VO Family Celebrates Huge Wins at the 53rd JUNO Awards

Date	Author
March 25, 2024	Stephen Lyons

We’re proud to share the news that two members of the VO family scored a huge win at the 53rd JUNO Awards this past weekend! Orchestre classique de Montréal, conducted by Jacques Lacombe, took home its first-ever JUNO, winning Classical Album of the Year (Large Ensemble) for their recording of Maxime Goulet’s Symphonie de la tempête de verglas. VO’s relationship with Jacques Lacombe stretches all the way back to 2003’s La fanciulla del West, and he continued to bring his nuance, power, and artistic integrity to many more productions as a visiting conductor in the years that followed. This past October, we were honoured to announce that the Maestro had stepped into a leadership role as Music Director of Vancouver Opera, where he’ll continue to artfully steer the VO Orchestra and Chorus from the conductor’s podium for productions like 2024-2025’s Die Fledermaus and Madama Butterfly, while working behind the scenes to help steer Vancouver Opera’s musical vision towards years of excellence to come. Montréal-based composer Maxime Goulet is one of the brightest voices in contemporary composition, and one of the most platform-agnostic. His filmic, fun style has brought everything from 8-bit video game music, mashups, and a suite for chocolate tasting into the concert hall. (He also composed “Symphonic Aerobic Dance”, a workout for orchestra, perhaps to counterbalance the chocolate). For Vancouver Opera, Maxime created the enchanting music for Flight of the Hummingbird, a new work based on an indigenous parable that found its way through pre-contact trade routes from the Quechuan people of South America all the way north,  becoming well known within Haida culture. In cooperation with Pacific Opera Victoria, our Vancouver Opera in Schools program will take Flight of the Hummingbird on an extended tour, bringing the magic of opera to children and their families in over 50 schools and community venues across BC this Spring! Exuberant congratulations to Jacques and Maxime!!! Speaking of celebrations, tickets are on sale now for our grand 65th anniversary season….