The Fougue concertante (concertante fervour) concert by the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ) presented three concertos of very high musical quality last night, performed by as many soloists from Gen Z. At least it seems to me, at a glance from a man of the age of Gen X. Maybe one or two are actually in the previous category, two or three years over? Well, whatever, it made a good title…
The first of the winter-spring 2026 concerts celebrating the 60th anniversary of today’s honourable institution of contemporary music, Fougue concertante thus provided an opportunity for three young soloists to shine in a recent concerto, Catherine Cherrier on percussion, Élise Poulin on oboe, and Bailey Wantuch on violin.
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW WITH SMCQ’S ARTISTIC DIRECTOR ABOUT THE ONGOING CONCERT SERIES (In French)
A very touching tribute
As a prelude to the main program, the SMCQ paid tribute to Margareta Jerić, a young Montreal-based composer of Croatian origin, who passed away at just 43 years old in November 2025.
The Echoes of the Adriatic, a work accompanied by video images of an old Croatian sardine production factory, deals with great vivacity with the opposition between the beautiful and the ugly, nature and industry. It is a playful, pixelated kind of music, where each note feeds the next to create a very seductive whole. The disappearance of this artist who studied with Ana Sokolovic (of Serbian origin) is all the more regrettable because she was in the process of building, with her former teacher, a kind of Balkan connection in contemporary Montreal music.
Musical divertion
In (d)Tourner (a play on words in French meaning to divert), Philippe Leroux evokes circularity. Not necessarily that of an object located and moving, but rather, for example, sounds in the scenic space or the rotation of melodic and rhythmic movements. And, as the title indicates, this round is not conceived as a perpetual refrain, or a repetitive and tonal approach like that of the minimalists, but rather as a movement leading to expansion and transformation in an atonal but beautiful environment. For the listener, this circularity is initially difficult to detect. We are here in an applied conceptual abstraction. But as the twenty-minute piece evolves, the idea takes shape better and better and crosses the space between the stage and the audience. Through a rather dense writing, the sonic “movements” take flesh and consistency. Until the last gestures of the soloist, who must turn on herself while playing the marimba, striking her sticks against each other and ending on the snare drum. Twice. Beyond this physicality imbued with theatricality, and finally giving physical incarnation of the core idea, Catherine Cherrier delivered an impeccable and dynamic performance.
LISEZ L’ENTREVUE D’ALAIN BRUNET AVEC PHILIPPE LEROUX
”Varèse who swings”
Following was a superb discovery for your humble chronicler: the excellent Trame I by Martin Matalon for oboe and ensemble. Made of sound interweavings and inspired by a homonymous poem by Jorge Luis Borges, Matalon’s concerto is a bubble of pleasure of some fifteen minutes where the infinite coloristic possibilities of the oboe and the ensemble offer a real buffet for the ears, in addition to inviting head nodding because the gentleman has an excellent sense of rhythm. “Varèse who swings,” to paraphrase the artistic director of the SMCQ, Simon Bertrand, with whom I was chatting before the concert. Élise Poulin, admirable in her virtuosity and flawless precision in this formidably demanding writing, all with a radiant instrumental sound, offered an impressive reading of this music.
The night’s Grail
The last work on the program, also the most substantial, was Graal Théâtre by the Finnish Kaajia Saariaho, a muscular concerto of about thirty minutes, for violin and orchestra. This entirely acoustic concerto, a rarity for Saariaho, who likes to incorporate electronics into her music, displayed an almost romantic textural and characterful breadth. There are many traits of a grand concerto inherited from the 19th century tradition: lyrical outbursts, athletic double strings, episodes of spectacular virtuosity, etc. All in the lady’s typical shimmering, crystalline language. To say that the young Bailey Wantuch, a Chicago native but firmly established in our metropolis now, was good, would be a gross understatement. The young lady of diminutive stature nonetheless exudes an astonishing and communicative expressive force. An exceptional violinist, certainly. Wantuch is also part of the brand new Quatuor Mémoire, which I recently told you about in a very positive review of their first album Chronos, Kaïros et Aiôn (READ THE REVIEW HERE).
Mentionnons avant de terminer l’apport de très très haute tenue de l’ensemble de la SMCQ sous la direction infaillible de Cristian Gort. Un ensemble presque entièrement renouvelé depuis l’arrivée de ce directeur musical efficace, bien que discret. Impeccable prestation en support à des solistes qui pouvaient se concentrer totalement sur leur jeu sans craindre quoi que ce soit.
The SMCQ has shown us that rumours linking a certain type of “generation” with laziness or negligence are just nonsense, at least in the creative and contemporary art scene. Here, three children associated with ‘Generation Z’ took control of creativity and took us on a pretty good journey with them. Getting back on board as soon as possible, please!
