Quebec-born Dina Gilbert is the maestra who has conducted the symphonic hip-hop experiments of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and other European orchestras, notably for I Am, MC Solaar, Big Flo et Oli and the leading figures of rap keb. This time, she conducts the OSM and the emblematic Quebec metal band Voivod. Hugo Bégin’s arrangements should both magnify and transform the 12 Voivod songs on the program. Two unique evenings at the OSM, January 29 and 30 at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier.
Photo Credit: Patrick Boucher
From the point of view of complexity and demand for virtuosity, metal is the most advanced form of rock expression, whether you like the violence or not. Trained as a trombonist, composer and, in this case, arranger, Hugo Bégin has grasped this perfectly and proceeded to create 12 arrangements for 12 songs by Voivod, undoubtedly the emblematic band of Quebec metal after 42 years of loyal service. That’s why PAN M 360 is looking into the matter! Our esteemed colleague Laurent Bellemare and Alain Brunet asked Hugo Bégin about the ins and outs of these two historic evenings of symphonic metal at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, on January 29 and 30.
The Year of the Dragon, which will end on January 30, will be marked by music and the meeting of East and West. Conceived a few years ago, the Maison symphonique will perform the world premiere of Christian Thomas’ Concerto for Pipa, which will be performed by virtuoso Liu Fang, one of the most renowned in the world and described as “the empress of the pipa.” The unique notes of the pipa, this ancient Chinese instrument, will join those of the FILMharmonique Orchestra conducted by Françis Choinière, which will also perform the famous violin concerto Les Amants papillons, with violinist Guillaume Villeneuve as soloist, as well as Stravinsky’s The Firebird. A few days before the concert, Alexandre Villemaire spoke with Christian Thomas about the composition of his concerto.
M/NM presents Delta (s), an immersive experience at McGill University’s formidable Music Multimedia Room (MMR). The program is performed by Duo AIRS, featuring percussionist David Therrien-Brongo and multi-saxophonist Louis-Philippe Bonin, joined by composer and guitarist Alexandre David, notably for his piece Delta (s), which brilliantly combines the aesthetics of contemporary music, rock metal and Balinese gamelan. Immersive of a third kind! Conceived by Andrew Staniland, Alexander Schubert, Nicole Lizée and Rocio Cano Valiño, other related works will also be performed in solos, duets and trios. To find out more, Alain Brunet spoke to David Therrien-Brongo and Alexandre David.
Delta (2024), 14:00Alexandre David Drum Creation, saxophone ténor, guitare, processing and video
On January 17, the young Quebec ensemble Quatuor Cobalt officially launched its first album, Reflets du temps. Through three works by female composers of different periods and styles (Maddalena Sirmen, Fanny Mendelssohn and Alicia Terzian), ranging from the classical era to the present day, the quartet – made up of Guillaume Villeneuve and Diane Bayard (violins), Clément Bufferne (viola) and François Leclerc (cello) – express a shared passion for the variety of the string quartet repertoire, while adding their own personal touch, notably through interpretation on period instruments. PAN M 360 contributor Alexandre Villemaire spoke with François Leclerc about this launch and the quartet’s upcoming projects.
Photo Credit: Annie Ethier
Video, calligraphy and live painting are on the program performed by the Trio d’argent. Three French flautists will perform Déry, Yu, Sinnhuber, Dazzi and Daudin-Clavaud, whose works were composed for their ensemble. This program fits in perfectly with the general theme of M/NM, namely the very contemporary link between music and image. This conversation between creative music and graphic or pictorial art. In real time, calligrapher Shanshan Sun will perform in concert with the musicians. We’ll also be evoking the famous mangas of Jirô Taniguchi, not to mention the live drawing videos of the late Kim Jung-gi. The flautists of the Trio d’Argent draw the audience into the Asian “art of the line”. “Each graphic expression, highlighted by the musical gesture, reveals a new facet of this subtle, harmonious universe. ”
Inspired by the poetry of the gifted Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), I Am Vertical brings together the Montreal ensembles Cordâme and Sixtrum. Cordâme’s leader, double bassist Jean-Félix Mailloux, has adapted texts by the American author and put them into the mouth of singer Coral Egan, around whom strings and percussion unfold. Sixtrum is one of our main percussive vehicles for local and international creative music. Cordâme, for its part, is a chamber jazz ensemble that multiplies crossovers and superimpositions with modern music from classical traditions of all eras. A few days before the program launch, Alain Brunet interviewed Jean-Félix Mailloux and Fabrice Marandola, Sixtrum’s spokesmen. For PAN M 360!
The collaborative exploration between vocal ensemble Phth and visual artist Beth Frey promises immersive, spontaneous and interactive storytelling. This real-time experience takes place on Sunday, February 16 at the Society for Arts and Technology (SAT), as part of the Montreal / New Musics festival presented by the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ). Beth Frey’s art video is populated by strange, “morphologically ambiguous” creatures, who find their vocal repartee in a quintet of singers inclined to improvisation and advanced singing techniques, including onomatopoeia, borborygms and other sounds from a lyrical vocabulary developed by the avant-garde over recent decades. Bizarre from the outset, there’s nothing austere about Phth and Beth Frey’s joint approach: humor and surprise are an integral part of the affair. Like their video interlocutor, Phth’s artists are all composers and improvisers, perfectly capable of laying the foundations of a coherent and attractive edifice. To better prepare for this experience, Alain Brunet met with Phth’s Beth Frey and Gabriel Dharmoo.
The Centre des musiciens du monde in Montréal is presenting a brand new series of events entitled ‘Intimate Concerts’, to be held in a small, welcoming space behind the altar of Saint-Enfant-Jésus church, on the corner of Saint-Dominique and Saint-Joseph. In this space, 50 people will be able to enjoy the spellbinding sounds of the Arabic oud, the Mongolian morin khuur, the Peruvian charango, the Persian setar (not to be confused with the Indian sitar) and the Rwandan inanga. These will be moments of musical, emotional and even spiritual communion, as Frédéric Léotar, the Centre’s General Director, explains in more detail in this interview.
Sous le slogan Lâche ta bête de fête, Igloofête/Igloofest lance sa pleine programmation le jeudi 16 janvier, Quai Jacques-Cartier, pour 4 week-ends consécutifs au cœur de l’hiver. Tali Rose et Michael Bibi sont les têtes d’affiche, Scène Sapporo pendant que Félix Patry, DJ Minx et Willwalsh se succéderont sur la scène Vidéotron. Tout ça ce jeudi, coup d’envoi d’une brochette impressionnante d’invités internationaux et locaux pour les semaines qui viennent. Pour mieux préparer ses sorties igloofestives, quoi de mieux que d’en causer au principal architecte de la programmation, Mathieu Constance ?
PAN M 360. Y a-t-il un angle d’attaque pour Igloofête / Igloofest 2025 ?
Mathieu Constance: Pour 2025, on parle de notre Tournée Monstre Igloofest qui débute à Montréal le 16 janvier et qui s’étend à Gatineau pour la première fois (13-14-15 février) et à Québec pour sa troisième édition (6-7-8 mars). On encourage notre public à participer à la fête à travers le Québec, durant l’hiver au complet!
PAN M 360: Quelles sont les actualisations en termes stylistiques?
Mathieu Constance: On retrouve de la hyperpop avec Bladee, DOSS et COUCOU CHLOE ainsi que plusieurs premières, dont Michael Bibi, Skepta (Más Tiempo), Adriatique et Cloonee. Ces noms reflètent la popularité de la techno mélodique et de la tech house, des styles qui font fureur partout dans le monde en ce moment.
PAN M 360: Visiblement, la direction artistique se fait plaisir avec des pointures telles Skepta et Four Tet ou Apashe. Comment attirer ces artistes qui ne font pas exactement dans le dancefloor pour les présenter aux danseurs.euses du snowfloor ?
Mathieu Constance: On retrouve Four Tet et Apashe tous les deux pour la 2e fois, on sait qu’ils savent nous offrir des moments inoubliables de dancefloor! Skepta présente son projet DJ set Más Tiempo pour la première fois à Montréal. C’est un projet house qui a fait vibrer les dancefloors partout dans le monde, de Miami à Londres à Ibiza.
PAN M 360: Vous n’invitez donc pas uniquement des artistes dont la fonction principale est de faire danser, on pense à Skepta qui vient en DJ set. Y en a-t-il d’autres et pourquoi ainsi diversifier la proposition?
Mathieu Constance: Bladee présente un live qui est moins orienté au dancefloor, mais qui se prêtera à merveille à notre offre de production. On a vu l’engouement pour des artistes comme 100 gecs et on a cherché à présenter quelque chose de nouveau, qui plaira à un nouveau public. Et c’est la première fois qu’on fait un événement 15 ans et + à Igloofest.
PAN M 360:. Vous poursuivez dans la même lignée, c’est-à-dire un riche mélange de découvertes et artistes consacrés. Le public en est-il conscient ou encore ne viendra-t-il que pour “l’expérience” ?
Mathieu Constance: Je pense qu’on retrouve vraiment un équilibre entre les deux; pouvoir présenter les deux types d’artistes en parallèle permet au public de pouvoir faire des découvertes inattendues, même quand on va d’abord au set d’une tête d’affiche plus connue.
PAN M 360: Quelles sont tes meilleures prises cette année, d’un point de vue strictement artistique ? Quelques mots pour chacun STP?
Mathieu Constance: Je suis très content de pouvoir produire le lineup de Four Tet en fermeture – on retrouve un mélange pointu de house, techno, UKG, et tout ce qui se retrouve entre ces styles pour un closing mémorable.
Adriatique sera un spectacle à ne pas manquer non plus, c’est un duo qu’on suit depuis longtemps et qu’on a hâte de voir brasser la scène principale.
En 3e, Marie Davidson est une incontournable, une première bien attendue à Igloofest. Elle lance un album sur le label du duo mythique Soulwax prochainement, et on a très hâte de voir ce qu’elle nous réserve pour son DJ set.
PAN M 360: Quelles sont tes meilleures prises cette année, d’un point de vue pouvoir attractif ?
Mathieu Constance: On a droit à beaucoup de grosses soirées cet hiver, mais j’estime que Steve Angello, Adriatique et Claptone seront de gros moments!
PAN M 360:. Vous avez choisi la formule 3 soirs par semaine, c’est finalement la meilleure à l’évidence. Pourquoi ?
Mathieu Constance: Trois jours de weekend permet non seulement un engagement plus fort de la part des festivaliers, en particulier ceux qui viennent d’ailleurs, mais offre également une programmation variée et de nombreuses opportunités en termes de booking. Du point de vue de l’équipe, c’est une configuration idéale, garantissant des opérations plus fluides et une meilleure implication tout au long de l’événement.
PAN M 360:. Peux-tu décrire sommairement le public qui se présente à Igloofest en 2025 ? Tranche d’âge, origines (locale ou touristique), intérêt pour la “mélomanie” ou le party, etc.
Mathieu Constance: Le public d’Igloofest est majoritairement composé de jeunes mélomanes, âgés de 18 à 35 ans qui ont la culture festive dans le sang. L’événement attire des guerriers du froid de tous âges, en quête d’une expérience hivernale unique avec ses offres connexes d’Igloofête et les soirées Après-Ski. Igloofest séduit non seulement les Montréalais, mais aussi les visiteurs français (du Québec et de France!), la majorité du public accueilli réside dans la région du grand Montréal.
KingAlexBeats is the son of Quebec-Salvador beatmaker Doc Filo. From an early age, he was fascinated by his father’s work, and quickly picked up the tools he needed to produce music. In a way, this basic equipment became his game console! Today, he’s 23, with over a decade’s experience in sound creation. He has worked with the Canicule community of artists (Shreez, Tizzo, Le Ice, etc.) and created beats for FouKi, Mike Shabb, Maky Lavender, Obia le chef, to name a few. We also owe him a pair of albums: King (2022) and Roi à la naissance (2024). American hip-hop, trap, rap keb, reggaeton, afrobeats and other sub-genres make up his palette of colors, which he puts to good use in his work as a producer and composer.
What followed was spectacular: he was spotted by Alexander Castillo Vasquez, a Latin-keb producer who has supplied beats to the big leagues of pop, from Pitbull to Justin Bieber to Nicki Minaj. Interested in his work, KingAlexBeats’ new mentor invited him to share his work with international heavyweights. The young Laval beatmaker was then able to work with Castillo on Colombian superstar Shakira’s megatube Soltera, which prompted Pitbull to call on his services. The snowball effect has only just begun, with more prestigious collaborations to come, which is why PAN M 360 is interested in his work. Alain Brunet spoke to him, so let’s get to know KingAlexBeats!
Nuits d’Afrique is kicking off 2025 on a high note with an incredible treat for us: Omar Sosa and Seckou Keita’s SUBA Trio, joined by the phenomenal percussionist Gustavo Ovalles. Afro-Cuban jazz, West African vibes, and breathtaking improvisations—this trio is renowned for performances that leave audiences spellbound. As they get ready to bring us music from their last two albums, Transparent Water and SUBA, they’re promising an evening filled with soul, creativity, and a musical connection that runs deep.
PAN M 360 : Omar, Seckou, it’s such a pleasure to have you here. We’re all very excited about your upcoming performance in Montreal for Nuits d’Afrique. Have you performed in Montreal before?
Omar Sosa : Yes, I’ve played there a few times. It’s one of the great music cities of the world. The Jazz Festival there is legendary.
Seckou Keita : I’ve performed there as well. The energy is incredible. I remember being there for the Jazz Festival—the atmosphere was unforgettable. But I hear it’s quite cold in Montreal right now!
PAN M 360 : Yes, quite right. it’s around minus 10 degrees at the moment. But I’m sure your performance will bring the warmth we need.
Omar Sosa : Definitely! And with Seckou coming straight from Senegal, he’ll bring some of that beautiful warmth with him.
PAN M 360 : I know you’ve been performing together for a while now. But still, how do you manage rehearsals when you’re often on opposite sides of the world?
Omar Sosa : We have a connection that transcends geography. It’s not just about rehearsing; it’s about feeling. Every time we come together, something magical happens. Seckou brings fresh energy and grooves from Senegal, and that keeps our performances alive.
Seckou Keita : Yes, it’s a natural connection that grows stronger every time we meet. The longer we’re apart, the more intense and vibrant it is when we reunite. Our performance in Montreal will be a burst of that energy.
PAN M 360 : So by now do you mostly play established repertoire from your albums, or is there a lot of improvisation in your shows?
Omar Sosa : We blend both. We honor our albums, Transparent Water and SUBA, but every performance is different. The structures are there—A, B, bridge—but the connection between us always brings something new. Each show feels like a new creation.
Seckou Keita: Absolutely. There’s always a fresh dynamic. It’s like every performance is a new album in itself. We share this energy with the audience, and it’s amazing to see how it resonates.
PAN M 360 : When was the last time you performed together?
Seckou Keita : It was in March last year, during our UK tour. Since then, we’ve been working on separate projects, but we’re excited to bring all that new inspiration back to the SUBA Trio.
Omar Sosa : Exactly. Our music reflects not just our collaboration but also our individual journeys. Every time we play together, it’s fresh and deeply rooted in our traditions and spirits.
PAN M 360 : Let’s talk about your Tiny Desk performance. How was that experience?
Omar Sosa : That was actually my second Tiny Desk. The first one was years ago with Paolo Fresu, and back then, it really was a desk—no set, just pure and simple. Now, they’ve created a little set, but the intimacy is still there. The focus on acoustic sound and the natural vibe is beautiful.
Seckou Keita : It was incredible. The space is so small, especially for Omar’s piano and Gustavo’s percussion setup. But the technicians did an amazing job creating a sound that’s so alive. The interaction with the people in the office was fantastic. It felt like we were sharing something deeply personal with them.
PAN M 360 : That performance has gained quite a following. Did it help spread the word about the SUBA Trio?
Seckou Keita : Yes, it brought a lot of attention to what we do. People often tell us they discovered us through Tiny Desk. It’s a blessing to have such a platform where our music can reach so many new listeners.
PAN M 360 : As a musician myself, I’m curious about how you balance the sound between the kora and the piano. Both can occupy similar tonal spaces. How do you make it work?
Omar Sosa : It’s all about listening and being humble. If Seckou is leading with his voice and kora, my role is to support and create a foundation. We spent a lot of time during the production of SUBA understanding each other’s spaces and finding that balance.
Seckou Keita : Yes, it’s a dialogue. We know when to give each other space and when to blend. It’s about trust and knowing each other deeply, both musically and spiritually.
PAN M 360 : Your music often feels like it channels something beyond the ordinary. How do you explain that?
Seckou Keita : Sometimes, the energy we create is so powerful that it feels beyond human. It’s like we’re just channels for something greater. Those moments are humbling and remind us of the spiritual dimension of what we do.
Omar Sosa : It’s love. Love for the music, for each other, for our traditions, and for the audience. When that love is true, everything flows naturally. It’s not something you can force; it’s something you feel.
PAN M 360 : Thank you both for your thoughts. We’re really looking forward to experiencing that love and connection in Montreal.
Omar Sosa : Thank you. We’re excited to bring our music to such a special city.
Seckou Keita : Yes, thank you, merci. We’ll see you soon in Montreal!
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