La Scena Musicale

La Scena Musicale

La Scena Musicale. Bilingual magazine specializing in classical, jazz and world music. La Scena Musicale was founded in Montreal in 1997 by Wah Keung Chan and Philip Anson. It is published 10 times per year by the non-profit organization La Scène Musicale. The magazine has been distributed free at music schools and record stores in Montreal, Quebec City, and Ottawa. It has been largely volunteer-run, with Wah Keung Chan as chief editor and Philip Anson, Dominique Olivier, Lucie Renaud, Réjean Beaucage, and Nisa Malli as assistant editors. Editors of jazz and world music sections have been Marc Chénard and Bruno Deschênes respectively.

The magazine evolved from La Scena Vocale, a one-page vocal music newsletter begun in April 1996. The newsletter, comprising performance calendars and advice columns, was distributed to a modest readership. Its breadth and reputation grew, and in May 1997 it was renamed La Scena Musicale. The first issue, expanded to 16 pages, extended its coverage to instrumental music; on the cover were Luciano Pavarotti and Peter Schreier, Lyne Fortin, and Jon Kimura Parker. Reviews and feature articles were gradually added, with the first jazz articles introduced in 1999. By 2006 the magazine was a 60-page publication with content ranging from classical to world music. In 2009 La Scena Musicale was distributed to 50,000 readers.

La Scena Musicale caters to an audience of musicians, aficionados, and arts professionals. Content is international, with a strong emphasis on the Canadian scene. It includes concert calendars, industry news, interviews and profiles; reviews of performances, recordings and books; as well as in-depth articles ranging from the musicological to the political. Select monthly issues have been devoted to music education, summer camps, festivals, competitions, and philanthropy. The magazine has engaged a long list of contributors, among them Françoise Chagnon, Norman Lebrecht, Paul E. Robinson, and Joseph So.

La Scena Musicale became a registered charity in 2002 and has operated independently of regular government funding. Its subsidiary publications include La Scena Musicale Online, launched in 1999; The Music Scene, an English-language magazine begun in 2002, published three times annually, and distributed in Ontario and Western Canada; and the quarterly arts and culture magazine La Scena, begun in 2007.