Interviews

As part of the Concerts aux Îles du Bic series, composer, sound artist, and videographer Pierre-Luc Lecours will present two unique projects: a reinterpretation of Chopin’s Preludes alongside Daniel Áñez on the ondes Martenot and Chloé Dumoulin on piano, followed by a performance of Terry Riley’s seminal work *In C*, reimagined on a modular synthesizer.

Pierre-Luc Lecours, who holds a Ph.D. in music, has been working for several years at the intersection of contemporary electronic music, digital arts, and audiovisual creation. His projects, presented both in Canada and internationally, explore the connections between sound, image, and real-time performance, while seeking to make the modular synthesizer more accessible through extensive research and educational efforts.

Just a few days before his performance at Le Bic, he gives us a glimpse into this instrument—as fascinating as it is elusive—explains why *In C* finds an ideal playground in the world of modular synthesis, and invites the audience to experience this music in a different way: not by trying to figure out where it’s going, but by simply letting themselves be carried away by the moment.

PAN M 360: You are a composer, sound artist, and video artist based in Montreal. How would you describe your artistic approach?

Pierre-Luc Lecours : I’m primarily active in the contemporary electronic music scene. Over the past few years, I’ve been very involved in digital arts networks in Canada, Europe, and Asia, particularly at festivals like MUTEK and Elektra, where electronic music constantly interacts with visuals.

My projects take various forms: audiovisual performances, installations, or works in which sound and image are generated in real time. In particular, I’m currently working on a very active project with baritone saxophonist and composer Ida Toninato, titled *Homeostasis*. In this project, I play a modular synthesizer while the video reacts directly to the sounds produced on stage.

At the same time, I also write for instrumentalists in contemporary music contexts. I recently completed a doctoral dissertation on the performance and notation of the modular synthesizer. This instrument can take so many different forms that I asked myself: How is it performed? How do you write music for it? What can actually be notated? This research led to the creation of the Ensemble Modulaire, with which I will present the Festival’s concerts.

PAN M 360: Your Homeostasis project has been quite a success, by the way.

Pierre-Luc Lecours : Yes, we’ve been performing it since 2023. We’ve performed it more than twenty times in Canada, Europe, Asia, and South America. Our next Montreal show will take place at the SAT in October, before a new tour that will take us to the United Kingdom and Finland, among other places. At the same time, we’re already developing our next project, scheduled for 2027.

PAN M 360: I have a very traditional musical background, and before preparing for this interview, I knew very little about modular synthesizers. How would you define this instrument?

Pierre-Luc Lecours : It is a non-standardized instrument. Unlike a violin or a piano, every modular synthesizer is different because the musician chooses which modules make it up.

I like to draw a parallel with percussionists. A percussionist learns to play several very different instruments. A modular synthesizer works in much the same way: it can produce melodies, rhythms, textures, drones, or even sounds very similar to electronic music. It all depends on how it’s built.

Each module has a specific function, and they are all connected to one another by cables. This allows you to build an instrument that is fully tailored to your musical style.

PAN M 360: Despite all this technical mastery, is this an instrument that still surprises you?

Pierre-Luc Lecours : Yes, all the time. Even when I play a piece I know very well, new possibilities emerge.

All sound settings are always accessible. Sometimes all it takes is a different combination of two modules to discover a new sound.

That’s what makes the instrument so exciting, but also so challenging. Since it’s analog, it never reacts exactly the same way twice. It almost has a personality of its own.

PAN M 360: You also explained that sometimes it needs to be retuned during a concert.

Pierre-Luc Lecours : Yes. Analog oscillators are sensitive to temperature changes, much like stringed instruments. During the concerts on the Îles du Bic, we play with an A at 442 Hz. So sometimes I have to retune my instrument right in the middle of a performance.

PAN M 360: One of the works you’ll be performing is Terry Riley’s *In C*. Why did you choose it?

Pierre-Luc Lecours : Because this piece translates remarkably well to the modular synthesizer. *In C* is built from fifty-three musical cells that the performers repeat before deciding for themselves when to move on to the next one.

The modular synthesizer, however, already works naturally with repetitive sequences. This gives us a great deal of freedom to transform the timbre in real time.

We can move from a very harmonic world to something that almost evokes German minimal techno, all while playing exactly the same musical material. It’s a piece that seems to have been written for this instrument.

PAN M 360: So you follow the score while still maintaining a great deal of freedom of interpretation.

Pierre-Luc Lecours : Exactly. *In C* is an open work. The pitches can shift by an octave, the tempo can vary, and the instrumentation is never fixed.

The entire transformation of the timbres is up to us. Over the course of our rehearsals, we’ve developed a genuine expressive vocabulary that isn’t written anywhere in the score.

At times, we completely transform a rhythmic cell using reverb or granulation. The rhythm disappears, becomes a mass of sound, and then gradually reappears. That’s where our creative input comes in.

PAN M 360: You said something that really struck me: at some point, you stop thinking about technique.

Pierre-Luc Lecours : I think that’s when we truly transcend the piece. When the technical movements become second nature, we can finally be fully present in the sound, listen to our partner, react to what’s happening, and simply experience the music.

It’s in those moments that we stop thinking about the instrument and become completely connected to the sound itself. 

PAN M 360: For a listener experiencing *In C* for the first time, what would you advise them to focus on?

Pierre-Luc Lecours : I would tell him not to try to figure out where the music is going. Minimalism is music of the moment. You have to be willing to embark on the journey, observe the variations, the contrasts, and the way the forms gradually emerge.

At the Îles du Bic, the audience will be seated all around us, and a lighting design will accompany the music. We designed this lighting to highlight certain rhythmic structures and create a truly immersive experience.

PAN M 360: What challenges lie ahead for you?

Pierre-Luc Lecours : Several projects will come to fruition in 2027. We’re developing a new show with Ida Toninato, still centered around the modular synthesizer and the baritone saxophone, but in a completely new setting.

With the Ensemble Modulaire, we also hope to return to works more deeply rooted in contemporary electronic music. Finally, I’m working on an audiovisual project with Julien Robert of Vidéophase, which will feature multiple screens, instruments, and a large-scale visual installation.

Through both his research and his compositions, Pierre-Luc Lecours demonstrates that the modular synthesizer is much more than just an electronic tool. A living, unpredictable, and deeply expressive instrument, it becomes a true creative partner in his hands. With *In C*, the audience at the Concerts aux Îles du Bic is invited not only to discover a seminal work of minimalism, but above all to enjoy a listening experience where time, light, and sound become one.

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A cellist, educator, curator, and artistic initiator, Andrea Stewart has built a career whose many facets span early and contemporary music, chamber music, teaching, and community projects. On the occasion of her participation in the Concerts aux Îles du Bic Festival, where she will perform a program dedicated to the French composer Charlotte Sohy, she sits down with Chloé Rouffignac, a contributor to PAN M 360, to discuss the common thread running through her career, her relationship with live music, and the need to build a more human musical community.

PANM 360: Your career is particularly diverse: you perform early and contemporary music, play chamber music, teach, and also develop community projects. Is there a common thread running through all these activities?

Andrea Stewart : I think about this often, because it’s true that I’ve done a lot of different things. At various points in my life, I’ve tried to specialize more, especially because it can be difficult to manage your time when you’re juggling several projects at once.

The overarching theme might be a bit idealistic: I wonder how I can have a positive impact on the world or on the world of music. It might start with the beauty of a piece of music, the story of a composer, an interesting instrumentation, the exploration of new sounds, or the discovery of a repertoire. But for me, it always comes down to the same question: How can I share the things I find beautiful or meaningful with the audience, and perhaps influence the way we communicate with one another?

There are things that interest us personally, but there are also things we need to do to get involved in our community and help shape the future we want to see.

PANM 360: Is that also what led you to found Jardin musical? Does classical music still need to be presented in a more accessible way?

Andrea Stewart : Yes and no. *Jardin musical* is truly a project that is very close to my heart.

The inspiration came to me during a residency at the Canadian Cultural Center in Paris. In the building’s inner courtyard, two artists had created a garden as a work of art. One of them explained to me that his intention was to create a space where people could gather, share a meal, or hold small poetry readings. It was the very idea of coming together that became a work of art.

I found that very beautiful, because coming together is also something we constantly seek in live music. The presence of the audience influences the concert, the show, and the performance.

I also think a lot about the environment, the climate crisis, and the beauty of gardens, trees, and nature in the city. We should have public access to these spaces, just as we should have public access to art.

For me, accessibility in music doesn’t necessarily mean changing the art itself. Sometimes it’s helpful to add tools to explain a piece or make it accessible to certain people, but it can also simply be a matter of bringing what we want to express to where people already are.

During the summer, people spend time in parks and gardens. They stop by on their way home from work or to play with their children. Jardin musical therefore aims to bring art to these places.

The environment also transforms music. It creates a concert or an experience that we have never heard before and that we will never hear exactly the same way again. The music is infused with the rustling of leaves, the wind, birdsong, or the laughter of nearby children. It becomes a truly shared experience.

PANM 360: This connection to the environment seems particularly relevant for a festival like the Îles du Bic Festival. As an artist, do you notice a difference when you perform outdoors rather than in a traditional venue?

Andrea Stewart : Absolutely. The acoustics are different in every space: a closed hall, a church, a forest, or an outdoor venue. But there’s also the energy shared with colleagues and the audience.

It can be incredibly magical. It can also pose a challenge, because musicians are very human and particularly sensitive to changes in humidity and temperature, to the wind, or to overly intense sunlight.

Sometimes it becomes a mental exercise: you have to stay in the moment and let go of the difficult parts. The energy from the audience helps us a lot. Other sounds in the environment can also help us maintain a sense of space.

PANM 360: For string instruments, changes in temperature and humidity can particularly affect tuning. How do you deal with this element of unpredictability?

Andrea Stewart : We have to accept it. Musicians can become extremely attuned to details that no one else hears. Sometimes we can even imagine a sound that doesn’t actually exist.

The challenge, then, is to stay in the present moment. If I’m playing on gut strings, for example, the tuning may change quickly and frequently. But with my fingers, I can adjust each note. Instead of viewing these changes solely as a problem, they can become part of the performance and the experience.

I think the audience also enjoys seeing that.

PANM 360: Our generation of musicians grew up listening to highly polished recordings, sometimes pieced together from a large number of takes. This can make us forget that live music has never been perfectly smooth.

Andrea Stewart : In a concert, we naturally seek a kind of perfection, often in the details. But something truly magical happens: the more we work on the details and the overall vision of a piece, a work, or a program, the more our imagination expands.

What we imagine is constantly changing. So we’re always searching for something else. We need to view music as a process.

Every concert is different because we ourselves are always changing. Every day, my body feels a little different. I imagine things differently; I adjust my interpretations and the way I listen.

We’re always creating, even without consciously trying to be. That’s what’s magical about the performing arts: we can never experience exactly the same thing twice. This is true even for a recording, because we ourselves are different the second time we listen to it.

Several centuries ago, when people heard a piece for the first time, there were sometimes very few rehearsals. Musicians didn’t necessarily have all the information we have today, and the audience would eat, talk, or shout in the hall.

With recording, we sometimes started trying to replicate things rather than truly creating music and infusing it with our own personality.

As a performer of early music, contemporary music, and everything in between, I believe it’s possible to create something that reflects who we are and remains authentic, while respecting the score and the composers’ intentions.

I am very pleased to see that a growing number of musicians, performers, and students today are seeking to develop their own personal interpretations, rather than simply reproducing what they have heard on a recording or learned from their teacher, who in turn learned it from his or her own teacher.

PANM 360: Let’s move on to the program dedicated to Charlotte Sohy. How did you discover her music, and what is your relationship with her works?

Andrea Stewart : For the past four years, I have been co-directing a chamber music workshop at the Orford Music Academy with my colleagues from collectif9. Every year, we try to introduce our students to new voices.

It was thanks to the work of a French organization dedicated to female composers that I discovered Charlotte Sohy’s music. We first had our students at Orford perform some of her works.

It was the first time I had discovered a female composer truly rooted in the Belle Époque—a contemporary of Debussy—whose music struck me as equally beautiful, complex, and imaginative. I immediately fell in love with her world.

Thibault Bertin-Maghit, the artistic director of the Concerts aux Îles du Bic Festival, also took part in this program for students. He then began listening more closely to her music and exploring other aspects of her repertoire. He ultimately organized a concert entirely dedicated to Charlotte Sohy, offering the opportunity to discover several of her works and to introduce the audience to this composer whom we have, collectively, just rediscovered.

I am deeply grateful to the people who undertook this work of research and rediscovery. It is a monumental undertaking that not only does justice to this composer but also helps all performers today who wish to share her music.

PANM 360: What does the program reveal about its artistic and personal evolution?

Andrea Stewart : I first discovered his quartets, even though those aren’t the works we’ll be performing during this concert. We then explored his piano music, his piano trio, and several pieces for violin and piano.

What I really love is that when we look at Charlotte Sohy’s life alongside her music, we can hear a part of what she’s been through.

The Piano Fantasy that will open the concert, performed by Chloé Dumoulin, has, for example, a very innocent and hopeful quality. It was composed around the time she met the man who would become her husband.

Later in life, Charlotte Sohy lived through two wars and faced extremely difficult circumstances. She raised seven children and had to care for her family on her own while her husband was at the front. He was very seriously wounded and nearly died.

In the Trio, certain passages may at first seem simply beautiful or naive. But when we understand what she was going through at the time of writing—or in the years leading up to it—we can imagine a woman shouldering immense responsibilities while trying to pursue her musical career.

She lived in an era when her work was not sufficiently respected, even though she was surrounded by people who supported her. Her husband, who was a composer himself, actually believed she was more talented than he was.

Nevertheless, she remained a woman in a world where women were not treated as equals. She bore many responsibilities and a heavy burden. In her music, one can hear both the very dark elements lurking in the background and her effort to preserve a sense of light.

It’s these layers of complexity that I find particularly interesting. We’ve discussed them at length with Chloé Chaban and Chloé Dumoulin, the two wonderful musicians with whom I’ll be sharing the stage. These reflections have transformed our approach to music.

I hope the audience will pick up on some of these aspects. But I believe they will, at the very least, sense the full complexity of the emotions she experienced.

There are also aspects of her life that I can personally relate to. That’s always what we look for in a performance: what we share with the person who created the work. I feel a certain connection with her and with many aspects of her experience.

PANM 360: Her music seems to radiate a great deal of light and hope, even as she was going through extremely difficult times. Could songwriting have been a way for her to find balance or to escape?

Andrea Stewart : That’s possible. We can see something similar in today’s society. When life gets complicated or certain things scare us, we sometimes seek a balance between very lighthearted works—which allow us to forget our troubles for a moment—and others that directly reflect what we’re going through.

Charlotte Sohy lived through the war. She saw some of her friends die, she went without food, but her husband was still alive, and she was able to watch her children grow up. It’s possible that all of these experiences have shaped her music.

From what I’ve read, when she wrote, she threw herself completely into the music. She gave it her all. Her entire life, however, was shaped by what she was going through, and that inevitably comes through in her works.

Writing can also be a way to deal with difficult things. Sometimes we write without intending to share what we’ve written, simply to lighten the burden we carry. She wrote not only music but also many texts and lyrics. Her artistic expression was very comprehensive.

She also worked tirelessly to promote her music and her husband’s. She did so with patience, kindness, and unwavering dedication. I was surprised to discover just how consistently she had kept working.

PANM 360: You mention Charlotte Sohy’s perseverance. In your own career, is there a project you’ve long dreamed of bringing to life, or an aspect of your artistic identity that you’ve had to rediscover?

Andrea Stewart : I always have several lists of projects and things I’d like to accomplish. Sometimes I wait for the right moment, the time I need, or the funding.

But there’s also a very personal project. I finished my Ph.D. more than ten years ago. At the time, I was exhausted and saw many things I wished I could change in the classical music world, without knowing how to be part of that change.

During my studies, I worked extensively on the contemporary repertoire for solo cello. Then, suddenly, I stopped. I couldn’t even bear the thought of being alone on stage anymore. I wanted to share everything with other musicians. Solo performance was no longer part of my vocabulary or even my way of thinking.

For the past few years, I’ve been working on a solo project again. I presented the first phase of it last April at Espace Orange, in collaboration with collectif9 and Le Vivier. I’m fortunate to have these partners. I’ve been associate director of collectif9 for fifteen years, and I also collaborate extensively with Le Vivier, because I deeply believe in their mission.

This project represents a vision that is gradually beginning to come true. For a long time, I had too many doubts. There was a disconnect between the way I saw myself and the world of classical music. I couldn’t see how my ideas could fit into that world.

It took me about ten years to figure out how it could work.

When we’re students and moving toward our professional careers, we often imagine a very clear path forward. In reality, it’s not a straight path. It’s a journey with many twists and turns. Sometimes we take a step back; sometimes we move forward.

But these detours are part of what makes life so rich, and they shape our perspectives later on. It took me a while to realize that this journey, with all its twists and turns, had enriched my life immensely.

However, I don’t think I’ll let a project sit on the back burner for ten years before carrying it out from now on. Instead, I try to keep moving forward in small steps.

The most important thing is to have partners with whom we share musical and personal values. I’m very lucky to have found these people and to be able to work with them. This allows all the projects we dream of to continue to grow.

PANM 360: Charlotte Sohy is still relatively unknown to the public, and her music is rarely performed. What would you like listeners to discover at this concert?

Andrea Stewart :In my work with early music, my colleagues and I conduct a great deal of research on female and male composers and performers from different eras.

For a long time, we hardly ever performed music composed by women, as if they had never existed. While studying their works, we sometimes discovered peculiarities that could be interpreted in different ways. Were their teachers less demanding of them? Were certain rough edges left uncorrected because their music wasn’t taken as seriously?

With Charlotte Sohy, even though her music differs from that of other female composers I’ve studied, I don’t hear those kinds of quirks or supposed flaws. I truly hear a unique voice.

So I was very surprised that we weren’t already more familiar with her music. It hasn’t been performed often enough, and for a long time, her scores weren’t even readily available.

As for me, I can’t say that I learned about the history of women’s music during high school. I think the first time I performed a piece by a female composer, I was no longer a very young musician.

When I started doing my own research, I discovered a vast amount of music that I wanted to play. I could probably go the rest of my life without ever playing a piece I already know and still be completely fulfilled by all these discoveries.

I hope people will come to the concert even if they don’t know Charlotte Sohy. It’s important for them to hear that there’s something familiar in her music, too.

It is a privilege to hear a piece for the first time while feeling as though you recognize part of its language.

This concert will be a very special experience: hearing this music come to life for the first time, discovering a new voice that nevertheless carries a certain familiarity, and having it performed by women.

We will experience this only once.

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On July 28, the famous Italian pianist Saskia Giorgini will play at the Church of St. Melanie as part of the Festival de Lanaudière. Also very active in the recording and pedagogical fields, she is one of the most sought-after young performers on the international scene. PAN M 360 reached her to talk about the concert and her projects.

PAN M 360: Saskia, is this your first time in Canada? How do you feel about playing at the Lanaudière Festival, one of the most important festivals in the whole country?

SG: For me this is the second time in Canada! The first was some time ago, when at 19 I played a concert with the defunct CBC orchestra in Vancouver. As for the Lanaudière Festival, it is a reality much loved by all the colleagues who have had the opportunity to play there. For my part, therefore, I am very happy and proud to be able to participate, and I take this opportunity to thank the organization for the very welcome invitation.

PAN M 360: The program includes Liszt and Debussy, two composers who have brought great innovation to the piano world, especially in terms of timbre and atmosphere. Can you tell us more about the relationship that you think exists between these two composers?

SG: This program derives from the repertoire that I have tackled specifically in recent years and which has also been the subject of a series of recording projects. Having said that, I find that between the two composers there is more of a contrast. The former writes music characterized by countless sound layers, in which colours are predominant, which requires enormous precision in the study. The second, on the other hand, composes a much more romantically expressive music, in a certain way a direct type of expressivity, where there can be a certain space for instinct. 

PAN M 360: In the program that will be played, milestones of the piano repertoire will be accompanied by a little-performed piece such as Debussy’s Tarantelle Styrienne. Can you tell us more about this choice?

SG: I have always been very careful to propose programs in which I can combine standard works with lesser-known ones, and this for the pleasure of both myself and the public. I must say that this piece by Debussy, which is very pleasant for me to play, represents a moment of relaxation and lightness within a program that offers a certain musical density and challenge, including the Liszt’s Mephisto Walzer and the Debussy’s L’Isle Joyeuse, two references of piano virtuosity.

PAN M 360: You are one of the most sought-after pianists of your generation. How do you think your Italian cultural heritage influences you from an artistic point of view?

SG: I believe that my culture of origin gives me an advantage in approaching melody with a certain naturalness, thanks to the operatic heritage of which Italy has always been a great representative. The way of dealing with melody in Italian opera is unique and being exposed to it since childhood allows me to approach the piano cantabile with a certain awareness. It must also be said that some of Liszt’s works, such as Petrarch’s Sonnets, sound and look as if they were written specifically for the human voice and being able to play this music is an enormous privilege for me, as well as a way to express my cultural heritage linked to the great Italian tradition.

PAN M 360: In addition to being a renowned performer, you are also a pedagogue at the University of Linz in Austria, a prestigious institution in Europe. What can you tell us about the relationship between pedagogy and interpretation? 

SG: I find that they are both research activities. When I teach, I show all the possibilities to work on a passage. When I play, however, I look for solutions that work for me, but sometimes there are fewer questions behind them. Yet, students want explanations about why and how something is proposed to them, and this is a precious opportunity to learn in turn. And then, of course, there is a complementarity: on the one hand, being an active pianist allows me to teach the pieces I know with great precision, on the other hand, being a teacher allows me to learn new pieces that I have never faced personally. All this represents a great personal and professional enrichment for me!

PAN M 360: Tell us more about your present and future projects…

SG: As far as recordings are concerned, my new CD for Pentatone will be released in January. It is dedicated to Liszt and contains some lesser-known pieces. I also have some other recording ideas, maybe Debussy and Szymanowsky, but for now I can’t tell much more about it. As for the concerts, this fall I will play at Wigmore Hall and I will be back to Canada, this time in Vancouver. Then, next year, I will be in residence at the Auditori in Barcelona with a rather varied repertoire, including Mozart, Liszt and Strauss.

photo : Christine Rechling

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Recognized by many of the world’s finest orchestras, venues, and festivals for the poise and maturity of her musicianship, German violinist Veronika Eberle will be performing at the Festival de Lanaudière for a concert on July 26th with the Orchestre Métropolitain, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. In this concert, two different versions of the musical era will collide, notably with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 and with the Violin Concerto in D Major of Beethoven, which is the piece that Veronika Eberle will be playing on the stage of the Amphithéâtre Fernand Lindsay. PAN M 360 contributor Alexandre Villemaire had a chance to talk with Veronika Eberle about this iconic piece ahead of her performance.

PAN M 360: Welcome back, Veronika! It is your second time in Quebec for the Festival de Lanaudière, is it not? 

Veronika Eberle: Absolutely, yes. I was there last year, and I’m very happy to be there again this year.

PAN M 360: Can you tell us a bit more about the story of this Beethoven concerto? How is it musically structured, and why is it considered an iconic and staple piece for violinists?

Veronika Eberle: As you say, it’s iconic. It’s for us violinists, probably the Olympus of violin concertos. There is this raw beauty and pure simplicity in this piece that takes me every time by surprise. It’s just astonishing what he wrote down there. It’s really fascinating in a way that he refrains from this tempestuous and rebellious side that he puts into his symphonies, and here, he creates a world with very little and constructs with these few elements the biggest universe of sound. 

It’s also very chamber music-like. The orchestra and violin parts are very interwoven together. The violin often even accompanies the orchestra, but it still maintains a strict structure, and the orchestra gives a lot of power to it. The violin also kind of takes some freedom and soars. The register he uses is very high, as if he were ascending into other universes and other heights.

There is also, for example, one place in the second movement where he writes “perdendosi,” which he’s never using anywhere else. Everything in that passage is kind of fading away, dissolving into silence. I find it so beautiful, and everybody can start to listen and experience how much silence tells us, actually. I’m especially happy to bring it to Lanaudière because this place is in such a beautiful nature. It’s so idyllic, in the same way that Beethoven often writes about pastoral and idyllic scenes. In the last movement, after the cadenza, you really are taken into this world of calm and peace and quiet and dance. So, I think it will be a very, very special moment.

PAN M 360: What is your personal relationship with this concerto? 

Veronika Eberle: I started to study it a little bit before I was 16, because I played it for the first time at that age. It took me a year to really get into it, learn it, and discover this world of raw beauty.

I then performed it quite often in my teenage years with important orchestras and conductors. It was really a milestone for me in my career as a musician. I then took a break from it for quite a long time and came back to it just before Covid, actually.

I think the older I get, the more I understand this world that Beethoven’s creating there with its simplicity.

PAN M 360: We often associate Beethoven with the Romantic era when, in fact, the majority of his work is rooted in the Classical period. Is there a correct way, or a more historically informed way, to play this piece? Where do you find balance in the way that you perform it? 

Veronika Eberle: I think in our times, we all know about everything in a way. We know about the historic way of performing, and we know about the Romantic way of performing it. We went through so many different worlds with this repertoire, especially. I think at the end, what matters is your own view on it and your own connection to the music and telling this as a story to the audience. And that’s what I’m trying to do.

It’s like really going into this musical world with everything I know, everything I studied, and everything I took from listening and from trying out on gut strings, etc, and then bringing everything together and finding the story that I see behind every single note. 

PAN M 360: How does the musical language in Beethoven differ from the one present in Tchaikovsky’s music? 

Veronika Eberle: If you look at the Tchaikovsky concerto, it’s very virtuosic, and he uses fast fingering and explosions of violin playing. For Beethoven, he goes back to the absolute pure. It’s not about the violin; it’s not about showing off or showing how virtuosic you can play. It takes you to the absolute essence. 

PAN M 360: This will not be the first time that you’ll be performing with Yannick, right? 

Veronika Eberle: No, it’s not the first time, and I’m very, very much looking forward to playing with him again. I admire him, and I love to work with him, especially for these pieces, which are again so chamber music-like. He’s just the perfect partner, and I can’t wait to be on stage with him and bring this music to life, especially with his Orchestre Métropolitain. I’m very, very much looking forward to that.

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The Concerts aux Îles du Bic have been around since 2002. For a year now, it has been Thibault Bertin-Maghit who has been at the helm of the Artistic Direction. Thibault, we already know him well here for having met him several times as the Director of the Collectif9 ensemble, whose audacity and originality we greatly admire. In anticipation of the 2026 edition of the festival anchored near the shores of Bas-du-fleuve (a region in the eastern part of Quebec Province), we spoke with him about the programming, his first.

INFO AND TICKETS

PanM360: Hello Thibault. How was your first year as Artistic Director?

Thibault Bertin-Maghit: I observed a lot, I took the pulse of the community and the organization. There were many discoveries for me. It took me a bit of time to get a clear idea of what I wanted to do. Moreover, we are in a special anniversary edition, as it is the 25th. So, we had to do things right.

PanM360: The beautiful discoveries and the challenges observed?

Thibault Bertin-Maghit: On the positive side, there are all the wonderful encounters with new people, artists, volunteers, community members. For the challenges, I would say that the main one is trying things out and being in the uncertainty of whether it will work or not. Also, understanding the habits of the people who come. Why do they come, what attracts them, what do they expect, why do they go to one activity and not the other? It’s quite a task, it’s not easy.

PanM360: And what about this 2026 edition?

Thibault Bertin-Maghit: We built the programming with a spirit of celebration. A celebration that belongs to the community. Because the Festival has taken root here for 25 years. It was a family adventure at the beginning. And it has remained somewhat like that, in a very intimate closeness. This anchoring is in the DNA of the event.

This year, we are offering a lot of free activities. More than before. We are taking advantage of the fact that the space around the church has been redeveloped by the city over the past few years. It was a parking lot for a long time, now it has become a park. It’s called the Place du Festival.

PanM360: A nod to the bigger one in Montreal… Who says free concerts, says sponsors, otherwise it’s impossible. Is it easy to find them?

Thibault Bertin-Maghit: There has always been a lot of support from the community for the activities. As I said, the Festival is well-established. But I won’t hide the fact that adding activities remains a funding challenge. That is why we launched a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe to support this expanded offering.

LINK TO THE CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN

PanM360: Let’s talk about this edition, which will take place from August 1st to 8th. A theme, a guiding principle?

Thibault Bertin-Maghit: I wanted to create encounters between musicians and the public, while allowing artists to showcase different facets of their art. The same artist will perform a traditional music concert, but also an experimental music concert, for example. When there is only one concert associated with one style, you don’t get to see the full versatility of the performer. Within the same event, one can vary the approaches.

PanM360: For example?

Thibault Bertin-Maghit: Let’s take the opening concert. It is about the 24 preludes by Chopin. Everyone knows Chopin. But here, they are presented in various instrumentations. There will be some played on the piano, of course (by Chloé Dumoulin), but others will be played by strings, and still others by a synthesizer/ondes martenot duo!

INFO AND TICKETS FOR THE OPENING CONCERT

On the other hand, the closing concert will immerse us in traditional music from all sorts of origins. The interdisciplinary storyteller Samaqani Cocahq will be at the center of the event. She is from the Neqotkuk First Nation in New Brunswick. She will present songs from our territory, from the Bas-du-Fleuve region here, ancestral songs. There will also be arrangements of Luciano Berio’s Folk Songs in a very refined, very rich instrumentation. This will even include the Salicorne Trio, a traditional music ensemble from Rimouski. An opportunity for truly unique encounters.

INFO AND TICKETS FOR THE CLOSING CONCERT

PanM360: I also see a concert merging the world of Collectif9 (of which you are a part!) with that of Ronny Désinor, a drummer associated with jazz, soul, and groove. I also see another beautiful event: the famous In C by Terry Riley, a masterpiece of repetitive Minimalism, with the Modulaire ensemble (the synthesizer/Ondes martenot duo). A lot of boldness, indeed…

Thibault Bertin-Maghit: Yes, we really enjoy offering music lovers amazing encounters.

PanM360: Can you tell me about the concert dedicated to the composer Charlotte Sohy? An artist who is increasingly being performed.

Thibault Bertin-Maghit: Charlotte Sohy was rediscovered a few years ago, maybe 4-5-6 years ago. We came across her music and it was a love at first sight. She composed her music at the beginning of the 20th century. She studied with Vincent D’indy. You can hear sounds in the style of Ravel, Debussy. It’s really familiar to our ears, but it remains very personal. She is a composer to discover. I think she is going to become one of the must-haves of the coming years.

INFO AND TICKETS FOR THE CONCERT IN HONOUR OF CHARLOTTE SOHY

PanM360: A bit like Florence Price for the past few years as well.

Thibault Bertin-Maghit: Yes. The cellist Andrea Stewart will host the concert, sharing anecdotes and information related to the life story of Charlotte Sohy and the historical context. There will also be a screening of a documentary about this composer on another day. But it really complements the discovery experience.

I would also like to mention the Grand Cabaret of the Festival. A very friendly event in the church. The festival musicians present a series of performances and reveal lesser-known aspects of their musical practice. For the only time during the Festival, a bar will be present and spectators will be able to buy drinks.

INFO AND TICKETS FOR THE GRAND CABARET

PanM360: And the free activities?

Thibault Bertin-Maghit: The clarinettist Charlotte Layec and her trio Malvenn will perform several concerts at the Festival Square. There will also be an event called Échos du Vivant, which is an installation and performance path, taking place just behind the church. It is a musical journey of 45 minutes to an hour, in which four performers plus a mediator will present a creation show, rooted in the biology of the place. We developed the show in collaboration with a biologist and professor at UQAR (University of Quebec in Rimouski), Ludovic Jolicoeur, who lives in Bic. New music, created for the event, with visuals based on the microbiology of the place, etc.

We are going to refocus quite a bit of our activities near the new Square, and there will be an outdoor bar and dining service. We want to make it a vibrant center throughout the week.

INFO FOR FREE ACTIVITIES

If you think of Brazil and its musical rhythms, you will immediately think of samba and bossa. Probably also to MPB (Música Popular Brasileira), which mixes rock, disco, electro, and all their possible fusions. But you might forget forró, a genre that is just as important as samba. Like a rather vast family, forró takes on many forms, fast, slow, in between, etc. In Montreal, an all-women group named Forro das Comadres has just been formed by Silvinha Georgia Gomes, in order to bring this music deeply rooted in Brazilian traditions, people and local popular festivals, authentically, here in the metropolis. On July 18, 2026, at Club Balattou, during the International Nuits d’Afrique Festival, Forro das Comadres will present their art alongside Flavia Nascimento, a singer deeply rooted in both her Brazilian cultural origins and Quebec culture. Discover in this interview the origins of forró, its characteristics, and more. Listen as Silvinha and Flavia share their visceral love for this music, and even draw connections with Quebec (La Bolduc, for example) and France!

INFO AND TICKETS

The singer and composer Fernando Gallego Torres arrived in Montreal in 2016. He quickly formed the Azara ensemble, along with pianist Gabriel Evangelista. Then Henry Craft (guitar), Diego Parrot (bass), and Hanser Santos (percussion) joined. Fernando brings with him the entire tradition of classical flamenco, which he has mastered since his youth in Spain. In Montreal with Azara, he enjoys blending this heritage with other musical colours such as jazz, cumbia, bolero, rumba flamenca, and many more.

Construction industry before flamenco

Fernando’s arrival in Canada took place in 2009 in Toronto. Not to sing, but more prosaically to work in the construction field. That said, he started performing on stage and eventually ended up singing in Montreal. He moved his belongings to the city in 2016, where he still works in music, and even more than ever. Even though he continues to work in construction, “to keep his feet on the ground,” he says, his performance schedule is regular and is likely to multiply thanks to the show he will give at the International Nuits d’Afrique Festival on July 16, 2026, at 3:30 PM, on the Loto-Québec stage at Esplanade Tranquille.

INFO

He was nine years old when he gave his first concert in San Fernando, in the Cadiz region (in the south of Spain, near the Strait of Gibraltar). He has always practiced his art since then, but making a living from it was more of a dream than a reality when he arrived in Toronto. The project is now less crazy and has been enriched with new clothes. For while Fernando’s practice is rooted in flamenco classicism (which he masters in terms of codes and energy, posture, voice, etc., in addition to having as references the classic geniuses of the genre, such as Camaron de la Isla, El Chocolate, Enrique Morente), his creative search is imbued with a thirst for discovery and fusion.

“I listen to a lot of things, not just flamenco. With Azara, I like to add jazz, Latin rhythms, flamenco rumba, and others to this foundation. When forming the group in 2017, with Gabriel Evangelista, I primarily wanted to do something different.’’

The Sylis d’Or competition at the last minute

I myself witnessed the result when I served as a jury member at the Sylis d’Or 2026 world music competition held last spring in Montreal. Azara was the first group I heard during the semifinals. An energetic and impressive performance, which I noted at the time as a breath of fresh air for the Montreal music scene. Indeed, there are very few (or none at all) pure flamenco artists, steeped in the classic tradition of the genre, in our metropolis. And, moreover, someone who knows and wants to engage in dialogue with this rich heritage through other music. In short, I really enjoyed Azara’s performance. Especially since the group had found out at the last minute (actually the same day) that they could participate in the semifinals!

“We had zero time to rehearse,” which made the quality of the observed result even more impressive. In the end, the performance was worth it: Azara caught attention, enough to earn a spot in the Festival’s free programming, which will attract even more attention. So much the better.

A simple and accessible dream

On stage, Fernando performs a few classics of the genre, of course, but it is mainly original compositions that fill his concerts. Since Azara leans more towards fusion, it makes sense. And who takes care of all the writing? “I am the one who writes the lyrics and creates the melodies. Gabriel takes care of the arrangements. And then, we work on everything collectively with, of course, a good dose of improvisation.

A result, I said, impressive in quality and expressive strength. To be experienced, then, on July 16th at 3:30 PM.

In conclusion, I ask the artist what he dreams of for his band? “To record a first album with our original compositions.” A very simple project, eminently accessible, in the image of an artist who is both committed and passionate, but well grounded in reality.

Thank you to Rosanne Dion, wife of Fernando Gallego Torres, for facilitating this interview. Ms. Dion is also the director of the Flamenco Rosanne Dion company.

The leader of the Kanazoé Orkestra is named Seydou Diabaté. If you are somewhat familiar with the social structure of West African peoples, you probably know that the name Diabaté is closely associated with the art of Griots, the bearers of knowledge, history, and culture essential for the proper functioning of society. Family dynasties have been dedicated to this art (mainly music) for centuries, in some cases. Like the Diabaté family. As a result, little Seydou, while his friends went to play ball, had to get up early and practice his instrument (the balafon, a traditional xylophone) and go play it all over the neighbouring villages. Result: Seydou is a virtuoso, who remembers the precious moments spent with his father, even though sometimes he would have preferred to go play with his friends. Having arrived in Toulouse a few years ago, he quickly formed a group of musicians from Africa and France to explore the fusion of traditional styles, of course, but also of jazz, Afrobeat, groove, and electro. People attending the Nuits d’Afrique International Festival will be able to enjoy the lively and warm mix of Kanazoé Orkestra on July 14, for free, on the TD stage. On the eve of the band’s first visit to Montreal, I spoke with Seydou and the band’s drummer (and manager), Laurent Planells.

INFO AND TICKETS

They first gained recognition at the Syli d’Or awards this year, and since then, they’ve been performing on various stages across the city and beyond. This collective of women with diverse roots, from Quebec to Latin America, will be on the Loto-Québec Stage this Thursday, July 16, as part of the Women of the World Series at the Nuits d’Afrique International Festival. Born from an almost organic sisterhood, these women don’t strive for perfection but focus primarily on the co-creation process, each bringing her own strengths. They had the opportunity to speak with our contributor Juliana Cortes about the origins of the collective and how it’s evolving, including the addition of new members.


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This Saturday, July 11th at MTELUS, Sia Tolno, Degg J, AK, Manamba Kanté, Soul Bang’s, Habib Fatako, proud representatives of the Guinean pop elite, pay tribute to Lamine Touré.

Our man is affectionately known as the “night baobab,” without whom Balattou, Nuits d’Afrique Productions, and the Nuits d’Afrique International Festival would never have existed in Montreal. Four decades later, the extended Nuits d’Afrique family still carries the torch, and Touré still stands guard at the Balattou entrance, at the corner of Saint-Laurent and Marie-Anne. Cigarette in hand, he unfailingly displays his youthful energy and his leadership of the organization he founded and developed with his partner, Suzanne Rousseau.

He is still here, our “father” of African culture, to use a Guinean expression reserved for respected elders. He is so present that we are honoring him this Saturday, an initiative undertaken in conjunction with the Guinean government. Organized in collaboration with the Guinean Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Handicrafts, and the Arts and Culture Development Fund (FODAC), this tribute evening brings together the elite of Guinean pop music. The State of Guinea will be represented by Thierno Hamidou Bah, Chief of Staff to Minister Moussa Moise Sylla.

We know that this large West African country is the homeland of Touré, who became a citizen of the world while he was a dancer and choreographer with the National Ballet of Guinea. Settling in Quebec after an initial period of migration to France, Lamine Touré eventually became a concert and festival promoter, club owner, record producer, and more.

Four decades after the festival’s founding, its unwavering commitment to Guinea’s musical culture is celebrated, among its efforts to promote African and Afro-descendant cultures worldwide.

Since this is an official tribute combined with a major lineup of artists gathered at MTELUS, PAN M 360 brought together with Touré high-ranking professionals in Guinea: Malick Kébé, Director General of the Arts and Culture Development Fund (FODAC), as well as Moussa Mbaye, artist and producer who manages an important cultural space in Konakry, but also very close to Productions Nuits d’Afrique since he lives part-time in Montreal.

Photo (Alain Brunet) from left to right: Malick Kébé, Lamine Touré, Moussa Mbaye

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PAN M 360: I’ve known Lamine Touré since the 80s, the days of Café Créole. But I really met him during an African week at SRC that I led as a researcher for a program hosted by the late Chantal Jolis, L’Oreille musclée. So, from PAN M 360’s perspective, you’ll understand that we know Touré’s essential role in promoting African culture in general, and we know his loyalty to Guinean culture, and that’s what’s so interesting about this evening. We’re happy to bring people from Guinea together to honor Lamine Touré.

Malick Kébé: I am the Director General of the Arts and Culture Development Fund. I came with the Chief of Staff of our department to represent the Republic of Guinea. For your information, the Arts and Culture Development Fund, which I have the high responsibility of managing, has existed since 2017. Its mission is to finance projects for the promotion and development of the entire cultural sector.

PAN M 360: And how was the Fund able to gradually grow?

Malick Kébé : It began with the allocation of funds from the national budget. Today, we are also trying to mobilize international institutions for our funding efforts. And right now, we are finalizing a support program, funded by the International Organisation of the Francophonie. This project concerns the universal identification of all our cultural products in order to track their circulation and value. We also want to implement highly structured training in sound engineering, lighting techniques, and stage management. Why? Because we have a glaring lack of expertise in this area of ​​the cultural industry in our country. So, this is to tell you that FODAC has a busy agenda for the development and promotion of our culture.

PAN M 360: It is reported that your government has recently shown a renewed interest in funding culture, and for the best of reasons.

Malick Kébé:  And amidst all this activity, we are very happy to be here at Balattou and the International Festival of African Nights. I thank you, by the way, for this opportunity you are giving us, namely, to be able to talk about Mr. Lamine Touré. Because he dedicated practically his entire life to promoting African culture in general, and Guinean culture in particular.

Lamine Touré is a true product of the Ballets de Guinée, which first brought him renown. Today, we all know what ballet, percussion, and dance represent for the Republic of Guinea. The very first ballet in Francophone Africa, in Black Africa, I would say, was Guinean. Created by the Guinean Keïta Fodéba, may his soul rest in peace, the Ballet initially bore his name. Even before the advent of our independence, Keïta Fodéba had offered his Ballet to the Republic of Guinea; the name had then changed to: African Ballets of the Republic of Guinea. That was in 1954, I believe.

PAN M 360: A pure product of the Ballets de Guinée as you say, Lamine Touré continued in music, with the results we know.

Malick Kébé:  And so it is extremely important for me today to have come all the way here to Montreal to celebrate and honor Mr. Touré, because he has been one of the greatest ambassadors of our culture. And here, for 40 years, he has ensured that one of the world’s largest festivals, the Festival Nuits d’Afrique, has been able to establish itself here and give unprecedented exposure to African culture. Forty years isn’t 40 days, 40 weeks, or 40 months. It’s 40 years!

Throughout all this time, he persevered, against all odds, overcoming every conceivable difficulty, to make this festival, to make African culture a reality. On the walls of these Nuits d’Afrique offices where we are, you can see how many artists have passed through. Each year, dozens of artists come from all over to showcase African culture. To highlight this rich and diverse expression.

PAN M 360: For a country like Guinea, this aid is invaluable!

Malick Kébé:Today, we have come on behalf of the people of Guinea. We have been mandated by the highest authorities of our country, namely Mr. Moussa Moise Sylla, Minister of Culture, Tourism and Handicrafts, who was supposed to be here, but who, given his rather busy schedule, was unable to find a time slot.

PAN M 360: You are also based in Conakry, I imagine.

Malick Kébé :  Yes, absolutely. 

PAN M 360: You’ve been here before, I imagine, because you have a long-standing relationship. The Guinean state, or rather its cultural branch, has attended the Nuits d’Afrique festival over time, I imagine.

Malick Kébé : Yes, indeed. And even through this participation of Guinean artists, 2003 was able to lead to creation, to encounter, to the residency for creation.

PAN M 360: And you, Moussa Mbaye, you are also part of the Guinean delegation. In what capacity?

Moussa Mbaye :  I’m a singer-songwriter and a cultural operator. I used to live here; I have family in Montreal. I also worked for the Nuits d’Afrique festival, in programming. So I’m here as an artist for this evening, and since I travel back and forth between Conakry and Montreal, I’m a kind of bridge between Nuits d’Afrique and Guinea.

PAN M 360: So now, Touré, tell us about your enduring ties to your homeland.

Lamine Touré : I’d been in France for a while, after traveling around Europe. A friend, Tony, told me about a place in America where they spoke French. I went to the Canadian embassy to find out more, and I came for a month to check it out. I bought a round-trip ticket and came here to see how things were, to see how things worked. I realized something was missing here: fashion. So I called two friends there, and we started a small jeans business on Mont-Royal Street, on the third floor of a building.

Around that time, I met Alex Boicel, Doudou Boicel’s son. I was dancing with him one evening, and I was looking for a tropical bar. Alex told me there weren’t any, and that’s when we created Café Créole in the early 80s. Balattou came later, two years after we left Café Créole, which I felt had become more of a reception center than a cultural space. Two years later, there were already tropical venues in Montreal, so we launched Balattou to also help the next generation emerge. Because we always need new talent.

PAN M 360: Little by little, things progressed and here is the monument you have become today, Lamine Touré! And so, this Saturday, it will be an evening where Guinean artists will be able to commemorate this formidable trajectory.

Lamine Touré : As they say, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’ll never forget the happiness it will bring me.

The words that keep coming up during my interview with Soul of Zoo are “natural encounters,” “spontaneous,” “collaborations,” and, of course, “Connection,” the name he chose for his debut album. A French DJ and producer based in Canada since 2016, his sound blends organic textures and electronic sounds, with a sensitive and immersive approach that goes beyond the dance floor. While he will officially release his album on May 1, a listening session is scheduled for the following day, May 2, in downtown Montreal, to which all the artists who collaborated on this project are invited, as well as close collaborators. An intimate setting to savor this album. Among the artists are Matéo and Djely Tapa, each with three tracks on the album, as well as Zal Sissokho, Walid Ben Selim, and Snow Owl. Our reporter Sandra Gasana spoke with Soul of Zoo a few days before the launch.



Because they were both born in 1926, these tributes to John Coltrane and Miles Davis centennials presented at the 2026 FIJM offered the opportunity to hear a variety of interpretations. Some were closer to jazz-fusion or soul/R&B/funk/hip-hop than to the original spirit of the reinterpreted pieces, while Isaiah Collier and his three colleagues opted for a classical approach. This raises a question regarding the program presented Friday evening at the Théâtre Jean-Duceppe: how should one perform *A Love Supreme*, which many consider John Coltrane’s most iconic album?  Isaiah Collier chose the “straightforward” way that is, using the same instrumentation of tenor sax, piano, double bass, and drums, in the same spirit through which new virtuoso talents express themselves: Isaiah Collier on tenor sax, Davis Whitfield on piano, and Tim Regis on drums—all of African descent, all rooted in this vision of Black jazz. A few hours before the performance of “Acknowledgement,” “Resolution,” “Pursuance,” and “Psalm,” PAN M 360 had the opportunity to interview Isaiah Collier in his dressing room.

PAN M 360 : So, well, let’s talk first about your project, A Love Supreme reinterpretation, on your own. So, of course, this is the centennial of John Coltrane birth this year, and you decided to pay tribute to him in your way. So, what is your way playing this fabulous and mythical album? 

Isaiah Collier : I think it’s fairly straightforward. Get through movements one through four. I don’t, I don’t, I’m not, yes, at one point I was seeing it that way. 

There’s a couple of ways to look at it. The first way is, yes, it’s a monumental record. Furthermore, this is like the equivalent of playing or performing Beethoven’s Fifth. Yeah.

You know, it takes a certain type of dedication and endurance. 

PAN M 360 : And pursuance. 

Isaiah Collier : Most importantly, but also authenticity. It’s funny, we were just having a conversation about this. I was talking to bassist Ben Williams about this, that for whatever reason, we dubbed the music that Coltrane did as spiritual music.

But I kind of find that term the most, and I really don’t care, but I think it’s kind of disingenuous to all other music, to just claim one genre or a specific approach to it, within a general genre, to be this one thing.

PAN M 360 : Yeah, but at that time when he recorded the album, he was in a sort of very mystical frame of mind. 

Isaiah Collier : Well, you could have just said mystical then. There was no point in saying spiritual, because… But he wouldn’t describe it that way. No. So, if the person who created it didn’t describe it that way, who are we to just assign it? And I feel like there has to be more curiosity in it.

And so, to answer more of your first question, we’re just, we’re trying to be curious. Even more inquisitive. What A Love Supreme meant for him does not mean the same thing for us. No. We’re the recipients of an experience. But now, let’s not look at just the songs we love. Let’s really dive into the essence and the ethos of the person.

Because only through understanding the person do we really get further insight into the music. Right? 

PAN M 360 : So how did you do that?

Iasiah Collier : I’ve never been strung out on drugs. I never had to endure severe alcoholism.

I didn’t have the top gig on the planet, which was the Miles Davis gig. And then losing that, and losing oneself spiraling. And to spiral downwards, and then to spiral upwards. Yeah. Yeah, it was a sort of deliverance when he changed his life. And all the ways of seeing things changed also, because the reality changed.

PAN M 360 : Of course it changed. In the 50s, John Coltrane was a drug addict for a while, but a fantastic player at the same time. 

Isaiah Collier : I won’t say he was a drug addict.

PAN M 360 : Well, he experienced some heavy drug problems.

Isaiah Collier :  I think the proper word is he was a victim. Because if we’re looking at the modern landscape, the fact of the matter is, drugs usually work in medicinal practice. So the misuse or the wrong prescription has created that affliction. 

Furthermore, by the practical optics of, yes, he’s making all this music, but let’s be reminded at all times, this is a black man in America. This is a black man in Jim Crow America. Purely segregated. 30-50 years before he was born, it was the Civil War.  So he would have been born around when slavery was just ending. 

Let’s take into consideration he’s also, what, the fifth generation of black musicians who had finally been given a license to see the world. A license called the passport. You know? The swing era had already happened. Bebop had already happened. The Dixieland sound had already happened. Ragtime had already happened. All that evolution had already happened. The blues was already happening. And then plus the integration of the great migration, which led to all of it starting this summer. I have to look at all these things to really get into the person and the music.

PAN M 360 : The life and the music form are obviously linked, as you say.

Iasaiah Collier : No longer just saying, oh man, the form is like this, the form is like that. No, the form is his life. And how do you see your life’s form in it? Yeah, well, both are totally linked. And so all that consideration, you look at him differently. Because he could not have gone forward.

He could have stayed where he was. And we would have lost him like we lost Charlie Parker. You know? But he had a decision to make. Sonny Rollins had a decision to make. James Moody had a decision. Joe Henderson had a decision to make. Wayne Shorter. Coleman Hawkins. Ben Webster. Stanley Turrentine. All the contemporaries and all the people who inspired this guy from back then were still even alive. And yet they decided to still go on. So, yeah man. It’s triumphant. It’s like a Greek tragedy, man. It’s going through all these… Yeah, finally. Yeah, I know. And we finally landed on that. We found our resolutions. 

And they all found a way to substantiate themselves. True. But the admiration of how they were able to still be disciplined about finding a path. And that’s what makes this music such a… And I guess that’s when people want to start looking at the spiritual. Because when you think of yogis, when you think of Buddhas, when you think of people of that type of stature who are able to elevate themselves out of certain circumstances. Yeah. And still remain at a place of like, I still got love for the world. That’s hard. That’s really hard given the actual reality. 

PAN M 360 : What John Coltrane was thinking about himself when he did that music? Do you have an idea?  

Isaiah Collier : I just think it was a lot of inventory. He took a very huge inventory check. He had to look at everything. By the time he was doing this, he had already kind of got himself back on the horse, right? He did all this stuff with Monk . He started relearning. It’s almost like a new person has entered.  But it was like he literally started back at the basics. And I think there’s something to be said for that. I had a band for eight years, which was the Chosen Few thing. And eight years later, I’m having to restart a whole different thing. It’s uncomfortable. It is. But in the same breath, if you built something before, you can build something else. And now it’s not about what you’re building. It’s about how. How. That’s the most incredible question of it all.

So Coltrane had to look at… Obviously, he had to study these other musical forms. You can’t just make a suite without understanding what a suite is. So looking at the relevancy of Ravel, Debussy… He was always going out checking out music. It didn’t matter if it was straight ahead. It didn’t matter if it was probably R&B, blues, or even classical. He was there to consume and exude the knowledge that he had intaked. And so, you know, your story is from Alice Closer : he locked himself in the attic for like months.But he was just… That type of dedication. You know we’re too distracted in this era. All this knowledge and also perception and feeling from this album and from this great experience is in you.

PAN  M 360 : And you have your own way to translate it or to just re-inject it in other forms. Your forms and your band. So just give us a couple of cues of how you do that.

Isaiah Collier : Well, I mean, I think in one retrospect we’re all coming from… We’re a generation that experienced music post this time. So we have a little bit more options. But the option we’re trying to pursue is trying to put in where that outfit of that time and really just deal within the energy of it. But to also see how we get ourselves out of it. It’s a very fascinating thing, man. Yeah, well, that thing… Well, you said it. It’s classical music.

PAN M 360 : Yeah, a classical form but a different classical form : you don’t only read charts and play the notes, you can add a lot of your own in the music. 

Isaiah Collier : Yeah, exactly. So when I reference this record, I love the live albums. Of course, I love the classic, but my favorite version has been the live recording in Seattle. Because right there we get a first-hand example of seeing how he was expanding it. Having Pharoah Sanders and Carlos Ward got to try to play over this stuff that he already created. And he wouldn’t even solo. He just let the other cats get in. And he let the music… Just remove the restrictions and see what happens.  

PAN M 360: Sixty years later, let’s see what happens with your quartet’s reinterpretation !

No live photos were taken at FIJM

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