Ensemble Obiora Inaugural concert on Saturday August 28.

Ensemble Obiora Inaugural concert on Saturday August 28.

Former Montrealer Mike Maxwell among unique group of musicians

On Saturday August 28, our community and music lovers across Montreal are invited to join in an evening of musical bliss at a concert featuring a unique group of musicians.
It’s the inaugural concert of Ensemble Obiora, which is made up of 30 highly skilled classical musicians from cultural communities across Canada.
Sitting among this extraordinary group will be Michael Maxwell one of Canada’s most seasoned musicians, who distinguishes himself as one of the first Blacks to play with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.
Maxwell who started playing the drums at eight years old as a member of the congregation of the Church of God of Prophesy was trained at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal before attending McGill University.
He first auditioned successfully on the clarinet with the MSO in 1989 and played as an alternate up to 2010.
He has been playing with the Central Band of the Canadian Armed Forces for the past 11 years.
He says he is looking forward to the upcoming concert because of “the enthusiasm and heart that this group of musicians will bring to the performances. It promises to be an amazing show.”
He is also thrilled by the repertoire of music on the program for the evening, which will feature the works of three reputable Black composers including:

• Jeffrey Scott a native of Queens, NY whose arranging and composing credits include scoring the off-Broadway production of Becoming Something, The Canada Lee Story and the staged production of Josephine Baker: A Life of Le Jazz Hot!

• Samuel Coleridge-Taylor an English born composer and conductor who lived between August 15, 1875 – 1 September 1912). His compositions include: African Romances, Moorish Pictures, a Gypsy Suite and The Bamboula based on a West Indian dance, Toussaint Louverture about the black revolutionary liberator of Haiti.

• Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (December 25, 1745 – June 12, 1799),[1] was a French classical composer, virtuoso violinist, a conductor of the leading symphony orchestra in Paris.
Maxwell says the Ensemble will also treat audiences with the always beautiful rendition of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings
Obiora Ensemble was founded by Brandyn Lewis who is an interim section double bass player with the MSO and Allison Migeon.
Included in its stated mission “is to uncover and disseminate works by composers of colour.”
Lewis says that it’s important our that community support this concert as a way of showing pride in our history in classical music.

The concert is being made possible by the support of the National Arts Centre and takes place at Salle Pierre-Mercure in Montreal at 8pm.
Buy tickets at Pierre-Mercure box office.
Or at : https://centrepierrepeladeau.tuxedobillet.com/…/concert…
Regular rate: $30 Students and 30 years old and under: $20
Children 17 years old and under: $10