It’s easy to hear young musicians and singers in the summer, and to learn new acronyms. You can almost stand still and just let them wash over you. The McGill International String Quartet Academy began last weekend, and the Canadian Vocal Arts Institute and its festival had their first grand concert on Monday. The CVAI is a three-week program that brings together 40 singers with 15 faculty, and the festival is the public part — a series of opera performances and recitals mostly hosted by the Université de Montréal
in their incredible Soviet-revival concert hall.