Additional Information
The excellent and very eclectic percussionist Krystina Marcoux (Stick&Bow, Ensemble Paramirabo) will be the artist in residence for the 26-27 season of Jeunesses Musicales Canada (JMC) in Montreal. The artist who, as early as 2012, had won first prize at the Standard Life competition of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and was then chosen by the same JMC for a tour across Canada in 2019, will therefore be responsible for organising and presenting three concerts during the season held at the Joseph-Rouleau hall on Mont-Royal Avenue. Three concerts that will allow her to present all sorts of facets of her main instrument (beyond all other types of percussion), the marimba. The marimba with the piano, the marimba with another marimba, and even the marimba with the operatic voice! I talked about all this with Krystina.
PanM360: What is it like to be an artist in residence at Jeunesses Musicales Canada?
Krystina Marcoux: To be honest, when Danièle (LeBlanc, General and Artistic Director) offered it to me, it surprised me, in the best possible way. I am really happy, I feel privileged because it is a classical institution, really very classical. So, that the marimba can enter this institution with a strong role, it’s important. I feel like I have the role of bringing percussion, and the marimba, onto a pedestal, you see. For me, it’s worth its weight in gold.
And then, I have a great relationship with the JMC. It was the JMC who were the first spark to launch the Stick&Bow duo (marimba/cello, with Juan Sebastian Delgado). There is a beautiful thank you that I want to give them too in all of this, in a certain way.
PanM360: You were entrusted with the task of conceptualising, setting up, and organising three concerts. How did you choose the three concepts? And why?
Krystina Marcoux: Each one is quite different. For the first one, I chose to do a duo with piano because it had been a long time since I wanted to play a program in duo with this instrument. In Stick&Bow, I carry the harmonic weight. I wanted to change roles, you see.
And it works really well, because you have two instruments that are percussive, you have two instruments that can sing, you have two instruments that can be very powerful, but also very delicate. And it allowed us to explore well-known repertoire. It’s a concert that strays quite far from what we do with the Stick&Bow duo.
With Chloé (Dumoulin, the pianist who will play at the concert with me), we will rather look for well-known orchestral repertoire, which we will rearrange. There will be The Rite of Spring, Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre and some Gershwin. I might do a Bach solo for my own pleasure, simply because I love it.
PanM360: This is the first concert. The second one, what about it?
Krystina Marcoux: This one was a bit of a coincidence, because when Danièle contacted me, it just so happened that I was invited to Spain as a soloist to play a concerto.
And at that moment, I went to Madrid to see a friend I had met in 2009 or 2010. I was about 20 years old, you see. I don’t remember. In any case, I remember being blown away by this marimbist, Conrado Moya. It’s not possible to play like that. Today, he is having a wonderful solo career. We reconnected at that moment as if we hadn’t lost sight of each other during those 15 years.
He came to see me play, and after the concert, he came to talk to me and said, “OK, we need to do something together.” Then for me, it was as if Yo-Yo Ma was telling Juan Sebastian (Delgado, cellist, companion, and partner of Stick&Bow), we’re going to do a project together. Conrado is someone I admire a lot. His touch on the marimba, his way of interpreting colour, the energy, all of that, it’s absolutely incredibly refined.
So, when Danièle from JMC later offered me three concerts, I thought one of them had to be with Conrado.
PanM360: A concert with two marimbas then. What will the repertoire be like?
Krystina Marcoux: We’re going to play Bach. No choice, we have to do it! We will perform the Italian Concerto, but also works for organ, chorales, etc. It was certain anyway that the starting point would be Bach. Afterwards, we will incorporate three eras. There is a recent work for the duo written by a mutual friend (Chain I, II, III by Arkadiusz Katny). Then there will be Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite. It works perfectly on marimbas!
I think it’s very important for percussionists to have access to someone of this level who comes here.
PanM360: And the third program will be a marimba/soprano duo, with Caroline Gélinas. That’s very unusual! How did you come up with that idea?
Krystina Marcoux: The idea, really, came from Caroline. An idea that dates back to 2018, I think. Caroline had approached me because she wanted to do a marimba and voice program, precisely. It was for an audition where we played a few pieces. And we loved the process. The colour of the marimba works really well with the timbre of her voice. The two can easily blend together, but they can also be at opposite extremes. In that, my role is more akin to that of the piano. I provide the harmonic element, in a way.
This time, with the JMC, it was the opportunity to take the idea all the way. Then, with Caroline, what’s fun is that we’re really going to put on a show with staging. We are going to go beyond the conventional concert.
We are going to explore the question of the ephemeral. What exists in a moment? What does it mean today to be a woman in a changing world? We are right at the age where people always ask us the question. “Ah, are you a mom? Ah, will you be a mom?’’ All those things, what do they mean? Where do we stand? We’re going to try to keep it really open so that it can resonate with everyone a bit.
And the music we’re choosing, I admit that even despite the repertoire list, we’re still working on it because there are more challenges due to the arrangements that need to be made. I do a few, we test them together and say, “Hmm, okay.” or “Yeah, okay, it works more or less, I don’t like that.”
It might be a bit dramatic, a bit funny. We’ll try to play with that.
PanM360: What is the most important thing for you in this residency?
Krystina Marcoux: I want to showcase the marimba. Demonstrate that it is a complete instrument, capable of everything, that it is versatile. That’s what I will try to show the audience.
PanM360: Thank you and have a great season at the JMC!
CONCERTS:
- Dance, Rhythm, and Fire – October 15, 2026
- Timeless Trilogy – January 28, 2027
- Embracing the Ephemeral – March 17, 2027
INFORMATION: jmcanada.ca
TICKET OFFICE: Happy Hour Concerts
