Following two Montreal concerts that were sold out months in advance (at Phi Centre this past October and at Théâtre Outremont next February), Alexandra Stréliski and the Montreal International Jazz Festival are thrilled to announce a headlining show for the pianist at the Place des Arts’ Théâtre Maisonneuve on July 4, 2019. Tickets will be on sale this Friday at noon. Alexandra also announced an additional performance the next day after her sold-out concert at Palais Montcalm in Quebec City on March 2nd. She will also play in Toronto, Ottawa and Sherbrooke, as well as in several other cities.
Audiences have literally fallen in love with Alexandra’s compositions, launching her latest album INSCAPE to the top of the Quebec sales charts during the first two weeks of release. People are eager to get their hands on the pianist’s sheet music online, and her two albums have been streamed more than 35 million times to date. How can we interpret this rather unusual popular success? asks Alain Brunet in an article published online by La Presse last week. Alexandra guesses that “First, there is a heartfelt connection, I believe. I think I reached people’s emotions as well as their musical references.”
Alexandra’s emotions have been transformed into images by illustrator Élisabeth Gravel, whose gorgeous creations can be found on the cover and inside the sleeves of the physical records (CD and vinyl). The pianist’s compositions and the illustrator’s artistic world are in symbiosis, as shown by the three short videos of freehand drawing done in one sitting by Élisabeth with the pieces Overturn, Plus tôt and Burnout Fugue as a soundtrack.
Recorded in the Fall of 2017 at Studio PM in Montreal, INSCAPE is the work of an artist unconcerned with conventions, whose approach of neoclassicism is resolutely current. Produced by Alexandra Stréliski herself and Maxime Navert (who also co-produced Pianoscope), the attempt was to fill a certain emotional emptiness, a creative urge that commits to taking the listener back to a form of lost sincerity. “A piano, on its own, is a very vulnerable thing, and I want to share this moment with the listener,” explains Alexandra.
It’s a contrast of depth and fragility that uncannily resembles the human condition itself, and stands as a wicked testament to the range of emotion that Stréliski can grasp. - Noisey
"Sharp Objects" features some gorgeous piano melodies from Alexandra Stréliski - IndieWire
One of the foremost new stars in modern classical - Billboard
That Stréliski is so capable of evoking such emotional complexity out of a single instrument heralds much to come as she continues to approach the height of her compositional powers. 8/10 - Exclaim!
Download: Cover (jpg) • Photo (jpg) • Credit photo: Raphaël Ouellet
|