Additional Information
The Orchestre de l’Agora, conducted by Nicolas Ellis, will give its first concert of the season at the Bourgie Hall on Wednesday, October 6. For the occasion, a narrative and dramatic framework bathed in the theme of the Moon, as well as angels, through a cycle of lyrical melodies by Ian Cusson. Cycle sung by soprano Elizabeth St-Gelais, and which is also available to everyone through a new album under the Aparté label. In addition to Cusson’s cycle, the album includes the Schubert concert by the same orchestra, which was given at Bourgie in September 2024, and which had been used to grandly launch the complete works of Schubert’s lieder, performed by the Montreal venue until 2028. I spoke with Nicolas Ellis about the concert on October 6 and the release of the new album.
PanM360: At the center of the concert, and also part of the album, is the song cycle Le Récital des anges (Angel’s Recital) by Ian Cusson. What can you tell us about it?
Nicolas Ellis: The cycle is at the heart of the upcoming concert, but also the source that led to the construction of the Schubert program we performed in 2024, and which is found on the record, alongside, I would say in symbiosis, with Ian’s music. I knew this cycle in its original voice-piano form, which I found superb. I then asked Ian to create an orchestration of it.
It must be understood that, for me, promoting Canadian and Quebec musical heritage is part of the Orchestra’s mission. Moreover, Ian, in my opinion, is one of the best, perhaps THE best Canadian composer in lyrical art at the moment. His style, his ability to enhance, dress up, and colour the texts, is exceptional.
For the cycle, Ian chose six texts by Émile Nelligan that construct a fictional narrative framework through which one imagines a person wandering at night in Montreal. The cycle therefore perfectly matches the theme of the 2024 Schubert program (and which can be found on the album), a theme centred on dreams and mystery.
The angels’ recital is also perfectly in line with the theme of the Moon that encompasses the program on October 6th at Bourgie.
PanM360: What do you think of Ian Cusson’s sound palette?
Nicolas Ellis: He is primarily an excellent orchestrator. He creates fascinating textures that allow the texts to be visualised. I find that there is a Messiaen-like quality in his way of using harmonies. A bit of Mahler too, but not in the symphonic monumentality. Rather in the very intimate, chamber-like, intricate writing that is also very often found in Mahler.
PanM360: I also think of Debussy…
Nicolas Ellis: Yes, it’s very French.
PanM360: The cycle is beautifully carried by Elizabeth St-Gelais. You can hear it on the album, and it will surely be very beautiful in concert on October 6…
Nicolas Ellis: Oh yes. I am super happy to do this with her. We come from the same part of Quebec, so we know each other well. Elizabeth is an artist whom I admire immensely. And I am very happy that the Aparté recording gives her the chance to shine even more widely.
PanM360: So there will be this music by Ian Cusson with Elizabeth St-Gelais, but not just that…
Nicolas Ellis: No. There will also be beautiful French works, which will blend very well with Ian Cusson’s style. Poulenc’s Sinfonietta, a new arrangement of Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque by a young composer I really like, Lisa Heute, and a recent work by Sophie Lacaze, Après avoir contemplé la lune (After contemplating the Moon), composed in 2011. These are five movements inspired by as many paintings that evoke the Moon, or the night. It is a superb piece of music that will be accompanied by projections of the aforementioned paintings.
What we are trying to do is to offer different ways of doing concerts, to bring a form of storytelling, a dramatic thread to them.
PanM360: The titles of the paintings and the artists will be listed at the bottom of the interview, so that readers can find them on the web and admire them before the concert. Let’s return to the record, which has just been released and which partly accompanies the concert on October 6. There are other signatures of the composer Ian Cusson: arrangements of Schubert’s lieder. What do you think he brings to these lieder?
Nicolas Ellis: As I was saying, I find that he admirably succeeds in painting emotions and subtly highlighting them. If I had to choose one, I would say it’s Der Zwerg (The Dwarf), which particularly impresses me.
It’s a twisted, strange text, set at sea. A dwarf and a queen are on a small boat, the dwarf is jealous because he cannot win the queen’s favour, then he kills her. It’s a completely absurd situation, and Ian’s music paints this tragedy, a bit grotesque, with extraordinary effectiveness. You can feel everything that is happening, we are at sea, we witness these lugubrious, sordid exchanges. It’s extraordinary.
PanM360: And Ema Nikolovska’s performance is exceptional! What vocal characterisation! Her voice that becomes ultra sarcastic at times… Can you tell me about this artist?
Nicolas Ellis: Ema and I have known each other since we met at Orford Musique. I played the piano and she played the violin! Because she was initially a violinist before fully dedicating herself to singing. An excellent violinist, by the way. So she is a complete, remarkable artist. When we played Schubert with her, I was fascinated, and all the musicians in the orchestra were too, by her intensity and commitment. Not a note was sung without a precise intention. She inhabits every detail. It’s very inspiring to have done this record project with her. In the Erlkönig, she interprets the four characters with impressive mastery.
PanM360: Thank you
List of paintings that inspired the movements of Après avoir contemplé la lune by Sophie Lacaze:
Kisai Mari Patan (The Spirits Eating the Moon), by Dennis Nona, 2008
The Whole City, by Max Ernst, 1935
The Angry Moon, by Guy Bompais, 2011
The Domain of Arnheim, by René Magritte, 1962
The Starry Night, by Vincent van Gogh, 1889
