” “To increase our activities, our presence, and our structure,” that is the goal for Arion’s director, who sees this dilemma a little like “the chicken and the egg.” Is it necessary to develop the organization in order to have more activities or to develop the activities to have a more stable organization? Claire Guimond decided to work on both simultaneously. To benefit from permanence and not simply pass from project to another, Arion’s Montreal season would include around 10 programs annually, as in the case of Tafelmusik.
As one of a number of ensembles in search of a concert hall, Arion did not waste the past few years and transformed itself into a traveling ensemble. “We were known for having our concerts at Redpath Hall. But this hall is within McGill University and its primary calling is to serve the activities of the university. For our programming, this posed a major problem. We had to plan one or two years in advance in order to hire soloists and conductors, but the university could not reserve dates that far in advance.”
As a result, Arion went for a walk. Not without results. “The Claude-Champagne Hall is a very good hall, but we realized that it was not well-liked by our audiences. Last year, we lost subscribers, who came back to us this year.” This “huge preoccupation” is now in the past as Claire Guimond is in the process of scheduling the 2011-2012 season at a new site: the future Bourgie Concert Hall.
Construction on the site of the Erskine Church and American United adjacent to the Fine Arts Museum, are about to begin, in the church’s chapel, a concert hall run by the Arte Musica Foundation, funded by Pierre Bourgie. With 450 seats, the new hall will hold 100 more spectators than Redpath Hall. “To be able to move into this place, even if we are only renting it, will be very significant for us,” stated Claire Guimond, who hopes to establish here a rhythm to which faithful Arion attendees can become habituated: concerts on Friday and Saturday nights, as well as Sunday afternoons. “We would like, in developing our audience’s loyalty to this hall, to go from three to four performances per program and five to eight programs per year.” Claire Guimond has given herself five years to fulfill this objective.
Mosaic
Artistically, the modus vivendi of Arion will not change : “Arion is well established as an orchestra, with a personality, a sound, even if we work only with guest conductors.” The repertoire extends from baroque to Mozart and Haydn. In contrast with Tafelmusik, Claire Guimond has no intention to involve Arion in the exploration of Beethoven. She prefers “to introduce repertoire under a new angle, with a new energy”, and insists on Arion’s ability to reinvent itself by cultivating regular relationships with guest conductors of diverse nationalities.
What leads them to Montreal? The fact that Arion does not skimp on rehearsal time: up to 25 hours per program, at least double the time spent by a symphonic orchestra. “Montreal’s musicians are known for their willingness to learn and their open minds. One does not find that in other areas. Conductors love that,” says the musical director. Some come back, others do not. A mere glance at their programming shows that Arion is comfortable with musicians such as Jaap Ter Linden or Gary Cooper.
Alexander Weimann, who will direct Bach’s St.John’s Passion on Friday and Saturday, is, he himself, a returning conductor. Claire Guimond is full of praise for him, exalting in particular the German conductor’s aptitude in directing singers as well as instrumentalists. “He is a musician who goes to the heart of the music. He is discrete, but he knows how to bring out the best in people. His best quality is being at the service of music. This may seem unusual, but for many conductors their ego often means more than the music.”
This St. John’s Passion will be recorded on CD for Atma. The Bach festival continues until December 8th.
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ARION AT THE BACH FESTIVAL
St. John’s Passion. Arion Baroque Orchestra and Les Voix baroques, dir. Alex Weimann. With Shannon Mercer, soprano; Matthew White, alto; Lawrence Wiliford, tenor; Nathaniel Watson, basse (Pilate); Joshua Hopkins, bass (Pierre); Stephan MacLeod, bass (Jesus) and Jan Kobow, tenor (Évangéliste). Saint-Viateur Church, Friday, November 26 and Saturday, November 27 at 8 :00 pm. Tickets 514.581.8637
