Dvorak
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Jean-Marie Zeitouni is the new Principal Conductor
and Artistic Director Designate of I Musici de Montréal

I Musici de Montréal has developed a well-deserved reputation as one of the world's finest chamber orchestras. Known for its gutsy, passionate music-making, I Musici de Montréal presents imaginative programs that draw on repertoire spanning the centuries. In nearly ninety concerts a year at home and on tour, the orchestra's precision, cohesion, brio, and distinctive sound charm audiences and critics. Fanfare magazine recently added its voice to the chorus of praise when it named I Musici de Montréal "one of the best chamber orchestras in North America."

Now under the leadership of Principal Conductor and Artistic Director Designate Jean-Marie Zeitouni, the orchestra enters the 2011-2012 season with new enthusiasm, while bidding a loving thanks to Yuli Turovsky, founding Artistic Director and conductor for 27 seasons, who is retiring this year.

Touring beautifully crafted programs of European Masters, Russian Masters, collaborating with acclaimed guest artists and creating innovative events with film, the group has been hailed as a "spellbindingly unified ensemble." [Toronto Star]

Innovative programming includes the orchestras film projects, including I Musici de Montréal's new production of Mussorgsky's famed Pictures at an Exhibition performed with choreographed paintings by the award-winning Natasha Turovsky. The acclaimed new interpretations are accompanied by breathtaking imagery projected on a large screen on-stage. More...

"Filmmaker Gael Hollard gave them life in video animation, which was projected center stage and flanked by the musicians. Without resorting to showy technical gimmickry, this was a truly artistic meeting of art forms that reached from the humor of dancing eggs with protruding legs and beaks to ominous images in catacombs." (The Birmingham News/al.com) More...

Recent performances on the road include a European tour that featured the closing performance at the prestigious Les Soirées de Luxembourg Festival, and major tours in Israel and South America. The orchestra's recent seasons include three concert series in Montréal, a tour of Spain, and a return to China. Annual tour engagements include regular performances throughout the United States and Canada, typically arranged in five tour periods per season.
 
In addition to the orchestra's active home season and recording schedule, they've been heard recently in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Lincoln, Atlanta, New York, a return to Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood and dozens of other communities from coast to coast. The orchestra recently completed a tour of seven concerts in the Peoples Republic of China and Japan. A wide variety of youth programs, workshops, concerts in which young performers join them on stage, and other educational activities are available on tour.

Since it was founded in 1983, the orchestra's more than forty recordings have been distributed in 48 countries around the world (on the British label Chandos Records). They have been awarded many honors, including "Best Chamber Ensemble of the Year" from Canadian Council of Music in 1987, and a "Diapason d'or" for a recording of the Symphony No. 14 by Shostakovich in 1988. "The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs and Cassettes, 1992," singled out I Musici de Montréal's CD of Handel's Concerti Grossi, Op. 6/1-12 for the coveted award of a "Rosette", denoting a recording of "special illumination, magic ... that places it in a very special class." In 1996, I Musici de Montréal was awarded a "Félix" and a "Juno" for the Best Classical Album of 1996 in the Large Ensemble category for its recording of Ginastera - Villa Lobos - Evangelista. In 2002, the Quebec Music Council awarded their coveted CD of the Year Award to I Musici de Montréal and ‘cellist Yuli Turovsky for the release titled The Modern ‘Cello, which won in the category of Best recording of the year - classical, modern and romantic music.

Principal Conductor and Artistic Director Designate Jean-Marie Zeitouni has emerged as one of Canada’s brightest young conductors. His eloquent yet fiery style, in repertoire ranging from baroque to contemporary music, results in regular re-engagements across North America. In addition to his new responsibilities with I Musici de Montréal, Mr. Zeitouni is Music Director of the Columbus Symphony, and is Principal Guest Conductor of Les Violons du Roy until the end of the 2011-2012 season, an ensemble with which he has given more than 200 concerts throughout North America over the last 10 years.