Peter and the Wolf

Illustrations: Caroline Hamel

The artists

Listening Guide

Games and activities

The artists

Robin Boudreault

A big fan of the Beatles and Twenty One Pilots, he has been singing with the Petits chanteurs de Laval choir for four years. He played the role of Leclerc in the show Les Choristes, directed by Serge Denoncourt and presented at the Monument National. That's where he got the bug for theater.

Aimée Breton

Aimée Breton is 12 years old. Since early childhood, she has developed a strong interest, not to say a devouring passion for musicals. In her room, she listens to her favorite parts of West Side Story over and over again, she learns the words of the songs, the choreography, the dialogue and spends hours performing them with fervor. She also played the lead role in the short film Au creux de sa main directed by Rebecca Vachon.

Emmanuelle Jimenez

Emmanuelle Jimenez plays the character of the mother in our version of Peter and the Wolf. Emmanuelle also wrote the text for this adaptation of the story. Emmanuelle trained in acting at the Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Montréal. While pursuing her acting career, she has devoted herself to playwriting. Among her texts that have been staged are Du vent entre les dents (Théâtre D’Aujourd’hui), Rêvez, montagnes! (Nouveau Théâtre Expérimental), Centre d’achats (Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui).

Stacey Désilier

Stacey is a dancer in our version of Peter and the Wolf. Passionate about movement, the possibilities of the body and fascinated by dance, Stacey quickly realized she wanted to make dance her profession. She pursued professional studies at the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal, which led her to collaborate with choreographers Marie-Claire Forté, George Stamos, Sasha Kleinplatz, the Opéra de Québec with Starmania and Tentacle Tribe. She worked for several years with Cirque Éloize and Helen Simard's We all fall down.

Étienne Léonard Benoit

Étienne Léonard Benoit is a Montreal-based dancer. His primary focus is the study and understanding of hip-hop and contemporary movements. He began his dance journey at the age of 10 with breakdance. He then went on to compete for several years with the Rockwell Family and Shake studios. He is now part of Destins Croisés directed by Ismael Mouaraki, Political Bodies directed by Miranda Chan and the collectives Anomaly and Moving Beyond, both headed by Sarah Steben.

Meihan Carrier-Brisson

Meihan Carrier-Brisson is a dance artist based in Montreal. Originally from China, she followed her love for dance, graduated from Cégep de St-Laurent with a diploma in dance and was awarded a scholarship of excellence. In 2022, she graduated from the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal where she had the opportunity to collaborate with choreographers such as Virginie Brunelle, José Navas, Manuel Roque, Louise Bédard, among others, which allowed her to explore various aesthetics and processes.

Rafael Payare

Rafael Payare is the Musical Director and Conductor of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. The conductor is the person who stands in front of the musicians with their back to the audience! One of his tasks is to indicate to the musicians when to start playing and when to stop. He also shows the musicians when they should play louder or softer (dynamics), faster or slower (tempo).

Orchestre symphonique de Montréal

The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal is an ensemble of approximately 90 musicians whose goal is to perform and promote orchestral music. The symphony's repertoire includes works that are over 300 years old, new music that is being performed for the first time in concert, and everything in between!

Michel-Maxime Legault

Michel-Maxime Legault is an actor, stage director, and frequent guest acting coach at various theatre schools. He graduated from the Conservatoire d’art dramatique de Québec and is co-founder of the Théâtre de la Marée Haute. He has appeared in many plays and TV shows. He also plays the piano. Michel-Maxime is this concert’s stage director. His job is to conceptualize and oversee the various aspects of a show, including the actors’ performances, lighting, sets, script, and so on.

© Jean PhilipLessard

Natacha Filiatrault

Natacha is the concert's choreographer. Natacha Filiatrault has been working as a performer and choreographer in contemporary dance since 2005. She has danced for Normand Marcy (Twelve Naked Gueules) and Virginie Brunelle (Les cuisses à l'écart du cœur, Gastro Affective). On television, Natacha has been seen in Unité 9, Patrice Lemieux 24/7, O', District 31 and in the web series L'ascenseur.

© Julie Artacho

Caroline Hamel

Caroline Hamel is an illustrator and graphic designer based in Montréal. In 2005, she won the Prix Québec/Wallonie-Bruxelles with the youth album Maman s'est perdue. She is also the illustrator of the biography La légende de Louis Cyr. Her bibliography now includes more than twenty titles. Caroline created the illustrations for this concert.

Listening Guide

The Barber of Seville Overture by Rossini

The Barber of Seville is one of the best known and most beloved operas of all time. It is a comic story in which a lover schemes with Figaro (the barber) to prevent the marriage of his beloved to another man imposed by her father. The overture is an orchestral piece, without singers, which acts as a kind of introductory music to an opera. The Overture to The Barber of Seville is therefore filled with catchy melodies and twists and turns to capture the audience's attention.

The Carnaval of the Animals: VII. Aquarium by Saint-Saëns

Composed in 1886, The Carnival of the Animals was written for small orchestra and two pianos. This suite consists of 14 pieces, which illustrate different animals. It contains a number of humorous allusions, as in the movement called “Pianists,” where we hear those “animals” practicing their scales! In Aquarium, an enchanting and graceful musical atmosphere evokes the glittering scales of tropical fish undulating in crystal clear water.

Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev

Peter and the Wolf is a story told in words and music – a musical fairy tale. The narrator tells the story in words as the orchestra tells the story in music. An instrument or group of instruments and a musical theme represents each character in the story. The musical theme tells us something of the personality of the character, and the emotion the character is feeling. In the case of the animal characters in Peter and the Wolf, this is called ‘personification’: attributing human characteristics to a non-human character.

The story of Peter and the Wolf

Peter lives with his grandfather in the woods. One day, Peter goes to play beside a pond and watches a bird, duck and cat. The bird flies quickly here and there. The duck swims in the pond, out of reach of the cat prowling around the edge. Peter’s grandfather comes to find Peter, scolds him for going into the woods by himself, and takes him home. As soon as Peter and the grandfather leave, a wolf comes out of the forest, stalks the duck and eats it! Peter, watching from his house, sneaks out of the house and finds a clever way to capture the wolf. Hunters arrive, tracking the wolf. Peter convinces them not to shoot the wolf, but instead take the wolf to a zoo.

Playlist

The OSM invites you to dive into the musical universe of the Bal des enfants.

Games and activities

Games and activities

Spot the differences

Riddles

Listening Game

Riddle

I am a composer and I was born in Italy. Who am I?

Prokofiev

Rossini

Saint-Saëns

Riddle

In which other story is the wolf character found?

The Lion King

Alice in Wonderland

Little Red Ridding Hood

Riddle

I too have composed musical pieces with animal names. Who am I?

Rafael Payare

Michel-Maxime Legault

Saint-Saëns

Listening Game

Drag the illustrations to the musical excerpt that best represents them.

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7.

Answer

Listening Game

Drag the illustrations to the musical excerpt that best represents them.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Spot the differences

Those two illustrations are almost identical, can you spot the 7 differences between them?

Answer

Spot the differences