Interviews Archive - Page 43 of 111

Transcending time and space, the music of God’s Mom sounds simultaneously ancient yet futuristic. This darkwave electronic duo consists of Bria Salmena and Andrew Matthews joining forces to make haunting, high BPM tracks. Salmena, who has sung with Orville Peck and whose solo catalog leans more towards country, explores a different type of folk singing with this project. Her vocals are inspired by Italian folk music from Calabria, while Matthews’ electronic production has frenetic, industrial rhythms fitting for a warehouse rave.

God’s Mom released their debut album in September 2024, titled As It Was Given. Recorded between Rome and Toronto, this album is stuck somewhere in the darkness of the future past. Self-described as a “reactive clenched fist to the suppression of female identity in southern Italian culture,” its sonic world includes ancient melodies calling out through waves of electronic noise and drum beats. A week before their Taverne Tour show, we discussed Italian folk influences, hysteria, tarantulas, and dream movies.

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PAN M 360: What’s the origin of your band name? I like that it’s both sacred and super casual.

God’s Mom: We like the name for the same reason. Its origin is a secret.

PAN M 360: Your music’s got the pulsing oontz-oontz drums that’d fit right in at a rave, but then you’ve got these grandiose Italian vocals floating over it all. Your Bandcamp alludes to Calabrian folk singing as the inspiration for these vocals. Did you grow up listening to this music?

GM: Bria’s family is from the Calabrian region of Italy. She discovered this tradition of music from the region as an adult and we have both bonded over it ever since.

PAN M 360: I started reading about the tarantellas you mention on Bandcamp, which are fast-paced folk dances from Southern Italy. In As It Was Given, what elements from the tarantellas resonated with you?

GM: The style of singing is the first thing that stuck out to us. It is polyphonic and atonal in a way that feels incredibly emotional and also dissonant. Also, the lyrics of many of the tarantellas come from women who are responding to gender and class strife in rural Italy. In many ways, the tarantellas share a common quality to punk music.

PAN M 360: Wikipedia says the word tarantella might have come from “tarantism,” the hysteria that comes from a tarantula bite, and the music is meant to revive the victims. I thought that description was cool – it captures that dark, possessed side of dancing and raving, but also the salvation it can bring. How do you view the spiritual role of your music?

GM: Our music doesn’t have a spiritual agenda. You referenced tarantism and the idea of hysteria. If our music and performance come across as hysterical, it is about owning it in a way that we are in control, rather than in the past where that word was used to oppress women.

PAN M 360: The synths on “Vespa e Spina” kind of remind me of a fuzzy tarantula. How would you describe the textures of the synths on this album?

GM: “Vespa e Spina” is one of our oldest songs. At the time, I wanted to use synths in the way that Public Image Ltd. uses guitars. I failed. But I definitely also wanted the synths to buzz and dart like insects.

PAN M 360: “Niente Davanti” is one of my favuorite tracks from the album. What’s the story with that sample at the beginning?

GM: That is an acapella from a tarantella that jump-started the energy for the rest of the song. One of our earliest songs where tarantellas influenced the spirit that we were forming. We thought about how these voices that were calling out in such an emotional way could travel from the 1950s into a future era and sound.

PAN M 360: As It Was Given was a culmination of four years of work. What was your creative process like over the years?

GM: Bria and I work very manically and in prolific spurts. When the ideas come we try to capture them as quickly as possible and finish things in the moment. So after about four years of working on material quite continuously, we have found ourselves with a surplus of songs that we feel are worthy.

PAN M 360: You recorded the album between Toronto and Rome – cities with wildly different histories, cultures, and climates. How did the two cities shape the sound of God’s Mom?

GM: Something we talk about often is how a place like Rome or other European cities will repurpose, often ancient, condemned, or forgotten cultural spaces into new ones. Toronto seems to have more of a habit of demolishing its history to build something new. Things should always move forward, but if you can maintain the history of a space or energy and redress it, rather than destroy and recreate it, it holds much more meaning. This concept is a huge influence on God’s Mom.

PAN M 360: Lastly… if you were tasked with creating the soundtrack for a movie, what would it be like? What’s the genre, the plot, and who’s directing it?

GM: The movie would be about a person who has a sexual relationship with their own clone. It takes place at Club Voodoo in Toronto in the 80s. The music would be either drone or 190 bpm+. Bria and I would direct it. It would be a tragedy.

Ric’key Pageot was born and raised in Montreal, where he studied at École Pierre-Laporte and McGill. A solid education in classical and jazz opened the door to his first contract: musical director of Cirque du Soleil’s Delirium show (the youngest ever appointed to the post). Corneille, Jill Scott and Diana Ross got their hands on him, before Madonna made him her touring pianist (since Sticky & Sweet, 2008-2009), and more recently, Christina Aguilera. Through it all, Ric’key continues to love classical music, and even more so since discovering the rich but unsuspected repertoire created by black composers. This love led him to immerse himself in this universe and to conceive a recital entitled Classic Black, which he will present on 21 February 2025 in the Salle Claude-Léveillée at Place des Arts in Montreal. One performance at 8pm is already sold out, so a second is now necessary, this time at 10pm, for those who want tickets (but there aren’t many left!). I spoke to Ric’key about all this and more…

DETAILS AND TICKETS HERE

This year, Valentine’s Day rhymes with a tribute to Toumani Diabaté by none other than his brother Madou Sidiki Diabaté. For the occasion, he will be accompanied by Zal Sissokho and others in one of the city’s finest concert halls, the Gésu. In an interview with our journalist Keithy Antoine, Madou talks about the origins of the kora, a 12-string instrument similar to the harp, as well as the history of his country, Mali, his status as a griot and the important figure of his brother. An evening that promises to be rich in emotion and sound.

It’s a concert of contrasts that Ensemble Caprice, in collaboration with Ensemble ArtChoral, will be offering music lovers in Montreal and Quebec City on February 14 and 16. Matthias Maute has concocted a program that combines early music, folk music and contemporary music, with his renowned concern for programming and his desire to weave links between eras and musical styles, both for the instrumental repertoire and for the choirs. This areopagus of works will evolve towards Beethoven’s mythical Ninth Symphony, which, according to the conductor and artistic director, will be the first time the work has been presented in Montreal on period instruments. PAN M 360’s Alexandre Villemaire spoke to Matthias Maute about this concert, as well as the other discographic projects that punctuate ArtChoral’s season and are linked to its identity.

Ernst Bloch (1880-1959)

Yih’yu L’ratzon

Traditionnel

Oy dortn, arrangé par Matthias Maute

Gregorio Allegri (1582–1652)

Miserere

William Kraushaar(*1989)

Höre auf meine Stimme, Première mondiale – commande de l’Ensemble Caprice

Entracte

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)

Symphonie n^o 9 en ré mineur, op. 125

Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso
Molto vivace – Presto
Adagio molto e cantabile – Andante moderato
Presto – Allegro assai – Recitativo – Allegro assai vivace – Alla marcia – Andante maestoso – Allegro energico

Sopranos

Sydney Baedke

Sharon Azrieli

Mezzo-soprano

Stéphanie Pothier

Ténor

Scott Rumble

Baryton

Dominique Côté

Presented at the Centre PHI until early May 2025, Jean-Marc Vallée: Mixtape is an exhibition suggesting a multimedia and (particularly) musical journey through the late director’s work. Music, especially the pop/rock/americana corpus, was the foundation of his cinematography, without which he would not have had this unique signature. His collaborators and close friends all testify to having been influenced by his choices. For him, music was a driving force for acting and emotion, magnifying images and thus moving filmgoers.

“Mixtape” is made up of four installations and a sound environment that accompanies and envelops the public throughout the tour. These different spaces highlight several key moments in Vallée’s career, but are above all an invitation to delve into the artist’s head and music to discover what inspired him in his daily life, influenced him in his creation and what was transposed to the big screen.”

For an even better understanding of the exhibition, its creative director and co-designer Sylvain Dumais is interviewed by Alain Brunet for PAN M 360.

Details and info

“Breathtaking”, “imaginative and expressive”, “Bartók on steroids”. These are the words used by critics to describe the music of Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy. Recipient of numerous awards and distinctions, her works have been performed by major Canadian ensembles such as the Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg orchestras, as well as by such performers as The Gryphon Trio, James Campbell, Shauna Rolston, the Cecilia and Afiara String Quartets and Judy Loman. Les Violons du Roy was the only string left to her bow, and this was her first collaboration with them, with her piece for violin and orchestra Found in Lostness, to be performed by Kerson Leong. A perfect opportunity to learn more about her career as a composer and one of her most recent creations.

PAN M 360: Tell us a little about your musical background. What triggered your decision to become a composer?

Kelly-Marie Murphy: I think it was obvious from very early on that I loved music! Finally, at the age of 8, we got a piano and I started taking lessons. I sang in choirs throughout my school years, and I started taking voice lessons when I was 16. In high school I became really interested in jazz, so I played piano in the jazz band, and did a little singing on the side. I started my music degree on my 18th birthday, really thinking more along the lines of either performance or even education. It became obvious that I was not comfortable in front of an audience, so I had to find something else to do with my musical abilities. I was encouraged to take composition. So, by accident, I found my vocation!

PAN M 360: Which composers or individuals have influenced you or have been significant on your journey as a musician and as a composer?

Kelly-Marie Murphy: On a personal level, my composition professor, Allan Gordon Bell. He was a wonderful mentor and always believed in me, even when I didn’t. As far as composers who literally woke me up, I would have to say Stravinsky and Bartok to begin with. It was a case of sitting in a music history class and hanging on through classicism and romanticism, but really having the WOW moment with Stravinsky ballets and Bartok string quartets. I would also say that my enjoyment of jazz and bebop has had an influence on how I think about music. I continue to be inspired by contemporary music. Living composers are a part of the artistic fabric, and we observe and comment on what is around us.

PAN M 360: How did the theme of loss emerge as a narrative framework in Found in Lostness, the work you composed for Kerson Leong?

Kelly-Marie Murphy: Kerson and I had a lovely meeting about a year ago. I asked him what kind of things he was interested in; what imagery; what he would like to have in a concerto, etc. He asked if I might be able to write something about being “lost in the woods” and that feeling of emerging from that. I really liked this concept because it opens a lot of different paths. Being lost is multifaceted: you can be lost physically, emotionally, spiritually, etc.; you can lose things or people. That gave me a lot to work with. The philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, would frame “lostness” as an opportunity for discovery and growth. Throughout the piece, I explore the ideas of searching and the discomfort of lostness — the idea of connecting with things in hopes that they bring you where you need to be. The ending is a bit unresolved: did we find what we needed?

PAN M 360: This is only the second violin concerto you’ve written! How did you approach writing for this instrument? Did you challenge yourself by experimenting with writing and instrumental techniques?

Kelly-Marie Murphy: The first violin concerto was quite big: 4 movements; full orchestra; around 20 minutes long; and very dramatic. This new piece is only scored for string orchestra, and yet still needed to navigate the dramatic needs of the concept. My challenge was in keeping the colour and the texture fresh with just strings. I love percussive sounds, so I wanted to make a little accompaniment section where the soloist is supported by taps and shrieks. I also wrote quite an extended solo for bass!

PAN M 360: How is the work structured? Did you keep to the classical form of the concerto, or was it freer?

Kelly-Marie Murphy: This is a single movement work with slow and fast sections. The cadenzas are woven in throughout. There is certainly some rhythmic freedom in the piece. There are thematic things that return and are developed, but that is as close as it gets to a classical concerto 🙂

PAN M 360: What is your compositional approach? What inspires you when you compose?

Kelly-Marie Murphy: I’m a composer every day. For me, writing is a daily practice. I need to plan and experiment. I need to make choices between ideas to ensure that I’m using the strongest ones. I try to write and “draw” what a piece is about — how I want it to move; what I want to say…. Then it’s just a matter of finding the right material. I love when there is a poem or piece of art to anchor the thoughts.

Since winning first prize at the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition in 2010, the aura of Canadian violinist Kerson Leong has never ceased to shine. Critically acclaimed as one of the country’s greatest violinists (Toronto Star), in numerous recordings including his most recent album released in 2023 featuring concertos by Britten and Bruch, his playing presents “a blend of spontaneity and mastery, elegance, fantasy, intensity that makes his sound recognizable from the first notes” (Le Monde). A sought-after soloist and passionate chamber musician, Kerson Leong will perform with Les Violons du Roy, conducted for the occasion by Nicolas Ellis, in a program featuring the repertoire of Mendelssohn and Bach, as well as a new work from Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy. A dialogue between eras and styles, with the timelessness of music as a canvas. We spoke to him about it.

PAN M 360: The program you’ll be performing with Les Violons du Roy has timelessness as its underlying theme, with works by Felix Mendelssohn and Johann Sebastian Bach. What do you think makes this music timeless?

Kerson Leong: For me, the “secret” of timeless music is that it never fails to transport the listener and the musician to a different world. Perhaps a more idyllic world, far removed from our reality, and that it never fails to comfort, console or uplift us. This is exactly what the music of Mendelssohn and Bach brings.

PAN M 360: Can you tell us a little bit about the Mendelssohn works that surround the Bach pieces?

Kerson Leong: We have the contrast between his symphony for strings, composed when he was just a teenager, and his last string quartet (arranged for string orchestra), which is a very powerful and heartfelt requiem for his sister, who died at the time. So we can get an idea of the course of his life, literally.

PAN M 360: Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy’s Found in Lostness, which you will be premiering, is a one-movement concerto exploring the theme of loss. How do you, as a performer, approach a new work that has never been heard, make it your own and convey the intentions and emotions inherent in the work?

Kerson Leong: I always started with the subject in mind and the types of colours, shades and textures I associated with it. This is the source of all the musical decisions I would make. The score of a piece is like a map that can point you in the right direction or at least give you clues, and in this case, it’s a real luxury to be able to exchange ideas with the composer herself.

PAN M 360: How would you describe Kelly-Marie Murphy’s music?

Kerson Leong: Evocative, visceral and vivid.

PAN M 360: What role does new music play in your artistic practice

Kerson Leong: I think it’s important to develop an open mind and be receptive to many different kinds of influences, not only to develop your own sound, but also your musical personality in general. This process of “finding your own way” through a new piece is a direct reflection of this.

PAN M 360: Bach’s violin repertoire is imposing and important in the history of music. You once described Bach’s partitas and sonatas as a “violinist’s bible.” In what way are this repertoire and the figure of Bach significant for violinists?

Kerson Leong: For me, Bach is the best test for letting the violin express itself with maximum acoustic freedom and purity, and for being able to capture a deep sense of reverence and weight in the music with “simpler” means. One learns not only the importance of passion, but also the importance of restraint, and to see oneself as part of something greater than oneself.

PAN M 360: The two Bach works you are about to perform were not originally composed for the violin, but for organ and voice respectively. Does this change the way you conceive phrasing and the direction of musical lines and intention? Are there any technical elements both for your instrument and the orchestra that are put in place to imitate the timbre of the original versions?

Kerson Leong: This question brings us to the importance of the voice as a source of inspiration for string players. Even if the bow gives us unlimited breath, the natural phrase and musical “gravity,” for me, are always governed by the rise and fall of the human voice and breath. The violin solo in “Erbarme dich” is one of the most famous and beloved of all violin solos, and the sung viola part with which it is dueted serves as a direct inspiration.

PAN M 360: This isn’t the first time you’ve collaborated with Nicolas Ellis. What kind of work do you do with him in rehearsals to bring together the different elements of your playing with that of the orchestra, and in this case, in the context of creating a contemporary work?

Kerson Leong: First of all, Nicolas is a good friend and we get on well together, which certainly facilitates the musical process. We can be open with each other in rehearsals, but at the same time, I always feel a natural complicity in the way we see the music.

PAN M 360: What are your next projects?

Kerson Leong: Next month, I’ll be recording Saint-Saëns Concerto No. 3 in Vienna with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra as part of a collective project on Saint-Saëns. I’m also very much looking forward to the release of my next album, devoted to Gabriel Fauré’s works for violin and piano, produced with a friend, the French pianist Jonathan Fournel.

Les Violons du Roy kick off the second half of their season with violinist Kerson Leong as guest soloist in a program entitled Un violon hors du temps. With conductor Nicolas Ellis at the helm of this concert, on February 13 in Quebec City and February 14 in Montreal, the ensemble offers a journey centered on the theme of time, in a dialogue between the Baroque, Romantic and contemporary eras. Between works by Felix Mendelssohn, including his magnificent String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, subtitled “Requiem for Fanny”, and the String Symphony No. 10 in B minor, Kerson Leong will join the musicians in two pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach (the aria “Erbarme dich”, from the St. Matthew Passion, and the chorale O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß, BWV 622) and will premiere an original piece by award-winning Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy: Found in Lostness. On the eve of this event, PAN M 360’s Alexandre Villemaire spoke to Laurent Patenaude, co-general manager and artistic director of Les Violons du Roy, about this program and the rest of the season ahead.

**Due to weather conditions, the performances on Thursday February 13 in Quebec City have been postponed to a later date, which will be communicated to ticket holders in the coming days.

Afternoon Program (February 13)

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)

Choral O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß, BWV 622 (arr. pour cordes M. Reger) « Erbarme dich, mein Gott » extrait de la Passion selon saint Matthieu,

BWV 244 (arr. pour violon et orchestre à cordes) Solistes : Kerson Leong violon

Jean-Louis Blouin alto

KELLY-MARIE MURPHY (Née en 1964)

Found in Lostness (création)
Soliste : Kerson Leong violon

FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)

Quatuor à cordes n° 6 en fa mineur, op. 80 (version pour orchestre à cordes)

• Allegro vivace assai • Allegro assai
• Adagio
• Finale. Allegro molto

Evening Program (February 13 and 14)

FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)

Symphonie pour cordes n° 10 en si mineur, MWV N 10

• Adagio – Allegro – Più presto

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)

Choral O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß, BWV 622 (arr. pour cordes M. Reger) « Erbarme dich, mein Gott » extrait de la Passion selon saint Matthieu,

BWV 244 (arr. pour violon et orchestre à cordes) Solistes : Kerson Leong violon

Jean-Louis Blouin alto

KELLY-MARIE MURPHY (Née en 1964)

Found in Lostness (création)
Soliste : Kerson Leong violon

• PAUSE •

Quatuor à cordes n° 6 en fa mineur, op. 80 (version pour orchestre à cordes)

• Allegro vivace assai
• Allegro assai
• Adagio
• Finale. Allegro molto

TICKETS AND INFO HERE

Young Quebec composer Corie Rose Soumah is currently completing her doctorate at Columbia University in New York. On 24 February 2025, as part of the Festival Montréal / Nouvelles Musiques, her friends from the New York-based vocal ensemble Ekmeles will be performing her piece Like a Frog on the Road to it in the Agora Hydro-Québec in UQAM’s Cœur des sciences. I spoke to the Montrealer.

DETAILS AND TICKETS

Programme :

Motorman Sextet (2013), 35:00

Taylor Brook

We Live the Opposite Daring (2023), 14:00

Zosha Di Castri

Sweet Flag! (2022), 13:00

Charlotte Mundy

Like a frog on the road to it (2023), 21:00

Corie Rose Soumah

The Kohlenstoff collective invites you to a music-video evening at Centre Phi on Saturday, February 14. Composers will be paired with guest video artists, with exploration and innovation the cardinal virtues of this community of Montreal artists: Estelle Schorpp & Charline Dally, Roger Tellier-Craig & Sabrina Ratté, Michael Gary Dean & Laine Butler, Dominic Thibault & Alan Dunyo Avorgbedor. The evening’s coordinator, Guillaume Cliche, tells us all about it. Alain Brunet interviewed him for PAN M 360.

DETAILS AND TICKETS HERE

As she prepares to defend her latest album, We Did the Damn Thing, Naya Ali took the time to talk to our journalist Sandra Gasana about the creative process, her most recent trip to Ethiopia, and the importance of taking the time to celebrate our victories. She’ll be at Le Ministère on Saturday, February 15, surrounded by a live band for the occasion, with an opening act provided by an artist also from NDG, just like Naya.

The Quatuor Molinari is pulling out all the stops (with the help of the Fondation Famille Lupien): composer Franghiz Ali Zadeh is in Montreal for three days of presentations and explorations of her musical universe. Two of these days (February 13 and 14) are entirely free of charge, and the third (February 15) will culminate in a performance of all the string quartets by this great Azerbaijani composer, plus the creation of a brand new work dedicated to the Montrealers! Ali Zadeh, an artist who has won admiration from the world’s great musicians for nearly 50 years (Kronos Quartet, Yo-Yo Ma, etc.), will be in Canada probably for the first time and will be meeting the public during two days of free activities at the Conservatoire and the Maison de la culture du Plateau. It’s a unique opportunity to come and talk to one of the great contemporary artists of our time, and above all to experience her extraordinarily communicative, accessible yet rigorous music, which fuses the learned language of the religious chants known as mughams with that of the modern West. I spoke about all this with Olga Ranzenhofer of the Molinari Quartet.

DETAILS AND TICKETS (concert on 15 February)

The Quartet according to Ali-Zadeh. Round table: Folklore in contemporary music (13 February – FREE event)

The Quartet according to Ali-Zadeh. Dialogue sur le Plateau: The string quartets of Ali-Zadeh (14 February – FREE event)

Studio of the Molinari Quartet (podcast series) (in French)