Choral Music / Classical / musique contemporaine

Schulich | Duruflé’s grandeur at the Maison

by Judith Hamel

The Maison Symphonique vibrated this Sunday afternoon under the bows, mouthpieces and voices of the students of the McGill Symphony Orchestra, the Schulich Chamber Choir and the McGill University Choir. No fewer than 230 musicians took to the stage to honour this remarkable music on an impressive program spanning the 20th-century and diverse aesthetics.

While their Pollack concert hall is closed, the ensembles take advantage of the opportunity to play in several of the city’s venues. This time, it was the Maison Symphonique. 45 minutes before the start of the concert, the audience was greeted with a musical performance by the Schulich Chamber Choir in the hall’s Foyer. Under the Christmas tree and in front of a very attentive audience, they gave us a fine introduction, led by 6 choirmasters.

As a prelude to the Requiem, the concert got off to a gentle start with the choral piece Ubi Caritas. The 90-strong orchestra, 140 choristers and Maison Symphonique Pierre-Béique organ, conducted by Jean-Sébastien Vallée, followed with a remarkable performance of Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem.

Despite some passages where a little more assurance from the choir would have been appreciated, it nonetheless stood out for its impressive solidity, alternating between melodic passages of great finesse and heart-rending fortissimos. And when choir, orchestra and organ unite, the sonic impact in the hall is staggering. The power of the ensemble literally overwhelms the audience. The fourth movement, Hosanna, stood out for its spectacular intensity, highlighting the hall’s acoustics. In the fifth movement, Pie Jesu, the orchestra showcased mezzo-soprano Javiera Zepeda magnificently, particularly in her high passages, where her vocal mastery combined perfectly with the timbre of the alti and cellos. The Requiem was a highlight of the concert.

Then, after the intermission, the performance of Schoenberg’s Theme and Variations was carried off by a remarkably solid brass section. From the very first expositions of the main theme, articulations were clean and precise, highlighting an essential feature of the work. Each section offered distinctive sonic spaces, allowing the orchestra to reveal all the finesse of the counterpoint and the elegance of the orchestration.

The concert ended with Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations, taking us into a subtle and mysterious interplay. Each of the 14 variations sketches a sonorous portrait of someone close to the composer, blending tenderness, playfulness and depth, culminating in a final variation in which he reveals himself. The most striking variation was the ninth, Nimrod, in which Alexis Hauser brought a poignant intensity to the musicians. Another impressive moment was the tenth variation, named Dorabella, where strings and woodwind perfectly captured the mischievous laughter of Elgar’s friend Dora Penny, offering a moment of lightness and humor. Finally, perhaps in some passages the trombonists overdid the power of their instrument, but we forgive them.

Altogether, it was a magnificent concert, in which the musicians seemed to be fully inspired by the grandeur of the venue. Before plunging into the holiday spirit, this afternoon put a balm on our November blues.

photo : Tam Photography

Classical / Classical Singing / Opera

Faculté de musique de l’UdeM | An Effective Evening at The Opera

by Alexandre Villemaire

The 2024-2025 season of the Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Music is currently in full swing. Perched on the slopes of Mont-Royal at the top of the famous Vincent-d’Indy Avenue hill, around a hundred people gathered in Salle Claude-Champagne on Saturday to hear the current crop of young singers. It was a great opportunity to discover them in preparation for their production of Hansel und Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck (1854-1921), to be presented at the end of February. The students were accompanied by pianist/conductor Robin Wheeler and Alona Milner.

A sober evening, presented in gala form without extravagant presentation or complex staging, but not lacking in quality moments. In this operatic evening, several excerpts from works covering a vast spectrum of the operatic repertoire were presented. From German Romantic opera to bel canto, operetta and Baroque opera, it was a seamless transition. This panorama allows us to see the different performers in action, in a variety of styles, lyrical expressions and character incarnations. Verdi’s Witches from Macbeth opened the evening. With piercing eyes, the sopranos and mezzos of this chorus presented a biting, menacing reading of this page of verismo. The few choral numbers that graced the program were among the evening’s most appreciated for their strength and technical precision. The overall sound was enveloping, the articulation just right and precise. A case in point was the excerpt from Mozart’s Idomeneo “Placido è il mar… Soavi Zeffrini”, where the balance of voices between the numerous women’s voices and the five men’s voices was soaring, balanced and complementary to Marie France Eba Koua’s singing.

In terms of individual voices, several performances caught our attention. Among the men’s voices, baritone Élie Lefebvre-Pellegrino stood out for his beautiful, resonant, full, round and slightly brassy low register, coupled with good stage presence. His interpretation of Nilakantha’s aria from Léo Delibes’ Lakmé was assured and committed, as was his performance as Count Almaviva in the duet “Crudel! Perche s’ignora” duet from The Marriage of Figaro with Kevisha Williams. However, his passages in the upper register still need to be stabilized. Fellow singer Théo Raffin offered some of his best stage performances in Don Giovanni’s Leporello (“Sola, sola in buio loco”) and Romeo and Juliet’s Mercutio (“Mab, la reine des mensonges”). In both cases, his interventions were both interpretative and vocal. The only bass in the cohort, Andrew Erasmus delivered the difficult aria “O du Mein Holder Abendstern” from Wagner’s Tannhäuser with finesse and sensitivity.

As for the female voices, Maëlig Querré (mezzo-soprano) made a good impression in her role as Romeo from Bellini’s I Capuletti e i Montecchi. Her agile, assured voice with a sonorous low register complemented Nicole Ross’s Giulietta, who, despite great strength and agility in her high notes, reached the end of her range by the end of the aria. Cloée Morisette and Clotilde Moretti were equally sparkling in an excerpt from Carl Maria von Weber’s Freischütz. Another name to remember is mezzo-soprano Julie Boutrais. She distinguished herself in the duet from Moneverdi’s opera L’Incoronazione di Poppea, performed with Salomé Karam. Playing respectively King Nero and his lover Poppea, the two singers perfectly captured the passionate feelings and intoxication evoked in “Signor, oggi rinasco” as Nero announces to Poppea that she is to be his wife. Julie Boutrais also brought the evening to a close with her warm, embodied voice in Dido and Æneas‘ final aria “When I am laid in Earth”, followed by the final chorus from the same opera. A moment that sent shivers down our spines.

If we have to make one slight criticism of the concert, it’s the lack of detail in the program. A gala-style singing recital featuring a succession of arias, duets, trios and choruses from different periods and styles allows the singers to express themselves in a variety of roles and characters, and at the same time introduces the audience to protagonists and operas with which they may be less familiar. It would be a good idea to provide a little context for these works, to situate them for the audience. The excerpt from the trio “Je vais d’un cœur aimant” from Hector Berlioz’s opera Béatrice et Bénédict is a good example. Maëlig Querré, Maïlys Arbaoui-Westphal and Anne-Sophie Gagnon-Metellus performed this excerpt from a little-performed opus well, and would have deserved a little program note to appreciate it even more.

Caribbean / Dancehall / konpa / Soul/R&B

Mundial Montréal | Magdala, The New Standard for Montreal Konpa?

by Alain Brunet

“Moi j’ai 5 pieds 4 et j’ai pas besoin d’escabeau”, sings Magdala in Grind Mode, a konpa track of her own. A colleague tells me that the Montreal singer has already tried in vain to make her mark in Quebec TV voice contests. What do you think?

We all know that these contests rarely lead to a singular career, and that a tiny minority of lucky ones make a long-term name for themselves in local pop for the general public.

Even fewer make a name for themselves like Dominique Fils-Aimé, who was also noticed in these contests, and who have the strength of character to forge their own path without following the dictates of FM pop.

Magdala, on the other hand, follows neither path and paves her own: this is Montreal’s new konpa, the new standard, her own!

Wednesday at Café Campus, in the context of Mundial Montréal, Magdala was hoping to convince professionals from all over the world to sign deals with showcase artists, including Magdala in this case.

It’s time for this artist to emerge beyond the Haitian diaspora circuit – Haiti, Paris, Miami, New York, Montreal, etc. Since the 50s, every generation of konpa has had its champions, and the style has never stopped evolving without getting the credit it deserves: konpa’s rhythmic cell is the mother of Afro-descendant beats as popular as zouk, reggaeton and Nigerian afrobeats.

Magdala maintains the rhythm and spirit of konpa, but adds a number of updates that give it a distinctive signature: different keyboards from the traditional Farfisa in konpa (although some Farfisian sounds are sometimes brought back to the menu!), heavier backbeat on drums and bass, greater emphasis on guitar, integration of soul/R&B and dancehall.

Magdala’s mezzo-soprano voice flows naturally, her stage presence exudes sensuality and star power, and her authority is unmistakable. To all intents and purposes, Magdala is ready for the big leagues. But, as we all know, many legitimate contenders for the big leagues don’t win the lottery of mass success… Magdala is relatively close to her goal, and we wish her every success, because she has everything she needs to get there. No need for a stepladder!

acadie / Country Folk / Punk Rock

Marathon | P’tit Belliveau at MTELUS, Baptism of Fire

by Sami Rixhon

First MTELUS in the sights for Jonah Guimond, aka P’tit Belliveau. After four Club Soda gigs in one year, it was time to get down to business. The real deal. And as the challenge was met with flying colors by the merry Acadian troupe, oh yes.

P’tit Belliveau is now entering the big leagues, finally treading the boards of this Montreal temple. A far cry from the young, fiery Jonah Guimond of Les Grosses Coques, who confined himself to his sometimes limited country-pop sympathies. The native of Baie Sainte-Marie, Nova Scotia, has reaffirmed himself all the more in this particularly audacious artist, who makes a mockery of industry codes and is devilishly entertaining.

P’tit Belliveau kicks off his show with Depuis que la neige a fondu and Moosehorn Lake, from his first two projects. Alternating throughout the show between banjo and electric guitar, he presents a majority of songs from his new album, the namesake P’tit Belliveau, exploring pop-punk corners à la Blink-182 as much as metal or rap avenues. Bold, I tell you.

“If there’s one person in the room who’s not singing, I’ll take my music off Spotify and stop the show,” he warns, before performing the gritty Mon drapeau acadjonne viens d’Taïwan. There’s everything you want in a P’tit Belliveau concert. Want a laugh? Check out the projections behind the band, featuring everything from exercising frogs to John Deere tractors. Want to be baffled? Let yourself be surprised by a baffling extramusical interlude where a wrestler, out of nowhere, comes on stage to fight the band, only to be brought down by a shirtless P’tit Belliveau – “Never fuck with P’tit Belliveau. Ever,” he adds afterwards. Prefer to move? Go to the front of the stage, among his faithful followers throwing mosh pits to absolutely anything. There’s something for everyone.

Hats off to the accompanying musicians, particularly talented and entertaining with their wacky choreography and their mandolin and fiddle solos galore. Two members of the delirious punk quartet Peanut Butter Sunday (Normand Pothier and Jacques Blinn) have been playing with P’tit Belliveau on stage for some time now, which may explain the rock bent Guimond is increasingly exploiting in his compositions.

The Acadian artist closes the regular part of his show with RRSP/Grosse pièce, from his second album, then returns to the stage for an excellent encore mixing children’s songs (L’arbre est dans ses feuilles), new material (L’église de St. Bernard) and old hits (J’aimerais d’avoir un John Deere and, of course, Income Tax). The audience wants more and more, forcing the band to come back and jam for a few minutes for a second, seemingly impromptu encore.

P’tit Belliveau reiterated several times in the show how grateful he is to count on the unfailing support of his public and his chums, for so many years (something he already said in Demain). Thanks to you, P’tit Belliveau, for proposing such a singular offering in a local industry that’s often too standardized. Quite simply, one of today’s finest Franco-Canadian artists.

Folk / Folk Rock / latino / Rock / Trip Hop

Coup de coeur francophone – Gabriella Olivo + Daria Colonna

by Michel Labrecque

Bain Mathieu, a former public bath converted into a multi-purpose venue, is hosting Coup de Coeur Francophone shows for the first time this year. On November 13, a double album launch for women took place.

First, Gabriella Olivo, for her six-song EP, A Todos Mis Amores, released on October 25. Gabriella grew up in Stoneham, near Quebec City, with a Mexican mother and a father “blond and blue-eyed from St-Bruno”, she says on stage. Her mother always spoke to her in Spanish. She therefore grew up with two cultures, despite the ambient homogeneity of this Quebec City suburb.

Her young musical career is steeped in this bi-culturalism: she sings in French and Spanish, often in the same room. The result is ambient folk tinged with rock and seasoned with a little Mexican and Latin sound.

In this sense, it’s reminiscent of Kevin Johansen, whose mother is Argentinean and father American, and whose career in Spanish and English has been very successful in Latin America.

Gabriella Olivo lives in Quebec. But A Todos Mis Amores is her most Mexican opus, having been made in Mexico City with producer Santiago Miralles. Although still with a meditative folk-rock sound, this mini album is more sprinkled with Latin influences than her previous album, Sola. After all, Mexico City knows how to blend rock and Latin influences.

All of which is to say that this EP is a great listen, and so is the live version, enhanced by some of the earlier tracks. All the more so as Gabriella shares personal anecdotes and stories on stage that give context to the songs. “Right now, the world is really fucked-up,” she quipped, alluding to recent political news. By way of consolation, she offered us the magnificent song No te Olvides De La Luz. How to find the light in the darkness.

The young Mexican from Stoneham is one to watch. And, as she said: “Vive le Coup de Coeur Hispanophone”, although she also sings in French. And it’s going to stay that way,” she told me after her performance.

With Daria Colonna, we enter a completely different universe. Le requiem des sirènes saoules is the title of her debut album, released in May. Quite a program.

“It’s my first show,” she confesses on stage at Bain Mathieu. Daria Colonna, 35, is well known as a poet. Her latest collection, La Voleuse, earned her nominations for several poetry prizes.

So we went along to this stage premiere, six months after the release of the album. Musically, we’re in a mix of trip-hop and synthetic rock, with more acoustic episodes.

Daria Colonna opens her book on her multiple states of mind, with a focus on the “intense” woman, to whom she dedicates an ode. It’s about desires, anxieties, a dangerous life, thirsts, in every sense of the word. Clearly, Daria Colonna is not lacking in intensity. She knows how to write lyrics. On stage, I found the results less convincing than on record.

But she is a musician and singer in apprenticeship and gestation. We can perceive an original, independent trajectory, where words will always be privileged. Which is not always in the zeitgeist. And that’s good.

Classical / Modern Classical / période romantique

OSM | Alpine Symphony: When Woods Become Sherpas

by Alexis Desrosiers-Michaud

These are the last concerts this week for the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) before its forthcoming tour, which will take it to the finest concert halls in Europe over the next few weeks. For the occasion, it was the turn of Richard Strauss’s Alpine Symphony to be broken in, conducted by Rafael Payare.

As a curtain-raiser, the OSM also presented Jeden Baum spricht “Chaque arbre parle” by Iranian-Canadian Iman Habibi. According to the program note, this work would have had everything to gain from being included in last month’s OSM Beethoven Marathon. It ticks all the boxes of how the composition competition was presented at the concerts, or, roughly speaking, how the composer can express today the influence that Beethoven has had on his life. To take things a step further, it is written that the very title comes from one of Beethoven’s diaries. And that’s what we hear! Habibi skilfully uses the dramatic, country aesthetics of the Fifth and Sixth symphonies, without quoting them, in a tripartite structure, with agitated brass and percussion, but calmer strings and woodwinds. This leads to a grandiose, hopeful finale. In short, something more interesting than the two creations we personally attended at the Sunday, October 20 concerts. We can’t help smiling when we recall that the OM competition dates back to before the pandemic, and when we read that Jedem Baum spricht was premiered in 2020 as a commission from the Philadelphia Orchestra, which is conducted by… Yannick Nézet-Séguin!

24 hours before the concert, the OSM announced that Scriabin’s Piano Concerto would be replaced by Ludwig van Beethoven’s Third Concerto , still performed by Bruce Liu. The latter will thread the concerto with finesse and fluidity. He never forces, picks or over-stamps. His right hand is so agile that trills are almost imperceptible, and his nuances are breathtaking. Liu has the ability to suspend notes at the last moment to dampen a phrase or change character. The beginning of the second movement transports us into another world, with a comforting left hand and a melody barely touched by the fingers of the right hand. No one gave an explanation for the change of work, but this performance was well worth it.

The Alpine Symphony is impressive in terms of length (45-50 min.), dense instrumentation (abundant brass and percussion sections, unusual instruments) and thematic flourishes, but you have to delve into the details to really impress. With more or less 130 performers, playing loud is child’s play, but it’s not always easy to measure out the nuances. As Payare prioritizes the instrument family most likely to be buried, namely the woodwinds, everything balances out. As experienced guides, they were brilliant, individually and collectively. From the very first note, bassoonist Stéphane Lévesque and his colleagues set the calm mood of dawn, against a background of imperceptible violins. Then, new principal oboist Alex Liedtke distinguished himself in a distant solo. Later, the same Liedtke, with clarinetist Todd Cope and the legendary Timothy Hutchins on flute, literally had us on the edge of our seats on the eve of the storm, not quite sure when the sky was going to fall. The Post-GoldenElegy was even better. The abyssal gulf in orchestration (from full orchestra to intimate, chamber formation with woodwinds, horn and trumpet solos on organ pedal) doesn’t affect the playing in the slightest. The trap of excitement and agitation of the previous section is avoided, and we swim in a moment of zenitude. Throughout the symphony, the horns were present without being overpowering. In fact, they could have taken up more space in a few places, such as each time the chorale motif is repeated from the outset. The volume of the banda was good, and the horns made a real impact in their long Summit melody, but it wouldn’t have been as excellent without the contribution of the strings below, which dictate the phrase without releasing the tension in the long notes. In short, the Alpine Symphony may tell the story of an adventurer’s ascent alone, but this magnificent performance is the work of a collective perfectly aware of the role each must play to reach the summit.

Photo Credit: Antoine Saito

Art Rock / Folk / Rock

Coup de cœur francophone | David Bujold and Bandit Voyage

by Michel Labrecque

David Bujold, founder of the art-rock band FUUDGE, officially launched his first solo album, Le Sol ou le Ciel, as part of the Coups de Coeur Francophones festival. It was an ethereal, starry journey on a rainy November evening.

This album, which I have already reviewed on this site, represents a folk mutation for the stoner rock singer. We’re in a universe akin to Sufjan Stevens or acoustic Beck. Which is not to say that this proposal lacks originality. Bujold transposes these influences to create his own universe, with his ironic, second-degree lyrics.

The marriage between strings (violin and viola), guitars and vocals works. Lovely short instrumentals alternate with the songs. A few notes of piano and keyboards discreetly dress things up. Vocal harmonies pop up at just the right moment.

An atmosphere is created, and we magically find ourselves in the family cottage where the album was recorded, as David Bujold tells us. This cottage where, “during the holiday season, we listen to Debussy until four in the morning”, he tells us.

The song titles are very indicative of this atmosphere: Donne-moé aux Pauvres, Un Bal dans un Fusil, Ton Coeur a pu une Cenne. Not to mention the refrain “j’ai jamais été aussi ben…que demain”. Second degree, I tell you. In fact, it’s in the lyrics that we can connect the universe of FUUDGE to that of Le Sol ou le Ciel. Texts obsessed with life and death…or the opposite.

In this ethereal, meditative folk, we also sense a rock spirit. In the middle of the song Ton cœur a pu une Cenne, we think we hear Offenbach’s Promenade sur Mars. Voluntary or not? I don’t know.

Be that as it may, the packed audience at Le Verre Bouteille, certainly including many friends, was clearly delighted with the offering.

The opening act, Swiss-Genevan duo Bandit Voyage, led us into their sympathetic surrealist universe, with influences from the Sixties and the New Wave of the Eighties.

Ghosts of Rita Mitsouko or Loundge Lizards, but smoother and less serious.

Anissa Canelli (vocals, guitar, mini-saxophone) and Robin Giraud (vocals, bass), are accompanied by purely eighties synthetic drums. They talk about the ghosts of Brigitte Bardot, mental health and Los-Angeles, where they began their career in 2017.

Two merry men who are enjoying some success in French-speaking Europe. Le Verre Bouteille was a little too small a venue for them to really immerse us in their delirium. One thing’s for sure, they seemed really happy to be in Montreal.

To get a better idea, listen to their recent Pastcore EP or their previous album Was Ist Das (2023). You be the judge.

Prog Rock / Rock / Space Rock

David Gilmour in NYC: The Pilgrims Were Jubilant!

by Martial Jean-Baptiste

NEW YORK

The atmosphere at Madison Square Garden on Sunday evening was electric: 19500 spectators attended the concert by legendary Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. The program featured his latest album, Luck and Strange, created in collaboration with his wife, author Polly Samson.

It’s been almost 10 years since the arrival of this solo album, which incidentally topped the UK Billboard charts on its release last September.

Dressed in a T-shirt, black jeans and equipped with his Black Cat Strat guitar, the master of space/prog rock quickly took matters into his own hands, performing the song 5 AM, a track from the 2015 album Rattle that Lock.

He then followed up with the first tracks from his latest recording, Black Cat and Luck and Strange. According to the man himself, this is probably his best solo album since Dark Side of the Moon in ’73 – a statement he made during an appearance on NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon last week. Matter for debate, no doubt.

Given the musician’s stature, you obviously had to pay a small fortune to attend this concert and, in my case, fly almost 600 kilometers to hear one of the world’s most influential guitarists. And, believe me, he didn’t disappoint anyone!

Despite his 78 years, Gilmour hasn’t lost an ounce of energy on stage. From the very first guitar notes, Gilmour’s sound and voice were unmistakable, as he effortlessly strummed his guitar strings.

This is David Gilmour’s fifth solo album, and the crowd at this legendary venue was delighted to see that the guitarist had taken care to recall his talent by playing, among others, Fat Old Sun from the album Atom Heart Mother (released in 1970). After this piece, he received a huge ovation from the colourful crowd, whose ages ranged from 25 to 77.

The visual environment for this show was entrusted to a long-time colleague, lighting designer Marc Brickman, who worked with Pink Floyd for many years in the late 70s. He was responsible for the set and lighting design of the famous 1979 show The Wall.

During the first part of the show, Gilmour played no less than 9 pieces from the Pink Floyd repertoire. Another highlight of the concert was The Great Gig in the Sky, one of the legendary pieces from Dark Side of the Moon (1973), an album released 50 years ago. For the performance, pianist Louise Marshall, the Webb sisters and the guitarist’s daughter, Romany Gilmore, were entrusted with the task. The ambience was spectacular, with candles arranged over the piano and those gorgeous voices i contrasting with Clara Tory’s mythical vocals on the original recording.

To mark this anniversary, the London-based group launched a vast promotional campaign. In the wake of this release, special screenings took place in Montreal and elsewhere around the world, at the Planetarium and SAT.

The Madison Square Garden crowd was in full voice too! We sang Wish You Were Here (1975) in unison, and I was there too, because without betraying my age, it brought back very old memories. David’s sensual guitar and warm voice took many back to the great years when Pink Floyd reigned unchallenged at the pinnacle of prog and space rock. David Gilmour has also surrounded himself with excellent musicians on guitar, keyboard, bass and drums.

The end of the show did not disappoint. As an encore, David Gilmour and his band played Comfortably Numb from the famous album The Wall, written by Roger Waters.

This show marked the end of a series of concerts that began in London, at the famous Royal Albert Hall, followed by Italy (Rome), a country the guitarist is particularly fond of.

Photo Credit: David Gilmour’s Instagram account

Contemporary Opera

Festival du Monde Arabe 2024 | Sainte Marine: a character and a opera between two worlds

by Frédéric Cardin

Saturday 9 November saw the premiere of Sainte Marine, an opera by Katia Makdissi-Warren (of the OktoEcho ensemble), with the support of Chants Libres, opera company directed by Marie-Annick Béliveau.

Listen to my interview with Marie-Annick Béliveau about the character of Sainte Marine and the opera itself (in French) :

The opera is described as immersive, which is apt given that the audience and the artists are dispersed in the same spheric shared space: the dome of the SAT (Société des Arts Technologiques) in Montreal. What’s more, the artists move through the audience, who are free (sometimes forced) to change places, sit or stand, depending on their interest in one musician rather than another. The dome itself serves as a screen for various projections during the show. Some are pretty (drawings of flowers, plants, trees), others touching (candles accompanying an introspective musical passage towards the end of the work), but too often they are limited to spurts of coloured lines or sketched shapes that seem to severely under-use the modern potential of digital visual art.

The music evokes traditional Maronite songs from Lebanon (think Sister Marie Keyrouz), as Sainte Marine lived in what is now Lebanon around the 5th century. The vocal score evolves with simple and above all modal lines carried by the amplified voices of Marie-Annick Béliveau, a mezzo-soprano who is sometimes asked to deviate considerably in addition to singing and narrating, and a trio of male bass voices, Sainte Marine’s ‘brothers’ in the monastery (she was a women posing as a male monk all her life). What we hear is mostly ritual or incantatory chant, virtually devoid of any harmonisation, except for some polyphonic writing for the trio of male voices. The effect is certainly sometimes trance-like, but above all emotionally stunted. There were a few times when I thought I would have liked a fuller drama.

Michel Duval, David Cronkite et Clayton Kennedy, basses
cr.: Camille Poirier
Sainte Marine, opéra immersif

The instrumental score is the one that spans the widest range of styles and effects. I particularly liked the flutes proposed by the composer: the classical traverso and alto played by Marie-Hélène Breault, and above all the traditional iranian nay superbly played by Aymen Trabulsi. They are the anchor in this distant world of the Levant, both culturally and temporally. Then the percussions (very good Bertil Schulrabe) and piano (Pamela Reimer) disguise the cultural authenticity initially sketched out with interventions that are sometimes contemporary, elsewhere jazz or slightly pop. All the stylistic personalities described so far occasionally overlap, but more often than not come together in a grouping for which I hesitate between the qualifiers of curious or happy. It’s a bit like tasting a dish that I like, but wonder what’s missing to make it really tasty.

The quality of the performers is undeniable, even if I felt Marie-Annick’s voice was a little fragile, even hesitant, in a few passages. Perhaps this was intentional, to better embody the character? Once again, I hesitate.

Sainte Marine is a very interesting proposition, but it will need some aesthetic refinement and tighter dramatic writing (both musically and on stage), and then some je-ne-sais-quoi still to be determined, to enable it to reach its full potential.

Line up :

Marie-Annick Béliveau, mezzo-soprano; Marie-Hélène Breault, flutes; Aymen Trabulsi, nay; Pamela Reimer, piano; Bertil Schulrabe, percussion; Michel Duval, David Cronkite and Clayton Kennedy, basses

Katia Makdissi-Warren, conception and composition

Marie-Annick Beliveau, conception, libretto and artistic direction

Charlie Poirier-Bouthillette, video design

Normal Studio, immersive production

Flavie Lemée, lighting design

Marianne Lonergan, set and costume design

Angélique Wilkie, dramaturgy

Classical

Jason Xu, first saxophonist to win top honors at the OSM Competition

by Alexis Desrosiers-Michaud

For the first time in its history, the finale of the OSM Competition featured not one, but two saxophonists, in addition to a trumpeter and a bass trombonist. And for the first time in its history, the top prize went to a saxophonist, Chinese-Canadian Jason Xu.

It was with him that the final of the competition opened, with a performance of André Waignien’s Rhapsodie for alto saxophone. This piece gave him no respite. There aren’t many lyrical passages, but he’s able to make the lines sing in a virtuosic way. Xu has a beautiful, expressive and silky sound. However, we lose him a little on the soft nuances, but the orchestra, conducted by Jacques Lacombe, could have played less loudly. Otherwise, one of his qualities is to make a whole with the latter. You can quickly sense the chemistry between soloist and orchestra.

The second candidate was Ottawan trumpeter Charles Watson in Franz Joseph Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto. Stoic, he took up the challenge of playing with a rounded sound, without force or flamboyance, using finesse and clean articulations. However, there was a slight lack of nuance and phrasing. No one knows if concentration earns points, but he was occasionally disturbed, notably by applause in the wrong places, despite the warnings, and by the cries of a toddler. Also, a concerto cadenza is not a jazz solo: you don’t applaud at the end of it and when the orchestra resumes! Despite this, Watson remained unperturbed.

After the intermission, it was Malena Lorenson’s turn to perform John Williams’ Concerto for Tuba (yes, him), but adapted for bass trombone. Despite a few cracks at the start, her performance was breathtaking. The sound is even throughout the instrument’s vast register, and Lorenson easily rises above the orchestral ensemble. It should not be forgotten that the concerto is designed to be played by a valve instrument, whereas on the trombone, it is the arm alone that moves a slider to make the note changes. Lorenson renders these complex gymnastics with impressive ease, and also outdoes herself in the articulations of the lower register. A native of Alberta but currently studying in Montreal, she was roundly applauded by the audience.

The afternoon line-up concluded with Bingchen He. The second saxophonist of the evening chose to perform Henri Tomasi’s Concerto for alto saxophone. There are plenty of notes, but little added value in virtuosity. As in Williams’ Concerto, the orchestration is very dense and, unfortunately, the saxophone is eaten alive on several occasions. He takes up more space on stage than the others, and there’s a sense of less symbiosis with the orchestra. After lengthy deliberation, the results were as follows:

1st prize: Jason Xu

2nd prize: Malena Lorenson

3rd prize: Bingchen He

4th prize: Charles Watson

The international jury, chaired by Aline Sam-Giao, General Director of the Orchestre philarmonique royal de Liège, was comprised of : Leone Buyse, Ida and Joseph Kirkland Muller Professor Emeritus of Music at Rice University, Manon Lafrance, trumpeter and teacher, Louise Pellerin, oboist and professor at Zurich University of the Arts, Rafael Payare, Music Director of the OSM, Jacques Lacombe, conductor and Peter Sullivan, principal trombone with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

photo : Antoine Saito

Contemporary Jazz

ONJ, Miho Hazama and the Power of Women in New Jazz For Large Ensembles

by Vitta Morales

The ONJ continued their season of good form at Le Gesù this past Friday, November 8th. Under the direction of Grammy nominated Miho Hazama, (who we had the pleasure of interviewing here at PAN M 360), the ONJ played an evening of music showcasing compositions by Hazama herself, as well as other women in jazz including Maria Schneider and Christine Jensen. Additionally, in this same spirit, more than half of the band for this concert was made up of women musicians, most of whom formed the sizable string section.

As concerns the compositions themselves, they exemplified modern jazz band music in all of its “colours.” Here I’m using that term to refer to all the timbral considerations that must be accounted for when writing for a large jazz ensemble. Frankly, the amount of sound combinations that are available, (especially when strings are added), is massive. Hazama, however, made very pleasing and interesting choices.

Her skill in orchestration could be discerned from the very first piece, in fact. Her composition, “Run,” began with clever use of artificial harmonics in the strings which created a pad for the horns and rhythm section to make their entrance. In some moments she proceeded with a mellower choice of brass, preferring a combo of flugelhorn, french horn, and trombone instead of trumpets; at other points it was saxophones being traded in for flute and oboe; and still in other moments, vocals were added.

The latter was provided by the talented Sienna Dahlen who sang on several pieces and even treated the audience to a vocal solo which showed off her ability in extended vocal techniques. Other notable solos came from Jean-Pierre Zanella on soprano sax, Bill Mahar on flugelhorn, and Gentiane MG on piano.

My only true gripe came from the occasional rhythmic discrepancy in the string section. Though nothing too egregious, some punches were interpreted with a slightly different groove than the rest of the band and it didn’t seem like everyone knew when to push or pull. One poor violinist could even be heard tapping her foot determinedly in order to help her play a syncopated pizzicato section. Having said that, the entire band nailed the background figures during Kevin Warren’s drum solo, and so this groove discord was not a problem at all times. I suspect Summer Kodama’s rock solid time feel on her bass might have helped bridge this rhythmic gap as she was, perhaps even poetically, situated in the very middle of the horns, strings, and rhythm section. All told, a very successful night of eclectic modern chamber jazz for the ONJ as they continue their season programming.

Choral Music

ArtChoral | Autumn Colors in Half-Tone

by Alexandre Villemaire

The Maison symphonique was packed to the rafters for the first concert of the 2024-2025 season by Ensemble ArtChoral, conducted by Matthias Maute, with piano accompaniment in some pieces by Meaghan Milatz, “Discovery of the Year” at the last Prix Opus.

The premise of the concert, and of Maute’s theme of fallen leaves, was an escape into the autumnal Paris of the Belle Époque, as well as into the colors of Canadian autumn. Indeed, this concert was not all French chanson and melody. There was also Canadian choral music represented by composers Afarin Mansouri, Alice Ho, Beverley McKiver and Sandy Scofield. Of these, McKiver’s Dreamers’s Rock and Scofield’s The Sacred One are particularly noteworthy, as the themes of these pieces, rooted in their Aboriginal origins, were very telling.

The concert was divided into two symmetrical parts. Each began with pieces by Gabriel Fauré, whose death in 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of his death. This was followed by a piece performed by the Grand Chœur, an ad hoc ensemble of some one hundred choristers from fifty choirs in the Montreal region. The final parts of the concerts were once again performed by the singers of the Ensemble ArtChoral. The members of ArtChoral took to the stage in a procession to Fauré’sAve verum , led by Matthias Maute, entering simultaneously from the garden and courtyard sides of the stage, red roses in hand.

Among the only pieces specifically written for Faurean block choir, we were surprised in Madrigal by the conductor’s choice of staccato vocal articulation in the opening lines of Armand Sylvestre’s poem, in contrast to more legato interpretations generally heard. Understandably, this articulation responds to the piano accompaniment, provided here by, but despite a solid interpretation by the voices, the lyrical character of the text was diminished. Most of the Fauré works performed were solo melodies arranged for four accompanied voices. This treatment, which is a step up from the originals, gives a new dimension to the works and text, which are attractive but unevenly rendered. May, Butterfly and Flower and Dans les ruines d’une abbaye were among the most interesting. It’s also worth noting that, to our ears, the four-voice treatment meant that, at times, the intelligibility of the text was lost. The homogeneity of the ensemble’s timbre also had the perverse effect of giving some pieces a hushed, almost meditative quality, leaving little room for expressiveness. In contrast, Les Djinns, a poem by Victor Hugo which Fauré sets to music with a quasi-operatic musical treatment, was sharply precise, with a coherent and precise play of nuances. The menacing character of these evil geniuses from Arab mythology was palpable, from the murmurs initiated by the mezzos to the rumbling of the basses, culminating in a breathless vocal torrent that gradually fades to silence.

In the first part, the Grand Chœur performed two choral pieces: Upon your heart by Eleanor Daley and Terre-Neuve by Marie-Claire Saindon. Daley’s piece is in a very airy style, with close harmonies that the choristers performed well, despite perceptible differences in timbre between the voices. Saindon’s piece offered a similar harmonic texture, with a more dynamic varnish where passages of body percussion exemplified the cracking of ice. This was not the only element that cracked in this piece. A general confusion of rhythm and notes forced the conductor to restart the piece after a few seconds. Once they’d left, the result was highly appreciable. Calling on a choir made up of amateurs, however good they may be, inevitably entails elements of risk and unbalance in terms of the vocal aesthetics of the concert. But the commitment and determination of these singers, whose passion and love of choral singing are the driving force behind their performance, must be underlined. To find them in the first rows of the stalls singing Katerina Gimon’s All Together We Are Love is a perfect illustration of this honorable dedication.

After offering Joseph Kosma’s famous piece Les feuilles mortes, the Ensemble ArtChoral concluded its concert with an interpretation of songs by Édith Piaf, arranged by Jean-François Daigneault and William Kraushaar in contrasting stylistic approaches. Whereas Daigneault favors a textural, effect-oriented approach, notably in La foule, where the voices imitate the timbre of the orchestral accompaniment, Kraushaar focuses on the clarity of the text. His arrangement of the popular aria Dans les prisons de Nantes beautifully accentuated the modal character of the piece.

Despite a few minor hiccups in interpretation, Matthias Maute’s dynamism and conviviality, and the inventiveness of his program, like the piece that ended the evening, we have no regrets about attending this concert.

photos : Tam Lan Truong