Interviews

The program Songe d’une nuit andalouse (A Night in Andalusia) will be presented at the National on Saturday, November 15, as part of the Festival du Monde Arabe. It is a concert by the Asala Choir, conducted by Ghada Harb, a Syrian musician who moved to Ottawa two years ago. Michel Labrecque spoke with this seasoned artist about her career and the concert she will be conducting in Montreal.

PAN M 360: Hello Ghada, you are not well known outside Arab communities. Could you describe your musical journey in Syria?

Ghada Harb: I graduated in classical music from the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus. I then taught choral singing and opera, among other subjects, at this institute.

PAN M 360: When you talk about classical music, are you referring to Arabic classical music or Western classical music?

Ghada Harb:  Absolutely Western. I have sung in many well-known operas in Syria and elsewhere. I am first and foremost a classical musician who later became interested in Arabic music.

PAN M 360: You also made a name for yourself in Syria by daring to do something: creating an all-female choir called the Gardenia Choir.

Ghada Harb:  This choir has received numerous awards in the Arab world. We have sung at many festivals, including in Dubai, and have performed concerts for international organizations such as UNICEF.

We started out singing classical music, then evolved to sing Arabic music, as well as Abba and the Bee Gees, in addition to Sufi music.

PAN M 360:After that, you weren’t done with choirs!

Ghada Harb: I undertook a major choir project with the theme “peace through song.” The ensemble was called Harmony in Arabic. We had over 300 members from all over Syria. As the country was at war, we wanted to express our desire for peace and social cohesion. But it was very difficult to get everyone together.

PAN M 360: It must not have been easy to be an artist during those years of war in Syria?

Ghada Harb: It was indeed very difficult. And I ended up making the difficult decision to seek to emigrate. First and foremost for my children, my family. I was selected by Canada through an immigration program for artists. I had to leave behind my friends, fellow singers and musicians, my students, etc. And I arrived in Ottawa in 2023 to start a new life.

PAN M 360: And that’s how the Asawa Choir was born, which we’ll hear at the Arab World Festival.

Ghada Harb : Yes, Asala means “origins.” They are people from different Arab countries. Twenty people, men and women. We sing Mouachahat, songs based on classical Arabic poems from Andalusia (the southern part of Spain where the Moors lived for a long time). They are beautiful, complex melodies accompanied by percussion, keyboard, flutes, and oud. We have six musicians accompanying us.

PAN M 360: What will we hear this Saturday at the Arab World Festival?

Ghada Harb : You will hear Mouachahat, but also other mixes. We will also pay tribute to Ziad Rahbani, a great Lebanese composer who died in July. He is the son of Fayrouz, the famous Lebanese singer. You will hear Lebanese, Jordanian, and Palestinian music, among others. Andalusian music is a blend of European and Arabic music. It is so closely linked that it is inseparable.

PAN M 360: Now that Syria is changing and the war is over, would you consider returning there?

Ghada Harb: Not at all. I think the situation is still very unstable and that, for an artist, there is absolutely nothing certain. I have decided to rebuild my life here and I am gradually creating projects. We’ll see how it goes. But I always think of my friends in Syria and wish them all the best. 

PAN M 360: Thank you very much and good luck to you!

https://www.facebook.com/festivaldumondearabe/videos/songe-dune-nuit-andalousechorale-asala-sous-la-direction-de-ghada-harb-samedi-15/782491578015281/

A Swiss citizen of Amazigh (Algerian Kabyle) origin, Flèche Love, whose real name is Amina Cadelli, uses her body, her guts, and her sensitivity to musically transcend the idea of healing, which is also the title of an album whose live version concludes a long cycle of performances, where “a body and words provoke sensations, emotions, and dazzling images.” Intellectually strong, which enriches her artistic uniqueness, Flèche Love is on a highly ambitious artistic quest, and it is no surprise that she has gained international recognition, starting with the French-speaking world. She is back in Montreal on a Friday night at the Plaza Theater, as part of the Coup de cœur francophone festival.

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Presented on Saturday by Codes d’Accès, an organization whose purpose is to promote the work of emerging composers, the electroacoustic program Troubles et méandres (Turmoil and Meanderings) presents “innovative artists whose works blur the lines of musical and performance conventions.” For those who responded to the call, PAN M 360 is posting their responses online and wishes them a long and fruitful creative career! Here is Maxime Gordon, who is presenting the piece Retrieving Currents, for loud speaker array at the Espace Bleu du Wilder.

PAN M 360:  This is your chance to increase your visibility, so introduce yourself!

Maxime Gordon: I’m a Montreal-based music producer and sound artist. Since 2015, I have been been creating and performing experimental electronic music under the name Bénédicte. My practice expanded into spatial sound art in 2017 during an internship at the Spatial Sound Institute in Budapest. I have since performed and presented work across North America and Europe, notably at MUTEK, CTM and Akousma. Her music has been released on Blueberry Records (NYC) and Casual Chain (Montreal).

PAN M 360: Present your work in the program: title, subject matter, content, form, stylistic references, instrumentation, performers (if any), live performance, angle of approach:

Maxime Gordon: Retrieving Currents is a spatial sound art piece about memory. In this piece I weave together field recordings from personally significant landscapes and explore water as a site for personal memory. Each location, tied to a specific memory, was revisited – an act of re-listening, re-feeling, and re-inhabiting. The piece is made entirely from these recorded sounds, which were then spatialized, layered, and digitally altered to form an exploration of place and memory. Recording locations include Montreal, Toronto, and Trois-Pistoles. Memories date back 4, 13, and 24 years.

PAN M 360: How are you connected to this program, whose title Troubles et méandres seems to suggest a theme? Or to the organization Codes d’Accès? Or to an emerging cohort on the creative music scene? 

Maxime Gordon : I was an artist in residence for Codes d’Accès and prim and am premiering the work I created during this residency. It was a great experience and I got to really dive into field recording for the first time, use new recording gear and work in a professional studio.

PAN M 360: What are your upcoming projects or events?

Maxime Gordon: I’m currently working on my next Bénédicte album.

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Presented on Saturday by Codes d’Accès, an organization whose purpose is to promote the work of emerging composers, the electroacoustic program Troubles et méandres presents “innovative artists whose works blur the lines of musical and performance conventions.” For those who responded to the call, PAN M 360 is posting their responses online and wishes them a long and fruitful creative career! At the Espace Bleu du Wilder, Kasey Pocius will present Hollow Points on Saturday, which aims to separate the components of a recording and then combine them into a new piece. Here is his background:

PAN M 360: The goal is to make you more visible, so introduce yourself:

Kasey Pocius: I am a gender-fluid multimedia artist and researcher based in Montreal, originally from Newfoundland. I completed my BFA in Electroacoustics at Concordia and a Master’s degree in Music Technology at McGill. Currently, I teach electroacoustic composition and improvisation at Concordia in the Music Department. I am very interested in mixed-media and mixed-medium works, and in the textural and spatial possibilities of digital systems.

PAN M 360: Present your work to the program: title, subject matter, content, form, stylistic references, instrumentation, performers (if any), live performance, angle of approach.

Kasey Pocius: For this program, I present a fixed media work entitled “Hollow Point.” I use algorithms designed to separate a complete mix of a song into its basic elements (guitar, vocals, drums, etc.), but I apply them to field recordings from Sydney and Glace Bay (lookout points in Nova Scotia). The new files sound “hollow” due to the inaccuracy of these algorithms and the musical assumptions built into these systems, and artifacts remain. However, when all the files are combined, these imperfections cancel each other out, recreating the original audio. By keeping the layers separate, they can be processed individually, creating new textures and spatial effects that are difficult to achieve with the source file alone. Exaggerating these artifacts can generate new musical patterns and materials, and makes the imperfections more apparent to the audience.
PAN M 360: How are you connected to this program, whose title Troubles et méandres (Troubles and Meanders) seems to suggest a theme? Or to the organization Codes d’Accès? Or to an emerging cohort on the creative music scene?

Kasey Pocius: My piece is a meander, a long sound environment in which one takes a sound walk on one side that is fictional and another side that is based on the real environment of Nova Scotia. It also draws attention to disturbances: on one side, the assumptions and biases of machine learning systems, and on the other side, the problems of noise pollution created by boats and other mechanical systems.
With this work, I return to a concept that interests me greatly: sound environments that are both delicate and heavy at the same time.

This is the third concert with Codes d’Accès that I have participated in as a composer, and I am grateful for their continued support of my work. I am always pleased to see that the organization continues to program a wide variety of voices from the creative music scene.

PAN M 360: What are your upcoming projects or events?

Kasey Pocius: I will be presenting a live performance with video and the T-Stick at LIVE@CIRMMT on December 12.

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Presented on Saturday November15, by Codes d’Accès, an organization whose purpose is to promote emerging composers, the electroacoustic program Troubles et méandres features “innovative artists whose works blur the lines between musical and performance conventions.” For those who responded to the call, PAN M 360 is posting their responses online and wishes them a long and fruitful creative career! Loic Minty was going to present Amour/Mort on Saturday, a piece based on the notion of cyclicality that highlights a musical-light instrument of his own creation. This set has been cancelled and/or postponed. Nevertheless, here is the creator’s background.

PAN M 360 : Le but étant de vous rendre plus visibles, présentez-vous !

Loic Minty:  

I recently graduated from UdeM’s school of Musiques Numériques. I did it out of curiosity for what challenged me the most in my personal life. I was afraid of integrating technology into my own music because I felt technology was alienating me from my environment. It seemed cold, noisy and heartless but at the same time, electronic music is what was speaking to me the most. All this to say, I approached it with a lot of resistance, carefully inspecting how the tools were being used rather than what was being produced. 

I realized the electroacoustic “in the box” practice didn’t match the physicality I sought from music. It came to a point where I felt that the intentions behind the technology I was using had more influence over what I was producing than myself. Thankfully, the teachers there are very open minded about this stuff. I decided to break out of DAW’s, and dove into instrument building with more of a sociological sensibility.

The way I see it, our current sequential interfaces are not only limiting the affective potential of human-computer interaction, but are also very linear in their conception of time. I decided to build something that could bring me closer to circular time, to the trance effects of Sufi music, or the idea of gong cycles in Gamelan music. They form a paradigm that reflects a deep difference from ours in our perception of life and death. 

Along the way I’ve been inspired by the words of Donna Haraway, Philippe Breton and Pia Baltazar, to name a few. I think if anything, I’m even more apprehensive about technology today than ever, the difference now is I know where I stand. 

PAN M 360: Present your work in the program: title, subject matter, content, form, stylistic references, instrumentation, performers (if any), live performance, angle of approach.

Loic Minty: The instrument is lumino-sonic, meaning the music and sound exist as one experience. The engine is based on the most simple sound manipulations you could make in a DAW, scrolling and looping, but with a renewed form of interaction and visually reconstituted in a circle. I’ve been working with it for a while now, always tweaking it when I can. I’ve come to a version now that I’m happy with. I can be quiet as I can be loud, and it’s chaotic enough that I really need to listen to what I’m doing in order to get any meaningful sound out of it.

The performance is completely live and mostly improvised. There is no backing track, no plan b. If I leave the stage or if the patch crashes (which I can only pray it won’t), it would be dead silence. Musically I wanted to make sure the content of it doesn’t solely rely on technology. I will be using my voice and bringing in samples from The Fall. It has a dark, introspective touch, as the title Troubles et Méandres appropriately suggests, but it’s also slightly grimey with sections of noise and ambient.  

PAN M 360: How are you all connected to this program, whose titleTroubles et méandres seems to suggest a theme? Or to the organization Codes d’Accès? Or to an emerging cohort on the creative music scene?

Loic Minty: On the same bill with me are several people who I studied with. As a cohort I feel like we collectively broke the mold of what Musiques Numériques was previously like. We arrived in a transitional period where, after the pandemic, younger teachers were opening the gates of the “high-art” acousmatic music towards more interdisciplinary practices. We were ready. Electronic music sounds amazing, but its appreciation in the context of a performance is still nebulous, there’s a lot to explore in order to make it a living art. There have been some incredible shows that came from that period: Nicolas Bourgeois, Graham Hudson-Jameson are some names to look out for. Then obviously Alexandre Sasset Blouin’s Permutations, which is played by UdeM’s orchestra of synthesizers. I have seen it before, it’s an impressive piece.

PAN M 360 : Vos prochains projets ou événements?

Loic Minty: In the short term if I want to keep playing this instrument and develop on some of the musical concepts I discovered in preparing the show. In the long-term, my objective is to make the instrument fully transportable on a bicycle and tour around different parts of the world collecting sounds and sharing them between communities.

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On Saturday, November 15, and Sunday, November 16, at Salle Bourgie, French-Armenian violinist Chouchane Siranossian will conduct the Arion Baroque Orchestra in a performance of two well-known symphonic works and a rare piece from the violin concerto repertoire. From the 9-year-old Mozart, we are treated to a symphony written during the Dutch leg of his European Grand Tour with his father and sister: Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, K. 22. From Haydn, the unique Farewell Symphony, which subtly hints to his patron, Prince Esterházy, that the musicians in his orchestra are longing for a break. At the heart of the program, the violinist and guest conductor has included a little-known violin concerto, introducing us to the German violinist and composer Andreas Romberg, an admirer of Mozart and Haydn who rubbed shoulders with Beethoven at the start of his career.

PROGRAM :

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Symphonie n° 5 en si b majeur, K. 22
Andreas Romberg (1767-1821)
Concerto pour violon n° 7 en la majeur, SteR 47

Intermission

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Symphonie n° 45 en fa # mineur (« les Adieux ») Hob. I: 45

Saturday: pre-concert talk
Take advantage of this opportunity to meet our double bassist Francis Palma-Pelletier during a lively discussion led by our artistic director Mathieu Lussier. Francis will present his new instrument, a replica of the double bass used in Haydn’s orchestra.

Meet us on November 15 at 6:45 p.m. in the lobby of Bourgie Hall, near the bar, and get your questions ready!
Sunday: youth pre-concert
The first part of the concert on November 16 at 1:30 p.m. will feature a performance by the baroque ensembles of the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, accompanied by members of Arion. The program will include music by F. Couperin, Lully, and Purcell!

Free admission for Arion concert ticket holders. A great opportunity to discover the next generation of artists!

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For PAN M 360, Alex Burger tells us about a special concert, a themed event entitled “Un coin du ciel.” Several local artists will join Alex on a multigenerational stage for a Kebamericana summit—that is, French-Canadian artists passionate about the building blocks of modern North American popular music: country, folk, blues, rock, “west” of the mainstream in this case. Anyone (or almost anyone) who grew up on this continent knows the foundations, whether they like them or not. That’s the premise of this “Un coin du ciel” evening, a multigenerational event, courtesy of Alex Burger, which brings together this Thursday at Club Soda (and Friday at Grizzly Fuzz in Quebec City) Mara Tremblay, Fred Fortin and Stephen Faulkner, Arielle Soucy, Veranda, Tom Chicoine, Cindy Bédard, Patrick Bourdon, and Véranda. Alex Burger explains it all!

PAN M 360: Un coin du ciel, which is also the title of a song by Renée Martel, is a Kebamericana celebration, isn’t it?

Alex Burger : Yeah, that’s what it looks like. In Quebec City the next day, Émilie Clepper and Simon Kearney will also be there with us.

PAN M 360: Being yourself a fervent practitioner in your songs, this evening makes perfect sense.

Alex Burger :I’d been thinking about doing a show like this for a long time, and it seemed like the right moment at Coup de coeur francophone; it was a lucky break. So now it’s happening, and I’m really happy it’s finally happening.

PAN M 360: How is it structured? Around an original repertoire? Classics? Cover versions?

Alex Burger : Okay, we have several guests, so there won’t be any covers. I’ve never been good at covers. So we’re going to play everyone’s songs, we’ll play some of my songs, and then it’ll all spill over… It’s going to be long! There will be a lot of guitar solos. The solos will be long too. People need to be ready; we’re going to make a lot of music. What’s important is that the material is good, that everyone can contribute a song or two.

Yes, I won’t give too much away, but I’m counting on Fred Portin because we love him. Mara Tremblay too. There are some slightly less well-known artists, like Patrick Bourdon; his time on the show will be a little shorter, but at the same time, it’ll be great to have his spotlight. There will be duets, of course, but I’ve also decided to create duets with the guests, not necessarily with me.

If you want to hear Ariel Soucy sing with Mara Tremblay, this is the right evening for it.

PAN M 360: Are there any other associations we can find out about beforehand?

Alex Burger : I don’t want to burn everything down, but it’s certain that Fred Portin and Faulkner, that’s going to happen.

PAN M 360: That’s great! We’ve never seen that before?

Alex Burger : No, that’s it. Faulkner was the first person who told me he wanted to play with Fred.

PAN M 360: Do the artists come with musicians or is there a house band behind them?

Alex Burger : The house band, that’s my band. It’s the band that accompanies me, 5-6 musicians. We’re going to be a great group! It’s the group that’s been with me since 2018.

PAN M 360: Collective arrangements for this evening?

Alex Burger : Since it’s my band, we’ve worked together for a long time. So we did this together. It was quite a collective effort. There wasn’t really a musical director. We’re not doing a staged show. We’re going for a rock show. We’ll play the songs. Whatever happens, happens. We’ll jam.

PAN M 360: So will the song introductions be improvised?

Alex Burner : Yes, a lot of things will be improvised. That’s always how we are in my band. There’s always that element of improvisation that’s part of the show.

I didn’t want to change that just because we were playing a bigger venue with guests. I didn’t want to compromise the tour. It’s also kind of the end-of-tour show.

We’ve been touring for the last album—Ça s’invente pas—for two years now.

PAN M 360: We understand that the end of your tour is turning into a big party!

Alex Burger :Often, at the end of a tour, we showcase what we’ve accomplished, how tight the band has become. Here, I’m doing that at Club Soda, and I wanted to do something different because I’d already done this concept of ending a tour in a big venue. I wanted to push us. This time, we’re taking a bit more of a risk.

PAN M 360: Of course, you’re doing lots of songs by your guests and it has to be good!

Alex Burger : We’re not repeating ourselves. We’re not stuck in our old patterns. For us, it’s an exciting show. We know where it’s going because we’ve already learned everything, but we’re not 100% sure. That’s what makes it fun. It’s great.

PAN M 360: You can’t make this stuff up, as expected! The album was released exactly two years ago, in October.

Alex Burger : Yes, exactly.

PAN M 360: So, it’s been thoroughly rehearsed. Are you going to play some songs from the album?

Alex Burger : Yes, I don’t know exactly how many, but also songs from the first album. We’ll see how many people want. It’ll be between a third and half of the show. Those who come to hear my songs will be satisfied. They’ll get plenty.

PAN M 360: An apotheosis beyond country! All the foundations of popular North American music are brought together here!

Alex Burger : That’s it. I was a bit more into progressive rock when I was younger, only to realize that with prog, you don’t get to play many shows. I’m kidding, I had a lot of fun making that music. I learned a lot from those structures. And I really dabbled in Americana because I even won an award that carried that label. At some point, it’s a question of whether it’s country or not… I’ve moved on from that. When I was doing more rock, I didn’t ask myself if I was making rock or not.

PAN M 360: It’s rock, it’s country, it’s folk, it’s blues. Bluegrass?

Alex Burger : There will be bluegrass. Veranda will be there!

PAN M 360: Oh yes, indeed. And what’s happening on your end after this show, which is intended as a conclusion to the Ça s’invente pas cycle?

Alex Burger : Right now, I don’t have much time for my projects; I’m touring with Bon Enfant as their bassist. After that, things will be pretty quiet. I’m going to start working on a third album, but taking it slow. I want to make an album just for the joy of it; I don’t really want to have a two-year deadline. No, for now, there’s no specific plan. It’s good to make an album when you have the ideas for it. You also have to give your fans time to want to listen to the next album.

PAN M 360: In any case, the rhythm is different for each artist. There are no rules in this regard.

Alex Burger : That’s it, and there are no plans in place on my end.

PAN M 360: So, whatever happens next, we can’t wait to be together in Un coin du ciel!

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Soprano Véronique Gens is the central figure in a program presented by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra on French melody, this Wednesday, November 12, and Thursday, November 13. French melody is a concept linked to the classical repertoire, which appeared in France in the mid-19th century. For voice and piano, and sometimes for voice and orchestra as in this case, French melody evolved independently, only to see its popularity wane during the 20th century. Today, some wish to revive it and restore its prestige to this body of work created by the great French composers of the 19th century, in collaboration with the finest writers of their time.

Véronique Gens is one of those artists who are dedicated to this resurgence.

In short, the Nantes-based singer performed baroque music for over fifteen years before turning her attention to other repertoires, starting with French melodies, in collaboration with Palazzetto Bru Zane, co-presenter of this Montreal program. She also distinguished herself with her interpretation of La Voix humaine by Francis Poulenc and Jean Cocteau, which Canadian conductor and soprano Barbara Hannigan masterfully presented to Montreal audiences not so long ago.

Véronique Gens will perform with the OSM under the baton of young French conductor Lucie Leguay. Also invited to sit on the jury for this year’s OSM Competition finals, which are dedicated to voice, Véronique Gens explains her relationship with French melody.

PAN M 360: During this conversation, you will explain the choices made by Berlioz, Fauré, Holmès, Massenet, Dukas—in short, all the French composers of the 19th century. Explain to us how this program was put together, your role as a singer, because there will also be conductor Lucie Leguay leading the orchestra, performing melodies once written by composers for orchestra.

Véronique Gens: Most of the time, the melodies are written for piano, and it’s true that we always do more or less the same ones, but thanks to the intervention of the Palazzetto Bru Zane, these are melodies that are rarely or almost never performed, apart from a few by Fauré, Les Roses d’Ispahan for example, which is a melody I sing very regularly in recitals with piano. But here we are lucky enough to have found, again thanks to Bru Zane, the transcriptions for orchestra, and that’s something no one else ever does.

So we very rarely perform cycles of melodies with an orchestra. Berlioz’s Nuits d’été comes to mind, for example. It’s pretty much the only cycle I know of that is performed on a regular basis, and even then only in large concerts with major symphony orchestras. So this is a completely new program! I was lucky enough to record all these melodies with an orchestra, but in France, no one gave me the opportunity to sing them with an orchestra. So, thank you, Montreal, and thank you, symphony orchestra.

PAN M 360: It’s not done at all in France, which is surprising.

Véronique Gens: No, it doesn’t surprise me anymore, actually. The French don’t like French melody… In short, let’s put it that way.

PAN M 360: But what do you think of French melody? Opinions are divided, of course. For some who are unfamiliar with the repertoire, it can seem a little outdated because there is a type of pronunciation in Old French, words that may have become obsolete…

Véronique Gens: No, no, no! All my life, I’ve tried to dust off all that, so to speak, and I think people are afraid of French melody because of what you say, with a bit of a tight-lipped attitude, that it’s very intellectual music, very complicated and all that… I think the way it’s presented is a bit like that, actually, but in any case, that’s changing.

Well… it’s difficult to move all that, but there are lots of melodies that are very accessible, all of Reynaldo Hahn, all of Gabriel Fauré, so actually, if you do a complete recording of Debussy’s melodies, it’s really unbearable and too complicated and too intellectual… Well, I really like Debussy, he’s a great composer, but Debussy’s melodies are still quite hard to digest. So there you have it, I think we need to vary the pleasures a little, and this program gives us a kind of overview of everything that French melody can be.

It can be much lighter things, it can be funny things, very serious things, sad things, of course, but what’s also very special is that we’re doing it with an orchestra, and I think that will reassure people and make them want to come. It’s less austere, perhaps, than a singer and a pianist, where it’s very serious. With an orchestra, people are perhaps more used to seeing an orchestra… We try to vary things, in any case.

There will be excerpts from Nuits d’été, but there is also Théodore Dubois. To be honest, before singing it with Bru Zane, I had never heard of him. So, Fauré, yes, once again, Les Roses d’Ispahan, La Chanson du Pêcheur, but all of this with a very different perspective because it’s done with an orchestra. It’s really something else.

PAN M 360: Adaptations, then. They were written, well, initially, most of them were written for piano and voice, and then the composers wrote them. They did this systematically throughout the entire program we are entitled to.

Véronique Gens :Yes, but you would need to ask Bru Zane’s artistic director to find out more.

PAN M 360: Since we won’t be able to do it this week, tell us about Palazetto Bru Zane.

Véronique Gens : So, it’s been about 15 years since we met, and I’ve discovered a whole new artistic world. Romantic French music has been completely neglected in France, and Bru Zane’s work is to bring all this music to light, with composers I’d never heard of before, most of whom are fascinating. I’ve made several recordings with Bru Zane, maybe a good twenty or so, with completely unpublished works. Benjamin Godard, for example, I had never heard of him, and his music is wonderful, very romantic, very Hollywood movie-like.

So, all these works need to be brought back to life, and it’s an enormous task to relearn all this music. But with Bru Zane, we do one or two concerts at most, one recording, and that’s it, we move on to something else. So it’s really a huge task, it’s quite frustrating because it takes a lot of time. But that’s how it works with Bru Zane, and I’ve discovered some absolutely new and exciting things.

PAN M 360: Great. Tell us about Lucie Leguay now, tell us about this conductor, we don’t know her.

Véronique Gens : She is very young and very promising, whom I had the opportunity to meet when I recorded La Voix Humaine with the Lille Orchestra.

She was the assistant to conductor Alexandre Bloch, and she could hear my voice so clearly, she could hear everything that needed to be heard, things that the conductor didn’t have time to hear because he was so busy with his orchestra. And it was really exciting to work with her. She is very musical and very passionate, and she loves voices—and that’s not the case with all conductors!

So, she was there mainly to help me, to take care of me. And it was a collaboration. I learned a lot from working with her.

PAN M 360: So you have developed a professional and artistic relationship with her and you are giving her the opportunity to shine in Montreal.

Véronique Gens :Exactly! And now, a few days ago, she was appointed artistic director of the Lausanne Orchestra and the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. I think she has a bright future ahead of her. She’s a very interesting and exciting young woman, in my opinion.

PAN M 360: OK! Let’s try to briefly go over the catalog, as there are several works on the program.

Véronique Gens : Yes, but as you know, the melodies are quite short, with a few exceptions—Berlioz, for example. It’s like when you go to a vocal recital with piano accompaniment: the programs are long because the melodies are very short, quite simply. I don’t know all the pieces written for voice and orchestra. Honestly, I haven’t heard them all, but they are pieces that have been rediscovered by Bru Zane and are part of their recordings. In fact, most of the melodies I sing in this program were recorded with Bru Zane in a program called Paysage. And we made a complete recording of Massenet’s melodies with orchestra in another recording.

PAN M 360: How do you approach the lyrics in this repertoire?

Véronique Gens : I think the first and most important thing when singing this kind of melody is to make yourself understood. If people don’t understand what you’re saying, they immediately lose interest. And that’s completely natural and normal.

For me, you know, there’s this big debate about French melody: what’s more important? The music or the lyrics? All of it was written by great French poets, like Théophile Gauthier, Guillaume Apollinaire, and others. Personally, I think that here, poetry feeds the music and the music feeds the poetry. And that makes it something absolutely exceptional compared to an opera aria, which wasn’t necessarily written by a great French author.

PAN M 360: Opera librettos are full of pompous texts that have not aged well…

Véronique Gens :  Yes. And then, we repeat the same thing over and over again. These are magnificent poems. And if you don’t understand what they’re saying, you miss the whole point. And I think that’s one of the reasons why people lose interest in this kind of repertoire. So if you’re convinced by what you’re saying, you can take everyone with you and convince everyone. If you come across as a little stiff, it doesn’t work. You just have to be honest and sincere. And that’s how I try to approach it all.

PAN M 360: But… French music seems to be unpopular in the very place where it originated.

Véronique Gens:  In France, no one wants to program this kind of music, which is a real shame. I sing French melodies everywhere, in Tokyo, in England. The English love it. In France, there’s no way to program only French melodies. That’s just how it is…

PAN M 360: How do you explain that? The French are afraid of French melody, but they still like impressionist music, don’t they?

Véronique Gens: Yes, but there’s another factor to consider, and that’s the economic factor. It’s difficult to fill a hall these days with a recital of French melodies. It’s still a bit of a niche market, if I may say so. And it’s something that, once again, we don’t do often enough. And people aren’t used to it enough. It’s an educational task that needs to be done over and over again. It’s a job, it’s a constant concern.

PAN M 360: Finally, let’s talk about your other planned activities in Montreal.

Véronique Gens: Since I’m here right now, I’m going to give master classes at the Montreal Conservatory. And then I was asked to be on the jury at the end. I won’t be there for the first two days. I’ll be very busy! I’m delighted to have been asked; I’m doing more and more jury work. I’m teaching more and more classes. It’s exciting to see the level of all these young singers who are rising and rising. They’re all ready. And it’s all the more difficult because you have to make a choice when they’re all so good and so strong. And… it’s very, very difficult to start a young career now. It’s a global phenomenon. Whether you’re in Asia, North America, or Europe, you see people of a very high standard, but… there’s not room for everyone.

It’s a double anniversary that will be celebrated on Saturday, November 15, 2025, at the Claude-Champagne Hall of the University of Montreal: the 60th anniversary of the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ) and the 75th anniversary of the Faculty of Music of the University of Montreal (UdeM). For the occasion, a program tracing the common history of the two venerable institutions will be played, highlighting the music of the various personalities who have directed the SMCQ while being teachers at the Faculty. I spoke about this event and the various elements that unite the two institutions with Simon Bertrand from the SMCQ and Jean-Michaël Lavoie from UdeM.

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PANM360: What is the importance of the link between the SMCQ and UdM?

Simon Bertrand: It is important because many composers have played an important role both for the SMCQ and for the music faculty of the University of Montreal, as is the case with Serge Garant.

Jean-Michaël Lavoie: Indeed. Serge Garant was a professor of analysis and composition at the Faculty of Music of the University of Montreal and directed the Contemporary Music Workshop (Atelier de musique contemporaine) before becoming the artistic director of the SMCQ.

PANM360: In your respective hearts and in a completely subjective way, what were the most memorable and historic moments of this collaboration?

Simon Bertrand: There were many, because at the time the Pierre-Mercure Hall (downtown Montreal) did not yet exist and so many of the SMCQ’s memorable concerts took place in the Claude Champagne Hall (at the Faculty, north or the Mountain). Of course, the visits of leading figures of contemporary music such as Stockhausen or Berio were important moments in the history of contemporary music here.

Jean-Michaël Lavoie: Being a professor at the Faculty of Music and director of the Contemporary Music Workshop since 2017, the concert on November 15, 2025, will become the most significant moment for me. I am very happy to participate in this project.

PANM360: How did you build the program, and why the choice of each of these works?

Simon Bertrand: The basic idea was to showcase a work by each of the former artistic directors of the SMCQ, while knowing that, in doing so, we would also be programming composers who have also been or still are professors at the UdM, such as Garant in the past and Sokolovic right now. Of course, we also included a commission to a young composer, in order to ensure the presence of the next generation, and a greater intergenerational dialogue.

PANM360: It has always been a challenge to reach the audience for creative and avant-garde music. In your opinion, is it easier or more difficult today, in our cultural, economic, and technological context?

Simon Bertrand: That depends on the strategies that are adopted. For my part, I consider it essential to break down the barriers of so-called “contemporary” music and to go out and find the audience and other forms of art, and to do this, develop multidisciplinary collaborations with artists in other fields. But the program of this Saturday’s concert has a more historical and commemorative connotation, like a kind of celebration.

Jean-Michaël Lavoie: The challenge remains the same, and I would say it is perhaps more difficult today to reach the audience, as concerts are less attended than before. Today, we can discover all kinds of music and international artists on digital platforms, whereas before, you had to go to a concert to find out what others were doing and open yourself up to new horizons.

PANM360: The various directors of the SMCQ are on the program. Why not Simon Bertrand?

Simon Bertrand: I made a formal pledge not to self-program for at least the first two years of my term at the SMCQ, because I find that too many artistic directors do it and that there are too many conflicts of interest, often very obvious, in our field.

PANM360: How do you envision the future of the relationship between the two institutions? What are the elements that inspire confidence? What are the challenges?

Simon Bertrand: I believe that this natural alliance between the SMCQ and the University of Montreal will last as long as the composers who teach there continue to work with our organisation. That is at least my dearest wish!

Jean-Michaël Lavoie: Collaborations are possible only when there is a willingness to work together and sustained dialogue. Since I’ve been at the Faculty of Music, the dialogue has always been constant. I remember several projects discussed and realised with Walter Boudreau. I am therefore very happy that, under the guidance of Simon Bertrand, this collaboration continues between the Faculty of Music at UdeM and the SMCQ.

PANM360: Anything else you would like to highlight?

Jean-Michaël Lavoie: With the years, I realise that it is just as important to know the past and history well as it is to be in advancement, progress, novelty, creation, etc. Knowing where we come from and why this and that was done is extremely revealing and gives meaning to what we do today (and tomorrow).

Saturday, November 15, 2025 7:30 PM

Works by Boudreau, Daigneault, Garant, Sokolović, and Tremblay.

Participants  : 

Ensemble de la SMCQ

Cristian Gort, musical direction

Contemporary Music Ensemble of the University of Montreal

Jean-Michaël Lavoie, musical direction

Programme

Velours Velours, buoyed by the release of his latest album Quand je pleure, je suis content (When I cry, I’m happy), gave us an interview as part of Coup de Coeur Francophone.

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PAN M 360: Hello Raphaël, happy Halloween! How’s your autumn going? What’s your Halloween costume this year?

Velours Velours: I was dressed as a detective, and it was my birthday, so I was dressed as a detective who loves his job so much that he can’t help doing it even on his birthday.

PAN M 360: You released your first full-length album earlier this year, Quand je pleure, je suis content. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable album that takes us by the hand and leads us on a walk in the sunshine, gently chatting about life with serene authenticity. What was your state of mind when you wrote these songs?

Velours Velours: Different states of mind… the album is quite eclectic, even if it’s fairly cohesive. The songs were written at different times in different places. It’s a long phase of introspection, experiences and feelings that I put into these songs, some of which are quite intimate. It’s a sensitive and honest album, melancholic but really luminous, and that’s where I was when I composed it.

PAN M 360: At POP Montreal, you did a performance where you played your song La fin every time someone rang a bell for 24 hours. Images of this experience recently appeared on your social media accounts. What was the intention behind this? How did it go? What did you get out of it?

Velours Velours: When my manager and I conceptualized the event, we wanted to perform a song from the album in a special way. During our brainstorming session, the idea of a closed-door performance came up. It made sense during the event, with the lyrics of the song, people coming and going, fatigue setting in and adrenaline taking over. The goal was really to go ‘all the way.’ In the end, it wasn’t too difficult. I was very well supported by my team, the audience, and the artists who accompanied me and transformed the performance with their interpretation of the song. It was definitely a highlight of my career so far.

Photos: Camille Gladu-Drouin

PAN M 360: What do you have planned for your CCF show?

Velours Velours: This show is pretty special, it’s kind of the culmination of the tour so far, which we’re bringing back to Montreal. We went back over the songs, revisited some things to allow ourselves to jam more, and we even prepared two covers… to be continued! We want to have fun and get the crowd going. We won’t be playing in Montreal again for quite a while after this, so it’s shaping up to be a really good time!

Velours Velours will be performing on 14 November with Katrine Noël as part of Coup de cœur francophone at 8 p.m. at Foufounes Électriques. 🔗 See the event details on our 360 calendar.

Lena Chamamyan is a regular at the FMA, having performed there since the 2000s. Her career began in Damascus and the Levant, long before the civil war forced her to leave her country to pursue her career outside the conflict zones. Now settled in France, where she obtained citizenship, Lena Chamamyan has allowed her art to evolve with her various migrations. She is increasingly drawn to new sounds, namely a blend of electronic and instrumental elements within the framework of Arabic pop music or even classical Arabic music, not to mention her explorations of flamenco and jazz. Returning to the FMA after an absence since autumn 2022, the Franco-Syrian singer intends to maintain her acoustic instrumental style. Electronic elements may follow in the coming years.

Photo tirée du compte Instagram de Lena Chamamyan

THIS SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9TH, 5TH HALL OF THE PLACE DES ARTS

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PAN M 360: How was your FMA program built?

Lena Chamamyan : It’s been a few years since I last performed my own concert here. But I haven’t stopped performing all over Europe during that time. For Montreal, I’ve prepared the same repertoire that I perform in Europe. These are songs dedicated to the Mediterranean diaspora.

PAN M 360: What do you mean by this commitment?

Lena Chamamyan: There are songs that are written for them. There are songs that tell the story of the diaspora. There are also new songs; I’m currently promoting songs from my new album.

PAN M 360: Speaking of your new album, how was it produced? What was the production process like? Who did you work with?

Lena Chamamyan : It’s a self-produced album. I enlisted producers of varying ages, from 19 to 50. I wanted to showcase the full spectrum of contemporary Arab culture while maintaining the use of Modern Standard Arabic in the lyrics. I wanted to ensure it worked seamlessly with different musical styles. So I blended genres within the songs; some folk songs were reworked, and the melodies were updated. I did this in several songs, updating my compositions and then entrusting them to Arab and North African producers of different ages and nationalities.

PAN M 360: What is the instrumentation?

Lena Chamamyan : It’s just me singing; there are guitars, keyboards, strings, oud, and electronics. There are producers from Algeria, Jordan, but especially Syrians in exile all over the world. I wanted to know their influence, and also the influence they’ve received within the diaspora. Producers like Maher El Mallakh, Omar Alkilani, George Koita, OBADA Q, Shady Moanes, Ghaleb Zidan, Hello Psychaleppo…

PAN M 360: For the most part, you’ve worked with up-to-date producers!

Lena Chamamyan : Yes, they are mostly producers who incorporate electronics into their work. Normally, I work primarily with acoustic instrumentation, but I changed my style for this album.

PAN M 360: And this Sunday at FMA? Will you be presenting your new equipment in electronic music mode?

Lena Chamamyan : No. It will be the acoustic version. There will be older, better-known songs, and there will be new ones that will be presented for the first time on stage, here in Montreal.

PAN M 360: So this won’t be the instrumentation of your latest album!

Lena Chamamyan : No, not at all. Up until now, I’ve maintained the acoustic version for my shows. I haven’t done a live electronic version yet, but we’re working on it.

PAN M 360: It would be very interesting to discover this aspect of your work.

Lena Chamamyan : Yes, this project could change things.

PAN M 360: Joseph Nakhlé, who is with us, you should think about presenting the electro version of Lena at Orientalys, the summer counterpart of FMA in August in the Old Port.

Joseph Nakhlé : Absolutely. Outdoors, we’ve already considered an electronic version of our artists invited to the FMA.

PAN M 360: And what about the version for Sunday, November 9th?

Lena Chamamyan : We tried, but the musicians we were considering didn’t get visas. I, on the other hand, have had French nationality since 2020.

Joseph Nakhlé : If I may digress for a moment, there have been more visa refusals this year, and we’re having a problem with the closing night. Even Moeen Shreif from Beirut, who is a mega pop star in Lebanon and the Arab world, hasn’t yet received his visa just days before the event. He’s performed in Canada several times before. We’re really struggling with this this year. It’s becoming ridiculous… If it jeopardizes our closing night, we’ll issue a press release and so on.

PAN M 360: What year was your last visit to the FMA?

Lena Chamamyan : I came here in 2022. I had also come a few times before that. Today I think there’s a big difference between my first shows at the FMA and my current show. In terms of the text, in terms of the music, in terms of everything.

PAN M 360: Since you have had French citizenship since 2020, do you live in France?

Lena Chamamyan : Yes, to a large extent. I live between Paris and Cairo, where I play in an apartment because I like to spend the winter there as it’s warmer and I have very good friends there. But in the summer, it gets too hot, so I’m mostly in Paris.

PAN M 360: There are many studios in Cairo, do you work there?

Lena Chamamyan : I work mostly in Europe and Turkey with musicians and producers.

PAN M 360: Yes, you’re a regular at FMA. I remember talking to you at the beginning of your career, when you were living in Syria.

Lena Chamamyan : Yes, my family lived in Damascus at the time. My father is from Aleppo, but I grew up in Damascus. In my early years, my songs were more melancholic and romantic.

PAN M 360: Back when you were doing your first concerts, it was different.

Lena Chamamyan : Now, my music has a lot more energy. I believe we need to celebrate joy. There’s a lot of positive energy, but there’s also a lot of negative energy that needs to be expressed. I think a concert is a music therapy session.

PAN M 360: The current context is so difficult for Syrians and their Arab neighbors, we must think about healing by expressing our anger and also our joy.

Lena Chamamyan : Exactly!

Lena Chamamyan’s musicians at the FMA concert:

Arden Arapyan: Piano and musical direction

Marwan El Boukhari: Bass

Nizar Tabcharani: Qanoun

Phyras Haddad: Percussions

Fadi Machreki: Percussions

Raffi Kevork Chouljian: Drums

Nawar Helala: Trumpet

With its wild brand of alternative pop, fueled by punk and electro-industrial energy, LE VENIN shot straight into my veins from the very first listen of his new album, released under the Simone Records label. An unmatched energy seems to drive this still little-known artist. PANM 360 set out to make first contact with someone who just might become the new enfant terrible of Québec’s music scene.

PANM: Hi Antoine, congratulations on the release of your album AUTO-CONSTRUCTION MIXTAPE, which positions LE VENIN as one of the most innovative musical projects in recent years. With a striking blend of genres, an incredibly powerful energy, and diverse, captivating productions, your album manages to surprise us at every turn. How do you go about rethinking the codes of québécois pop?

Antoine: By reinventing the production — making it less conventional than what we’re used to hearing. Sometimes it’s worth racking your brain and trying to do something different, even if it totally sucks sometimes — the experiment itself is worth it.

PANM: At times, I can hear shades of Nine Inch Nails and Les Vulgaires Machins — am I wrong? What are your influences when it comes to hip-hop, industrial electro, and rock?

Antoine: I don’t really know Nine Inch Nails, but Les Vulgaires are definitely a big inspiration. I’d say the other influences are Kanye West, Ashnikko, Rammstein, Locked Club, and like… a bunch of random shit.

PANM: What was your experience collaborating with Hubert Lenoir, Robert Robert, and Jérôme 50, and how did those collaborations influence your choices for LE VENIN?

Antoine: Jérôme 50 does way too many takes in the studio — it’s insane. Hubert Lenoir sings ridiculously high, and Robert Robert isn’t even named Robert. Hubert really helped me bring my sound to life, though. He helped me find direction in my creative process, to make sense of all of it.

PANM: What’s on the horizon for LE VENIN? Any shows coming up? What can we wish you for the future?

Antoine: Let’s just say I’m not about to quit my day job. I’ll try to play some decent shows, hopefully not too far from where you live. I’d love to take this project to Europe — the food there is insanely good.

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