Soccer Mommy: flowers and consistency

by Stephan Boissonneault

The last time we saw Soccer Mommy in Montreal was during the sweltering heat during Osheaga 2023, and now she is playing Theatre Beanfield in the dead of winter. And to be completely honest, both sets are quite similar. Sophia Allison, aka Soccer Mommy, is nothing if not consistent with her dreamy indie rock. Her voice is smokey like velvet; her band is super tight and knows when to pick their moments in the limelight.

The biggest difference between this set and the Osheaga one is the stage setup; tonight’s has bunches of flowers and a visual backdrop in the form of a painted canvas and a flower wreath with some video playing between songs. Maybe that and the volume; the whole show isn’t as in the red as the Osheaga one, which is welcomed for this lazy Sunday set. The background video is quite abstract but usually focuses on different kinds of flowers, vibrant and monotone, as Soccer Mommy sings her songs of confession, lovesickness, and restless wanderlust.

This time, Soccer Mommy is supporting her latest album, Evergreen, which is, again, quite similar to the last one, Sometimes, Forever. And besides a few subtle nuances live, the songs sound almost identical, even down the the mix of the record. The show is good, but after four or five songs, you basically get the gist and vibe. We get a few reserved for live moments, like the drawn-out flute solo, which adds a baroque feeling to the song “Some Sunny Day,” and the triple guitarmony solo in “Thinking of You.” Allison is still quite shy with stage banter or even talking with the crowd, so if Soccer Mommy really wants to separate herself from the other sad-girl indie rock groups, she might want to completely shift sounds or work on her stage presence. That, or perhaps be lost in the shuffle. Right now, if you’ve seen her once, you’ve seen her.

photos by Julia Mela

classique / Electroacoustic / Jazz / musique du monde / Traditional

28th Opus Awards Gala | 32 Trophies For The Concert Ecosystem

by Judith Hamel

On Sunday, February 2, the entire Quebec concert music community gathered at Salle Bourgie to celebrate the highlights of the 2023-2024 season. Presented at Salle Bourgie by the Conseil québécois de la musique and broadcast (CMQ) on its FB page as well as on PAN M 360, this 28th Opus Awards Gala was, for the fourth year running, hosted by the enthusiastic Jocelyn Lebeau. A total of 32 awards were presented at a ceremony punctuated by interview blocks with the winners, encouraging dynamic exchanges on their respective projects.

This year’s Prix Hommage was awarded to Michel Levasseur to celebrate his 40 years at the helm of the Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville (FIMAV). A key figure and builder of the experimental music and improvisation scene, this tribute was an opportunity to shine the spotlight on his hard work, which has greatly contributed to the development of the Quebec music scene.

Video testimonials from FIMAV loyalists Jean Derome and René Lussier were among the evening’s highlights. The tribute concluded by underlining the importance of the support of those around him throughout his career, as the audience gave a standing ovation to his family, friends and partners.

The evening’s musical highlight was provided by the Forestare guitar ensemble and its 13 performers, who took us from Denis Gougeon’s Une petite musique de nuit d’été to Bach, with the third movement of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major closing the gala. Its conductor, Pascal Germain Berardi, also won an Opus for Musical Event of the Year, held at FIMAV in Bois-Francs: Basileus, an oratorio in 4 acts featuring the ensembles Horizon (brass), Forestare (guitars), Sixtrum (percussion) and the Growlers Choir (metal voices).

Traditional Québécois music was in the spotlight this year, with an outstanding performance by three traditional Québécois music duos. First, Cédric Dind-Lavoie and Dâvi Simard performed Alphonse Morneau’s Tenant mon frère from the album Archives, winner of the Concert traditionnel québécois de l’année award. A project in which recordings by the chansonniers of yesteryear are reborn and sublimated by an ambient musical setting. An album not to be missed. Then, Nicolas Boulerice and Frédéric Samson delivered Trois beaux garçons, before Alexis Chartrand, on violin and podorythmy, brought his energy to bear on Isidore Soucy’s Le Cyclone, accompanied by Nicolas Babineau on guitar.

Continuing this string resonance, guitarists Adam Cicchillitti and Stevan Cowan performed a beautiful arrangement of Germaine Tailleferre’s Sonata for Harp, with the two guitars in symbiosis, an arrangement sublimated by a meticulous sound system.

Among the double winners, pianist, composer and improviser Marianne Trudel was crowned Composer of the Year and received the award for Jazz Album of the Year for Time Poem: La joie de l’éphémère. Having returned in extremis from a concert on the Magdalen Islands, this is yet another distinction for this artist with a prolific career.

Roozbeh Tabandeh, an interdisciplinary artist nourished by Iranian and Western musical traditions, also distinguished himself by winning the Inclusion and Diversity and Discovery of the Year awards.

Montreal string ensemble collectif9, directed by Thibault Bertin-Maghit, walked away with the Artistic Direction and Performer of the Year awards.

Once again this year, I Musici distinguished itself by winning Creation of the Year with Denis Gougeon’s Spassiba Yuli, as well as Album of the Year – World Music for its participation in Continuum with Turkish artist Didem Basar under the label of the Centre des musiciens du monde.

The Orchestre Métropolitain, meanwhile, walked away with two Opus awards for its season-closing production of Aida, as well as for the Leningrad Symphony.

Early in the morning, the Concert of the Year Opus – Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Music – was won by Arion Orchestre Baroque, for Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, conducted by guest conductor Francesco Corti, and featuring soprano Kateryna Kasper, contralto Margherita Maria Sala and bass Lisandro Abadie.

Finally, the interview format opened the door to some interesting discussions. Marianne Trudel and composer and improviser Joane Hétu, among others, spoke movingly of the contribution of sound engineers Rob Heaney and Bernard Grenon to the genesis of their works. Both passed away suddenly in recent years, leaving an indelible mark on the Quebec music scene. Their premature departure, like those of so many other artisans in the shadows, reminded us of how lucky we are to be here and to be making art,” said Marianne Trudel.

Congratulations to all the finalists and winners.

I invite you to check out PAN M 360’s other Opus Awards content.

Here is the list of winners for the 2023-2024 season:

Concerts

Concert of the year – Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music

Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, Arion Orchestre Baroque, Francesco Corti, guest conductor, Kateryna Kasper, soprano, Margherita Maria Sala, contralto, Lisandro Abadie, bass, January 12 to 14, 2024

Concert of the year – Classical, Romantic and Post-Romantic music

Aida season finale, Orchestre Métropolitain, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor, Angel Blue, Sarah Dufresne, sopranos, Matthew Cairns, SeokJong Baek, tenors, Ambrogio Maestri, baritone, Alexandros Stavrakakis, Morris Robinson, basses, Choeur Métropolitain, Festival de Lanaudière, August 4, 2024

Concert of the year – Modern and contemporary music

Two, Molinari Quartet, February 16, 2024

Concert of the Year – Contemporary and electroacoustic music

Monnomest, Ensemble SuperMusique, Joane Hétu, conductor, Vergil Sharkya, conductor, Productions SuperMusique, co-production Groupe Le Vivier, November 23, 2023

Concert of the Year – Jazz Music, accompanied by a $5,000 gift card from Instruments de musique Long & McQuade.

Sport national, Hugo Blouin, September 28, 2023

Concert of the Year – World Music

Continuum, Didem Başar, kanun, Patrick Graham, percussion, Etienne Lafrance, double bass, Quatuor Andara, Centre des musiciens du monde, February 13, 2024

Concert of the year – Traditional music from Quebec

ARCHIVES, Cédric Dind-Lavoie, multi-instrumentalist, Alexis Chartrand and/or Dâvi Simard, violins, November 15 and 19, December 10 and 16, 2023

Concert of the year – Répertoires multiples

Leningrad Symphony, Orchestre Métropolitain, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor, Maria Dueñas, violin, November 18, 2023

Concert of the year – Ancient, classical, romantic, modern, postmodern impulses

Fabula femina, Cordâme, August 10, 2024

Creation of the year

Spassiba Yuli, for 2 cellos and strings, Denis Gougeon, Yuli’s legacy: Stéphane Tétreault and Bryan Cheng, I Musici de Montréal, April 25, 2024

Production of the Year – Young Audience, accompanied by $5,000 from the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications

J’m’en viens chez vous, Bon Débarras, February 11, 2024

Albums

Album of the year – Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music

Calcutta 1789: At the crossroads of Europe and India, Christopher Palameta, Notturna, ATMA Classique

Album of the year – Classical, Romantic, Post-Romantic music

16 Histoires de guitares – Vol. III, David Jacques, ATMA Classique

Album of the year – Modern, contemporary music

Confluence, David Therrien Brongo, Ravello Records

Album of the Year – Contemporary and Electroacoustic Music

Limaçon, Léa Boudreau, empreintes DIGITALes

Album of the Year – Jazz

Marianne Trudel-Time Poem: La joie de l’éphémère, Trio Marianne Trudel, Productions Marianne Trudel, Indépendant

Album of the Year – World Music, accompanied by a $5,000 Mundial Montréal Mentoring & Conference package offered by Mundial Montréal.

Continuum, Didem Başar, Patrick Graham, Jean-François Rivest, I Musici de Montréal, Centre des musiciens du monde

Album of the Year – Quebec Traditional Music

Layon, Nicolas Pellerin and Les Grands Hurleurs, La Compagnie du Nord

Album of the Year – Ancient, classical, romantic, modern and postmodern impulses

Cendres, Vanessa Marcoux, Indépendant

Writing

Article of the year

“Du son vers la forme, le sens… l’Autre… : spectral thought and engaged art in the mixed works of Serge Provost”, Jimmie LeBlanc, Circuit, musiques contemporaines, May 1, 2024

Special awards

Opus Montréal Prize – Inclusion and Diversity, accompanied by $10,000 from the Conseil des arts de Montréal.

Roozbeh Tabandeh, Ensemble Paramirabo et Chants Libres, Songs of the Drowning, August 24, 2024

Prix Opus Québec

Festival Québec Jazz en Juin, June 20 to 30, 2024

Prix Opus Régions

Festival Ripon trad, September 14 to 17, 2023

Composer of the Year, accompanied by $10,000 from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.

Marianne Trudel

Discovery of the Year, accompanied by a video production courtesy of Télé-Québec’s La Fabrique culturelle.

Roozbeh Tabandeh, composer

Multidisciplinary Broadcaster of the Year

Salle Pauline-Julien

Specialized Broadcaster of the Year

Domaine Forget de Charlevoix

Artistic Director of the Year

Thibault Bertin-Maghit, collectif9

Modern Classical

A Common Root, in Perfect Harmony

by Hélène Archambault

To close the OSL Winter Classical Festival, Diane Caplette led the Harmonie Laval with musicality, rhythmic precision and continuity of tempo. Her solid baton technique let the orchestra’s instruments express themselves in turn. The result? The musicians share a real pleasure and easily transmit it to the audience, made up of at least three generations. Oh yes, and as it would be redundant to talk about it with each piece, I’d like to mention the work of the percussion. They punctuated this concert with little marvels.

A Barrie North Celebration by Quebec composer André Jutras, renowned for his contribution to the wind ensemble repertoire, begins with rhythmic and harmonic concepts. Jocelyn Veilleux, OSL principal horn since 1986, then transports the audience into a world of rich sonorities with his nuanced interpretation of Richard Strauss’s Horn Concerto No. 1, in E-flat major, Op. 11 (arr. John Boyd).

This is followed by Madurodam, composed and arranged by Dutch composer Johan de Meij. Inspired by Madurodam, a miniature Dutch city made up of 1:25 scale models, this suite is composed of eight miniature parts. The orchestra doesn’t seem to mind the demanding nuances, rhythmic inflections and accents. In Réveil, the piccolo and drums cheerfully herald the day, while in Les Petits soldats, the horns parade in front of the miniature barracks. The more solemn Binnenhof melody launches the melodic theme, Les Petits moulins offer a lively waltz, and the Nocturne has the orchestra’s basses playing in unison. Part 6, Église de Westerkerk, takes up the theme in a waltz, the Château de Muiderslot is a pavane, and the Grand Finale relaunches the theme of the mills and then that of the Binnenhof. I bet the miniature town will supplant the tulips in the collective imagination!

After this reassuring soundscape, the second part plunges us straight into the heart of the Taiga. Taïga, by Ilari Hylkilä, is a veritable giant screen of sound. The piece opens on vast, cold spaces, and when the storm breaks, the flutes’ frantic ascending and descending chromatic scales project a crystalline air into the hall. The trumpet, followed by the horns, announce the calming and reveal the majesty of the landscape. The Finnish Tourist Board has the material to convince even the most hardened snowbird to abandon Florida for a cooler land. Then it was clarinettist Jean-François Normand’s turn to delight the audience. The Concertino for clarinet in E-flat major, Op. 26, in arrangements by Alfred Reed, demonstrates the instrument’s wide range and the performer’s virtuosity. The concert closes with Noah’s Ark, by Belgian conductor and composer Bert Appermont. This musical tableau from the biblical story evokes the Message, the Parade des animaux, with its varied musical motifs, the Tempête in which the clarinetists personify the wind and swap keys for hands, and Espoir in which everything is reborn. It was a perfectly harmonious afternoon, with just a few glitches that were quickly forgotten. L’Harmonie Laval, which Caplette has been leading since 2019, is a semi-professional wind orchestra. Which suggests to me that we shouldn’t be afraid of amateurs, especially when that term refers to what I heard today.

Baroque / Classical

OSL Winter Classical Festival | Friendly Baroque Journey

by Hélène Archambault

To open the 4th edition of its Winter Classical Festival, the Orchestre symphonique de Laval (OSL) invites us to travel to 18th-century Europe. Under the direction of conductor Mathieu Lussier, in the heart of winter, the OSL performs music by Handel, Vivaldi, Hasse, Quantz and Albinoni.

The repertoire is meticulously chosen: while presenting well-known composers, the orchestra offers pieces that are less well known. Mathieu Lussier, not without a sense of humor, introduces each piece to an attentive and receptive audience. Between anecdotes, keys to understanding and frankly amusing comments, his friendly tone enhances and enriches the journey.

The concert opens with 3 movements from Georg Friedrich Handel’s Concerto Grosso in D major, Op. 6, No. 5. Antoine Bareil, Johanne Morin and Chantal Marcil, respectively first solo violin, second solo violin and principal cello of the group, rival each other in spirit. This is followed by the Bassoon Concerto in E minor, RV 484. The sound of OSL principal bassoon Michel Bettez is enchanting, especially in the second movement. Performed immediately afterwards, Johann Adolphe Hasse’s Sinfonia in G minor, Op. 5 No. 6 was my finest moment of the evening. The orchestra is full of fire, and Bareil’s playing is expressive, precise and nuanced. Johann Joachim Quantz’s Concerto for flute in G major was a little less successful for soloist Jean-Philippe Tanguay, second flute and piccolo with the OSL. His high-pitched attacks lacked clarity. Vivaldi’s Overture, La verità in cimento, RV 739, plunges us back into the fire of the orchestra, while Tomaso Albinoni’s Concerto for oboe in D minor, Op. 9, No. 2 introduces us to the lively playing of Lindsay Roberts, second oboe and English horn of the OSL. Vivaldi closes the journey with the Trio Sonata in D minor “La follia” RV 63, arranged by Mathieu Lussier and featuring all three soloists.

Unfortunately, the room wasn’t full for this first evening. What I have to say about that is that the absentees are often, if not always, wrong. The comments and smiles on people’s faces at the end of the evening left no doubt: they left with their hearts in their mouths, warm and cosy, despite the chill that returned with a vengeance towards the end of the evening.

Photo Credit: Gabriel Fournier

Classical

The symphonic magic of age-old tales

by Frédéric Cardin

While Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier next door shook to the metal-symphonic sound waves of Voivod and the OSM, the Maison symphonique, the usual refuge of Rafael Payare’s musicians, vibrated to the thousand and one colours of musical tales from China and Russia.

At the start of the programme, the Orchestre FILMharmonique, conducted by Francis Choinière, welcomed soloist Liu Fang, master of the Chinese pipa, an instrument in the lute family, in the creation of a new concerto for her instrument by Quebecer Christian Thomas. In 2023, Thomas gave us his Messe solennelle pour une pleine lune d’été (Solemn Mass for a Full-Moon Night), an opera based on the work of Quebec author Michel Tremblay, which was well received by audiences and critics alike. Much more romantic in its idiom than the Mass, the Pipa Concerto, nicknamed Dragon, allowed Ms Liu to show the full extent of her technical talent, despite some occasional hiccups in the first movement. I wrote about this concerto in a review elsewhere on the site (read it HERE), so I won’t go into that again, but I will say that the four-movement piece struck me as even more accomplished than when I first listened to it on digital files. This is a sign that listening to it is enough to sustain prolonged and repeated attention. In any case, the largely East Asian audience that packed the hall seemed to appreciate and enjoy the performance. It is to be hoped that other Quebec orchestras will programme this concert, giving fellow Quebecer (Chinese born) Liu the chance to tour as much in Quebec as she does internationally, hopefully.

The second piece on the programme was the Butterfly Lovers violin concerto with soloist and Opus Prize 2023 Discovery of the Year Guillaume Villeneuve. Villeneuve’s twirling, scintillating performance gave a superb breath of life to this Chinese Romeo and Juliet, whose original title is the Romance of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. The concerto, written in 1959 by Chen Gang and He Zhanhao, is one of the first works of its kind in Chinese musical literature. The style and language are hyper-romantic, as if Tchaikovsky had lived in Beijing rather than St Petersburg, but the soloist has to achieve several effects that are clearly inspired by the traditional techniques of the erhu, a Chinese instrument that is similar to the Western violin. It’s a musical bonanza, with endearing, memorable melodies and abundant colour, especially in the woodwinds.

Francis Choinière had chosen to conclude the evening with another evocative piece of music, Stravinsky’s The Firebird. A judicious choice, which allowed us to return to the more usual Western repertoire while remaining true to the enchanting spirit of the evening. The orchestra, made up of many young musicians, probably fresh out of Quebec schools, performed well, and the conductor’s direction was committed. A few technical imperfections in Kastchei’s dance did not detract from the energy that Choinière wished to infuse into the ensemble, which ended in a successful climax.

An evening that clearly delighted a very mixed and diverse audience. If that was one of the objectives, it was achieved.

Marlaena Moore soars during her Because You Love Everything release

by Stephan Boissonneault

Being from Edmonton, AB, I’ve known about the bedroom indie/maximalist rock artist, Marlaena Moore, for quite some time. You can say I’ve followed her trajectory from those intimate shows within the walls of the defunct Edmonton venue, Wunderbar, to her now almost sold-out album show in Montreal’s historic La Sala Rossa. She was starting to get somewhat “Edmonton famous” around the music scene circa 2016-17 with songs from her album GAZE, like the absolute grungy banger “24 Hour Drug Store.”

Yet, you can certainly hit a well-known ceiling in Edmonton and whether that, a global pandemic, love—or all three—influenced her decision, she decided to move to Montreal. During the thick of the pandemic, she released Pay Attention, Be Amazed!, the follow-up to GAZE, which had her playing less guitar and focusing on vocals, perhaps sowing the seeds for her role now as the powerhouse singer with a spectacular backing band.

So here we are at the album release of the newest album Because You Love Everything (via Bonsound’s, sublabel, Session) and Marlaena is looking like an heiress—donning a sparkling cocktail dress and long gloves, slaying with the pipes of a goddess, and her band is crushing their respective roles. Moore has the kind of voice that can stop you dead in your tracks and quickly command a room. Her soaring vocals consume the scenery, even over the crowd of chatter by the bar. I’m reminded of the last time I saw Angel Olsen live, who has the same mystical allure.

The band—made up of heavy hitter talent in the Montreal/CAD music scene—is Moore’s not-so-secret weapon. The guitarmonies from her musical partner in crime, Scott “Monty” Munro (Preoccupations, Land of Talk) and Mischa Dempsey (Knitting) are bright, halcyon, and magical. The bass from Chrissy Lawson (Dresser, girl with dream) is thick, funky, and tight, and the drumming from Andy Mulcair (also Knitting) is jazzy and at times, absolutely bonkers. The whole package is tight as sin and sends the live renditions of Because You Love Everything into the stratosphere.

At one point, Marlaena makes a heartfelt and beautiful dedication to her past friend, who sent her a message from the spirit realm in the form of a flamingo. It’s these moments that make Moore’s performance truly captivating; she’s completely genuine, tripping on her words and getting a bit emotional as she tells the story of her friend. Honestly, with a talent like hers, she could have a huge ego and no one would bat an eye, but she remains just as whimsical and real as she did when she was cutting her teeth in good ol’ Berta.

Near the end of the show, the curtains close and Marlaena begins to sing under a lo-fi backing track. Maybe it’s because David Lynch (RIP) has been on my mind, but the luminous glow from the golden curtains, mixed with the spotlight and Marlaena’s look and gravitas make me feel like I’m watching a show at The Slow Club in Blue Velvet.

The curtains open again and the band is back. We get the fiery single “I Miss You,” from Pay Attention, Be Amazed! The show is capped off with an intimate encore of a lo-fi unreleased song (let’s call it “I’ve Never Been Good At Guitar” for now) that has Marlaena picking up the axe and strumming a couple of chords.

Whether or not she was ever worried about ever “breaking through,” into Montreal, Marlaena Moore has arrived and she is still a force to be reckoned with who keeps getting better and better.

musique contemporaine

Le Vivier InterUniversitaire | Interpreting the Eclipse

by Judith Hamel

On Saturday, January 25, the Espace Orange in the Wilder Building hosted the 9th annual Vivier InterUniversitaire concert, showcasing emerging composers in the field of contemporary music creation. Eight original works came to life in the hands of talented university performers.

The concert opened with Leo Purich’s Shape Games for Saxophone Quartet (2022-2023). In this piece, visual elements projected onto a giant screen presented eight geometric designs. Four of these were used as musical inspiration to interpret these shapes and translate them into sonorities that pushed back their limits.

We continue with Edwin H. Ng’s Eclipse (2024), a work for solo viola inspired by the total solar eclipse of 2024. In it, the composer translates the darkness that imposes itself at the heart of the day, right down to the subtle rays of light filtering through the shadows. It is in understanding this process that the work takes on its full meaning. The viola’s timbre lends itself to this dichotomy between light and shadow, while the strings represent the movement of the darkening day and the rays that reach our well-protected pupils.

The third work on the program is Hélpide Dulce, Escampas (2023) by Pablo Jiménez. This piece for string quartet plunges us into a noisy world of sound. Clusters emerge, instruments overlap and create a background sound that is both organic and disquieting. A well-constructed, organic chaos that oscillates between refined language and raw, evocative expressiveness. A la Jacob Collier, Jiménez takes his salute, fangs in hand, to warm applause from the audience.

Then, Jonas Regnier’s Wistful Fragments (2024) for trumpet with live electronics invites us to explore our auditory memories, using recordings of everyday life. The selection of landscapes such as an urban ambience, birdsong, piano playing, and the sequence of fragments seemed to me to lack a little coherence, but despite this, the alliance between trumpet and electronic processing was skilfully constructed. The composer exploits to the full the expressive possibilities of the blend between these two sound sources.

The fifth work, Composition pour sextuor (2023) by Jules Bastin-Fontaine, features meticulous work on counterpoints and textures. The choice of instruments favors sonic superimpositions that generate new textures. Resonant bodies such as flutes and bass clarinet are used to create reverberant sound backgrounds. Although the expressiveness of this piece did not stand out for me, the care taken in the construction of the textures deserves to be highlighted.

The sixth work, Tracé, Fossile (2023) for violin and cello by Alexandre Amat, highlights the distortions produced by excessive bow pressure. This process generates noisy sonorities that permeate the entire piece. Rather than relying on pitch-based melodic motifs, the work explores a musicality centered on sound mass, which becomes denser or lighter according to musical intentions.

The penultimate piece is Anita Pari’s The Mockingbird (2024) for string quartet. The work favors an ensemble musicality where one feels a common breath throughout the performance. This cohesion amplifies the dramatic passages. As the title suggests, the work evokes a warbling atmosphere, combining a refined musical language with an organic, poetic dimension that resonates authentically.

The evening concluded with Alexander Bridger’s Shards of Bengaluru Bill (2023), a work for flute, clarinet, accordion, viola and double bass. Dressed in bright colors, two performers marked time in certain passages of the work, a gesture that seemed planned, but which seemed to us somewhat strange or with a floating doubt. That said, the instrumentation, in particular the use of accordion and double bass, provided an original sound dimension.

Among the works presented, those by Edwin H. Ng, Pablo Jiménez and Alexandre Amat were my favorites of the evening.

In short, it was an opportunity to discover the promising talents of the new generation of composers, the vast majority of whom are men, despite the values of accessibility and inclusion put forward in this context. Achieving parity remains a laborious and complex process, we have to conclude.

Photo Credit: Claire Martin

Rock

Yseult Kicks Off Her Mental Tour in Montreal

by Sandra Gasana

It was to a packed house that singer Yseult appeared at MTelus on Monday evening. No sooner had the lights gone down than the room began to go wild. In the distance, a voice could be heard counting down in English, promising an intriguing staging.

She is accompanied by her two American musicians, on guitar and drums, whom she teases and imitates the accent at times during the show. Dressed in military pants, white gloves with “Mental Tour” written on them, necklaces around her neck and belts around her waist.

The French singer from Cameroon opens the show with Noir, and seems to be having the time of her life on stage. She dances and strolls around, closely followed by a videographer who captures the moment.

“It’s a pleasure to be back in Montreal, I’m quite moved because it’s the first time I’ve produced a tour on my own,” she shares with us moved, to applause. “It’s thanks to you that I’m able to do all this,” she continues.

She juggles classics like Corps with songs from her latest Mental project, such as Garçon and the crowd-pleasing hit Gasolina. Rock is omnipresent during the show, with her screaming and even shouting between intense electric guitar solos.

“Let me get rid of my wig, I’m going to get comfortable,” she says, before reappearing wearing a hat. Her stage presence is undeniable. “Can I share a new song with you, one that’s not out yet?” she asks the crowd, delighted by the privilege. And so we discover Problematic, which pleases the audience, especially the acoustic section, as well as Hysteria, also an unreleased song. Applause rained down, but it was especially after Corps that the crowd didn’t want to stop applauding. She did it a capella because she had promised herself that she would never do it again in piano-vocals, since the death of her pianist Nino Vella in 2024. The audience accompanied her on the chorus, one of the highlights of the show.

She finished with the track Suicide, ideal for closing the show, before returning for an encore in techno mode. It may have been a Monday night, but that didn’t stop the MTelus from being packed. Next stop: New York on February 3.

Photo Credit: Léa

Voïvod Symphonique – Symphony aboard the Quebec Metal UFO

by Laurent Bellemare

A packed Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier on January 29 was the setting for the world premiere of Voïvod Symphonique, a madcap collaboration uniting the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal with Quebec’s legendary metal band.

Even before the doors opened, you could feel the excitement of this peregrination of metalheads, many of whom were waiting patiently in line in front of the traditional merchandise table. Rumor had it that some had traveled from as far away as Chile to attend this multi-sensory epic.

Officially part of the OSM’s pop concert series, this hybrid metal/classical formula could have been dicey in many ways. Fortunately, the orchestral introduction and the first notes of Experiment soon put an end to any doubts: an orchestral Voïvod works!

Voïvod’s songs, even in their rawest thrash metal, are brimming with harmonic nutrients, here brilliantly augmented by arranger Hugo Bégin. In this maximalist form, the band were able to showcase their compositions in all their cinematic power. It was a fitting tribute to the film soundtracks that have inspired Voïvod’s creative gesture from the outset.

Acoustically, the combination was quite successful. At the mixing desk, it must be said, we could count on Larry O’Malley, seasoned in eclectic projects, notably at the Festival de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville.

However, the orchestra sometimes got lost beneath the amplified quartet, becoming a background texture. That said, it wasn’t difficult to maintain attention on the ever-present string and brass arrangements. On the other hand, there was very little audible interaction between the drums and classical percussion, a slight disappointment. Was it a question of sound balance or arrangement? In any case, we’d have liked to see more exploration of the rhythmic potential of metal in the execution of classical percussion.

Nevertheless, it’s no mean feat to enjoy an orchestral metal concert without earplugs, and therefore without burning your hair cells.

The slower pieces, such as The End of Dormancy or the famous Pink Floyd cover Astronomy Domine, played at the close of the concert, gave the OSM all the space it needed to shine. During these breathless reprises, it was really possible to savor the detail of the arrangements, grandiose extrapolations that tastefully colored and filled the spectral space.

One of the most jubilant moments of the concert was undoubtedly the quotation from Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring in the piece Pre-Ignition, quoted verbatim in its original orchestral arrangement… Shiver-inducing!

What’s more, the visual environment of this program was not to be outdone. In addition to the electrifying presence of a metal band at the top of its form and an orchestra led by the intense, dynamic playing of Dina Gilbert, the audience could enjoy the gigantic projections created by Marcella Grimaux, who reinterpreted the artistic concepts of drummer Michel Langevin. These psychedelic animations, often post-apocalyptic, magnified Voïvod’s mythological universe in an unprecedented way. Each track had its own concept, aesthetic and animation style, reflecting the cult band’s discographic evolution.

In conclusion, Voïvod Symphonique is a resounding success. There couldn’t have been a better choice of band to explore the hidden, orchestral side of metal! It was clear that the audience was charmed by the impact of these two Quebec institutions on the same stage.

So many other Voïvod pieces would lend themselves perfectly to the exercise, we have every right to hope that this encounter will be repeated and last. Ode to metal, ode to classical, ode to the longevity of the Jonquière band, ode to the imagination of Michel Away Langevin and ode to the boundless creativity of the late Denis “Piggy” D’Amour: Voïvod Symphonique is all these things and more!

Photo Credit: Gabriel Fournier

Electronic

Igloofest, Saturday, January 25 / Fight the Cold With Dance, featuring Skepta (Mas Tiempo), MNSA, Dennis Ferrer, Cheba Iman and Many Others.

by Léa Dieghi

Two stages, two atmospheres. And always more dancing. For this evening of January 25, 2025, the Igloofest team decided to offer us a particularly different program between the main Sapporo stage, and its little Vidéotron sister. While the former was an ode to house music, the latter was a blend of traditional North African and contemporary electronic music.

VIDEOTRON: Manalou, Mnsa, Nadim Maghzal, Cheba Iman.

Deconstruction, reconstruction, hybridization between different genres… The sets on the small Videotron stage shone through their sonic interweaving and interweaving. And even though the stage is four times smaller (we didn’t take the time to measure, but we can imagine!), the sets by these mostly Canadian artists melted the snow beneath our feet.

Imagine the setting. We flee behind the main stage and enter the Videotron stage through a tunnel of light. What awaits us there? An audience literally jumping to the beat of the percussion.

Afro-beat, drum and bass, drill, downtempo, hip-hop, but also tech-house, all mixed with traditional Arabian music.

Mnsa, proudly wearing his Palestine scarf, was like sunshine on a winter’s night. With his contagious good humor and his succession of sounds at different tempos, he didn’t let the audience down for a single minute. Between pop classics, heavy bass lines and traditional Arab music, all mixed against a techno backdrop, my fingers, previously chilled by the beer in my hands, quickly warmed up.

A perfect opening for Nadim Maghzal‘s set, who, in his own way, took up the torch and brought the crowd – literally – to the front of the stage. What’s on the bill? The kind of percussive electronic music we love, always associated with North African sounds and UK Bass.

These four artists, from Manalou to Cheba Iman – who also offered us some particularly singular performances – proved the beauty of the synergy between North American and African music. They also showed us how being a DJ is above all about community, and sharing a certain joie de vivre, together.

SAPORO: Lia Plutonic, Syreeta, Dennis Ferrer, Skepta (under his house label Mas tiempo) “HOUSE HOUSE HOUSE

A word that resonates as I dance in front of the main stage.

From Lia Plutonic (Residente Montréalaise) to Dennis Ferrer, house music classics follow one another, all remixed in their own style!

Sapporo

Behind the four DJ-producers of the Sapporo scene, four different visions of house music and its variations. A genre that crosses time and space, and that brings together an audience from diverse backgrounds.

If Syreeta offered us sounds a little more rooted in the British house music culture (where she comes from), her mix between techno, melodic voices and UK house rhythms proved to be a particularly fertile ground to welcome her colleague from overseas: Denis Ferrer, an influential artist of the electronic scene for more than fifteen years.

While Syreeta and Lia Plutonic surfed a little more on the hybridization of house and techno, Dennis Ferrer clearly returned to the roots of New York house, to offer us a very disco-funk-tech-house set. Very melodic, very progressive, very 90s, with classics like Ain’t Nobody (Loves me better). At the front of the stage, a crowd of all ages danced. Proof, once again, of the unifying capacity of house!

Their very vibrant sets were able to welcome with undisguised joy the main artist of the evening, Skepta, performing under her project Mas tiempo, which quickly increased the BPM a notch. Although he is better known for his performance-productions as an MC-rapper, the London-based artist has been able to stand out in recent years with his very rhythmic mixes, sometimes deconstructed, but nevertheless particularly progressive and always very house.

On the agenda: UK Drill and Grim, drum and bass, house, to finish on techno prog. The crowd was already unleashed, while more than a dozen couples saw, from the top of my terrace, climbing on each other’s shoulders. There are balloons flying in the air, bodies colliding while dancing, voices screaming and snowflakes falling on the tops of our heads.

A very nice end to the winter evening, for a very nice program of this Saturday evening of Igloofest.

Africa

Alain Oyono: The New Saxophonist in Town!

by Sandra Gasana

Initially, I wasn’t planning to cover last Saturday’s show at La Brassée, I was going as a spectator, to discover the man everyone’s talking about at the moment, Alain Oyono. Originally from Cameroon, but living in Senegal for over a decade, the saxophonist, who is a member of Youssou N’Dour’s “Super Étoile de Dakar” orchestra, gave us an amazing show. So much so that it was hard to keep it to myself, so here it goes.

By way of introduction, he opts for gentleness with The Beginning, which also marks the start of the artist’s solo career, before showing us his singing talents on Loba, which means God in Douala, the language spoken in the coastal region of Cameroon. These tunes immediately remind me of Kenny G, whom I used to listen to over and over again in my youth.

Against a backdrop of carefully arranged instrumentals, and equipped with a laptop, pedals and mini-console, Alain, who is also an author, composer and performer, manages not only to play his instrument but also to engineer it. On some tracks, notes from piano, afrobeat or afro jazz are used as a basis for him to improvise on as he pleases. On other tracks, he introduces pre-recorded ambient noises, backing vocals and other sounds to complement his instrument.

In his latest EP released in 2023, entitled Transcendance, he pays tribute to nature, notably in the track “Ma nature”. “This album is dedicated to the ecosystem, especially in these difficult times. Fortunately, you’re bringing the warmth back here tonight,” he says, addressing the crowd.

Several instruments are added one after the other in the second half of the concert.

Alain returns to the stage first accompanied by Dauphin Mbuyi on bass, then a few songs later, Deo Munyakazi joins the duo with his inanga, a traditional Rwandan string instrument similar to the zither. Together, they create magic before our astonished eyes. They are joined by Dicko Fils, from Burkina Faso, with a bewitching voice reminiscent of the Sahel, and the charming Sylvie Picard, who enchant us each in their own way.

And just as we thought the concert was drawing to a close, Raphaël Ojo arrived with his djembe to add the finishing touch. The concert turned into a jam session, much to the delight of the audience, who gradually realized that they were in for a unique experience. The owner of La Brassée told me that this was one of his favorite concerts. “Are you enjoying it as much as I am right now?” he asked me between songs. “I’m floating,” I replied.

The concert couldn’t end without a tribute to the giant Manu Dibango, with a cover of the classic Soul Makossa, which pleased the couple sitting next to me. All in all, La Brassée audiences can count themselves lucky to have discovered an artist who will surely be making a name for himself on the Montreal art scene in 2025 and beyond!

Photo Credit: Peter Graham

Classical / période romantique

OSM | Between Icelandic Basses and Bruch’s “Unforgettable” Concerto

by Judith Hamel

The Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM), under the direction of conductor Dalia Stasevska and violin virtuoso Randall Goosby, presented a program on Wednesday evening featuring composers Thorvaldsdottir and Price, as well as Bruch and Dvořák.

Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Archora, commissioned by several major orchestras and premiered in 2022, opened the concert with a spellbinding 20-minute soundscape. Designed to evoke a textured universe, the work transports the audience into an exploration of the ensemble’s sonic and energetic potential.

From the very first notes, the hypergraves invade the space, creating an imposing, palpable sound mass. The screeching cymbals add an organic dimension, while the winds click their keys and use their breath to amplify the work’s mystical atmosphere. All this adds up to an almost living narrative. Then the organ, with its imposing presence, amplifies the impression of immensity, of a room larger than ourselves. The twenty minutes passed with great fluidity, like a single wave that sweeps over us. The apparent stability of the sounds, achieved by the interweaving of the musicians’ breaths, gave a superhuman impression.

American soloist Randall Goosby then took to the stage to deliver a straightforward performance, carried with finesse by his great mastery of the instrument. Max Bruch’s “unforgettable” Violin Concerto No. 1, though somewhat frustrating for the composer in its eclipsing power over his other concertos, remains a landmark work in the German Romantic repertoire. Tonight, in the “Adagio”, Goosby was able to express the full intensity of this inner romance. It was in the third movement, however, that the soloist really came into his own. He unfurled himself in the passionate, dancing themes that hint at Bruch’s Hungarian origins, as well as in the final, technical passages. These playful accents resonated particularly well with his light, easy-going playing. A young virtuoso who didn’t overwhelm us with his musicality, but whose technique and ease are impressive.

Florence Price’s Adoration opened the second half in an orchestrated version for violin and orchestra by J. Gray, putting a second female composer in the spotlight. This short piece was particularly well suited to Randall Goosby, who effectively conveyed the emotional charge through his straight but honest playing. However, an OSM concert is no exception: just as he was about to raise his bow, Goosby was interrupted by the telephone of an audience member who was listening to the recording of his performance of the first part at full volume. With humor and patience, he lowered his bow and said: “You can play it again if you want”. But no sooner had he started to play than a cricket buzzer sounded in the hall. Fortunately, the crickets were out of place, but they gave the audience a good laugh.

Although the concertante gave the evening its title, it was Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8, fiercely conducted by Dalia Stasevska, that stood out as the highlight. Dalia Stasevska’s conducting was particularly noteworthy for its emphasis on drastic contrasts of nuance and the exaggeration of certain rhythmic passages. This symphony, with its bucolic atmosphere, was thus deployed through moments of lightness, straight trumpet lines and the exaggerated popular character of certain dancing themes. The fourth movement, which opens with a flamboyant trumpet call and ends with groovy chromatic passages, ended the concert on a welcome note of youthfulness.

Photo credit: Randall Goosby – Kaupo Kicks ; Dalia Stasevska – Antoine Saito