Le Couleur has left its mark on the French-speaking world of America, and on French-language pop in general. Founded on groove, synth-pop, euro-disco, house and other flavors ideal for the dance floor, the Montreal-based ensemble spent over fifteen years on stages around the world before announcing an indeterminate hiatus and moving on to other expressions and individual projects. But before closing the lights, several concerts are scheduled between now and the end of the warm season, and the first show on the agenda is the last Montreal concert, scheduled for this Friday, March 28 at the SAT. Laurence Giroux-Do sat with Alain Brunet for PAN M 360.
Interviews
Bella White is a somewhat newer singer-songwriter on the country and bluegrass scene, but her influence is quickly taking hold. Originally from Calgary, Alberta, she released her full-length debut, Just Like Leaving, in 2020 and the follow-up album, Among Other Things, in 2023. Bella grew up around the bluegrass sound, played by her father around the house, who was always in some sort of bluegrass band. She uses her arresting voice to make way for simpler and calming, traditional bluegrass country music that chronicles the times of life.
Bella also loves to put her own twangy spin on country standards with her EP of singles cover Five For Silver, like “Concrete and Barbed Wire,” by Lucinda Williams, or more contemporary songwriters, like Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco). We spoke to Bella ahead of her show at Petit Campus on March 29.
PAN M 360: For readers who have no idea who you are, who is Bella White? How did you get into music?
Bella White: I was born in Calgary Alberta Canada into a very musical family. Both my parents definitely passed their love of music down to me. I feel very lucky that I was encouraged to play and follow that thread my whole life.
PAN M 360: I love your cover of “Unknown Legend,” can you talk about how Neil Young has inspired your songwriting? Or anyone else?
Bella White: I love Neil Young so much. I’ve always been a really big fan of his. I can’t think of any singular way that he’s inspired my songwriting, but I think absorbing that over the years gave me an appreciation for the craft.
PAN M 360: As a fellow Albertan (I’m from Edmonton), do you think that kind of folk-country bluegrass influence came from your upbringing? Maybe because of the Rockies and open skies?
Bella White: The Rockies in the open sky definitely influenced my love for music. I think my main appreciation for country folk Bluegrass came from my dad, though. He grew up in Lynchburg, Virginia, and always played that kind of music my whole life.
PAN M 360: Are you planning another release or working on something for 2025?
Bella White: I am! I went into the studio this winter and recorded a third album which I’m very excited to share!
PAN M 360: When you were starting out, did it take you a while to find that country twang in your voice?
Bella White: I think it came pretty naturally to me since country and bluegrass was kind of what taught me to sing.
PAN M 360: Do you feel your records are all connected, coming from the same place, continuing the same story and themes or completely different and why?
Bella White: I think that they’re all different. I wrote them all at different times in my life, and they captured different moments for me. I guess they’re probably also connected in some way, shape, or form, and maybe they are continuing my larger life story, but I like to think of them as being different.
PAN M 360: Do you sit down and carve out time to write songs, or is it a more drawn-out process?
Bella White: It definitely goes both ways! Sometimes, it’s more structured, and sometimes, it’s more free-form.
PAN M 360: Are you bringing a band for your show in Montreal? What can people expect?
Bella White: I’ll have a trio with me! Sam Gelband plays the drums, and Gina Leslie plays the bass. I love playing with them so much, and we can’t wait to be in Montreal!
The singles “Love Outta Luck,” “The Willow” and “Better This Way” preceded the release of The Damn Truth’s homonymous album on the Spectra Musique label. Produced by legendary producer Bob Rock (Mötley Crue, The Offspring, Bon Jovi, Metallica), this fourth opus sees the Montreal band back on the rock road. On the eve of kick-off at MTelus this Wednesday, March 26, drummer Dave Traina talks to Alain Brunet to explain more about the band’s recent motivations, its allegiance to classic and hard rock, and of course the guidance of mentor Bob Rock, who also worked on The Damn Truth’s previous album, Now or Nowhere. Exclusive content on PAN M 360!
His name is Moulaye Dicko, but we know him as Dicko Fils (Dicko Jr). In a career spanning some 20 years, this musician from Burkina Faso, who plays the kora and the n’goni, has produced twelve albums, including the very recent La route (the road). A star in his homeland and in a large part of West Africa, the artist nevertheless had to take the path of exile and settle in Montreal. Because, you see, this rather shy man has will and courage underneath: since 2016 he has been committed to a humanist cause, that of combating certain ancestral traditions such as forced marriages of young girls, excision, and the refusal to educate girls to confine them to the role of housewife. This courageous commitment in a society that is still very attached to these customs has led to problems with opponents. These problems were serious enough to force him to move to colder climes, which are more forgiving for this kind of activism.
So it was in Montreal that Dicko Fils put the finishing touches to La route, the twelfth album of his career. It’s an album that follows in the same footsteps as his previous ones, adapting the rhythms, instrumental colours and melodic characteristics of traditional Fulani music to modern times. Both through the cohabitation of traditional and modern instruments (guitars, drums, electronic instruments), there is also the contribution of stylistic facets imported from other musical genres that allow Dicko’s music to tie in with that of other stars of West African music. Salif Keita and Oumou Sangaré spring to mind. Here again, according to Dicko, this modernization has not always been easy. Some criticised him for ‘spoiling’ the Fulani tradition. But he continued on his way, earning appreciable dividends such as the appreciation and admiration of a new generation of Fulani musicians who are now following in his footsteps.
When I ask him to make an assessment of his career, these 20 years of music and the results of which he is proud, he tells me that it is the message of peace between peoples that has been heard by thousands and thousands of his compatriots that makes him think that there is reason to be positive. But all the same, he had to go into exile. The fight can’t stop yet, and he says he’s ready to fight it from here on in.
Many festival representatives attended the launch concert at Balattou on March 8, 2025, resulting in Dicko’s commitments for the next season from Quebec to Hamilton, via Ottawa and Halifax (and Montreal, of course).
I asked him how his relocation went. He doesn’t lie: it’s been difficult. He was on tour when serious threats were made. So the exile was very sudden, without much thought or preparation. But Dicko already had a good network in Quebec. Montreal has long been a city visited by the artist on his many tours. Productions Nuits d’Afrique and other friends helped him land relatively smoothly. There’s no doubt that the positive reception he’s received is helping him to absorb the shock and concentrate on pursuing his mission and his career (the two are now intimately linked).
It’s a well-crafted, beautifully produced Afro pop album with all the qualities needed to stand out on the stages where Dicko Fils will be performing, and in playlists everywhere. Already, he confirms, he has received calls from elsewhere in the world to present it in concert. So, the road is ahead, not behind.
The Montreal International Music Competition (MIMC), a major cultural event in Montreal’s musical springtime, will welcome twenty-four exceptional lyric artists from May 25 to June 6 for its 2025 edition, dedicated to the voice. Through its various editions devoted to violin and piano, the MIMC contributes to Montreal’s cultural dynamism and to the launch of the careers of new-generation international artists, both through its identity and its roots in the Montreal cultural scene and internationally. In addition to the event’s visibility, over $160,000 in prizes and bursaries will be awarded to the various winners of the special Voix 2025 prizes. As preparations get underway for the two weeks of intense competition, PAN M 360 contributor Alexandre Villemaire spoke with MIMC Artistic Director Shira Gilbert about the various aspects of this year’s competition.
This interview was conducted in French and English.
Discover the 24 Voix 2025 competitors HERE
For more information, visit https://concoursmontreal.ca/en/voice-2025/
Photo Credit : Tam Photography
Rose Cousins should be on your radar if her name isn’t already. The talented singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist from P.E.I. (now based in Halifax) has won multiple JUNOS and has had her cinematic songs in many television shows.
She’s also gained some notoriety for her stripped-back rendition of Prince’s “I Would Die 4 U,” but with her latest release, Conditions of Love: Vol. 1, Rose Cousins has completely reinvigorated her sound. Putting the piano, her first instrument, at the forefront as the leading instrument of this new batch of songs, Rose has delivered 10 beautiful songs, her communions and reminiscings on the bold topic of love. Ahead of her cross-Canada Conditions of Love Tour (including a show at Sala Rossa on April 7) Rose had time to discuss relinquishing songs, her love of nature, the piano, and photography
PAN M 360: So I listened to Conditions of Love: Volume One. I really enjoyed it. It was a great walking around Montreal album. And I just wanted to ask you if kind of you find your songwriting to be like a cathartic experience, to release things, or to tell a broader story.
Rose Cousins: I think both. I mean, for sure, writing is always and will always be, cathartic for me, for sure. I think maybe, broad in so far as I’m singing, hopefully, you know, non-specific things, well, specific to me, but not that you would necessarily know. And so, I’m hoping that the broad thing is that someone can listen to it and say, ‘Oh, you know me too,’ and that is that there’s a door in for them too.
PAN M 360: So kind of vague thoughts about the human experience that people can empathize with?
Rose Cousins: I think that’s the role of music. We’re trying to find ways, even outside of music, we’re trying to find ways to relate to each other. And the music is, it’s this instigator of a deeper connection for me and I would assume anyone who comes to see me, but also anyone who listens to music. I mean, you know, you’re going into a room of a band that you love so much, and what is the thing you’re getting from them? It’s not necessarily like the specific things they’re saying in their lyrics, but it could be, it could be a feeling that they’re creating.
It could be a nostalgia that they’re bringing up in your own experience. Maybe people are having, like, a side-by-side experience. Maybe they meet at a show. I think it’s specific and non-specific. If the song can, once it is out, it’s going to do its own job, and it’s not my job to kind of curate an experience.
PAN M 360: Yeah once that song is out, it’s like it’s no longer yours.
Rose Cousins: I think so. There is a relinquish that has to happen because how somebody interprets a song might not necessarily be the same meaning that I wrote it from. And that doesn’t matter. If it’s hitting them and doing something for them, then the job is done.
PAN M 360: Going off that, one of the songs that really touched me the most was, “Forget Me Not.” And I just love all of the poetic references to nature; like dogwoods, lilacs, and dandelions. Do you find that nature is always kind of creeping in your songwriting?
Rose Cousins: Yeah, I think it’s always kind of been in there somewhere. But there is a through line on this record of the natural world: like the moon in “Borrowed Light,” all the flowers and trees and plants in “Forget Me Not,” and the wolf in “Wolf and Man.” I think because I wrote the record during the pandemic times I was having a deeper communion with nature.
I’ve got a dog. I was walking out around all the time and just kind of like being in the same place where the seasons were changing, and I was in the same place where normally I would just be like running around and touring and stuff. And I was having a different, more in depth communion with the seasons–specifically spring and summer. I was seeing it and identifying plants, or you know, being shown plants or trees that I wouldn’t have thought about what the names were of them before, but then being like, ‘whoa.’ Like watching, just watching the whole thing, come to life and then and then die, and then come to life and then die. So, yes, the natural world is very much a part of this record. And I grew up on P.E.I. running around near the ocean and in the woods. And I think this is a kind of a return to that.
PAN M 360: Piano’s always been in your music, but as an accompanying instrument, sometimes in the background. But with this record, it’s right at the forefront right from the beginning. What made you decide to give it more of a leading instrument feel?
Rose Cousins: Well, piano is my first instrument, and the one that I love the most, and the one that, when I started my career, was like the hardest to travel with. So I didn’t. I was just playing guitar, and the friend I co-produced this record with, Joshua Van Tassel, who’s been my drummer for a long time, was living in Toronto. He’s from Nova Scotia. He moved back to Nova Scotia in 2022 and sent me to go and look at a piano for him. At this fancy piano store called Dr. Piano, which I completely avoided the entire time I’ve lived here because they have, like, the $80,000 pianos, right? I can’t go to that store.
I went to try out this piano for him, and then I was in the showroom, and I saw this older, used baby grand. And I just asked them, ‘What’s the deal with this piano? ‘ It was reserved, but I’ve always wanted a full piano, so I just said, “Can you put me on the list for cool, old pianos?” So that was on a Thursday, and then on the Monday, they called me. They’re like, ‘The piano is available.’ So I went and they pulled it into a recital room, and I spent a couple of hours with it and then I went into a complete existential breakdown, ‘Can I can I afford this piano? Like, do I deserve to have this piano? Which is ridiculous, because when I said that to like, my friends who were trying to help make me, help me make the decision, they’re just like, “You play piano for a living.”
PAN M 360: Right, it was your first instrument after all.
Rose Cousins: Yes. It’s just like a very special communion that happens between me and the piano. And I feel like my feelings come out in the purest of forms. And yeah, once I had that in my house, I was just like, ‘This is it. I want to make my record on this piano in this house with Josh. And yeah, that’s kind of, that’s kind of how it’s born.
PAN M 360: What kind of piano? Since it’s used, does it have a story?
Rose Cousins: It’s a 1967 Baldwin and the fellow who dropped it off, who sold it to me, said that it was played by a woman in the Cincinnati Symphony. So it definitely has some miles for sure!
PAN M 360: The album title is Conditions of Love: Vol. 1. Is there going to be volume two? Do you have the plans?
Rose Cousins: It’s more about the infinite volumes that can exist on this topic, right? I mean, it’s not one that you could write all the volumes for. Is it the beginning of an exploration for me? Is it the continued exploration that I’ve been doing since I’ve been writing and playing? I think probably everything that I’ve written so far could be one of the volumes, but I see it really kind of as the endless topic that we’re all writing about. We’re all trying to figure out how to navigate love in all its conditions.
PAN M 360: Do you have any, non-musical passions outside of music that influence your art?
Rose Cousins: Yes, photography. I do analog photography, so film and Polaroid, 35 mils and Polaroid. In the artwork that I’ve done for this album, I worked with a photographer named Lindsay Duncan, who is a wonderful collaborator. She lives in Toronto. We had, well, I had a very specific vision that I wanted to do, and she was amazing. So, each song has in—the deluxe vinyl, you’d see it, its own picture the singles that came out, they each have a picture of basically me. Most of them are me running out of the scene, but me in this pink suit in the scene. The pink suit being or symbolizing love.
Photos by Lindsay Duncan
Since taking the helm of Ensemble ArtChoral (formerly Arts-Québec), conductor and artistic director Matthias Maute has embarked on an ambitious project: to bring together in a recording series the a capella choral repertoire from the Renaissance to the present day. An epic spanning more than six centuries of musical styles. With seven of the planned eleven volumes already released, PAN M 360 collaborator Frédéric Cardin sat down with Matthias Maute to discuss the project’s progress in the wake of the most recent catalog releases, Baroque I and Moderne.
PAN M 360: What motivated you to launch a series on the history of choral singing, from the Renaissance to the present day?
Matthias Maute: It all started during the pandemic: no more concerts, no more audiences… but still music! We said to ourselves: if we can’t sing live, let’s sing for history. The result? A digital library of the a cappella repertoire, from the Renaissance to the present day. A musical journey through time, with no masks and no quarantine!
PAN M 360: On what criteria did you base your choice of repertoire, which is so huge?
Matthias Maute: I followed my ear and my heart: I needed that magical spark, those works that transport us and give us a unique experience. Basically, if it gives me the shivers or makes me want to sing in the shower, it’s a good candidate! But we didn’t want to restrict ourselves to the “coup de coeur”: we also delved into our research to find pieces that truly embodied their era and style. The result? A repertoire that tells a story, not just a series of beautiful melodies!
PAN M 360: You’ve divided the Baroque into two volumes, obviously because of the length of the period. But we can also speak of two different stylistic fields represented by these two volumes. How would you describe the fundamental difference between these two Baroque periods?
Matthias Maute: The 17th century was the Baroque era in full swing: composers explored, experimented, dabbled in new forms and played with musical surprises. A veritable laboratory of ideas! The 18th century marks a more mature, structured Baroque, where balance and mastery take center stage. We move from exploration to accomplishment, with longer works full of tension and controlled contrasts. In short, if the 17th century is the free, adventurous spirit, the 18th century is the genius who refines his art!
PAN M 360: In Moderne, you’ve clearly chosen not to visit the avant-garde/experimental and atonal repertoires. Why is that?
Matthias Maute: This digital library is aimed at millions of choristers worldwide. So we wanted a repertoire that was demanding, but singable! The atonal avant-garde, fascinating as it is, remains the preserve of a few specialized ensembles. And let’s be honest: today, the vast majority of choral compositions remain tonal, because composers are well aware that few choirs are willing – or able – to go purely atonal!
PAN M 360: The series is said to span 11 volumes. Seven have been released so far. Will there be a Contemporary volume? And what will the other themes be?
Matthias Maute: There will be some surprises, but now’s not the time to reveal everything! What I can say is that one of the next volumes will be devoted entirely to the works of two Montreal composers: Jaap Nico Hamburger… and myself! I can’t wait to share it with you!
PAN M 360: Which pieces do you most regret not having been able to include in the published volumes?
Matthias Maute: Everything I would have liked to have recorded, but couldn’t find a place for on record, ended up coming to life in concert! In other words, I’m delighted. With one exception: the music of Ana Sokolović… but it’s only a matter of time, as we’ll soon be singing it in concert at the Maison symphonique!
PAN M 360: What is your assessment of your arrival at the helm of what was (for a long time) the Ensemble vocal Arts-Québec?
Matthias Maute: My encounter with the singers was a real revelation. The multiple, stimulating projects have produced results that I’m still enthusiastic about. Every time I stand in front of the choir, my heart beats faster – I love the way they sing. The voice is a language that touches our innermost being. If I had to sum it up, it would be this: many people have been touched by the magic of the human voice. I’m one of them too. And I don’t think even the backing singers were left out!
Benin’s Angélique Kidjo is undoubtedly one of Africa’s megastars, and probably the one of her generation to have acquired the greatest notoriety in North America, where she has lived for many years. This reputation reached the eyes and ears of composer Philip Glass, pioneer and pillar of American minimalism alongside the likes of Steve Reich and Terry Riley. A decade earlier, Glass had composed a three-movement work, Ifé, trois chants Yorùbá, dedicated to the African singer, with libretto in the Yoruba language. The work has since been performed, and here the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal takes over under the direction of Swiss-Australian conductor Elena Schwarz. Beforehand, the voluble Angélique lends herself to this interview with Alain Brunet, who has been talking to her sporadically since the 90s.
PAN M 360: What motivated you to perform such a work?
Angélique Kidjo: The artistic director of the London Philharmonic, Timothy Walker, had suggested that I sing with a symphony orchestra. What had he been smoking? He met my singing teacher and said he’d think about it. A year later, the London Philharmonic came to play at Lincoln Center and contacted me again, saying that a composer should write for me. He gave me Philip Glass, whom I knew personally, as an example. We make an appointment with Philip, who invites us to his home and accepts. “No problem,” says Philip, looking at me: “Angelique, you choose the subject, write me three texts and I’ll write you a work.” So I wrote three texts about the creation of the universe according to the Yorubas. I write it down and translate it into French and English, telling Phillip that this language is very tonal. He said nothing and came back to me a year later with a piano-vocal score. So I say to myself, “How did he do it?
PAN M 360 : And how did he do it?
Angélique Kidjo: When we met at the first rehearsals, I asked him, and he looked at me with an impish smile and said, “You don’t know everything about me, Angélique … I’ve studied phonetics!” And then he provided me with the manuscript of the work in phonetic script. And that’s when it all really began. The Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra first commissioned the work. Philip was on site. He explained to journalists that he and I had built a bridge over which we had not yet begun to walk.
PAN M 360: And why choose Yoruba rather than Fon, your mother tongue?
Angélique Kidjo: I speak both. We speak four languages in Benin. The mythology of the creation of the world among the Yorubas is the same as that of the Fons. It was also told to me in Yoruba, because people in my family were of Yoruba descent – on my maternal grandfather’s side, whose forebears were Yoruba slaves in Bahia, Brazil, before returning to Africa. Before colonization, the Yoruba and Fon kingdoms were at war with each other, and prisoners lived with us as they did with them. That’s why you have to speak several languages in Africa, otherwise you can’t move! So I’m a product of this crossbreeding, and since I have a certain facility with languages, I chose Yoruba. In fact, I didn’t choose this language rationally. When a language inspires me, I write in that language.
PAN M 360: And how was this opera conceived by Philip Glass for an African artist?
Angélique Kidjo: Philip is still Philip. What’s incredible about him is his flexibility and adaptability. To say that his music is repetitive is reductive. He goes where the music takes him, adapting to the number of bars suggested by a tune or text. The work opens with the supreme god Olodumare sending the artists’ tutelary god Obatala and Oduduwa, the god of logic, to build the world. He gives them a sack, a rooster and some palm wine, telling them not to drink until the job is done. Obatala doesn’t heed this instruction and gets drunk, so Oduduwa has to drag him wherever he goes. Oduduwa finds himself in front of an endless expanse of water. Olodumare then tells him to empty the sack and put the rooster on top of the contents of the sack, black dust, so that the rooster scatters it all and creates dry land. Thus the continents were born, and Yemanja, the goddess of the sea, who had not been warned to cede her territory, became angry and called upon other divinities to create a world around this new land. This is the second movement. The third movement features the god Osumare, two snakes that intertwine to hold the Earth so that it doesn’t fall, and so this male-female god holds the Earth and guarantees its fertility. This story gradually becomes part of Philip’s music.
PAN M 360: From a formal point of view, was Philip Glass inspired by melodies?
Angélique Kidjo: He was inspired phonetically by the music of the language to compose this work, while remaining himself.
PAN M 360: This work was made a decade ago. Have you performed it many times?
Angélique Kidjo: Yes, we did it in Manchester at the beginning of February with conductor Robert Ames. Until now, I’ve only been conducted by men, and now, for the first time, a woman will be conducting in Montreal: Elena Schwarz. It’s a dream come true!
PAN M 360: Coming from a feminist artist who built her career in Africa, then in Europe and North America, it makes perfect sense!
Angélique Kidjo: Yes, absolutely. I’m a pragmatic feminist, I work with men, I grew up with seven brothers and my father also built the woman I am. There are many men who want equals by their side, my father saw my mother as his equal and she had as much power as my father. My daughter was also brought up like that, she’s independent and responsible. And this time I’ll be working with a female boss.
PAN M 360: Did Philip Glass do anything else for you?
Angélique Kidjo: His 12th symphony, Logia, was composed for the 100th anniversary of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and he wanted me to be the soloist in the 3rd movement for voice and organ. He called me up and said he’d pushed me under the bus, laughing. I told him it was okay with me (laughs).
PAN M 360: So you’re all set for Montreal?
Angélique Kidjo: I never take anything for granted. As long as it’s not over, lots of things can happen…
PAN M 360: Projects?
Angélique Kidjo: I hope to be back very soon for the release of my new album in August.
PAN M 360: See you soon then!
Angélique Kidjo: Yes!
Angélique Kidjo and the OSM on Wednesday March 19, 19h30, Maison symphonique. Tickets & infos
Artistes
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Elena Schwarz, cheffe d’orchestre
Angélique Kidjo, chant
Œuvres
Leoš Janáček, La petite renarde rusée, Suite (arr. C. Mackerras, 22)
Philip Glass, Ifé, trois chants Yorùbá (20 minutes)
Entracte (20 min)
Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphonie no 6 en fa majeur, op. 68, « Pastorale » (39 minutes)
Artistes
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Elena Schwarz, cheffe d’orchestre
Angélique Kidjo, chant
Philippe-Audrey Larrue-St-Jacques, présentateur
Œuvres
Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphonie no 6 en fa majeur, op. 68, « Pastorale » (39 min)
Philip Glass, Ifé, trois chants Yorùbá (20 min)
Concert sans entracte
Stradivatango, born of the musical complicity between Stéphane Tétreault and Denis Plante, explores a subtle balance between tradition and reinvention. Carried by the resounding sonority of the cello and the bewitching whispers of the bandoneon, (a type of concertina) the album unfurls a striking expressiveness between vertigo and grace.
PAN M 360: Stradivatango fuses Baroque and Tango influences in a unique way. What drew you to this combination, and how did you and Denis Plante shape the album’s musical identity?
Stéphane Tétreault: Stradivatango was born of our fascination with the encounter between Baroque and tango. Tango, like Baroque music, demands mastery of phrasing and ornamentation, but also freedom of interpretation. With Denis Plante, we shaped a sound that respects this spontaneity, where bandoneon and cello dialogue like dancers suspended between vertigo and grace. Each piece on the album is part of this duality between tradition and reinvention.
PAN M 360: The cello and bandoneon have very distinct timbres. What do you like best about their dialogue, and how did you approach the balance between the two instruments?
Stéphane Tétreault: The cello and the bandoneon have very contrasting personalities: one sings with depth and lyricism, the other murmurs with an almost resigned melancholy. This contrast is precisely what makes their dialogue so fascinating. As in a dance, the balance is based on listening to each other: sometimes one leads, sometimes the other, and sometimes they merge into a single voice.
PAN M 360: Tango is a highly expressive music, often charged with intensity and passion. What aspects of the genre resonate most with you, and how do you express them through your playing?
Stéphane Tétreault: Tango moves me with its theatricality and emotional intensity. It’s music that carries an indomitable nostalgia, a tension between pain and exaltation. My playing seeks to translate this expressiveness, sculpting each phrase with the tango’s breath, playing on silences, accents and colours to convey this duality between elegance and fury.
PAN M 360: Denis Plante structured Stradivatango like a baroque suite. Did you approach the work with a “historically informed” sensibility, or did you prefer a more modern approach?
Stéphane Tétreault: Stradivatango is inspired by Baroque structures, while fully embracing the soul of tango. Each piece explores an aesthetic in which ancient dances are reinvented through the prism of the bandoneon and cello. While incorporating elements of historically informed practice, I sought to capture the expressive essence of tango, integrating its rhythmic freedom and dramatic intensity within a framework reminiscent of the sophistication and élan of Baroque suites.
PAN M 360: Your Stradivarius Comtesse de Stainlein is an exceptional instrument. How does its sound influence your interpretation of Tango compared with other styles you’ve explored?
Stéphane Tétreault: My Comtesse enriches Tango with a unique depth of sound. Her warm timbre and resonance open up a vast field of expression, from the delicate, impressionistic harmonies of Cobián to the dramatic ardour of Piazzolla. It infuses tango with an almost orchestral breadth in Denis Plante’s music, where each note becomes a story in its own right.
PAN M 360: Is there a particular passage or moment on the album that has a special meaning for you? If so, why?
Stéphane Tétreault: A defining moment for me is “Le prince écarlate,” a tribute to Vivaldi that perfectly illustrates the fusion between baroque and tango. Its dizzying writing evokes Vivaldian violinistic traits while retaining the dramatic tension of tango. It embodies the essence of Stradivatango: a conversation between two eras, driven by virtuosity and emotion.
PAN M 360: What would you like listeners to remember about Stradivatango? Is there a specific emotion, story or atmosphere you’d like them to feel?
Stéphane Tétreault: I’d like listeners to feel the alchemy between past and present, between Baroque sophistication and tango intensity. More than just an album, Stradivatango is an immersion in a universe where every note is a story, where the music dances on a tightrope between nostalgia and passion.
Regarded as “one of the most prominent ensembles in the United States practicing truly experimental music” (I Care If You Listen), the New York-based TAK Ensemble will stop in Montreal on Sunday, March 16 to close the third edition of La Semaine du Neuf. The musicians of TAK will share the stage with mezzo-soprano Kristin Hoff who will perform Ana Sokolovic’s Love Songs before performing the Canadian premiere of Taylor Brook work, Star Maker Fragments. Inspired by Olaf Stapledon’s 1937 novel Star Maker, this imaginative mixed electroacoustic work promises to be a musical and philosophical journey through space and sounds. Alexandre Villemaire of PAN M 360 had the chance to ask a few questions to Laura Cocks, executive director and flutist of TAK ensemble about this upcoming performance.
PAN M 360 What sparked this collaboration between Taylor Brook and TAK Ensemble on Star Maker Fragments?
Laura Cocks: TAK has been working with Brook from the very beginning. Having collaborated on a performance of his work Ecstatic Music for our first concert ever in 2013, we’ve been so thankful to continue and deepen our working relationship with Taylor in the past 12 years. He’s an immensely thoughtful person and musician, and the opportunity to create music with them is profoundly curious and expressive, while being simultaneously precise and clear—it’s the ultimate combination. After our first collaboration in 2013, we went on to work on several other works with Taylor, resulting in a portrait album of his work in 2016 (Ecstatic Music), the performance of several iterations of a theater work with TELE-violet, and in 2019 we began the work on Star Maker Fragments. Taylor had a new idea for a piece, and when Taylor has an idea, we all listen. We find their considerate creation of entire worlds to be absolutely irresistible, and this finely tuned expressive power has become a core part of TAK’s musical language and identity in the past 12 years. We were immediately struck by Taylor’s ways of spinning worlds of sound and structure, and are so thrilled to share this collaboration with y’all soon.
PAN M 360: The work is based on Olaf Stapledon’s 1937 science-fiction novel Star Maker. What are the underlying themes of the novel, and how are they expressed in the music?
Laura Cocks: The novel focuses on a human narrator that is transported out of their body to become a disembodied viewpoint that travels through space and time. Brook evocatively renders Stapledon’s descriptions of imaginary societies with his sweeping and transcendentally detailed microtonal lines. Implicitly critiquing the rise of global authoritarianism in both music and text, Brook relishes in Stapledon’s empathetic and thoughtfully pacifistic lens. The text of the work continues to be timely, though written almost one hundred years ago. As the narrator encounters other beings and describes their societies, we hear many echoes of tacit consent, and the sublimation into fascism that we are faced with today.
PAN M 360: Were you familiar with the work of Stapledon before creating the piece? What stroked you in his writing?
Laura Cocks : I personally was not, though others in the group were. It was a joy to encounter this work musically and textually simultaneously. There’s an almost anthropological scent to the way Stapledon describes various societies’ practices and modalities of relations.
PAN M 360: Experimentation plays a fundamental role in the identity and artistic practice of TAK Ensemble. I surmise it was also the case with Star Maker Fragments. What kind of experimentation comes into play to craft the final product and how does it work in conjunction with the ideas of the composer?
Laura Cocks : When Taylor first began work on Star Maker Fragments, they shared multiple sound files with us from various sources—sounds of lasers, from NASA, etc.—and we experimented on each of our instruments how to best recreate these sounds, to find parallels, and sounds in conversations that Taylor would weave into the work, both in its notated composition and the electronic track. The work is designed as a quasi-impossible piece, and much experimentation was performed to create the electronics with which the ensemble plays in performance. There are several versions of each member of TAK in the electronics part and each time I hear it I’m hearing a new way of looking into the world, and outside of it, as invited through Taylor’s absolutely brilliant imagination and patient orchestration.
PAN M 360: After your stop in Montreal for La Semaine du Neuf, what are your upcoming concerts and projects?
Laura Cocks : TAK is working with many student composers this season, premiering almost 40 student works. Upon returning from Montreal, we’ll be in residence at the Peabody Institute, New York University, and The Graduate Center, as well as wrapping up our season with a concert of works for TAK by Christian Quiñones, Aliayta Foon-Dancoes, Jessie Marino, and Bethany Younge. We’re looking forward to the second iteration of our festival, SWOONFEST in September (featuring Yarn/Wire, RAGE THORMBONES, Gushes, Nursalim Yadi Anugerah, Las Mariquitas, Qiujian Levi Lu, and Victoria Cheah), and the upcoming release of our next album with works by Eric Wubbels, Tyshawn Sorey, Bethany Younge, Lewis Nielson, and Golnaz Shariatzadeh. We’re currently in the workshopping stages for some commissions that we’re absolutely ecstatic about with Qiujiang Levi Lu, Victoria Cheah, Golnaz Shariatzadeh, Ann Cleare, and Hannah Kendall.
photo: Joanna (Asia) Mieleszko
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This production is anchored by author and performer Kaie Kellough’s bilingual poem, which evokes themes of language and belonging to a place, a culture. The program explores the styles of five exceptional multidisciplinary composers: Eliot Britton, Nicole Lizée, Derek Charke, Luna Pearl Woolf and Bret Higgins. On stage, it’s a blend of lyricism, groove and exploratory textures, and a dialogue between instrumentalists and narrator.
PAN M 360: “collectif9 and Architek Percussion reflect poetically on identity and belonging, through words and sounds”. What motivates this reflection on identity and belonging in 2025?
Andrea Stewart (collective9): When we conceived this show (from 2016 to 2018), we wanted to create a meeting space that would welcome artists, community members and music lovers of all kinds. The idea was that we’d all arrive somewhere with our own stories and experiences, and that we could all learn from them – our own and others. From 2016, when we embarked on this project, to 2025, this thinking was still relevant. Movement and migration, and the emotions that accompany them, are very human subjects. We were inspired by the sense of adventure, solitude and acceptance that accompanies our movements, and how this can be linked to both people and territory, to physical and emotional journeys. The concept is both abstract and clear, making it ripe for artistic exploration. The structure of the show reflects this: movements and sections of the different pieces are interwoven throughout the program, highlighting the different perspectives and contexts of each composer and their language. The text is the common starting point, and develops differently according to the hands that handle it.
PAN M 360: You chose to anchor this reflection in a text by bilingual author Kaie Kellough, renowned for his links with creative music?
Thibault Bertin-Maghit (collectif9): Indeed, we approached Kaie early on in the process of creating the show. We were familiar with her literary work and also with her practice as a performer in the world of creative music. The theme we wanted to explore overlapped with the subjects Kaie often tackles, so it was a natural choice. Also, the fact that he writes in both English and French was important to us so we could integrate the duality of language into the DNA of the show.
PAN M 360: How does this text become the binding force behind the performance of the works on the program?
Thibault Bertin-Maghit: The five pieces on the program were all commissioned specifically for this show, and each composer defined his or her relationship with the text for his or her piece. The text is thus treated in all sorts of ways: declaimed, sung, chanted, pre-recorded, electronically altered. We also find it on screen, integrated into video projections.
PAN M 360: How do the works chosen for this program fit in with its theme?
Thibault Bertin-Maghit: Our idea was to put each composer’s approach to our subject side by side, to appreciate their contrasting visions and languages all the more. With Woolf, for example, the theme led to the creation of worlds with invented folkloric flavours, while with Lizée, the notion of place materializes in symbols taken from popular culture, be it board games, TV shows or candy.
PAN M 360: How did you first come up with this program for two ensembles?
Andrea Stewart: Our two ensembles have existed for roughly the same period (collectif9 since 2011 and Architek Percussion since 2012), but our friendship existed even before that. We’ve always had a similar artistic approach – collectif9 being a groove-loving string ensemble and Architek being a multi-dimensional percussion quartet – and we’d already discussed a collaboration on several occasions without finding out how it could really come together. When the Canada Council for the Arts announced its New Chapter program in 2016, offering exceptional funding for major projects, it seemed like a good time to dream, and we did. If we imagine that music is a reflection of our experiences, the idea of exploring the music of five stylistically different composers seemed entirely relevant to the experience of life itself, and we were all looking out into the world, eager to see and feel the experiences of others. It was a very exciting time when our project began to really take root, and when the funding opportunity allowed us to expand the scope of our imagination.
PAN M 360: What is the history of the collaboration between Collectif9 and Architek Percussion, two ensembles on the rise in Canada?
Andrea Stewart: In a way, “my garden” is our first collaboration. The beauty of any collaboration is that it stays with you, and the idea of development is always there. It was a massive project to undertake in 2016. We learned a lot leading up to the premiere in 2018 and continued to develop our vision for the show as we took it on tour across Canada in 2018-19. Here we are in 2025, and we’re still making adjustments, clarifying ideas, and finding new paths. I hope we’ll always feel like we’re on the rise if we continue to be willing to learn and change.
PAN M 360: What are the specific strengths of each of these ensembles in the context of this program?
Thibault Bertin-Maghit: As far as collectif9 is concerned, I think our strength lies in our ability to move together, to breathe together, and this is all the more important in a context where the musical material is dense. We need that fluidity and unity to make the whole thing coherent.
Andrea Stewart: As far as our colleagues at Architek are concerned, they’re totally committed to the idea of working together. They arrive with such energy and attention to the project in hand that it becomes very inspiring to work with collaborators who are ready to immerse themselves totally in the music (and in a project), and this is so evident with Architek.
PAN M 360: How do you plan to link the two ensembles through this repertoire?
Andrea Stewart: All the repertoire was written for both ensembles, and as we commissioned the works, some composers thought specifically of us when they wrote the music. In that sense, the two ensembles are very much linked. The whole becomes a very large chamber music ensemble, and the complicity between the individuals bears witness to this.
PAN M 360: More specifically, let’s talk about these works and the orchestral configurations behind them. Could you please tell us more about the works on the program?
* Luna Pearl Woolf: But I Digress… (2018) – 19 min
* Bret Higgins: among, within, beneath, atop (2018) – 8 min
* Derek Charke: the world is itself a cargo carried (2018) – 15 min
* Eliot Britton: Backyard Blocks (2018) – 17 min
* Nicole Lizée: Folk Noir/Canadiana (2018) – 14 min
Thibault Bertin-Maghit: Luna’s piece is made up of nine very short movements. Each one is highly polished and crafted, and takes us to an imaginary geographical location.
Brett’s piece reflects his jazz universe, with a more subdued ambience and a little improvisation.
Derek’s piece is the most adrenalin-filled of the program, with the heaviest, grooviest parts of the show.
Eliot, on the other hand, has given us more open material in which each of us has zones to ornament and vary the sound textures. Here, we’re sometimes in more pop/groove spheres, with electronic cues too.
Finally, Nicole served us her now traditional cocktail of glitch, phase shifts, unusual instruments and electronic tape, all synchronized to a film of her own concoction, filled with pop references from recent decades.
I couldn’t talk about the artists behind the show without mentioning the collaboration of Myriam Boucher. She designed the video projections for the show, using her own images as well as illustrations by Melissa Di Menna and Julien Bakvis, themselves inspired by Kaie’s poem. The resulting visual universe is often aquatic and poetic, and gives pride of place to nature – the element, if there is one, that unites us all.
PAN M 360: Eliot Britton (Toronto), Nicole Lizée (Montreal), Derek Charke (Annapolis Valley), Luna Pearl Woolf (Montreal), and Bret Higgins (Toronto): all of these artists are Anglophone, including author Kaie Kellough. Should we conclude that the reflection on identity and belonging is the result of an Anglo-Canadian reflection in this case? Or is this selection of artists a coincidence?
Andrea Stewart: That’s one of the reasons it’s interesting to return to a show created so many years ago: we realize there’s always more to do to create a more complete artistic picture of how our society feels. I think we can say that this reflection is true for speakers of all languages across the country. It’s the reflection we have when we find our communities, wherever they may be, or when we connect with a particular territory.
The language of the creative team members of Quelque part, mon jardin can be seen as a snapshot of the ensemble’s state of mind at the time: as a predominantly French-speaking ensemble in 2016—when we began working on this project—collaborating with English-speaking artists felt like an important connection to make. Since 2016, our cultural, societal, and linguistic identity as an ensemble has become more complex, and this has had an impact on our artistic choices. It’s important to look back and see what we may have missed, and what we would like to see in the future.
PAN M 360: In this context of growing uncertainty about Canadian and Quebec sovereignty in the face of a very clearly imperialist American giant that wants to redraw the map of this continent, is there reason to include such a program in this context? Is it relevant to link this reflection on identity and belonging to current geopolitics?
Thibault Bertin-Maghit: I think this show highlights our desire for transversality, our need to put our differences side by side. Difference enriches us, opens our eyes to other visions of the world more than it intimidates or frightens us. The migratory realities of seven years ago are still relevant today, and the future will require our mobilization and unity to combat division and withdrawal. In this sense, this show is certainly a call to come together to face the challenges that await us.
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On March 16, as part of the Semaine du Neuf, the TAK Ensemble will present Star Maker Fragments. In the opening act, mezzo-soprano Kristin Hoff will perform Ana Sokolović’s Love Songs, an opera for solo voice that explores love in all its facets and in over 100 languages. Between songs, whispers, and noises, this intense and contrasting work immerses us in a journey through the theme of love, where passion, tenderness, loss, and discovery intertwine. For the occasion, PAN M 360 conducted an interview with Kristin Hoff, who shares her perspective on this fascinating work.
PAN M 360: How would you describe this work to someone unfamiliar with it?
Kristin Hoff: Love Songs is an opera for one voice, without accompanying instruments. It is sometimes sung, sometimes spoken, and sometimes with sound. The piece explores the themes of unbridled love, tender love, the love of a child, mature love, and love for someone we have lost. Each of these themes is preceded by a Doves movement, which plays with the words “I love you in,” repeated endlessly in 100 languages, to introduce each new section. The only section without a Doves movement is the very last one, “Love for Someone We Have Lost.” Love Songs is a non-linear journey through different experiences and perspectives of love, a pure-hearted love song with every language, colour, and character you can imagine. It’s surprising, moving, funny, and devastating—a unique adventure. I hope audiences come with open minds, ears, and hearts.
PAN M 360: You’ve performed Love Songs in several Canadian cities, and it has become a staple of your repertoire. What is it about this work that appeals to you so much?
Kristin Hoff: This piece speaks to me for many reasons: I love Ana Sokolović’s work. She’s a very, very inventive composer. Love Songs has so many contrasts, colours, and different characters, which means I discover new things every time I work on it, even 12 years later. Also, there’s something very liberating, empowering, and satisfying about standing alone on stage. Everything rests on my shoulders, which, in some ways, is a considerable amount of pressure. But I like that the piece consumes me and leaves no room for the small, insidious anxieties that can creep into performance situations.
PAN M 360: What personal touch do you bring to this work? What aspects do you particularly emphasize as a performer?
Kristin Hoff: Hmm, I really feel like I bring my all to this piece, in a way that most other pieces don’t require. Everything from my brain, my body, my feelings. Total presence, I think!
PAN M 360: This work is a real vocal challenge, particularly because of its multiple inflections and the use of 100 languages! How do you prepare for such a performance?
Kristin Hoff: First of all, I’m someone who loves a challenge. I remember starting to learn this work 12 years ago and being both thrilled and completely intimidated by the investment I would have to make to truly learn it, to memorize it. I’ve always loved languages, and researching pronunciation and translation was a pleasure. I think this learning and memorization process took six months of hard work. I was fortunate to receive significant support from the Canada Council for the Arts during the learning period. Twelve years later, the process of preparing for the performance is very different. I’m much less afraid of the piece because I know it inside and out. That said, I also know full well that there is no shortcut to the immense mental and physical commitment required to re-immerse myself in the play and perform it. I have to make room for it in my schedule, in my body, my mind, and my soul.
PAN M 360: Among your many commitments, you are the Artistic and General Director of Musique 3 Femmes and the Executive Director of the vocal side of the Mini-Concerts Santé. How do these commitments influence your artistic approach and your work as a performer?
Kristin Hoff: Musique 3 Femmes is a Montreal opera company that focuses almost entirely on creation. In fact, Love Songs is the only show we’ve produced so far that wasn’t also a work for which we supported the creative process. Leading this company and commissioning, developing, and producing new opera creations through my work with M3F means that, as a performer, I have a greater respect for the challenges of producing and presenting performances, as well as for the people who lead arts organizations and make the proliferation of performances possible.
I also have a greater respect and understanding of the creators’ own motivations and process. As an artist, I derive great joy from working directly with creators. I know that almost every living composer is willing to discuss changes to the score and my performance to enhance my interpretation of the work. Performing new music is a living, breathing thing—I love it!
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