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

Africa / Flamenco / West African traditional music

Malasartes | Noubi and His Melting Pot of Sounds

by Sandra Gasana

Accompanied by flamenco composer and guitarist Caroline Planté and Venezuelan Héctor Alvarado Pérez on bass, it did not take too long for Noubi to invite Argentine saxophonist Damian Nisenson on stage. The latter, who had introduced the evening a few minutes earlier, is the man behind Malasartes, the creation and production company behind this series of autumn concerts.

Noubi’s themes range from youth issues, politics and individualism in Western societies, to denouncing violence in all its forms, as he does in the track Nanela. It was during this track that the audience began to dance, unable to sit still any longer, as Noubi got the audience involved in the chorus in Wolof.

He takes the time to thank his audience after each track, in French and in Wolof, his mother tongue. Indeed, this native of Saint-Louis in Senegal is very attached to his language, since all his tracks are in his native tongue, to which he adds a few French lyrics here and there. Caroline and Héctor also sing backing vocals in Wolof on some tracks, adding an extra element of surprise to the show. Mainly on his cajon, he plays guitar once or twice, complementing his musicians. The strong complicity, especially with Damian, was felt throughout the show, the two having worked together for several years since his debut in Montreal, as part of Diversité artistique Montréal’s mentoring program.

Noubi also pays tribute to his mom on Légui, “thanking the woman who made him the man he is today”, he confides. He also shares his collaborations with great artists such as Brazil’s Bia Krieger and Mexico’s Mamselle Ruiz, on the track Sourire, both of whom are unfortunately absent.

In the track Autrement, he invites the audience to take “a new look at the world, a new look at life”, between the jerky rhythms of the cajon and the flamenco guitar, which merge perfectly. I was surprised to see how well the rhythms of Mbalax went with the flamenco style, an original combination. And that’s exactly what came out of this concert: Noubi’s openness to others, to other rhythms from Latin America and elsewhere, all with originality, while inviting the audience into his Senegalese-Quebecois universe. A true melting pot of sounds.

Classical / période romantique

OSL | Rencontre(s) au sommet with Antoine Bareil and Adam Johnson

by Alexandre Villemaire

The theme of encounters punctuated the Orchestre symphonique de Laval’s first concert of the 2024-2025 season on October 30.

The headliner was Antoine Bareil, OSL concertmaster, in Felix Mendelssohn’s masterful Violin Concerto No. 2 in E minor. But, more broadly, what emerged throughout the evening were encounters: encounters between the Mendelssohn sister and brother, encounters between guest conductor Adam Johnson and the orchestra, encounters as we strolled between different musical tableaux, but above all an encounter between the orchestra and its audience. A faithful audience, who turned out in large numbers to fill almost the entire Salle André-Mathieu. Just over 500 people, we were told.

Programming the two child prodigies of the Mendelssohn family as the opening act gave Adam Johnson – whose interventions to introduce each of the evening’s works were pertinent – the opportunity to highlight the undoubted talent of Fanny and Felix, linked by blood but separated by the conventions of their time. The concert began with Fanny Hensel Mendelssohn’s Overture in C major. A rarely performed work and the composer’s only piece for orchestra, it features a conventional structure and clear, vital writing divided into three parts: a noble introduction supported by a bass of winds, over which the strings weave delicate motifs; a second, more animated section where an interplay between two contrasting themes emerges between woodwinds and strings; and a festive, trumpeting finale. In each of these passages, conductor Johnson brings about changes in dynamics and textures with fluidity and precision. The woodwinds were particularly strong, complementing the virtuoso string lines of the fast part.

Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto No^. 2, one of the best-known and most important in the repertoire, plunges us into an entirely different character, between drama and lyricism. Antoine Bareil, the orchestra’s concertmaster, was giving his first performance of the work, and to say the least, he rose to the challenge with brio. Right from the first movement’s appassionato theme, Bareil sets the tone with an energetic, embodied opening. In the cadenza, the soloist makes his instrument sing, showcasing its full range. His work is a true masterpiece, meticulously sculpting each sound with precise attack and great agility. The second movement, attacca,offers a lyrical, languorous theme in which Johsnon highlights the orchestra’s timbre, while leaving the necessary space for Antoine Bareil to unfold his playing. Communication was visible and symbiotic between the two partners, despite certain moments when it seemed that the tempo was pressing a little. Concluding with a virtuosic third movement tinged with an almost humorous veneer, this was a captivating performance that kept the audience on the edge of their seats right up to the last note.

The second part of the evening featured Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, originally composed for piano, but frequently performed by large ensembles with orchestration by Maurice Ravel. Typical of program music, the work presents a succession of pieces inspired by different paintings, with musical interludes (promenades) linking the paintings. Unlike other interpretations, in which the theme of the “Promenade” is played in a tightly bound manner, especially when taken up by the strings, Adam Johnson retains the march-like character introduced by the brass in this section, which accentuates the strolling character between the various tableaux. These were all performed with a commitment and dynamic precision that brought out the full richness of the orchestration. To name but a few, Gnomus, with its unusual character, Il vecchio castello, where the duet between alto saxophone (Ludovik Hinse-Lesage) and bassoon (Michel Bettez) was lyrical, Bydlo with its rumbling double basses and cellos framing the growling euphonium (Sébastien Côté) and the Great Gate of Kiev, which concluded the work in a majestic, triumphal march.

In top form, the Orchestre symphonique de Laval made a strong impression for its season opener. The energy, vigour and musicality that enveloped Salle André-Mathieu bode well for the rest of the season.

Photo Credits: Gabriel Fournier

classique / post-romantique

OSM | Sublime Sibelius !

by Alexis Desrosiers-Michaud

This week sees the return of beloved guest conductor Vasily Petrenko to the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM). The man who was once one of the favorites to replace Kent Nagano shone as usual on Wednesday evening at the Maison symphonique.

The concert opens with Blue Cathedral by American composer Jennifer Higdon. This beautiful, floating work is a tribute to her late brother. Several flute and clarinet solos represent her and her brother. Also symbolizing a celestial journey, the piece comes alive to signify wonder and joy, before ending with percussive resonances and barely audible harmonics. By the way, we could see the other musicians waving haki-sized balls, which stumped many of us as many of us looked at the program afterwards, only to find, alas, no information on the subject.

Then Beethoven’s famous Emperor Concerto kicks off with panache, with Simon Trpčeski at the piano. After an admirable orchestral introduction, the soloist enters the stage, at the last second, as if emerging from the Moon. After some difficulty in maintaining a steady tempo, creating a few small shifts with the orchestra, Trpčeski stops accelerating in his solo excerpts to finally create a whole with the orchestra.

He is very agile with his fingers, but lacks the weight and sound required for a concerto of this magnitude. This style of playing suits him very well in the slow movement, where he blends perfectly with the orchestra. Or it’s the orchestra that envelops him brilliantly.

Anyway, when you ask yourself the question, it means it’s very successful. For the rest, we’ll overlook his head, leg and arm gesticulations (there’s already a conductor to look after the orchestra) to concentrate on his dynamic, excited playing. As encores, we are treated to a short excerpt from a dance in his native Macedonia, followed by the October movement from Tchaikovsky’s Seasons, “for a better world”, resulting in a sensitive and touching performance.
Then comes Jean Sibelius’s very pastoral Fifth Symphony. As in the preceding work, Petrenko’s direction is very clear-cut. His intentions are clear, and nothing is left to chance: nuances, accents, entrances, phrasing and so on. Nothing is forced and played with finesse. I once heard a conductor tell students in a master class that “you have to like to play softly”, and that’s what came to mind on Wednesday evening. The woodwind chorale in the second movement is sublime, accompanied by precise pizzicatos. The last movement is frenetic but not overly so, ending with a repetition of the main theme in the brass, which rings out like bells. Throughout the symphony, one could close one’s eyes and easily imagine oneself at Sibelius’s side, contemplating majestic, bucolic landscapes.

Publicité panam

Modern Classical

Pinnacle of Modern Choral Music at the Azrieli Music Prizes

by Alain Brunet

For the tenth year running, the Azrieli Foundation celebrated the four winning composers of the 2024 Azrieli Music Prizes at the Maison symphonique on Monday, whose beautiful works for choir and instrumental ensemble evoked the Jewish soul and metaphysics in a contemporary context.

Hosted by the foundation’s initiator, singer and generous patron Sharon Azrieli, and former CBC radio host Mario Paquette, the evening showcased the award-winning works, most of which were world premieres. OSM musicians and the OSM Chorus, under the direction of its eminent conductor Andrew Megill, performed some very special choral works.

Light to My Path, a choral fantasy for mixed choir, saxophone, percussion and piano, by Israeli composer Josef Bardanashvili. Each of the piece’s five movements combines different ensemble configurations: a cappella men’s choir, a cappella women’s choir, mixed choirs with musicians, a cappella mixed choir. Non-Jews must discover this brilliant choral approach, inspired by the sacred writings, as the vocal inclinations are unique – for example, Leonard Cohen’s album You Want It Darker , which featured some very inspired choristers.

In Light To My Path, for example, the composer maintains the sacred link , with tremendous call-and-response, canons, ornamental whistling and other compelling effects. Vocal technique is distinctly Baroque or Renaissance but also very modern at the same time. The difference with the well-known sacred songs of the Jewish tradition lies here in the modern harmonizations and instrumental accompaniment.

Secondly, composer Yair Klartag saw The Parable of the Palace,his work for choir and four double basses, as a further update on the notion of spirituality. The composer’s penchant for contemporary music, given the instrumentation chosen and the harmonization of the voices, contrasts with the primary inspiration for this Azrieli Foundation award-winning work: the parable of the palace taken from the Guide for the Perplexed by the Talmudic philosopher Moshe ben Maimon, known as Maimonides, who lived in the 12th century and spoke in the now extinct Judeo-Arabic language. Passages from this metaphysical writing attempt to draw that thin line between reason and irrationality, and would have influenced the composer’s search for universal notions in today’s context, starting with the insatiable human desire “to get closer to the divine without ever understanding it”. Notions that are nonetheless mystical, deeply traditional and clearly identity-based.

The third work on the program, Symetrias Prehispanicas, was by Mexican-American Juan Trigos, inspired by Aztec cosmology, with projected images (by brother Luciano Trigos), and 15th-century Aztec poets, both known and unknown. The songs are in Spanish and Nahuati. Here, tonality, modality and atonality cohabit even more closely, and the cross-hatching and clashing of voices and instruments is even stronger. A cantata-oratorio for mixed choir and ensemble, the work unfolds over 11 tableaux grouped into 4 distinct parts, a non-linear narrative illustrating Aztec thinking of the world before the Spanish conquistadors forcibly obliterated it, as we know. This is certainly the most up-to-date work on the program.

Last but not least, Kanata for SATB a cappella voices, composed by Canadian Jordan Nobles, was the shortest and most singular work on the Azrieli 2024 Prize program. Linear, horizontal and texturally wonderful, with subtle rhythmic shifts in the vocal motifs, this work is a “sonic meditation on notions of place, landscape and home”. A cross-Canada train journey is said to have inspired the composer to create this succinct and so original choral gem.

Hip Hop / Moyen-Orient / Levant / Maghreb / rap

Arab World Festival of Montreal | Narcy and Omar Offendum: Two Decades of Friendship in Artistry

by Sandra Gasana

A sword in the shape of Palestine. Here’s what catches the eye right away, in addition to the Arabian-inspired living room that decorates the National’s stage. With red-patterned cushions, a few books and some coffee, it really feels like an evening with friends, featuring art in all its forms.

First, Omar Offendum takes the stage, while Narcy sits in the living room with his guests, including two members of the iconic Montreal hip-hop group Nomadic Massive, Tali and Meryem Saci.

Under a spotlight, cane in hand (his signature), dressed in traditional attire and his black Fez hat, Offendum wields the Arabic and English languages, juggling these two worlds, sometimes mixing them. Narcy serves him coffee from time to time, exchanging anecdotes and teasing each other about Syrian and Iraqi rivalries. An excellent storyteller, he alternates between poetry, storytelling and rapping, all with incredible ease. Building on a twenty-year friendship, Narcy contributes to some of Offendum’s songs, sometimes in English, sometimes in Arabic, and vice-versa. “It’s rare to have an artist friend who still challenges you, even after 20 years,” he says, addressing Narcy. Indeed, you could feel their complicity on stage.

Omar got the room involved with his track I love you, a hymn to love, with old romantic films in the background. The transitions were sometimes rough, juxtaposing classical Arab songs with modern beats. Palestine was in the spotlight during both parts of the show, but also Lebanon, which has been in the headlines in recent weeks. We also learned about important figures in Middle Eastern history such as Nizar Qabbani, a Syrian poet, and Mahmoud Darwish, a Palestinian poet and author who passed away in 2008. He ended with his biggest hit, God is Love, which my neighbors seemed to particularly enjoy, but my favorite was Close My Eyes , a tribute to his father. “I dedicate this song to all those who have lost a loved one,” he shared with us as the video was playing in the background.

After a short intermission, Narcy took Omar’s place and took over, opening with one of his greatest hits, P.H.A.T.W.A, with Al-Jazeera footage and personal archives in the background. Dressed entirely in black leather and a white shirt, he performed other highlights of his 20-year career, including Hamdulillah, featured on the 2009 album The Narcicyst , a collaboration with Shadia Mansour. He invited a number of female collaborators on stage, those he calls “sisters” such as Meryem Saci, with whom he recorded the track 7araga, the Palestian poet Farah, who shared a poem in homage to her native land, and Tali, who opted for a poignant text for the occasion.

To close, he offered us Free, a tribute to children from the World War Free Now album , in collaboration with Ian Kamau, as well as Time, written as a tribute to his grandfather. And what better way to end than with the most recent track, Sword, the proceeds from which will go to Palestinian children. As well as having a strong sense of friendship, family is equally important to Narcy. He invited his family on stage at the end of the concert to greet the audience, inviting them to visit his Maktaba bookshop/library in Montreal’s Old Port.

Baroque / classique

Violons du Roy | Richness and Vocal Splendor of the Divine Handel

by Mona Boulay

Les Violons du Roy welcomed soprano Karina Gauvin and contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux for the second of nine evenings to celebrate their fortieth anniversary. This Wednesday, October 23, at Palais Montcalm, we were treated to an evening devoted to Handel’s oratorios, with a rich program featuring excerpts from six of them: Joshua, Theodora, Solomon, among others.

The concert opens with an elegant French-style overture to Judas Maccabaeus, heralding the first duet for our From this dread scene singers. We are immediately struck by the contrasting stage personalities of the two singers. While the contralto is very theatrical, one might almost say exuberant, giving a very playful aspect to her performance, the soprano is more discreet and sometimes loses our attention by looking too hard at her score, despite her obvious vocal qualities.

The concert continues with the Sinfonia from the piece Alexander Balus, featuring the wind section (two oboes and bassoon). The wind section’s melodic knitting is very well executed, as is Les Violons du Roy’s overall work. Indeed, throughout the concert, despite being a chamber music ensemble, the group reveals a multitude of different colors, thanks to conductor Jonathan Cohen’s meticulous attention to nuance, slowing down and ornamentation in Baroque music. All the codes are respected, with a charming taste for subtlety: we are not faced with the spectacular, which might displease some, but with meticulousness and attention to detail.

A few songs later, we are treated to the duet Welcome as the Dawn of Day from the oratorio Solomon, sumptuously interpreted by the two soloists, a demonstrative declaration of love between Solomon and his wife. Marie-Nicole Lemieux’s emotional force transports us, and it’s refreshing to hear this love duet sung by two women. One might wonder, however, about the choice of program order, which places this declaration of love in the second part of the oratorio after an aria in the third part.

The final highlights of the concert were the excerpts from Theodora, starting with theOuverture by the chamber orchestra, which is highly impactful and offers us a range of forte tones hitherto little exploited; then with the duet To thee, thou glorious son of worth, which at last allows us to discover the most beautiful aspects of Karina Gauvin’s voice – beautiful, pure high notes, initially devoid of vibrato, which then burst into flames to our delight. While the solo pieces by the singers are very well executed, it’s really the chemistry in the duets that gives this concert its richness.

Quatuor Molinari | Guido Molinari’s Major Inspiration, 20 Years After His Death

by Alain Brunet

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the death of the painter Guido Molinari, to whom the Molinari Quartet owes its name and the unfailing support of its foundation, an ambitious program was presented at Salle Bourgie on Tuesday, October 22. A fitting choice, given that the hall is welded to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Thus, several of the painter’s works were synchronized with the performance of works that have been played by the ensemble over the years.

First, a work by Montreal composer Ana Sokolović , conceived early in her career. At the time, the Quartet’s commission was accompanied by a requirement: to be inspired by the visual universe of the famous Montreal painter. Already, the musician’s signature could be identified in this work divided into 8 movements imagined in the form of themes and variations: Mutation I – Tension- – Space / asymmetrical – Black diagonal – Mutation II / triangle – Dominant white – Coda / continuum. Each movement involves distinct writing techniques – use of spectacular glissandos, eloquent pizzicatos, crumpled motifs, harmonic spirals, string rubs and squeaks, rhythmic cross-hatching and more. In short, a singular and complete work, foreshadowing the great career and fully-deserved international reputation of Ana Sokolović, whose work will stand the test of time.

The second work on the program, Maxime McKinley’s Espaces fictifs is also inspired by works by Guido Molinari, and by high-profile exchanges with Fernande Saint-Martin (1927-2019), the eminent art theorist who was his wife. In an extract from the Vidéothèque québécoise Quatuor Molinari, the composer explains that he explored “reversibility, juxtapositions and superpositions of simple motifs that are constantly reconfigured, as well as the notion of rhythmic interval as the distance or gap, greater or lesser, that separates an element from its recurrence.

The piece also relies on the “dynamism of sharp contrasts or, on the contrary, extremely subtle transformations; horizontal, vertical or diagonal orientations; kaleidoscopic continuums playing on the mobility of back-, middle- and foregrounds; as well as the vibrations, mutations and energy of colors.”

Add to this eloquent explanation the Molinari Quartet’s coherent and diligent execution. The work is received as a dynamic spiral of short tableaux and motifs, culminating in intensity, increasing string volume and accelerating tempo, before losing altitude and settling down in a twirl.

The next performance was of the String Quartet Op.28 by Austrian composer Anton Webern, one of the pioneers of twelve-tone music, mistakenly executed by an American sniper at the end of the Second World War. A reminder of the foundations of the dodecaphonic revolution.

After the break, it’s time for the main course, R. Murray Schafer’s String Quartet no. 7 with “obligatory soprano”. The Molinari is known for its mastery of the late great Canadian composer’s quartets, but 7 stands out from the rest for its spatialization and theatricality. Giant paper airplanes in different colors are arranged on stage, and other paintings that inspired the work’s creator are projected onto a giant screen, while the performers wander around the stage and the aisles of the hall, playing their parts. Played solo, in duet, trio or quartet, accompanied by schizoid and no less flamboyant interventions from soprano Odile Portugais, the components of this innovative work at the time of its conception produce the desired effect: delight, amusement, elevation.

Avant-Garde / Avant-Pop / Experimental Rock / Noise-Pop / Post-Punk

I can’t stop thinking about the Xiu Xiu show in Montreal

by Vanessa Barron

Xiu Xiu was unlike any live act I’ve seen in recent memory. Hosted at the intimate Theatre Fairmount, their Friday night performance was unnerving and enthralling— leaning more towards performance art than your typical concert. Armed with only a vague knowledge of their music beforehand, I truthfully found it abrasive enough to leave the concert early, yet perplexing and captivating enough to remain at the constant forefront of my mind for days afterward.

Eerie violin and piano hummed through the venue’s speakers as a crowd of mostly Mile End-looking guys and cool goth girls assembled in a hushed murmur. A projection of the band’s latest album cover, 13” Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto with Bison Horn Grips, illuminated the stage with gasoline-puddle-rainbow hues while an increasingly bizarre mix of cymbals and percussive instruments materialized, followed by the poised members of the LA-based band themselves.

Kicking things off with “The Silver Platter,” Xiu Xiu surprised me with the sheer ferocity and precision of their gothic, industrial, art rock, noisy sound. Perfectly timed, frantic cymbal crashes punctuated the lyrics of Jamie Stewart’s powerful warbling, piercing his lines like a stab in the gut. Both live and in recordings, Sterwart’s distinctive vocals are ghoulish, with a Dracula-esque articulation that ranges from a dying whisper to full-throated shrieking. His energy in the first three songs was really something else, doing literal handstands and pantomiming while singing, playing guitar, and whacking gongs.

Angela Seo had some stellar moments of her own, particularly her delivery of the sinister monologue from “Wig Master,” which started in a mumble and accumulated into a frenzied repetition of shouts. Another song featured a duet with Angela groan-shouting and Jamie wailing through a whistle-kazoo instrument, sounding like a newborn baby. Coupled with cymbals of every size and other curious percussive instruments, the wall of sound was overwhelming.

Yet I can’t stress enough just how deathly quiet the audience was between songs, with minutes of complete silence as the band would set up for the next track. I think Stewart even joked at one point, “You’re too loud, I can hear you talking” to an audience member halfway through the show. I have no clue if this is normal for a Xiu Xiu show or if Montreal had a particularly reverent crowd that night.

I left with even more questions and curiosity about the band than when I entered, and I genuinely haven’t stopped thinking about it since—their 16 studio albums and interviews from the last 20 years have proven to be a fun rabbit hole to dive down. And their albums sound completely different from their live show. I think that’s sufficient evidence to say that I found it to be an impactful performance to say the least.