Interviews
The 21st Akousma festival, the quintessential electroacoustic event for Montreal music lovers, takes place on October 29, 30 and 31 at Usine C. Louis Dufort, its artistic director and coordinator of the team responsible for this 2025 program, presents Pía Baltazar.
Interview by Alain Brunet, edited by Keithy Antoine.
A premier electroacoustic event for Montreal music lovers, the 21st Akousma Festival takes place on October 29, 30, and 31 at Usine C. Louis Dufort, its artistic director and coordinator of the team responsible for this 2025 program, presents James O’Callaghan. – Interview by Alain Brunet, edited by Keithy Antoine.
The 21st Akousma festival, the quintessential electroacoustic event for Montreal music lovers, will take place on October 29, 30 and 31 at Usine C. Louis Dufort, its artistic director and coordinator of the team responsible for this 2025 program, presents Anne-F. Jacques.
The 21st Akousma festival, the quintessential electroacoustic event for Montreal music lovers, will take place on October 29, 30 and 31 at Usine C. Louis Dufort, its artistic director and coordinator of the team responsible for this 2025 program, presents Amanda Harvey.
The 21st Akousma festival, the quintessential electroacoustic event for Montreal music lovers, will take place on October 29, 30 and 31 at Usine C. Louis Dufort, its artistic director and coordinator of the team responsible for this 2025 program, presents William Jourdain.
Interview by Alain Brunet and editing by Keithy Antoine.
The premier electroacoustic event for Montreal music lovers, the 21st Akousma Festival takes place on October 29, 30, and 31 at Usine C. Louis Dufort, its artistic director and coordinator of the team behind this 2025 program, presents Orchestroll
Interview by Alain Brunet, edited by Keithy Antoine
Pianist and composer Marianne Trudel is a prominent figure on the Montreal jazz scene and one of the founding members of the Orchestre National de Jazz (ONJ), which has been active for over a decade. The ONJ will perform at the Cinquième Salle of Place des Arts this Thursday, October 30, in a concert paying tribute to the work of female jazz composers throughout history. PAN M 360 had the opportunity to speak with Marianne Trudel before this concert.
PAN M 360 – Are there any unique pleasures or opportunities that arise when playing with the ONJ?
Marianne Trudel – We started about twelve years ago, and it works a bit like a classical orchestra, with regular members who have great chemistry with each other. We also have excellent composers and arrangers. We play very diverse music with very interesting ideas and themes. The quality of the musicians and the music is outstanding!
PAN M 360 – How did you select the repertoire for this upcoming concert? You are presenting some of your own compositions, but apart from that, were there any other composers or pieces that you felt were essential?
Marianne Trudel – For this concert, the goal was to highlight women composers in jazz. I wanted to present a diversity of eras and styles. Therefore, there will be pieces by Mary Lou Williams, one of the first women composers and arrangers, who wrote pieces for the jazz orchestras of Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, among others.
She was an extraordinary musician, pianist, and composer who also mentored several renowned jazz musicians such as Monk and Gillespie. We will also be presenting pieces by Toshiko Akiyoshi, a Japanese musician who led an incredible jazz orchestra with her husband, Lew Tabackin. And of course, some pieces by Maria Schneider, who brought a very different, more orchestral sound. Her music is melodically rich and departs from the swing style.
Then, I also wanted to present more contemporary pieces, including some by Satoko Fuji, one of the most prolific and exciting Japanese pianists and composers, and Anna Webber, a Canadian who has been living in exile in the United States for years and whose music presents a very modern language and approach. I will also be presenting one of my own compositions. This concert is therefore a unique opportunity to hear this magnificent music, which is performed far too rarely.
PAN M 360 – Are there any musicians in the ONJ that you are particularly looking forward to showcasing?
Marianne Trudel – Honestly, I’m a huge fan of all the musicians in the orchestra! They each have their own sound, their own personality, their own unique style. For this concert, Kevin Warren, our regular drummer, couldn’t be with us, but we’re lucky to have Alain Bourgeois on drums, who has incredible drive and energy! I’m really looking forward to this concert!
PAN M 360 – As a composer for groups of all sizes, how does your writing process change when writing for a large ensemble? Do you see it as an extension of a smaller work or is it a completely different challenge?
Marianne Trudel – Let’s just say that a large orchestra is a very different beast! Writing for these ensembles gives me a lot more headaches (laughs). It’s a writing process that’s both incredibly exciting and quite challenging. I don’t just think in terms of melody and chords, but a lot in terms of energy, color, and contrast. The whole question of orchestration and timbre becomes an integral part of the writing.
PAN M 360 – It’s clear that the jazz scene tends to be largely dominated by men. Have you noticed any significant changes in the gender dynamics within the jazz world during your career so far? Do you have any advice for young women or non-binary people starting out in this field?
Marianne Trudel – I would tell them, “Do your thing, with commitment and determination. Period.” I’ve never really understood why there aren’t more women in jazz. There has been progress in that direction, but we’re still a long way from 50/50. Little by little, women are carving out their place. There are now several female pianists playing jazz in Montreal – Lorraine Desmarais, of course, the veteran, Kate Wyatt, Marie Fatima, Gentiane Michaud-Gagnon, Ariane Racicot, and so on.
There’s also Rachel Therrien (trumpet), Jennifer Bell (saxophone), and Claire Devlin (saxophone), who are all fantastic. Then, sometimes, excellent musicians don’t stay in Montreal and leave for other provinces or the United States. Christine Jensen spent several years in Montreal, she conducted our orchestra, and recently left for the United States. Anna Weber also went to the United States, and then a very talented young trombonist, Margarett Donovan, left.
It’s not so easy, then, to bring together feminine and masculine forces. With the ONJ, we regularly have female guests: Caity Gyorgy, Virginia MacDonad, Kim Richardson, Malika Tirolien, Miho Hazama, and others. There’s still a lot of work to be done, that’s for sure. For me, the coexistence of masculine and feminine energies remains one of the richest and most fruitful.
PAN M 360 – Are there any female artists who are not appreciated for their true worth whose work you would like to draw attention to?
Marianne Trudel – To be honest, I find that ALL our jazz musicians, men and women and non-binary, in Montreal are not appreciated for their true worth! We live in a society that favours other types of music.
Jazz receives virtually no media coverage. PAN M does excellent work in this regard, as does Sorties Jazz Night, Stanley Péan’s radio program, and occasionally, though rarely, a newspaper article here and there… but that’s about it. It’s clearly not enough. In fact, one of the ONJ’s primary goals was to showcase the richness of jazz in Montreal. And the audience witnesses this at every concert: the intensity, integrity, and heart that these musicians put into their art is magnificent. People are moved and transported.
It is on Friday, November 7 at 5 PM, in the Agora of the Judith-Jasmin Pavilion of UQAM, in downtown Montreal, that Field of Vision by American composer Michael Gordon will be performed for the first time in Canada. The latter, a master of the contemporary post-minimalist school and creator of several imposing works for percussion, wrote this vast piece of about sixty minutes in 2022 for 36 percussionists, and which is supposed to be performed outdoors. Since Montreal in November is, let’s say, rather uncertain in terms of weather, it was decided to offer this gigantic score in a large indoor space. This will be the first time this has been done and, for the occasion, the composer may even be present! The opportunity to rub shoulders with a true living legend, because that’s a bit what Michael Gordon is, founder, among other things, of the famous Bang on a Can festival in New York. In addition to Sixtrum and their French colleagues from the Percussions de Strasbourg and the Architek ensemble (from Montreal), to reach the number of 36 required by the score, the organisers also called on the EP4 group and percussion students from McGill University, the University of Montreal, UQAM, and the Montreal Conservatory! Imagine the joyful racket that will make in the Agora of UQAM! To talk about the work and the composer Michael Gordon, I met with the Deputy Artistic Director of Sixtrum, Fabrice Marandola.
PAN M 360: Tell us about Michael Gordon. Who is he and what does his music represent?
Fabrice Marandola (Sixtrum): Gordon is a composer from New York who founded, with Julia Wolfe and David Lang, the Bang on a Can festival about forty years ago. He is a representative of the new stylistic school associated with New York, a school of thought that relies heavily on pulse, beat, in contemporary musical creation. It’s a school that has a significant resonance in contemporary music, and Michael Gordon’s contribution is particularly notable, especially for percussion, as he has created several works for percussion ensembles. For example, Timber, an extraordinary score for six 2×4 wooden beams, the kind you can find at your local hardware store, quite simply. It’s crazy what he manages to create in terms of tones and sounds.
He is someone who is making a very strong mark on the contemporary percussion landscape. And the piece we are going to play, it has already been performed several times around the world.
It means it’s someone who attracts percussionists and who, at the same time, has a way of writing that makes programmers want to program this kind of somewhat crazy stuff.
PAN M 360: Is he part of the repetitive, “minimalist,” American school?
Fabrice Marandola (Sixtrum): I would say yes and no, actually. It’s perhaps more what we now call post-minimalist. There are differences with, for example, the original “repetitive” artists such as Steve Reich, who are in the exact repetition of the same cells, with gradual and subtle modifications. With Gordon, we are dealing with something that is in repetition but also in constant, more marked evolution. I’m going to make a big caricature: we’re perhaps somewhere between Steve Reich and Xenakis.
Why do I mention Xenakis? Because the timbres he uses are in wood, metal. Gordon really likes resonant metals, especially wood for Timber, where he explores this in depth. Xenakis liked that a lot too.
And then, there is a very interesting energy due to these large waves that rise and fall, which are quite typical of his writing.
PAN M 360: What is Field of Vision? Describe the music to us.
Fabrice Marandola (Sixtrum): Field of Vision is a large one-hour piece for 36 musicians (percussionists). And it was originally designed to be played outdoors, in parks.
The idea is to go into a large space, and have the musicians move from one place to another with their instruments. There is a somewhat ritualistic aspect to it. It’s a piece made up of four movements, of different lengths, and which notably begins with resonant things. Then there is a moment when we are with stones and with bundles of wood. There, it’s the ritual side where everyone moves around in a circle with the stones. Those who have the bundles of wood raise them above their heads, etc.
At other times, we use 24 brake drums in two circles of twelve.
PAN M 360: Brake drums?
Fabrice Marandola (Sixtrum): Yes, yes, the stuff for car brakes! It has a metallic tinge with a tiny bit of resonance, but not much. And then, it doesn’t cost much… We add bass drums and tam-tams in a circular arrangement.
Then we move again. There is a lot of movement. The spectators, on the other hand, are free to wander wherever they want. The idea is that there is no specific place to listen. We can walk, we can evolve, we can move around, since it was designed for the outdoors.
Since we’re in Quebec and it’s early November, we didn’t want to take the risk of being outside. And so we’re going to be inside. And it’s the first time it will be played like this. UQAM welcomed us in its Judith-Jasmin Pavilion. When you get out of the subway station and go into UQAM, there’s this atrium that’s about four or five stories. We will be downstairs, on the first and second floors, while moving around. The spectators will be able to be downstairs, they will also be able to go to the second, third, and fourth floors. We will be able to see everything that happens, all the action.
Entry is free. So, whoever wants to can come, stop, enjoy. And then, if they like it, they stay. If they don’t like it, they are free to continue on their way. The idea is to bring the music where the people are.
As soon as there are humans gathering, there is often a ritual aspect. There is always a more or less conscious organisation of how we interact with each other. And so, Gordon, he ritualised the piece with movements 1, 2, and 4 that are very rhythmic and the third one that is very open with big breaths, big crescendos, and decrescendos.
At the end, we will have 36 suspended blades, with a dozen gongs facing each other on the other side, and bass drums. It will be like a very powerful, energising final ritual.
PAN M 360: Perhaps this is the beautiful quality of Michael Gordon, that he manages to offer avant-garde music, contemporary music that is quite rigorous, demanding, but at the same time very accessible… Is this the first time you’ve played his music?
Fabrice Marandola (Sixtrum): Yes. We wanted to do Timber, but our colleagues from Quebec, EP4, ended up taking care of it. Since then, we were looking to do another piece by Michael Gordon and at the same time we were looking for works to do outdoors. I was flipping through and I came across Field of Vision. I said to myself, OK, this fits exactly with what we want to do. I then contacted the composer. This will be the first Canadian, and moreover, the first indoor performance. For these reasons, Gordon might be present! I don’t know yet.
And on top of that, we will have the Percussions de Strasbourg with us, for whom it will also be the first interpretation of Field of Vision. Imagine the honour and quality that will bring! With students from McGill, UQAM, the University of Montreal, and the Conservatory, plus colleagues from Architek and EP4, it will be the entire classical percussion community of Montreal, maybe the whole of Quebec, that will be there.
PAN M 360: What does it feel like to play with a legendary ensemble like the Percussions de Strasbourg?
Fabrice Marandola (Sixtrum): It’s fantastic, of course. We went to play with them in Europe, and they showed us their instrument reserves. I think there’s six or seven meters of instruments on shelves! The number of instruments they have is absolutely incredible.
We are lucky to have them in North America this time because they are coming to play for the 50th percussion convention in the United States called PASIC, Percussive Art Society International Convention. And it’s the first time they’re going to play at this festival, which is the largest gathering of percussionists in the world. It’s 6,000, 7,000 percussionists who gather for 3 days.
They will arrive in Montreal directly after. And so, we were lucky to have a small window to be able to have them with us.
Music lovers will have the great chance to enjoy them because they will give a concert at McGill on November 5 with music by Steve Reich, notably (Mallet Quartet among others). And then, on the morning of the 6th, they will give a masterclass at McGill.
And on the 7th, we’re having a concert at UQAM.
PAN M 360: Let me go back to Michael Gordon. What is the difficulty in playing his music?
Fabrice Marandola (Sixtrum): It’s music that is deceptively simple. It’s very rhythmic, so that, already, is reassuring. But it’s very precise in the way we “pass the baton,” actually, from one musician to another with the changes in speed. Each individual line has to be completely flexible and give the impression that they are very simple speed changes. But at the same time, we can’t afford to take a little bit of liberty on those changes because the next person follows on our speed. There are many, many details in the game. You have to be extremely precise for it to work.
Also, it’s an hour non-stop. You still need to stay focused for an hour.
The advantage, on the other hand, is that we get immediate pleasure from playing this music.
PAN M 360: There has long been snobbery displayed by the contemporary scene towards this musical aesthetic….
Fabrice Marandola (Sixtrum): Yes, especially from the European point of view. But that’s changing.
PAN M 360: Gordon participated in a certain democratisation of contemporary music with Bang on a Can, which we talked about earlier. A festival of non-dogmatic, relaxed creation, in which we could hear artists coming from scholarly academicism, jazz, rock, electro, free improvisation, etc. Can we dream of a Montreal Bang on a Can?
Fabrice Marandola (Sixtrum): That would be great! Yes, it would be entirely possible! The colour would be different, as Montreal has a more European personality, but the diversity of artistic creativity here is fantastic and would lend itself perfectly to that.
PAN M 360: The indie-rock portion of the city would also bring something original and unique…
Fabrice Marandola (Sixtrum): Ah yes, indeed, that would be fantastic!
PAN M 360: We can dream about it. In any case, PAN M would be present!
The Orchestre symphonique de Laval’s (OSL) 2025-2026 season begins Wednesday, October 29, with its new artistic director and principal conductor, Adam Johnson. A native of Laval, Adam Johnson was conductor-in-residence at the OSM before taking on this important role in Laval, a role he shares with other conductors in Guelph, Ontario, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Very happy in his new role, he reviews the OSL’s various programs for its 2025-2026 season. Meet Adam Johnson, interviewed by Alain Brunet for PAN M 360.
At the end of my review of Adrianne Munden-Dixon’s album Vision Mantra, released a few weeks ago, I said how much I wished this innovative artist was 100% Montreal-based (at that time, I still believed she was split between New York and Montreal). That’s how highly I think of her. You can imagine the pleasure I had during the interview I conducted with the young woman from the United States when she told me that she had recently obtained her Canadian permanent residency and that she is now, indeed, 100% Montrealer! Moreover, her French learning is progressing well, and she even conducted part of the conversation in Molière’s language (the majority was done in English to facilitate fluency).
READ THE REVIEW OF ADRIANNE MUNDEN-DIXON’S ALBUM VISION MANTRA
It’s been a while since I’ve wanted to introduce her to you, hoping that you’ll make a wonderful discovery, because the young lady is brilliant and always at the forefront of the most stimulating creations on the contemporary scene of our city. Here is this interview, divided into multiple sections.
Interview – Adrianne Munden Dixon – Love for Baroque
Interview – Adrianne Munden Dixon – Use of Electronics in Vision Mantra
Interview – Adrianne Munden Dixon – Getting good in French (en français!)
Interview – Adrianne Munden Dixon – ”I’m greedy!”
Interview – Adrianne Munden Dixon – Love for Montreal
Interview – Adrianne Munden Dixon – From Georgia to NYC to MTL
Interview – Adrianne Munden Dixon – Surf competitor!
Interview – Adrianne Munden Dixon – What about the title of the new album, Vision Mantra?
Interview – Adrianne Munden Dixon – Who is Adrianne Munden-Dixon?
Rau_Ze is a singer-songwriter duo composed of Rose Perron and Félix Paul. Together, they blend their worlds—Félix’s Cartesian rigor and Rose’s poetic intuition—to create vibrant, heartfelt, and irresistibly danceable neo-soul R&B.
Their debut album Virer nos vies, released in 2024 on 117 Records, sincerely addresses romantic relationships, mental health, addiction, and invisible work. Combining influences from jazz, funk, hip-hop, trip-hop, and Y2K pop, the duo unfolds an authentic writing style, carried by warm grooves and a great humanity. The album, which has accumulated nearly two million streams, was celebrated to sold-out audiences in Montreal and Quebec City, and earned them numerous notable accolades.
Rau_Ze presents today Re;;;Virer nos vies, an expanded and expanded version of the first opus. With two new eclectic tracks, Félix Paul and Rose Perron once again demonstrate their versatility and their desire to reinvent themselves, without ever betraying their distinctive musical signature. The rhythmic warmth of Brazilian music from the 60s and 70s permeates La dérive, while the cyberpunk energy of Travaille toute la nuit brings back the raw passion of their stage performances.
Accompanied by Henri Bouchard (bass), Juan Espitia (drums) and Julien Fillion (saxophone), they offer an electric and sensitive show, where Rose’s intense voice and the group’s complicity transport the audience between gentleness and explosion.
Rau_Ze performs at Coup de Cœur Francophone on November 6 at 9 p.m. at Rockette Bar.
Rodolphe Mathieu (1890-1962), Lionel Daunais (1901-1982), André Prévost (1934-2001), Claude Vivier (1948-1983), Rachel Laurin (1961-2023) and also the (very) living Denis Gougeon, Ana Sokolović, Louis Desjarlais, Francis Battah and others Pascal Germain-Berardi, without naming them all, have this in common: composition for choral singing.
And this is why, in the context of its 60th anniversary under the theme of intergenerational dialogue, the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ) presents the program Au Chœur du Québec at the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours, on October 30th.
Under the direction of Pascal Germain-Berardi, who has a background as a choir conductor, combined with other practices in contemporary music and even prog metal as well, a choir of 24 singers will be brought together to illustrate many generations of Quebec composition dedicated to choral singing. And that is why PAN M 360 presents this interview with Pascal Germain-Berardi.
PAN M 360: How was this program designed for 24 performers instead of 16, as originally planned?
Pascal Germain-Berardi: When I provided all my production information to the SMCQ, we were working on a scenario of 16 performers. Since then, we have obtained additional funding, which allows us to do the concert with 24 singers, which has expanded our deployment.
PAN M 360: Are these arrangements of works adapted for choral singing?
Pascal Germain-Berardi: These are not arrangements, they are compositions for choral singing, works by composers who have marked the history of Quebec, or by younger composers. It’s true that Lionel Daunais, for example, has made many choral arrangements of traditional music. But we will be performing Sous le pont Mirabeau, an original work he composed on a poem by Guillaume Apollinaire.
PAN M 360: Does it seem like this is not the very beginning of this project?
Pascal Germain-Berardi: This project dates back to 2018, when it was called Au choeur de Montréal. And this is the first time we’ve done an iteration of it. In 2018, I had chosen exclusively Montreal composers. What gave me this idea was the 375th anniversary of Montreal, which had taken place shortly before. Afterward, we managed to schedule a tour of the Maisons de la culture. We also received a nomination for an Opus Prize. From this adventure emerged the idea of a more global project on Quebec to broaden the palette. Rachel Laurin, for example, grew up in Mirabel, André Prévost in Saint-Jérôme. So that allowed us to embrace the entire Quebec territory. Since the beginning of this project, we have given around twenty concerts in Montreal, Laval, Drummondville, Beloeil, Sorel-Tracy, etc. We even performed in Chile. And here is this occasion with the SMCQ for its 60th anniversary.
PAN M 360: Is there any added value for this anniversary program?
Pascal Germain Berardi: I decided to offer the widest possible range of new pieces that I had never performed before. Some of these works were impossible to perform with smaller choirs. André Prévost’s Soleil couchant, for example, was conceived for six voices, which is difficult to do with 12 or 16 choristers. With 24, it works very well.
Nature, the piece by Rodolphe Mathieu that we’re going to do, was the first movement of what would become his last work, Symphony for Human Voices, which he was unable to complete before his death. This movement is presented for a double six-part choir, so 12 voices at certain points. Obviously, it works at 24, which is a multiple of 6.
PAN M 360: This program is therefore part of a continuum and is currently being renewed. Still a motivation?
Pascal Germain Berardi: I noticed that there was too little effort to defend what we might call our musical historical heritage. That’s why this project was born and continues. From one year to the next, this project does not lose its relevance. I have the opportunity to renew the repertoire while maintaining the same concept, the same title that embodies this idea of defending our musical history.
PAN M 360: Can your Temps Fort choir rely on a stable core to carry out its missions?
Pascal Germain-Berardi: Temps Fort is the production organization I founded, with which I carry out my projects. When we started, it was limited to choir concerts. After a few years of activity, I managed to lead other projects with instrumentalists and build a reputation. In fact, we are currently in a crowdfunding campaign to help us finance our next album. But I have a core group of artists who have been there since the very first concert we did in 2014, at a time when we were still students, and no one was getting paid. We were young people who were hungry!
PAN M 360: And appetite comes with eating!