Interviews – Page 3

The 2025 edition of the Festival Classica has gone big, very big indeed: it has asked Marie-Nicole Lemieux to take on the role of Carmen in a complete rendition of the opera, a first in Canada! Elsewhere, Marie-Nicole has told her family: “If you want to see me in Carmen, this is the place to do it!’’ And yet this is a character she has mastered on European stages since 2017!

On 7 June 2025, at the co-cathedral of Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue in Longueuil (south shore of Montreal), the celebrated singer will be joined by an impressive vocal team: Emmanuel Hasler (Don José), Suzanne Taffot (Micaëla), Étienne Dupuis (Escamillo), Catherine St-Arnaud (Frasquita), Florence Bourget (Mercedes), Dominique Côté, Thomas Vinals, Dion Mazerolle and Pierre Rancourt! If that’s not a five-star line-up, I don’t know what is. Then there’s the Festival Orchestra conducted by Jean-Marie Zeitouni, the ArtChoral ensemble conducted by Mathias Maute and a ‘’spacing’’ (mise en espace) by regular performer Isabeau Proulx-Lemire. Mise en espace (for which I don’t have an accurate translation if not ‘’spacing’’) means a kind of interesting in-between, “the best of both worlds”, as Marie-Nicole Lemieux puts it in the attached interview. Although there is no full stage like in regular scenic opera, there are still movements and digital projections (by Lumifest en cavale). It’s much more dynamic than a simple concert performance with fixed soloists in front of lecterns. For Marie-Nicole, it allows for a more intimate and direct relationship with the conductor, because there’s no intermediary of costumes and sets, and you can ‘concentrate on the words’. I invite you to listen to my interview with Marie-Nicole to find out more about her very personal vision of the character of Carmen.

“We live our first twenty years, and the next twenty serve to understand the first twenty”. Here’s the phrase overheard by chance that inspired Flavia Coelho when the time came to work on a new album. Five years after DNA, Ginga is a sort of life review for the Brazilian artist, who wanted to look back on all her first times: first love, first disappointment, first indignation, etc. Comprising ten songs and lasting 40 minutes, it combines several musical styles, from samba and reggae to pagode and amapiano. This is not Flavia Coelho’s first appearance at Nuits d’Afrique. She was already part of the line-up on the big outdoor stage, as well as at Club Balattou. This time, she arrives with her three musicians to set the Olympia alight on July 9, two of whom have been with her for several years. Our journalist Sandra Gasana caught up with her by videoconference live from Paris, to talk about her forthcoming appearance in the city.

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Singing in her native French and in English, she brings us Still, there is the sea , an 8-song debut album featuring influences from Daughter, Agnes Obel and Olafur Arnalds, and a fragile, mysterious voice sometimes reminiscent of Klô Pelgag’s more melancholy inclinations. She has so far unveiled two extracts, The sun, the sky and Eau miroir, in anticipation of the June 6 release date.

Montreal-born Ambre Ciel is a singer-songwriter offering neo-classical and ambient pop with experimental touches. Growing up in a musical family, she first became interested in the violin, before returning to the piano, effects pedals and loops to get where she is today.

We caught up with her for a few moments to ask her a few questions, just before she took to the stage at this summer’s Festival International de Jazz.

PAN M 360: Who produced the album? Why this choice?

Ambre Ciel : Pietro Amato and I co-produced the album together. He’s someone who’s been involved in the project from the start, to whom I often send fragments of songs or ideas. He’s a mentor, a valuable consultant, with whom I first worked on the EP in 2021. The project has really evolved, I’ve started writing in English and we’re really closer to instrumental music. It’s important to have an outside view, even if I already had a clear vision of what I wanted, because he understands my vision and we have common influences. This has given me more experience and autonomy. It’s also good to confront your vision with someone else’s and enrich it. Sometimes he leads me to rework the composition of a chance or let the musicians improvise, whereas I tend to write all the arrangements in advance (laughs).

PAN M 360: It’s an expansive album, full of sweetness. How did you come up with the musical direction?

Ambre Ciel : When I started composing the album, it was really the motif of the first four chords on the album that triggered everything else. I’d just moved into a quieter apartment, where I could have access to silence, and that quiet energy was a refuge for me that allowed me to dive into creating. The vision I had was that I wanted a lot of acoustic instruments, and the initial motif was very inspiring, so I wasn’t sure at what point it was going to go in an instrumental direction or not, because I was hearing a lot of possibilities, and the moment you add voice, it takes the focus away from the audition. That’s what motivated the choice of acoustic instruments and strings.

PAN M 360: What did you want to share with the world through this first offering?

Ambre Ciel: For me, the creation of this album gave me a certain anchorage. I felt that this music, compared to what had gone before in my career, was more down-to-earth, with more traditional forms. There’s one song that’s a bit more experimental, but the others all have verses. These songs have been a refuge for me, and I hope they will be for others.

PAN M 360: What inspired you to compose the pieces?

Ambre Ciel : The possibilities of exploring different avenues from the same material. There are a lot of albums that have influenced me, like those by Sufjan Stevens, where there’s a real synergy between the music and the lyrics, or Agnes Obel.

PAN M 360: The songs are linked by water. Is it an element with which you have a strong connection?Ambre Ciel : Nature really inspires me, the peace and quiet you find there. When it comes to writing lyrics for me, it’s always the music that comes first, and I always feel that I’ve said what I needed to say (laughs). I’ve always been someone who wasn’t so good at putting into words the things I experience, but when I start composing at the piano, there’s a song that emerges and eventually, I hear a melodic vocal line. I’ve been reading a lot of poetry recently and I compose intuitively, so I realize afterwards that there’s a recurring theme that emerges, like that of water. I have a strong connection with nature in general.

PAN M 360: Was it important for you to leave a lot of room for arrangements and music?

Ambre Ciel: What was important for me was that the important elements of the album – the voice, the piano and the strings – had enough space. Let the music breathe. As I studied violin, I’m very inclined towards melodies, whether for strings or voice.

PAN M 360: You’ve chosen to team up with British label Gondwana Records. How did this come about?

Ambre Ciel : I’ve been following Hania Rani’s project for several years now, and what I find interesting is the space between the avant-pop song and the space for instrumental music. What I’ve always found interesting about Gondwana Records is that its artists always defy genre categorization, whether it’s Portico Quartet or Matthew Halsall. I sent the mixed album to Gondwana and Matthew replied. I went to visit them in the UK, we filmed a music video and it was a really great experience to join that family. There were a lot of influences with my artistic identity at Gondwana and I felt I could be part of something bigger.

PAN M 360: Is there a Montreal launch planned for the album’s release?

Ambre Ciel: Yes, there’s a launch on June 5 at the Oblique vinyl store. I’ll be playing at 6pm and will be accompanied by a harpist for the occasion. There’s no harp on the album, but we had to adapt it for the live formula, as there’s no orchestra.

PAN M 360: What’s next for 2025 after the Jazz Festival?

Ambre Ciel: I’m off to London for a 6-month residency, from July to December. There will be shows in Germany too. After that, I’ll be working on my second album.

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From Thursday 4 June until Thursday 17 July 2025, the Centre des Musiciens du Monde in Montreal will be launching its third season of Music Under a Tree. Quite simply, free concerts by musicians from the four corners of the world in Parc Lahaie, just in front of the centre on the corner of Saint-Laurent and Saint-Joseph. India, Burkina Faso, Ukraine, Georgia, Eastern Europe, Turkey and many other learned and folk traditions will be on display to the delight of music lovers eager for universal and humanist communion. I spoke to Frédéric Léotar, General Director of the Centre, about the programme.

Indeed, Carminda Mac Lorin is a “bassist, singer, dreamer, committed and working on an urban solo project of the world on the horizon”. That’s how she describes herself on her Instagram page. But as part of the Festival des saveurs interculturelles de Saint-Michel, she’s coordinating the Forum Social Mondial des Intersections (FSMI) while also featuring in the programming for the closing day on Sunday June 1 as bassist and singer, accompanied by the band SolidGround. For the occasion, she is preparing two tracks that fit in well with the forum’s theme. She took the time to chat with Sandra Gasana for PAN M 360, between two FSMI activities.

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At the crossroads of electronic music, live performance and the visual arts, Hakeem Lapointe – under the name Amselysen – is developing an artistic practice in which sound texture becomes matter for thought, feeling and transformation. In this case, exploring this fantasy, the quest for the ideal perfume of a serial killer, no less.

Inspired by attentive listening to the world, the project draws as much on the poetry of field recording as on the deconstructed aesthetics of artists such as Oneohtrix Point Never, to compose works in which the boundary between composition and environment is blurred. Artist and curator for this edition of EAF x SAT x Tropisme, Amselysen wears many hats, navigating between the stage and curation with a resolutely experimental approach. Each performance becomes a field of exploration: a living space where sounds captured, transformed and reinterpreted take shape in the moment.

In the run-up to this program, conceived as an immersive, sensory experience (Saturday, May 31 at the Society for Arts and Technology – SAT), Amselysen shared some thoughts on his artistic journey, conceptual influences, relationship to the stage, and vision of out-of-format music. For PAN M 360, Félicité Couëlle-Brunet interviewed Amselysen and produced the following video montage.

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The Classica Festival offers an original encounter with the cello, performed four times and exclusively by women, on Wednesday June 4 at Boucherville’s Sainte Famille church. A cello quartet, led by cellists Chloé Dominguez, Justine Lefebvre, Noémie Raymond and Kateryna Bragina. Those who play this instrument love to get together. Proof of this are the numerous ensembles of 12 cellos (I’m thinking of the Berlin Philharmonic, among others) and their respective albums, which have often reached the top of the classical charts. Here, four of today’s finest Quebec performers will offer a program in tribute to the instrument, but also to such composers as Isabella Leonarda, Nadia Boulanger, Hildegarde de Bingen and even Charlotte Cardin! A few males (one imagines them benevolent) mingle with the list (Piazzolla, Debussy, Monteverdi…). I spoke to the radiant Chloé Dominguez about all this.

From July 8 to 20, 2025, Montreal welcomes the 39th Nuits d’Afrique, featuring more than 700 artists from some 30 countries around the world where Africans and their Afro-descendants from the Caribbean, Latin America and all immigrant lands live. Here come 13 days of indoor concerts and six 6 days of free outdoor programming in the Quartier des spectacles. Brazil’s Flavia Coehlo, Nigeria’s Femi Kuti, Ivory Coast’s Meiway, Algeria’s Labess and Martinique’s Blaiz Fayah are among the headliners of this not-to-be-missed event in Montreal culture. For PAN M 360, Alain Brunet interviewed Sépopo Galley, programmer at Nuits d’Afrique, who traveled the world to bring us the nuggets of this 39th program.

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On May 29, violist Elvira Mishbakova and pianist Meagan Milatz will perform an Ad Lucem concert at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Saint-Lambert. A project about hope in these difficult times, and about music as a vector of healing in this chaotic world.

Russian-born Elvira Misbakhova, currently principal violist with the Orchestre Métropolitain, talks to PAN M 360’s Judith Hamel about the concert, her musical choices and the bond between her and her stage partner.

PAN M 360: In this concert, you’ll be playing a duo with pianist Meagan Milatz, with whom you’ve often shared the stage. What unites you musically? What makes this collaboration special for you?

Elvira Mishbakova: The joy we share when we play together is immense! I think that if the musicians don’t talk much during their rehearsals, that’s fine, because everything happens through musical conversation, looking at each other and listening to each other. We understand each other instantly, and our reflexes, reactions and comments are always in tune! When work is based on trust, open-mindedness and musical flexibility, everything goes well.

PAN M 360: In your program notes, you describe this concert as a reflection on hope in difficult times. Can you tell us more about this idea?

Elvira Mishbakova: I chose the repertoire that resonates a lot with hope and enlightenment. When people come to concerts, I think they want to leave with different impressions, emotions, appreciation, maybe even with some learning, but also they come to events, to concerts to relax, to detach themselves from their reality, to dive into a moment of reflection, maybe find peace, and calm… or simply they are guided by their curiosity and admiration for classical music and this magnificent Classica Festival! Our idea for this concert is to share these moments of reflection, the moments of peace and calm, the moments of hope, because music has that rare power! It heals us, it unites us, it consoles us and it lifts us into the future, even in difficult times.

PAN M 360: The program for this concert spans several centuries and very different styles, from the Russian Romanticism of Glinka to the contemporary music of Kelly-Marie Murphy. What links all these works together?

Elvira Mishbakova: Light in its various states. I tried to find the reflection of light in each work. Sometimes the light is pure, as in Pigovat’s Magnificat, sometimes it’s inward and dark, as in Britten’s Elegy for solo viola, or it’s a beacon in the darkness, as in Arvo’s Part Fratres, or simply, it’s a hope for forgiveness in Max Bruch’s Kol Nidrei. The light is different, but it’s always there for us! If the audience could imagine that, or search with us for their vision of light in each piece, it would make us very happy.

PAN M 360: Kelly-Marie Murphy’s Ad Lucem will receive its world premiere. How did this work come to you?

Elvira Mishbakova: In fact, it’s a Quebec first! When I had the idea of this Ad lucem project (with the recording of an album), I immediately thought of commissioning a work from a Canadian composer, and as I admire Kelly-Marie Murphy’s music enormously, I suggested that she write a piece for viola and piano to be called Ad lucem, and she accepted with great enthusiasm! Meagan and I can’t wait to present it at our concert at the Festival Classica.

PAN M 360: Can you tell us a little more about Ad Lucem? What will the audience be able to hear and feel?

Elvira Mishbakova: The repertoire is very varied, with pieces from the classical, romantic, post-romantic, modern and contemporary eras, so there’s something for everyone! The audience will hear the original works written for viola and piano, as well as arrangements made by other violists to broaden our repertoire. It has to be said that the viola, as a solo instrument, is increasingly taking center stage! I’m very happy to play this instrument, which is the closest to the human voice. Meagan and I are really looking forward to this concert. I hope people will enjoy this choice of repertoire, which is filled with strong, deep emotions.

Photo Credit : Sasha Onyschenko

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This is how he decided to name his most recent Afro-dancehall album, released in 2024, which he continues to defend to this day. Originally from Guadeloupe, this is not Aldo Guizmo’s first appearance at the Festival des Saveurs interculturelles de Saint-Michel. He was there last year, but this year he will be accompanied by the group SolidGround, with whom he has collaborated on several occasions. This Afro-Caribbean-inspired artist is also a cultural organizer, computer engineer and radio host. A track from his recent opus “Touchy” was a big hit, and the opportunities for this vocalist continue to multiply. He’ll be performing on several stages this summer, so don’t miss the chance to see him this Sunday. Our journalist Sandra Gasana interviewed him a few days before his eagerly-awaited performance, as he was coming out from a rehearsal studio.

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As part of the Festival TransAmériques (FTA) , the companies Carte Blanche and Chants Libres have teamed up with the Quatuor Bozzini to present the world premiere of a contemporary opera adaptation of the great movie Hiroshima, mon amour at Usine C. A creative lyrical tribute that revives our memories of the film, its events and our memories. Following the form of a film production, the show features Yamato Brault-Hori, Marie-Annick Béliveau and Ellen Wieser, who, on a stage clad in oversized projection tulles, deliver Marguerite Duras’s poetry of love and death, blurring codes and boundaries between media, as well as between past and present. Rosa Lind’s delicately dissonant score sets the eight musicians and their timeless love story to music. We had the chance to ask Christian Lapointe and Rosa Lind a few questions.

PAN M 360: How did you come up with the musical direction for the opera?

Rosa Lind : Text provides me with the musical inspiration. The emotion of the words, of the lines, guide me through the process.
PAN M 360: Was it special for you to compose an opera for a film adaptation?
Rosa Lind: I LOVE films! I had already delved into the adaption of « Wings of Desire » for a string quartet but an opera is so much fun because you can also work with human voice, which is totally appropriated for this very human story It felt natural for me to write in the direction of the story, mainly because I love the film so much.
PAN M 360: Did the film’s original soundtrack influence the way you heard the story?
Rosa Lind : Actually, when I work on something, I need to isolate myself completely, and so I do not listen to other composers in the process. When I watched the movie again for the opera, I watched it without sound to really be impregnated by the text and the magnificence of the images for my own definition and feelings can emerge.
PAN M 360: Alongside the magnificent Bozzini quartet, what guided your choice of instruments?

Rosa Lind : I went with the harp because of it’s range (6 octaves), crystal clear on the highest notes and the depth of it’s bass. As a pianist, I often think as music pianistically. (laughs) I went with the clarinet because of the richness of the sound, like honey liquor. Finally, I opted for the flute because of it’s strong japanese connotation.

PAN M 360: Why did you decide to adapt Hiroshima mon amour into an opera set in 2025?

Christian Lapointe: I wanted to show the forgotten events, those recounted by the film and the film itself, in a context of unprecedented nuclearization of the world.
PAN M 360: Where did you get the idea to add the character of Marguerite Duras and have her live alongside her own protagonists?
Christian Lapointe: At the FTA in 2013, I presented a montage of Marguerite Duras’s texts “L’homme atlantique” and “La maladie de la mort” in which I had already begun to explore this. So I wanted to stage the writing itself, while at the same time winking at it.

PAN M 360: How did you come to choose the composer and the Bozzini quartet?

Christian Lapointe: Rosa is a good friend of mine and we wanted to do an opera together, so she suggested the film to me and it was an obvious choice. Secondly, the Bozzini Quartet is known all over the world, and we know that it can be “flown”, and they were already familiar with Rosa’s work too, so it gave us an opportunity to put all these fine people together.

PAN M 360: Why did you choose oversized projections to bring the images to life?

Christian Lapointe: I wanted to play on memory and forgetting, to play at remembering the film. The German soldier burning the film, the process of creating the film on stage, Marguerite Duras embodied – these are all representations of the film’s oblivion, which the giant projections serve to recall.

Sol-Étienne Labesse has been immersed in music since he was a teenager, before becoming drummer for the group Kulcha Connection, then Deya, before co-founding SolidGround, a reggae collective that accompanies several local and international artists. Rather like the reggae bands in Jamaica, who play for hours on end, sometimes accompanying twenty or so artists, SolidGround’s main aim is to promote reggae, not necessarily any one artist in particular. They advocate a spirit of sharing and exchange between artists. They will be at the Festival des Saveurs this Sunday, June 1, during the day devoted to the World Social Forum of Intersections, before continuing with a busy schedule this summer. They’ll be at the Festival de Reggae de Trois Rivières, but also at the Festival d’été de Québec, and in Montreal for a few dates. Sandra Gasana spoke to Sol-Étienne, live from the collective’s rehearsal studio.