As part of the Festival TransAmériques (FTA) , the companies Carte Blanche and Chants Libres have teamed up with the Quatuor Bozzini to present the world premiere of a contemporary opera adaptation of the great movie Hiroshima, mon amour at Usine C. A creative lyrical tribute that revives our memories of the film, its events and our memories. Following the form of a film production, the show features Yamato Brault-Hori, Marie-Annick Béliveau and Ellen Wieser, who, on a stage clad in oversized projection tulles, deliver Marguerite Duras’s poetry of love and death, blurring codes and boundaries between media, as well as between past and present. Rosa Lind’s delicately dissonant score sets the eight musicians and their timeless love story to music. We had the chance to ask Christian Lapointe and Rosa Lind a few questions.

PAN M 360: How did you come up with the musical direction for the opera?

Rosa Lind : Text provides me with the musical inspiration. The emotion of the words, of the lines, guide me through the process.
PAN M 360: Was it special for you to compose an opera for a film adaptation?
Rosa Lind
: I LOVE films! I had already delved into the adaption of « Wings of Desire » for a string quartet but an opera is so much fun because you can also work with human voice, which is totally appropriated for this very human story It felt natural for me to write in the direction of the story, mainly because I love the film so much.
PAN M 360: Did the film’s original soundtrack influence the way you heard the story?
Rosa Lind : Actually, when I work on something, I need to isolate myself completely, and so I do not listen to other composers in the process. When I watched the movie again for the opera, I watched it without sound to really be impregnated by the text and the magnificence of the images for my own definition and feelings can emerge.
PAN M 360: Alongside the magnificent Bozzini quartet, what guided your choice of instruments?

Rosa Lind : I went with the harp because of it’s range (6 octaves), crystal clear on the highest notes and the depth of it’s bass. As a pianist, I often think as music pianistically. (laughs) I went with the clarinet because of the richness of the sound, like honey liquor. Finally, I opted for the flute because of it’s strong japanese connotation.

PAN M 360: Why did you decide to adapt Hiroshima mon amour into an opera set in 2025?

Christian Lapointe: I wanted to show the forgotten events, those recounted by the film and the film itself, in a context of unprecedented nuclearization of the world.
PAN M 360: Where did you get the idea to add the character of Marguerite Duras and have her live alongside her own protagonists?
Christian Lapointe:
At the FTA in 2013, I presented a montage of Marguerite Duras’s texts “L’homme atlantique” and “La maladie de la mort” in which I had already begun to explore this. So I wanted to stage the writing itself, while at the same time winking at it.

PAN M 360: How did you come to choose the composer and the Bozzini quartet?

Christian Lapointe: Rosa is a good friend of mine and we wanted to do an opera together, so she suggested the film to me and it was an obvious choice. Secondly, the Bozzini Quartet is known all over the world, and we know that it can be “flown”, and they were already familiar with Rosa’s work too, so it gave us an opportunity to put all these fine people together.

PAN M 360: Why did you choose oversized projections to bring the images to life?

Christian Lapointe: I wanted to play on memory and forgetting, to play at remembering the film. The German soldier burning the film, the process of creating the film on stage, Marguerite Duras embodied – these are all representations of the film’s oblivion, which the giant projections serve to recall.

Sol-Étienne Labesse has been immersed in music since he was a teenager, before becoming drummer for the group Kulcha Connection, then Deya, before co-founding SolidGround, a reggae collective that accompanies several local and international artists. Rather like the reggae bands in Jamaica, who play for hours on end, sometimes accompanying twenty or so artists, SolidGround’s main aim is to promote reggae, not necessarily any one artist in particular. They advocate a spirit of sharing and exchange between artists. They will be at the Festival des Saveurs this Sunday, June 1, during the day devoted to the World Social Forum of Intersections, before continuing with a busy schedule this summer. They’ll be at the Festival de Reggae de Trois Rivières, but also at the Festival d’été de Québec, and in Montreal for a few dates. Sandra Gasana spoke to Sol-Étienne, live from the collective’s rehearsal studio.

Innovations en concert, inspiringly directed by Isak Goldschneider for some fifteen years (first with Cassandra Miller, then on his own since 2014), offers discerning and curious music lovers treasures of musical experience in each of its seasons. The 24-25 version concludes on 30 June with another find that promises moments of contemporary grace: the combination of a work by Ukrainian-Dutch post-minimalist composer Maxim Shalygin (Angel, for violin and cello, in its Quebec premiere) and another by Montrealer Olivier Alary, a vast fresco lasting some 40 minutes for 12 lap steel guitars. Yes, twelve lap steel guitars! It promises to be a fascinating evening at Saint-Denis Church here in Montreal. I spoke to Olivier and Isak about the works on the programme and other things. 

Olivier Alary, tell us about your career path, which took you from architecture studies to music and then to Montreal.

It’s a fairly winding path, punctuated by forks in the road, but one that has developed organically. I first studied architecture, which enabled me to develop a sensitivity to structure, space and form – notions that, over time, found a natural echo in my approach to music.

It wasn’t long before I felt the need to turn my attention to sound. This led me to London, where I studied sound art at Middlesex University. It was a seminal period: I discovered a very free and experimental approach to sound, at the crossroads of music, installation and contemporary art.

In 2000, I released my first album under the pseudonym Ensemble on the Rephlex label, founded by Aphex Twin. This album attracted the attention of Björk, with whom I had the chance to collaborate on several projects, including her album Medúlla. That meeting was a turning point, giving me access to a wide range of creative contexts, from experimental music to avant-garde pop and multidisciplinary collaborations with Doug Aitken and Nick Knight.

After London, I spent some time in New York, before settling in Montreal, where I found a particularly favourable environment in which to develop my practice. It was here, after releasing a few albums on FatCat Records, that I really plunged into film music, a field in which I have worked for nearly fifteen years. I composed music for around sixty films, mainly documentaries and auteur dramas, working with filmmakers from a wide variety of backgrounds. This experience has enabled me to explore in depth the link between music and narrative, between sound and image.

After this long period of professional practice, I felt the need to return to the fundamentals of instrumental composition. With this in mind, I undertook a master’s degree in composition at the Université de Montréal, in order to better articulate my technical knowledge and explore new avenues of creation. It was within this framework that I developed my acoustic instrumental pieces, taking as my starting point the translation into written form of the techniques and processes I had been developing in the studio for over twenty years. This work enabled me to open up a dialogue between the electronic world I had cultivated and orchestral writing, by seeking to transpose production, editing and sound-processing gestures into a purely instrumental language. Vestiges is in line with this research.

And finally, I stayed. Montreal was an obvious place to anchor myself, both artistically and personally. The city has an exceptional pool of musicians, trained in four universities and a conservatoire, which fosters very high-level collaborations. Then I met my wife here, and we had two children. Today, even if my career path may seem a little fragmented, each stage has fed into the next, and the whole forms a coherent trajectory that continues to evolve.

DETAILS AND TICKETS FOR THE ANGEL ET VESTIGES CONCERT

What models (composers, musical styles) have shaped your musical personality?

My musical personality has been shaped by a wide range of influences, often by artists who like to push the boundaries, whether in music, film or the visual arts. In cinema, directors such as David Lynch, David Cronenberg and Andrei Tarkovsky have had a profound impact on me through their unique and often destabilising worlds. In the visual arts, I’m thinking in particular of figures like César, Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint-Phalle, whose works question matter and movement, as well as Hans Bellmer and Gerhard Richter, who explore form and perception in radical ways.

Musically, I was strongly influenced by Krautrock groups like Can, Neu! and Kraftwerk. Their ability to blend hypnotic rhythms, electronic textures and improvisations fed my taste for sound experimentation. I also have great admiration for the psychedelic free jazz of Sun Ra and Pharoah Sanders, who offer incredible energy and freedom of expression.

Indie rock, particularly bands like Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine, showed me how noise, texture and layers of sound could become expressive elements in their own right.

In addition, electroacoustic music – particularly the work of Bernard Parmegiani and Luc Ferrari – has had a profound influence on my approach to composition, teaching me how to sculpt sound and create rich sonic spaces from subtle details.

I’ve also been inspired by twentieth-century contemporary music, with composers like György Ligeti, Gérard Grisey and Luciano Berio, who explore sound matter with great finesse. American minimalism, represented by Steve Reich, David Lang and Julia Wolfe, as well as the spiritual minimalism of Arvo Pärt and John Tavener, have also left their mark on my sensibilities through their ability to build powerful emotions through repetition and simplicity.

Finally, avant-garde pop songs by artists like Björk – with whom I’ve been lucky enough to collaborate – but also Velvet Underground, Robert Wyatt, Chico Buarque and Brigitte Fontaine, have always been a source of inspiration, combining musical innovation and poetry.

Beyond styles or names, what really drives me is this constant desire to go beyond conventions, to create bridges between different languages and mediums, and to seek music that can at once question, surprise and move.

Alary has collaborated with artists such as Björk, Nick Knight, Cat Power and Doug Aitken, and has released his music on labels such as Rephlex, Fatcat Records, 130701 and LINE. He has also scored over fifty films, several of which have won awards at prestigious festivals such as Cannes, Sundance and Venice.

How do you see the difference between composing for pop artists and artists associated with strict contemporary music?

I see composing for pop artists and for artists associated with strict contemporary music as two different but profoundly complementary approaches. I don’t see them as separate worlds, but rather as creative spaces that are in constant dialogue and mutually enriching.

Pop music, by its often more direct and accessible nature, offers a framework in which to play with shorter formats, clearer structures and an emotional immediacy that quickly touches the listener. It also allows us to explore more electronic sounds and textures which, although simpler on the surface, require great precision and sensitivity to maintain their impact.

Strict contemporary music, on the other hand, opens up a field of research in which we can experiment freely with more complex forms, advanced techniques and an abstraction that encourages us to question sound matter, time and perception. It’s a world in which rigour and depth coexist with innovation, enabling me to develop highly sophisticated instrumental pieces such as Vestiges, which took me over ten years to research.

What’s interesting is that these two worlds work like communicating vessels for me. The experience I’ve gained in contemporary music gives me the tools to enrich my pop compositions, by adding more subtlety, originality and density. And conversely, working on more immediate pop formats stimulates my creativity and pushes me to simplify, to be more direct, while retaining an expressive richness.

In my experience of film music, this ability to navigate between very different registers is essential. Depending on the genre of the film – be it suspense, horror or drama – it is often necessary to bridge the gap between accessible music that supports the narrative emotion and more experimental textures that create particular and original atmospheres. This has enabled me to develop a great deal of flexibility and an open-mindedness that feeds both my personal projects and my collaborations.

In short, rather than seeing pop and contemporary composition as two distinct disciplines, I see them as two poles of the same creative continuum. This oscillation between rigour and immediacy, between experimentation and emotion, allows me to constantly evolve my writing and hone my personal artistic voice, capable of crossing different styles and audiences.

Vestiges for 12 lap steel : why 12? Why lap steel? What attracts you to this instrument?

I chose to use twelve lap steel guitars in Vestiges because it’s an instrument that has fascinated me for the last fifteen years or so, particularly in the context of film music and my personal projects. What particularly appeals to me about lap steel is its unique sound texture, especially when played with tremolos and a slide placed directly on the strings. There’s something very vocal about the sound, almost like a human voice, which gives it a very special expressiveness.

Moreover, lap steel is often perceived as a limited instrument, with very strong connotations – particularly country or western – which can be reductive. My intention was precisely to break down these clichés, to explore its potential beyond these styles, to offer a totally different kind of music, further removed from these traditional genres.

I was also interested in the fact that the range of the lap steel is quite similar to that of a choir, from low to high pitches, which naturally led me to imagine similar voice patterns, with registers ranging from bass to soprano.

Why twelve guitars? Because a guitar has six strings, and the chosen choir has six voice registers. By doubling this – i.e. by doubling six – we get twelve instruments, which sounds much better and, above all, offers greater harmonic richness and depth of sound. This arrangement also allows us to play to the full the spatialisation of the sound, by distributing the guitars throughout the space to create a very interesting acoustic immersion.

Finally, I knew that working with this instrument in a long form would be a real challenge, but this very limitation stimulated me: I wanted to see if I could build a solid, coherent piece around this singular sound.

Vestiges is a unique work, the fruit of ten years of research

The message, or the main idea behind Vestiges?

The main idea behind Vestiges is linked to a reflection on the traces left by certain cultural, spiritual or social forms in transformation. I have the impression that we are living in a period of transition, where certain traditional landmarks – whether linked to religion, family structure or wider societal frameworks – are gradually changing or losing their central place in our lives.

With this piece, I wanted to evoke these transformations, imagining a kind of requiem for these ancient forms, and more specifically for the vocal and liturgical traditions stemming from various spiritualities. Vestiges is an attempt to summon these voices from the past, not to freeze them in a nostalgic posture, but to make them resonate in a different way – from a sensitive, almost mediumistic perspective. The twelve lap steel guitars become like relays, transmitters of sound memory, allowing these forms to reappear in a new light.

What adds an even more poignant dimension to the performance is the fact that it is being presented in the church of Saint-Denis – a site of magnificent architecture, steeped in history, but which is also beginning, in very real terms, to become an architectural relic. This context resonates perfectly with the theme of the work.

Musically, Vestiges is inspired by different forms of polyphonic vocal music, such as madrigals, choirs, Orthodox liturgical music and Gaelic psalmody.

Isak, tell me about Maxim Shalygin.

Maxim Shalygin is a Ukrainian-Dutch composer who has been living in the Netherlands since 2010. Like Olivier, he has a lot of experience of writing music for contexts outside the concert stage, such as film, dance or theatre – which perhaps explains, in my opinion, why their works share a certain atmosphere: a similar approach to space, sound and interiority.

What attracts you to his music? Why did you choose to play this piece (Angel) at this time?

The introspective nature of Shalygin’s music and its ability to evoke deep emotional landscapes resonate strongly with me. Angel, composed in 2020 during the global upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, reflects on humanity’s relationship with nature and the fragility of existence – it can be heard as a meditation on historical trauma. Performing this work today seems to me entirely appropriate, given what we are currently experiencing in the world.

How would you describe Angel’s sound? Can it be compared with other styles with which we are already familiar?

Angel offers listeners a delicate interplay between violin and cello: a meditative, ethereal soundscape. The work is inspired by Maurice Ravel’s Sonata for violin and cello, composed a century earlier in the wake of the First World War and the Spanish flu pandemic. As with Ravel, melody is at the heart of Shalygin’s expression, resulting in a work that I find both timeless and deeply human.

Any else to mention?

It’s interesting to underline the intersections of meaning between Angel and Vestiges d’Olivier, a 42-minute composition for twelve amplified lap steel guitars and electronic diffusion. There’s something very Shalyginian about the spectral vocality of Vestiges – this ghostly choir of echoes and reverberations floating between memory and oblivion. Each guitar, played with extensive and unconventional techniques, becomes a channel for fragments of sound, like echoes of forgotten voices: it’s perhaps reminiscent of another great Ukrainian masterpiece [Sergei Paradjanov’s Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors].

Vestiges draws on structural principles borrowed from madrigals, Orthodox liturgy, Gaelic psalms and chorales, to build a sound architecture rooted in the past while avoiding nostalgia. This emotional immediacy and attention to memory reminds me very much of Shalygin’s work; it is, for me, a fine example of convergent musical evolution.

I’m very grateful, in this project, for the opportunity to engage with works that challenge us musically and make us think about memory and the ephemeral nature of existence. As far as I’m concerned, music – and art in general – is a way of life.

Performers 

Angel by Maxim Shalygin : 

Adrianne Munden-Dixon, violin

Audreanne Filion, cello

Vestiges by Olivier Alary : 

Jonathan Barriault; Nicolas Caloia; Steven Cowan; Simon Duchesne; Ben Grossman; Marc-André Labelle; Dominic Marion; Pierre-Yves Martel; Matt Murphy; Jean René; Pascal Richard; Julien Sandiford – lap steel guitars

Isak Goldschneider, musical director

This Sunday, Fred Everything will take the stage from start to finish, playing only tracks that he has been involved with. Far from being a simple DJ set, this is an occasion to witness the culmination of a lifetime’s work—which, with over 250 releases to his name and over 100 releases on his label Lazy Days, is quite a deep crate to pull from. Having produced, remixed, and collaborated on various genres ranging across all styles of electronic music, his improvisatory approach on the decks could take us in any direction.

Fred Everything’s lasting formula is something to be studied. Over the last three decades, his contributions to electronic music as a producer, DJ, and founder of Lazy Days Records have cemented his reputation as an artist who is not only diverse but also consistent. With a show at Mutek last summer, a Juno nomination for Electronic Album of the Year only a couple of months ago, and now a Piknic takeover, Fred Everything continues to bear the fruits of his authenticity.

Curious to know more about the mind behind this tour de force, Fred Everything kindly shared with us a piece of his story—or of history, considering his monumental body of work. Here, he talks about his preparation for Sunday’s set, his humble beginnings, his perennial approach, and his recent interest in mentorship.

PAN M 360 : You’ll be celebrating 30 years since your first release and 25 years of Lazy Days. This is a big moment—how are you feeling?

Fred Everything : Great! Going through all the music for my set, it’s definitely a bit of an introspective and emotional process. There are things that I think stood the test of time, and some things that I would do differently, but it’s all part of the journey that got me to where I am so I’m here to embrace it!

PAN M 360 : It’s quite a feat playing the whole night, but if I’m correct, this is something you’ve done regularly at Salon Daomé. What does an extended set allow you to do that you can’t normally achieve in a regular time slot?

Fred Everything : For my generation of DJs and the DJs that came before me, it’s a normal process. We got used to play from beginning to end in a venue. Welcoming people, setting up the mood, trying different things towards the night, and the best part, sending people home with something to remember.

PAN M 360 : You’ve spoken about long blends and creative mixing—do you come into a set like Piknic with a strict plan, or do you prefer to read the energy and improvise?

Fred Everything : I’ve never played a planned set ever. That goes beyond my beliefs as what a DJ does. We’re here to create a curated experience based on moments and moods. Having said that, I have a special set prepared for Sunday that includes only music I’ve been involved with. Whether it’s as an A&R for Lazy Days with different artists from the label, or my own productions, collaborations, remixes or even If it’s someone that remixed one of my songs. I do have an idea of the mood I want to set for the beginning, middle and end of my set but that also could change!

PAN M 360 : It seems electronic music has always been at the heart of your musical exploration. I read somewhere that even in the very beginning, you went out and got yourself a SH101 and TR909 to play at raves. Can you point out what drew you to this medium?

Fred Everything : I’ve been buying instruments since I was legally able to work during the summer in high school. I washed dishes to buy my first synthesizer. The 101 and 909 were purchased for my own production. They were very cheap at the time, maybe 300$ for both — I still have my original red 101 I bought 35 years ago. I was always fascinated by electronic sounds, even as a kid. Drum machines, synthesizers and vocoders would instantly get my attention when played on the radio. I think from a very young age, I always wanted to work with machines. I was also part of the first wave of raves in Quebec City, so I was able to play live with my instruments back then.

PAN M 360 : Fred Everything is known for, well, doing a little bit of everything. It’s especially impressive considering you’ve been at it professionally for over 30 years. But maybe that’s the secret… What would you say has sustained your creative curiosity over all these years?

Fred Everything : Music is like this force I have inside of me. Even when I get disillusioned, I somehow always find strength to continue. I chose it but it also chose me. One of the things that keeps me going is also to know that I still have things to express and still music to discover, old and new. It will never fully end.

PAN M 360 : Your latest release, Love, Care, Kindness and Hope, which was nominated for a JUNO award this year, came out on vinyl. You’ve always maintained a connection with physical formats. What role does vinyl still play in your creative and listening process today?

Fred Everything : As with everything I do, It also came out digitally, but It was important to have an object to hold, as a testament to this body of work. A lot of people still love vinyl. At home, I almost exclusively listen to records and I love to continue buying and playing records as much as I can. This is where I come from. I wish I could press everything I do on vinyl, but it’s a bit hard these days to make it feasible.

PAN M 360 : Aside from being a producer and DJ, I’ve noticed you’re also very active as a mentor, with a strong presence on platforms such as Puremix, Station Clip, IO Music Academy, and Echio.co. Without giving away all the sauce, what kind of advice or guidance do you find yourself giving younger artists?

Fred Everything : While I was never a good student growing up, I was always interested in sharing my knowledge. During the pandemic, I started doing it more online and I got requests for private mentoring, which I did on and off for the past few years. For the most part, I try to share a more philosophical approach to making music rather than repeating the endless technical tutorials that are already online. I’m doing a class on remixing next Wednesday, May 28th, here in Montreal at Station Clip.

PAN M 360 : You’ve spent time in cities like San Francisco and London but Montreal seems to have a lasting pull. What is it about Montreal that keeps you anchored here now?

Fred Everything : I lived in London shortly in 1999 and San Francisco for 8 years until 10 years ago. I love to travel but the best part is always to come home. I’ve had my ups and downs with this city in the past but we’ve totally made up now and I think that even with all its flaws, Montreal remains one of the best cities in the world!

PAN M 360 : Finally, Lazy Days turns 20 this year—first of all, congratulations. What are your hopes for the next chapter of the label? Are there new directions, artists, or formats you’re excited to explore?

Fred Everything : Thanks! There are a lot of things coming up that I’m excited about, like a new album I made with my old friend and music partner Atjazz. I’m also happy to keep releasing music from a lot of talented friends on the label and hopefully discover new talents on the way!

Sources

MUTEK artist profile

Puremix

Resident AdvisorOm records

Presented by the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, this Sunday, May 25 concert at Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours is a “vibrant tribute to Vancouver composer Jocelyn Morlock, who passed away prematurely in 2023, with a moving program built around her memory, featuring works by Samy Moussa, Rita Ueda and Tanya Tagaq. Simon Bertrand, composer and artistic director of the SMCQ, explains his choices.

 

“The late Jocelyn Morlock (1969-2023), a leading figure in Canadian concert music and winner of numerous awards, including a Juno Award for her piece My Name is Amanda Todd, dedicated to the memory of a young student who was the victim of harassment, was an outstanding composer, as evidenced by “a powerful catalog of works combining lightness and depth in a highly lyrical and personal musical language”.

PAN M 360: How do their works relate to those of the deceased?

Simon Bertrand: This concert was conceived as a kind of ritual in memory of Jocelyn Morlock. The works by Moussa and Ueda were commissioned by the SMCQ with the specific request of being “in memoriam” to Jocelyn Morlock, something made easy by the fact that both composers admired her work, as does Luis Ramirez. As for Tanya Tagaq’s powerful piece, it was all about dramatic effect, as the work is very disturbing. For it is a tribute to life, death, light and darkness.

PAN M 360: Why and how did Jocelyn Morlock make her mark?

Simon Bertrand: Through her music, which is both simple and complex, technically or emotionally, and through her humanist testimony, notably with her iconic piece My name is Amanda Todd, and her generous, empathetic approach to the music world.

PAN M 360: What are her most important works?

Simon Bertrand: In addition to “My name is Amanda Todd”, Exaudi is on the program for Sunday’s concert, and she considered it one of her best pieces.

PAN M 360: Why did you name this program Aurore solennelle?

Simon Bertrand: The theme of this season’s three portraits of female composers (Saariaho, Lizée, Morlock), on the sidelines of the MNM Festival, was the northern lights, in connection with what we experienced in 2024.

Morlock’s two works on the program are The uses of solitude, for flute, harp and viola, and the poignant Exaudi for solo cello and choir. The former is one of the composer’s very last works. It receives its Quebec premiere from Trio Kalysta (Lara Deutsch, flute; Marina Thibeault, viola; Emily Belvedere, harp). The second piece is performed by soloist Chloé Dominguez, principal cello of the Ensemble de la SMCQ and singers from the Voces Boreales ensemble, directed by Andrew Gray.

This concert will be dedicated to the cause of mental health among musicians.

PAN M 360: Why did you choose Exaudi and The Uses of Solitude for this program?

Simon Bertrand: Exaudi is a deeply moving work and a great success, both in terms of the vocal writing and the solo cello part. The Uses of Solitude is one of the last, if not the last, work she composed, and is a reflection on the loneliness engendered by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has caused much suffering in the musical and performing arts in general.

PAN M 360: Beyond the above description, what else can we say about the forms of each work by the composers invited to this tribute program?

Simon Bertrand: Samy has composed a work that is a very simple song for solo oboe that exudes melancholy and solitude. It almost becomes a character in the context of this concert, where there are more and more musicians on stage. Then the Kalysta trio plays two works, and gradually we move towards vocal music, with the oboe becoming English horn and the strings mingling with ritual in Ueda’s work, which is both moving and magical at the same time. The climax is Morlock’s Exaudi, followed by the return of the initial chant from Moussa’s solo oboe. It’s a kind of musical dramaturgy in tribute to Jocelyn.

Participants

Lara Deutsch, flûte; Marina Thibeault, alto; Emily Belvedere, harpe

Program

Samy Moussa

Création

hautbois

Luis Ramirez

flûte, alto et harpe

Jocelyn Morlock

Première (Québec)

flûte, alto et harpe

Tanya Tagaq

Arr. Jacob Garchik

quatuor à cordes

Rita Ueda

Création

cor anglais, quatuor à cordes et ensemble vocal

Jocelyn Morlock

violoncelle et ensemble vocal (9)

This week at Festival Classica, violinist, conductor, and composer Guy Braunstein brings a bold reimagining of the Beatles’ final studio album to Quebec audiences with the North American premiere of his Abbey Road Concerto. Scored for solo violin and orchestra, the piece reimagines material from the Beatles’ Abbey Road as a through-composed concerto—eschewing nostalgia in favor of transformation. Performed by the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières under Alain Trudel, the concerto offers a striking reinterpretation of beloved songs like “Come Together” and “Here Comes the Sun,” refracted through Braunstein’s distinctive symphonic language.

PAN M 360: Good morning, Maestro Braunstein. Is now a good time?

Guy Braunstein: It was—until you called me “Maestro.” Just call me Guy. My mother strongly recommends it.

PAN M 360: Well Guy, you must be very excited about the North American premiere of your Abbey Road Concerto. I know we all are.

Guy Braunstein: You bet.

PAN M 360: So how many times have you performed this concerto now so far?

Guy Braunstein: Around ten, maybe more. In several countries. I also recorded it for a CD, so yes—it’s got some miles on it.

PAN M 360: And how has the reception been?

Guy Braunstein: People go crazy. I’ve done a lot of transcriptions—Tchaikovsky, Dvořák, operatic stuff—but this is different. The audience reacts very differently compared to a standard violin concerto. It’s a whole other experience.

PAN M 360: You’ve said this isn’t just an arrangement, but a full-scale concerto. How did it all begin?

Guy Braunstein: Totally unplanned. About six years ago, my son—he was six at the time—got infected with Beatlemania. He discovered the Beatles and became obsessed. He’d keep asking me to play Beatles songs for him on the violin.

PAN M 360: So you started with a few sketches?

Guy Braunstein: Exactly. I made some short encore pieces, just for fun. But then the pandemic hit and suddenly I had a lot of time. I thought, “Why not make a proper arrangement of one Beatles tune—with piano accompaniment?” So I started listening to their late albums, and when I got to Abbey Road, I had a problem: I liked everything. I couldn’t choose.

PAN M 360: So what did you do?

Guy Braunstein: I said, “To hell with it—I’ll take the whole bloody thing.” And I started writing a full-blown concerto for solo violin and orchestra.

PAN M 360: Abbey Road already has a sort of symphonic architecture. Did that influence your decision to orchestrate it?

Guy Braunstein: Sure, it’s not just about loving the music. I love Led Zeppelin too, but I can’t do anything with their music on the violin. Abbey Road, though—I could hear how it could work orchestrally. It offered so much possibility.

PAN M 360: How did you approach arranging the album? What was your process?

Guy Braunstein: Normally I start with a full orchestral score and maybe make a piano reduction later. But this time, I began at the piano—just playing through the songs, exploring textures. Then I orchestrated. I had a plan, but I had to revise it constantly.

For instance, I added a bass trombone to mimic Paul McCartney’s powerful bass lines. Nothing else could replace that sound. The bass trombonist is going to be very busy tonight.

PAN M 360: The first half of the concert includes other arrangements of Beatles songs, right?

Guy Braunstein: That’s right yes. I haven’t heard that part yet.

PAN M 360: You’re not the first to orchestrate Beatles music—what sets your approach apart?

Guy Braunstein: I know I’m not the first. People have been arranging Beatles tunes since they were still active. But I’ve done this in a purely classical way. A few conductors have said it’s more classical than Rhapsody in Blue. It’s not a crossover piece—it’s a concerto.

And I’ll let you in on a secret: the violin part is brutally difficult. A couple of years ago, I played the Sibelius, Abbey Road, and Tchaikovsky concertos three weeks in a row. Sibelius and Tchaikovsky are tough, but Abbey Road was far more demanding.

PAN M 360: Did working so closely with the music change your relationship to it?

Guy Braunstein: I grew up in Tel Aviv in the ’70s. Everything got to Israel ten years late, so I basically grew up with the Beatles—listening to LPs, radio. It was already part of my musical DNA. But when you dig into something that deeply, you always rediscover it.

PAN M 360: I imagine you noticed details you’d never picked up before?

Guy Braunstein: Absolutely. After the first symphonic performance, I recorded it and went back to the studio. I made a lot of revisions. Technology can help you imagine things, but it doesn’t replace real people playing music. I’ve had the luxury of refining it after hearing it live, which is very much in line with how classical composers worked.

PAN M 360: I’ve been reading Geoff Emerick’s book—he talks about the Beatles’ studio experiments, like George Harrison’s discovery of the Moog synthesizer on Abbey Road. How it added such a rich, orchestral texture was a totally novel sound at the time.

Guy Braunstein: Yes—and that curiosity is what made them great. I saw some of Peter Jackson’s Get Back doc and also the Bernstein biopic with Bradley Cooper. Totally different musicians, but they had that same drive: curiosity ready to explode. That’s what separates good musicians from great ones. They’re always hungry. The Beatles could’ve stayed in their comfort zone, making hits like “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” but they pushed boundaries instead. They could’ve made a fortune repeating themselves, but they chose to evolve. That’s why they remain the most fascinating pop group ever.

PAN M 360: And that’s why your concerto feels so fresh—it gives people a new way to hear something they thought they already knew.

Guy Braunstein: Let’s hope the audience feels that way tonight.

PAN M 360: I imagine the orchestra enjoys the change of pace too?

Guy Braunstein: You’d think it’s a break from Stravinsky, but no—they’ll be sweating tonight. It’s hard work.

Hayti Lives, Vox Sambou’s sixth album, was launched a few weeks ago, but Vox Sambou was still out of the country. No problem, we finally got in touch with this hard-working artist, associated with the excellent composite group Nomadic Massive and also a solo singer-songwriter from Montreal, originally from Limbé, a municipality near Cap-Haïtien in the north of the island. A written conversation with a key figure in Montreal’s Afro-descendant culture.

PAN M 360: Hayti Lives is both a poetic and activist project. How can a critical or even militant stance become art in 2025?

Vox Sambou: As a musician, I always feel guided by the timeless words of the great musician Nina Simone: “An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times in which he lives. I think that applies to painters, sculptors, poets, musicians… For me, it’s a personal choice. But I’ve chosen to reflect my times and the situations I find myself in. To me, this is my duty.

PAN M 360: There’s so much to say about Hayti right now, which is struggling with an incredible social, economic and political curse. What are the themes of your new songs?

Vox Sambou: In my new songs for the Hayti Lives project, I tackle the themes of love, unity and resistance. It’s not a curse that strikes Haiti, but a persistent injustice. I’m writing these words to you from Limbé, northern Haiti, where I see hope in the faces of shopkeepers, teachers and young schoolchildren. Everyday reality is a lesson in resilience. Michel Vastel’s article, published in 2003, reveals a little-known truth: the Ottawa Initiative on Haiti shows the active role played by certain countries, including Canada and France, in the political destabilization of the country. France, above all, refuses to pay the ransom for independence, a debt imposed on Haiti for having dared to liberate itself. This is the real tragedy.

PAN M 360: Can you choose 3 to 5 songs and describe in more detail the choice of subject and the poetic approach?

Vox Sambou: 

Eritaj :This song is a declaration of identity and memory. Through the words “Istwa nou, memwa nou se zam nou pou’n pa peri”, I want to insist on the fact that the Haitian heritage, its history, its culture, its resistance is a powerful weapon against erasure. It’s a subject rooted in a process of intergenerational transmission and reaffirmation of Haiti’s African roots. I used rhythms from the oral tradition.

Sergo: Sergo pays tribute to my mother and to all the Haitian women in the country’s history. These women are pillars of the economy, education and resistance, from independence in 1804 to the present day. The name Sergo is a symbol of dignity, courage and strength. With my musicians, I was able to work on petro percussion rhythms, Congolese influences and hip-hop. My dearest wish is to celebrate the living memory of these women through a constantly rising musical energy.

Kriminèl: This song was born of a sense of urgency about the continuing instability in Haiti. It denounces the violence imposed by the international community, but above all, it calls for collective awareness and citizen resistance. I’m calling on the population to wake up. My approach is based on the repetition and rhythmic intensity of Haitian percussion (particularly petro rhythms), amplified by Congolese, hip-hop and Afrobeat influences to create this song.

Voyaje: The inspiration for this song came in 2017 at the Helsinki World Music Festival, when I opened for Trinidad and Tobago music icon Calypso Rose. It’s a song that evokes the journey of identity, that of children of the African diaspora seeking to reconnect with their roots.

PAN M 360: As a French speaker who has spent time in Haiti, I have a partial understanding of Creole (the language of expression on this album, with some exceptions in French), but I’d like to know if you have any poetic models in Creole literature.

Vox Sambou: Ever since I was a child growing up in Limbé, Haiti, I’ve been immersed in Haitian literature. Those who have influenced me most are Oswald Durand and Frankétienne. The former, a 19th-century poet, gave the Haitian language its letters of nobility with texts like Choucoune, celebrating love and popular culture. Frankétienne, a prolific 20th-century writer and founder of spiralism, combines poetry, chaos and revolt to express the complexity of the Haitian soul. These two poets nourish my writing and my artistic commitment.

PAN M 360: How can you make Haitian Creole attractive to non-Creole speakers?

Vox Sambou: The Haitian language is already profoundly rich and attractive. For me, the best way to make it more accessible is through music, a universal language. Through my songs, I use the Haitian language to challenge our societies, raise awareness, uplift our humanity and share love.

PAN M 360: So that non-Creoles can learn more about Creolophony in song, can you tell us about your approach as a songwriter?

Vox Sambou: As an artist, I don’t impose a particular style or language on myself. For example, the chorus of the song Goumen (“to fight”) first came to me in Portuguese; I simply chose to translate it into Haitian, guided by inspiration, rhythm and message, while respecting the sounds and languages that are part of me.

PAN M 360: How do you distinguish between your solo work and your collective work, especially with Nomadic Massive? Where are the differences, the distinctions, the stylistic choices?

Vox Sambou: Nomadic Massive remains one of my great schools of life. From 2004 to 2017, I lived and shared extraordinary moments of learning, performing and artistic fraternity. This collective enabled me to develop a strong musical and political awareness. The Vox Sambou project, on the other hand, is more personal: it draws on traditional Haitian music, with a style less focused on hip-hop and more oriented towards the fusion of Afro-descendant rhythms. It’s a more intimate space, one of reflection and direct connection with my roots.

PAN M 360: Several musicians contributed to this album. Can you explain the recruitment process?

Vox Sambou: For this project, I began by working on the musical foundations with Canadian-Congolese drummer and percussionist Lionel Kizaba, before inviting the other members of my group. My approach is organic.

PAN M 360: Who are your core collaborators? In the studio? On stage?

Vox Sambou: I’ve been working with a loyal and talented team for over 15 years. In the studio and on stage, my core team remains almost the same. David Ryshpan (keyboards), Jean-Daniel Thibeault-Desbiens (drums), Diégal Léger (bass), Rommel Ribeiro (guitar), Rémi Cormier (trumpet), Malika Tirolien (vocals), Ronald Nazaire (percussion), Frank O Sullivan (guitar) and Lionel Kizaba (percussionist and drummer) are my close collaborators. With them, I’ve built up a musical and human complicity that nurtures the artistic coherence of all my projects.

PAN M 360: Who did the arrangements and production? What were you looking for?

Vox Sambou: I composed and worked out the basic structures of the tracks myself, leaving room for intuition and the soul of the rhythms. Subsequently, Rémi Cormier and Modibo Keita added their touch on certain brass sections, while Malika Tirolien signed some striking keyboard and guitar arrangements, notably on the song Kriminèl. My aim is to give the project a richness of sound that respects both my roots and my musical intentions.

PAN M 360: The musical subject of this album is said to be a meeting between the Caribbean islands (especially Haiti) and Central Africa (especially Congo): why is that?

Vox Sambou: I want to honor our cultural heritage. This album invites the children of the diaspora to reclaim their roots through the unifying power of art. I sincerely believe that art is the only bridge capable of reconnecting Africa’s scattered youth to their homeland, and thus offering them peace!

PAN M 360: The stylistic choices are eclectic: rara rhythms, voodoo, dancehall, afrobeat, soukouss, rap kreyol, afro-jazz, etc…. How would you describe yourself?

Vox Sambou: I make traditional Haitian music fused with jazz and hip-hop

PAN M 360: You’ve chosen an instrumental approach, so there’s very little electronics in your work? It’s simply a matter of taste? Can you describe your musical garden? What makes you tick the most?

Vox Sambou: I’ve always been drawn to an organic, instrumental approach. I’m drawn to drums, human voices, brass blasts and deep-rooted rhythms. My musical garden is the land of Haiti, nourished by echoes from Africa, the Caribbean and the streets of Montreal. It’s a place where tradition and innovation meet, where every sound carries a story, a cry, a living memory. Above all, I seek to create links, to make people vibrate.

PAN M 360: What are your next projects, solo or otherwise? Shows and others?

Vox Sambou: On May 17, we launched the Hayti Lives album in São Paulo, an important milestone in this new project. In June, we’ll continue with concerts in Rio de Janeiro, then head off for a series of dates in Europe. This summer, we’ll also be touring Western Canada. Whether in Canada or abroad, each performance is an opportunity to forge links, carry our messages and celebrate the richness of Afro-descendant cultures.

Conductor Francis Choinière wanted to celebrate the end of the Orchestre Philharmonique et Chœur des Mélomanes’ (OPCM) tenth season with the Holy Grail of any self-respecting conductor and orchestra: a Mahler symphony. In this case, the Second, entitled Resurrection, which will be performed at the Maison symphonique de Montréal on Saturday 24 May at 7.30pm. 

I spoke to the conductor who, despite his growing experience, is still in the ‘young’ category. Will he ever grow old? Haha. 

Mahler, Resurrection Symphony, conducted by Leonard Bernstein

For eight years now, Exposé Noir has been a steady undercurrent in Montrealʼs underground scene, quietly shaping spaces where music, visuals, and community coalesce. We talked with M, one of the two core organizers of the project, to talk about its beginnings, their curatorial approach, and how theyʼve navigated the shifting tides of the local electronic music landscape.

PAN M 360: Exposé Noir has been part of Montreal’s underground for nearly a decade. Could you take us back to its beginnings? What was this part that pushed you to create and what kind of space were you dreaming of back then? So, take us back to the beginning. What was the spark and what kind of space were we trying to create?

M : So the project basically began in 2017. It was not my brainchild, but the one of my co-organizer, who came up with this concept that was very much inspired by the underground culture in Europe that he wasnʼt necessarily seeing here in Montreal, where it takes electronic music but infuses different layers of visual art and design for a more intentionally curated experience. From A to Z, from when you arrive to what the space is to what kind of artists youʼre booking. So, yeah, I would say it was kind of born from that, like, “okay, hereʼs something that we donʼt necessarily have on a large scale that could be cool to import.ˮ

We were introduced to each other by chance. He didnʼt have any organization experience but had a vision of what he wanted to do, and after coming to a loft party I had organized, got in touch, asked me if I like techno. I love techno. So we didnʼt know each other at all, but we started meeting, and we kind of got really lucky for our first event. The stars aligned.

Through a mutual connection, we got access to the Darling Foundry, which is actually pretty hard to book, and we got a DJ who is now not necessarily our style but at the time was more underground, Amelie Lens. She is now one of the biggest names in techno music, so we got her just at the right time when she had a lot of hype but wasnʼt yet unaffordable or too commercial. Things came together nicely, and it was definitely a big mess, but ultimately we pulled through, and we thought: “okay, thatʼs cool. Whatʼs next?ˮ. So since then, opportunities aligned, and we kept it going, defining our approach in the process.

PAN M 360: This is very elaborate, thank you. And it follows perfectly with the second question: Over the years, how have you witnessed the techno and experimental electronic music scene in Montreal evolve? So like you were talking with that DJ, that initially was interesting and then maybe you were looking for something else. Has Exposé Noir always grown alongside, or sometimes against these changes?

M: I definitely think itʼs 100% alongside. I would have to think hard to find ways in which we’ve gone against the changes. I would say we’ve been a part of them. At the beginning we were newbies, but now we’re part of a kind of wave of organizers. In my head I’m still this new organizer, but then people start coming to me for advice, like promoters that are 10 years younger than you, and you realize youʼre an old one now. It really happens without you noticing. I’ve seen the scene here evolving in a lot of really positive ways – I would say pretty much only positive. Thereʼs maybe some ways in which it’s gotten worse, but thatʼs more universal, for example, the influence of social media and the big tech companies on how we consume information and what information is consumed, and how that shapes culture in certain ways.

I’ve seen the scene professionalized in a lot of really positive ways, not in the sense that itʼs gotten more commercial, but in the sense that things like safety and information sharing between organizers has changed dramatically. There used to be a lot of gatekeeping, and people would get away with doing all sorts of things. Whereas now thereʼs a lot more transparency, thereʼs a lot more cooperation. I work all the time with other organizers that do disco parties and bass music parties, stuff thatʼs completely different. But we all know that we’re working towards the same goal. So Iʼve seen it take a really positive direction. Obviously, there are always ways to improve, but the trend for me has been positive.

PAN M 360: Exposé Noir lineups have always struck a delicate balance between local and international acts. How do you approach curation, and what kinds of conversations do you hope to open between these different communities?

M: Yeah, itʼs a great question. I mean, I think one maybe more critical perspective of our events that is sometimes raised, which I think has validity to it, is the fact that weʼre very oriented towards international artists. Most of our parties are at least half or majority local, but sometimes they end up being more international, like this one. My perspective though is that itʼs not always just about quantity, itʼs also about giving a really high-quality platform to artists. Thatʼs a big thing of what weʼre trying to do. Weʼre not just going to book our friends all the time, weʼre gonna try to find the perfect opportunity to book someone in a way that weʼre really excited about. So rather than it just being another gig, weʼre trying to make the best possible platform for artists to meet and play with other amazing artists from all around the world. We often see people citing our parties as one of their achievements on their profile, and that helps them maybe get other gigs.

PAN M 360: This upcoming four days feels like both an expansion and a culmination. What inspired you to take this bold step now, with the Belvedere experience, even though youʼve done it before? And how does this event reflect where you and Exposé Noir are at today?

M: We have a really amazing team! Some people are more central and some people are more indirectly involved—but at the core, itʼs just two people. We kind of have a dynamic where one of us will be the unrealistic dreamer, and the other one will be like: “Okay, no, letʼs come down to reality.ˮ Itʼs often a push and pull, and we take turns.

This time it was my partner who was going crazy, and there was the Wire festival in New York that was bringing in a lot of amazing artists to the region. So it just kept piling up, and then thereʼs a thing where when you get a certain number of artists on board, other artists will see that and go, “oh, I want to play at that party.ˮ It quickly became this runaway train where it was originally just going to be a weekend, then it was three days, and then we added the Monday. At first it was a dream, and then we thought: “okay, we dug ourselves into this hole. How do we dig ourselves out?ˮ

PAN M 360: Representation, diversity, and safer spaces have always been part of your DNA. Beyond the buzzwords, how do you personally navigate these questions when building spaces that are truly welcoming and transformative?

M: I think itʼs a really good question because these concepts can be a double-edged sword in the way that they can be tokenized. You can see this happening in certain organizations, like Pride for example. Theyʼve become this big establishment in Montreal, and even though their mandate is supposedly diversity, theyʼre bullying smaller groups of people within these communities. Weʼre happy because when you look at the data of our bookings, a huge percentage are gender minorities or racial minorities, like a majority. But thatʼs never at the front end of our goals. What I think is most important is to really shine a light on the contributions of these different communities. We look at the amazing contributions that Black arts in a certain region have done or that queer artist from another place and giving them the space on the platform.

We also want our life not to be boring too. You see more dated promoters—itʼll just be like six white guys with the same haircut and wearing black T-shirts, like I am right now. So we need to be self-aware that weʼre not always experts on everything. And when youʼre open to all the cool shit thatʼs going on, like the crazy Mamba Negra parties happening in Brazil or the Mjunta shit theyʼre doing in Berlin—just being aware of amazing shit happening is gonna inspire you as a programmer and make your life a lot easier.

PAN M 360: The spaces youʼve been in—like the raw industrial souls of the Belvedere —always feel deeply tied to the experience you craft. How do you see the relationship between the physical environment, the sound, and the collective energy of the crowd?

M: I personally have always viewed the space as one of the main headliners. In fiction, thereʼs an interesting perspective where you can look at inanimate objects or things like the wind or a place as a character. And I find that really interesting— to think of space as almost having its own agency. You can think of it almost as another artist on your lineup. Itʼs something that attracts people, but itʼs also something that frames your work. Like when we use new venues, which we often are looking to do, then itʼs a whole new puzzle. It forces us to rethink the flow of things. But take an existing venue like the science center here, and itʼs like, “okay, weʼve done it a few times already. How do we take it to the next level?ˮ Thereʼs always new challenges and opportunities with each space, and obviously, we take the visual aspect very seriously, so we put a huge effort into finding new venues. Itʼs a lot more time-consuming than one might think.

PAN M 360: Beyond the dance floor, Exposé Noir has become a kind of gathering point for a wider community of artists, activists, and dreamers. How do you see your role, not just as an organizer, but as a cultural worker supporting local ecosystems and voices?

M: Itʼs definitely something important to keep in mind. A festival like this—thereʼs at least 50 or 60 people on the payroll and a good core of like 30 people working for us every month. Weʼve become like an employer in a way, which is kind of crazy, so thatʼs cool in terms of, I think thatʼs something thatʼs often overlooked. So thereʼs a really cool economic thing happening where people might have trouble getting a 9-to-5 but have amazing skills to contribute.

In terms of the culture, honestly, I have no idea, because there is a kind of deliberately aloof approach. Itʼs really not about trying to make you a certain way or promote a certain look. I love that I walk into my parties and I see people of all walks of life. You know, I see young, crusty artists, I see people in their 60s having a great time, I see young professionals letting loose. I think the broader culture thatʼs really cool—that we are honored to be a part of—is night culture and how it provides a really amazing space for people to be themselves more, or at least explore other parts of themselves. So if we can provide that kind of space successfully, then I would say thatʼs the thing that Iʼm very grateful to do.

PAN M 360: Running an independent, community-rooted project for this long is no small feat. Weʼre all aware of this. What have been the hardest lessons or moments of doubt youʼve faced over the years, and what keeps you going?

M: Thereʼs definitely a lot of challenges, and weʼre constantly joking or seriously talking about hanging up our gloves or whatever you say. This will be our last year in full operation, and what 2026 holds, I donʼt know. Weʼre not closing the door, but certainly, the health and financial aspects have been hard. Itʼs hard on your relationships. For an event like this, not only am I here for four days, Iʼm here weeks before working nonstop, and not every friendship or romantic relationship is compatible with that. Weʼre lucky to have partners that are, but that wasnʼt always the case. So thereʼs a personal cost, and even financially, people see a huge event and they assume weʼre rolling in it, but the reality is weʼre scraping by. On the positive side, weʼre trying to make our events also for ourselves and for our staff—healthier spaces where wellness is at the center. Planning things better, offering nice quality espresso and fruits in order to take care of ourselves and our team more. But ultimately, itʼs not sustainable forever.

At a certain point, itʼs like we had our run, and it will leave room for others. You leave a vacuum, and you let other people fill it. I remember you were mentioning the day parties also, which is something that is an option, especially as we get older. Day parties are great, and it fits into a broader view of night culture that I fully support. I think we should make a different word for nightlife that includes day parties since theyʼre part of the same culture. I would love it if from Friday to Monday morning, you can go out at any time and the parties are gonna be great. You can go sober, you can sleep, you can stay up all night. Thatʼs what I would love to see.

PAN M 360: Past editions have also opened up to art installations. Like in the previous edition in the Belvedere. What conversations do you hope to spark by weaving together music, visual art, and new technologies within the same space?

M: I donʼt know how much we go into new technology. I would say weʼre almost a bit old-school in our approach. Everything we do could have been done in the 90s. Weʼre definitely not that original or maybe not even that innovative in a way. Some things are just timeless. For example, we almost never use visual projections. Thatʼs just our personal tastes. Unless thereʼs a really specific installation—for example, when we did our three-day event last year, we had a photo exhibition by Sven Marquardt. Then there was a live set from MMSI with visuals by Deograph on butcher curtains, and that was in a way innovative. But usually, weʼre working with a bunch of fog machines and a bunch of lights that we build internally and design internally. Itʼs just things that work, things that you can do yourself and create this elaborate and impressive effect with minimal costs.

That kind of multidisciplinary aspect has always been important to us from the beginning. As I was saying, weʼve done a really amazing runway show with a young designer, Jesse Colucci, who runs Process Visual, with the Festival International du Film sur lʼArt, and with Cinema Erotica. It was really fun to first of all, create something really unexpected for people that they donʼt often see in electronic music events. Weʼre lucky that we have this discipline of throwing events that people are going to come to regardless, because itʼs the party, itʼs whatʼs going on. People go out. They donʼt necessarily have that privilege in the worlds of film and visual art. Itʼs hard to get more than 100 people in the gallery. So weʼre able to take these people and expose them to really cool vintage black and-white photography or a trippy-ass experimental movie. Of course, when we do these things, I have a certain nervousness. Is it going to make sense? Is it going to work? Youʼre taking a leap of faith, but if you find really talented people, you can just trust them—theyʼre gonna get the assignment, and theyʼre gonna do it right.

PAN M 360: Looking ahead, whether or not this is a turning point for Exposé Noir, what are the questions, dreams, challenges that still drive you? Are there new territories you feel like you want to explore?

M: Definitely, weʼre always trying to switch it up to not get bored of the project, so we’re always challenging ourselves. Thereʼs a certain Sisyphean element to that where our team is getting better and weʼre getting more experienced, but the event itself is getting more complex. Itʼs this treadmill thatʼs always getting faster. We never want to be the people that just do the same thing with a party over and over. We want to make our last year as special as we can so that hopefully by the end of it, weʼll have created strong memories and feelings that will be carried on into the future.

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Le violoniste Sergey et la pianiste Lusine Khachatryan, frère et sœur, mènent chacun carrières de soliste à l’échelle internationale et se retrouvent sporadiquement en duo pour y interpréter des œuvres du grand répertoire et intégrer à leurs programmes des œuvres arméniennes modernes ou contemporaines. Issus d’une famille de musiciens d’Erevan où ils sont nés, Sergey et Lusine tiennent immanquablement à faire découvrir et savourer les œuvres des meilleurs compositeurs de leur nation, il sera question cette fois d’Arno Babajanian (1921-1983), qui fut aussi un pianiste de très haut niveau.

Rappelons au demeurant que Sergey Khachatryan a remporté le Premier Prix du VIIIe Concours international Jean Sibelius à Helsinki en 2000, et le Grand Prix du Concours Reine Elisabeth à Bruxelles en 2005.Quant à Lusine Khachatryan, elle est lauréate du Concours International de Piano à « Città di Ostra» (Italie 2023).Inutile de souligner que toustes deux se sont produit.e.s sur les plus grandes scènes d’Europe, d’Asie et d’Amérique.

Avant leur passage attendu du tandem à Montréal, soit ce dimanche à la Salle Pierre-Mercure dans un programme mis de l’avant par Pro Musica, Lusine Khachatryan répond aux questions d’Alain Brunet pour PAN M 360.

PAN M 360: Vous avez choisi d’interpréter une œuvre d’Arno Babadjanian. Vous avez également enregistré des œuvres de Komitas, d’Eduard Bagdasarian, d’Aram Khatchaturyan et d’autres encore, j’imagine. Pourquoi celle-ci, en ce dimanche à Montréal ?

Lusine Khachatryan: Nous avons décidé de créer un programme composé de deux sonates de Beethoven et deux sonates du 20ème siècle. La Sonate pour violon et piano d´Arno Babadjanian est une fantastique sonate, pour nous est une des meilleures sonates du 20ème siècle. Les compositions de ces trois génies sont influencées par leur origines, mais finalement toutes ces œuvres d´art deviennent universelles à travers le langage musical. Langage qui défie toute frontière.

PAN M 360 : Y a-t-il un danger pour vos carrières respectives si votre réputation est exclusivement liée à votre identité arménienne ? Cherchez-vous un équilibre entre l’Arménien qui est en vous et votre capacité à interpréter l’ensemble du répertoire ?

Lusine Khachatryan: En effet nous sommes arméniens, cela fait partie de notre identité. Mais en tant qu’artistes, le langage musical est notre façon de communiquer avec le monde et c’est un langage qui est universel.

PAN M 360: On peut aussi deviner qu’il existe une grande et solide tradition d’interprétation et de haute virtuosité du côté arménien, comme Sergei Babayan (classique) ou Tigran Hamasyan (jazz). Une source d’inspiration ?

Lusine Khachatryan: Oui, c’est vrai. Il a beaucoup de merveilleux musiciens et artistes arméniens. On pourrait en nommer indéfiniment. Personnellement, je m’inspire énormément des compositeurs et aussi d’autres formats comme le théâtre et la peinture par exemple. C’est ainsi que mon projet de piano – théâtre est né. En m’inspirant pour créer quelque chose de nouveau, pas seulement musicalement mais aussi visuellement. 

PAN M 360: Retournez-vous régulièrement à Erevan ? Quelle est, selon vous, l’ambiance après les récentes souffrances du peuple arménien dans le Haut-Karabagh (Artsakh) ?

Lusine Khachatryan: Nous voyageons en Arménie tous les ans, pour rendre visite à notre famille, à nos amis et pour jouer en concert. Cette année, nous aurons l’occasion de jouer, même deux fois, en tant que solistes. Après la perte d’Artsakh, l’ambiance en Arménie était profondément triste. Nous sommes toujours très inquiets des attaques constantes de la part de l’Azerbaïdjan à la République d’Arménie. Ce qui est également inquiétant, c’est la propagande qui continue à s’exercer contre les Arméniens : l’idée de l’Azerbaïdjan de l’ouest, le déni de l’identité arménienne, la propagande dans les écoles. Tout cela est extrêmement inquiétant. La relation entre l’Azerbaïdjan et la Turquie, pays qui jusqu’à aujourd’hui continue de nier le génocide arménien. Il y a beaucoup de chemin à faire vers la paix, et pour l’instant, la situation n’est pas très prometteuse. 

PAN M 360 : Quelle importance accordez-vous à votre travail en duo par rapport à vos carrières en solo ?

Lusine Khachatryan: Travailler en duo avec mon frère a ouvert beaucoup d’horizons pour moi, musicalement et personnellement. C’est une collaboration d’une grande valeur pour moi. Un espace familier où je me sens en sécurité, libre et très appréciée. Il règne entre nous une ambiance non compétitive, nous évoluons dans une zone qui n’est pas minée par l’ambition individuelle. Nos personnalités sont très différentes mais nos valeurs musicales sont très similaires, d’où le rôle et l’influence musicale de nos parents.

Artistiquement parlant, la musique est toujours notre première priorité. Ni notre carrière, ni notre persona. C’est toujours la musique qui doit prendre la parole, qui doit être la protagoniste. Bien sûr, cette mentalité, cette manière d’aborder la musique et l’interprétation a un côté positif mais comporte aussi beaucoup d’inconvénients dans le monde actuel. Un monde tellement concentré sur l’individualisme.

M 360: Quels ont été vos professeurs les plus influents ? Les plus grands interprètes de piano et de violon ?

Lusine Khachatryan: Notre première et principale influence ont été nos parents. Tous les deux sont musiciens, pianistes formidables. Par après nous avons beaucoup appris de nos professeurs au conservatoire: professeur Sontraud Speidel et professeur Dr. Saule Tatubaeva dans mon cas. Sergey a étudié avec plusieurs professeurs mais le professeur qui a vraiment marqué son apprentissage en tant que violoniste est Josef Rissin. 

PAN M 360: Avez-vous des compositeurs ou des œuvres préférés dans le répertoire classique ou contemporain ?

Lusine Khachatryan: Je suis devenue pianiste grâce à Chopin. Je considérais mon âme sœur dans le monde musical. Maintenant mes préférences et mon goût musical ont un peu changé. Je m’intéresse beaucoup et je suis très inspirée par les impressionnistes et la musique du 20 et du 21e siècle. Les compositeurs contemporains sont aussi très intéressants. L’année dernière, par exemple, j’ai joué la première à Paris d’une œuvre composée par Sona Talian In A-Mur. Pouvoir travailler avec elle et participer à la naissance et à la création de cette pièce m’a beaucoup inspirée.

PAN M 360: Comment avez-vous mis en place le programme de Montréal ?

Lusine Khachatryan: Nous voulions présenter deux époques contrastantes, deux ambiances. La première sonate de Beethoven et la sonate de Debussy ont plus en commun que la Sonate n.4 de Beethoven par exemple. La quatrième sonate de Beethoven est pleine de désespoir, d’inquiétude et de turbulence. Elle peut être comparable à la sonate de Babadjanian qui transmet un certain esprit tragique et combattant. 

La première sonate de Beethoven et la sonate de Debussy par contre se caractérisent par une certaine légèreté et insouciance. Elles se caractérisent toutes les deux par cet élément flottant, presque céleste. Debussy a composé la sonate juste avant sa mort, et elle transmet loin du tragique un sentiment presque de joie. Peut-être l’anticipation de la séparation du monde physique et matériel. 

Si notre programme devait être un tableau, ce serait un tableau de Vermeer pour moi. Avec des motifs plus obscurs, les ombres et puis des couleurs pleines de lumière qui éblouit le regard.

PROGRAMME

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN, Sonate pour violon et piano No. 1 en ré majeur, op.12

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN, Sonate pour violon et piano No. 4 en la mineur, op.23

-ENTRACTE-

CLAUDE DEBUSSY, Sonate pour violon et piano en sol mineur

ARNO BABADJANIAN, Sonate pour violon et piano en si bémol mineur

Durée : 90 minutes avec entracte

I don’t know if you have a prefabricated image in your head when you hear the word “organist”, but if you do, it probably doesn’t match the physical look of Montrealer Maria Gajraj. The young Ottawa-born lady with Trinidadian roots, in her twenties, slim and ultra-smiling, stands out in the usual professional corpus of artists who master the ‘King of instruments’. Maria is preparing to release her debut album, Exhale (aptly titled in the case of the organ), on which she offers a journey between soaring bliss and bewitching repetitive minimalism, guided by contemporary compositions from female and non-binary composers. In other words, a musical UFO that gently (and usefully) overturns the a-priori of organ music.

The repertoire features young up-and-comer composers such as George Rahi, Hania Rani and Esther-Ruth Teel, as well as a sure thing, Ann Southam, whose excerpt from her piano masterpiece Glass Houses, here transposed to the pipes, is very convincing.

READ MY REVIEW OF THE ALBUM EXHALE

In her interview with me, Maria Gajraj revealed that this album and its repertoire represented a turning point in her musical life, a kind of rediscovery of the pleasure of the instrument after a period of emptiness.

this music reminded me why i first fell in love with the organ

But she hadn’t been at it for very long! Since the age of 19. Only 19? A bit late, isn’t it? Yes and no. Let me recap her story.

Maria grew up in a family of Trinidadian origin in the Ottawa region. She learned to play the piano for several years. The ultra-competitive side of the discipline didn’t appeal to her, so she set her sights on a career in engineering. Then a chance offer gave her the opportunity to try her hand at the organ in an Ottawa church. She hadn’t mastered all the details of the pedals, valves and cranks of the great Gargantua engine, but she could play music, and a keyboard! So she took the plunge, and one day when, she says, the sun was shining through the magnificent stained-glass windows, she felt so good that she decided this was what she wanted to do for a living! No surprise there; that’s often how it goes with musical instruments.

She ends up at McGill, but goes through a moment of uncertainty. ‘’I love the music of the great composers’’, says she, but there’s something missing, an intimate connection that isn’t there. ‘’I don’t recognize myself in the life narrative of these white men from another time.’’ Again, not a qualitative criticism, but a sense of cultural proximity that means the experience is not 100% authentic for the young woman.

Comes McGill’s Chabe Castillo who invites her to record something on the Wolff organ in Redpath Hall, a beautiful instrument in the French classical style. He asks her what she wants to play. And so it goes, the names keep coming up and lead to Exhale, which is based on her personal musical loves and values : favouring female composers, non-binary artists and non-European composers. On that last note, she is currently in the final stages of a doctorate on the Caribbean organ repertoire, a whole area that remains largely unknown.

One composer who particularly fascinates her is Edward Margetson, from St Kitts, who emigrated to the United States in 1919 and became part of the Harlem Renaissance movement! Although this repertoire is hard to find and especially hard to listen to, Maria would love to record a few pearls in the near future.

But I ask her which “traditional” (white, European) composer touches her more than others? ‘’Just one? Messiaen! Such fantastic colours and rhythms!’’ Maria is certainly not detached from the European world of music, as last January she took over the co-direction of the early music ensemble Comtessa here in Montreal, in which she handles the organetto, a portable medieval version of the big brother of churches. She says she has a great love of the music of the Middle Ages.

If you look up her name in a search engine, you’re also likely to see it associated with the Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Bon-Secours in Old Montreal, where she is currently the organist, and perhaps also with Sapphonix Collective, a project she is running with her friend Esther-Ruth Teel, which is an unusual proposal for events presenting music (two organs!) in combination with other arts (visual, performance, tattooing, etc.).

For all these reasons, for the breath of fresh air that she brings to the ordinary practice and listening of the organ as a musical instrument, and for the inclusive values that never limit the fundamental quality of the aesthetic experiences on offer, Maria Gajraj is a name you should remember, because it is likely to resonate more and more on the Montreal scene (and eventually in Canada, North America and beyond), and above all to enrich substantially the already plethoric musical ambiance of our cultural metropolis.

Not all the repertoires of Quebec’s late French-speaking chanson stars are familiar to the generations that followed them. We know Félix Leclerc, Claude Léveillée, Jean-Pierre Ferland, Sylvain Lelièvre, Gerry Boulet, Dédé Fortin and Karl Tremblay, but do we really know their repertoires? It’s even less obvious for Lawrence Lepage or Georges Dor. Here’s a program that deserves a few explanations from its creator, author, composer, performer and circus performer Louis-Dominique Lévesque, who has been leading a group of musicians since 2009, regularly presenting a program of songs by deceased artists. Que je me souvienne aims to pass on Quebec’s songwriting legacy, and can best be described as a memory show. Alain Brunet interviewed him ahead of his concert, scheduled for Saturday May 31 at Place des Arts’ Salle Claude-Léveillée.

Publicité panam

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