Interviews

The Montreal ensemble No Hay Banda presents a creation by Ana Maria Romano on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at La Sala Rossa, on the occasion of the fourth edition of La Semaine du Neuf, from Le Vivier. The title nadie nos quita lo bailado (no one can take away what we have danced) refers to a well-known saying in the Latino community, which means that no one can ever take away what we possess inside. I quote here the official definition of the project:

A meeting of bodies, memories, dreams, and sensibilities that intertwine through listening and curiosity. This work brings together sound universes nourished by personal stories, connections with instruments, emotions, trust, and cultural exchanges. It is an invitation to breathe, imagine, create, transform. A space where conversation, meticulousness, subtlety, vulnerability, the small, the fragile intersect. A bet on the presents, the pasts, and the futures that connect us and speak to us.

This being a double bill concert, the Limules ensemble will offer us a dive into completely free and spontaneous collective improvisation. I spoke with Noam Bierstone, percussionist, and Daniel Áñez (Ondes Martenot) from No Hay Banda, as well as Éric Normand, bassist of Limules, to learn more about the program and what adventurous music lovers can expect.

DETAILS AND TICKETS

PanM360: Hello, gentlemen. Let’s start with the creation of Ana Maria Romano’s piece. Who is she, and what can you tell us about her music?

Daniel Áñez (No Hay Banda): Ana Maria is one of the key figures of the recent contemporary music scene in Bogotá (Colombia), which emerged in the early 2000s. She is fundamentally an electroacoustic artist. There was a period when she created acoustic pieces at the end of the 90s and 2000s. After that, she exclusively switched to electro for about twenty years. She is the director of a festival called En Tiempo Real. At first, it was a festival of electro-acoustic sound art, but at some point, she transformed the festival into a feminist artistic platform. She is a pioneer in Colombia. It was the first organization there to take on an entirely feminist vocation, I think.

Her own electro-acoustic pieces talk about feminism, talk about women. Recently, she has started taking commissions, but these are collaborative commissions.

That’s what we’re going to do with her. For now, we have only held workshops where we shared feelings, where we shared questions, where we did collective listening. We shared field recordings, which will be used.

She arrived in Montreal about a week ago to build the piece with us, for a week and a half.

PanM360: So there’s quite a bit of improvisation?

Daniel Áñez (No Hay Banda): Yes, we believe there will still be a lot of room for improvisation in what is to come. She will play the computer with us. She will be doing electroacoustic work and manipulations, combining recordings we’ve made so far, with soundscapes already created.

There will also be a cello with Audrey-Anne Filion, Pablo Jiménez on double bass, Lori Freedman on bass clarinet, Noam Bierstone on percussion, and myself on Ondes Martenot.

Anna-Maria will be on the electroacoustic. We will be six.

PanM360: So, she no longer limits herself to just electro in her compositions? Why?

Daniel Áñez (No Hay Banda): I imagine people have asked her to create works. For my part, I know that I begged her for years to write an electroacoustic piece. Then, it never materialised. I think this project was the way to finally fulfil the order I wanted to place with her.

PanM360: Tell me about the work.

Noam Bierstone (No Hay Banda): There will be an immersive electroacoustic space with six speakers surrounding the audience, in addition to the band playing. We will mix immersive electroacoustic ideas with the performance of acoustic instruments.

PanM360: Why this title? Is there dancing?

Noam Bierstone (No Hay Banda): Not dance as such, but there might be some movement. That said, the title also refers to the individual baggage that each person, musician, or female musician in the group has, and that they bring to the piece. The piece is based on the individual experiences that everyone brings and which create a collective experience. Ana Maria often uses popular references as titles for her compositions. No one can take away what we’ve danced, it means that no one can take away our memories, our experiences. That’s what belongs to us deeply.

PanM360: Will you be in Rimouski (Qc) on March 13th as well?

Noam Bierstone (No Hay Banda): Yes, because this project is a collaboration with Tour de Bras, from Rimouski. For a few years now, we’ve been inviting Tour de Bras projects to our place, and then they invite us to theirs. We have a lot of respect and admiration for Tour de Bras’ work in contemporary creation and improvisation music in smaller communities outside Montreal.

PanM360: How does this creation fit into Ana Maria Romano’s feminist approach that you were talking about earlier?

Noam Bierstone (No Hay Banda): Her feminist reflection leads her to want to destroy all these monolithic, patriarchal figures that construct Western classical music. The idea of collaboration is based on the premise that collective knowledge is as important and fundamental as the creation of the composer genius, often male of course.

Among the characters she has highlighted in her previous works, there is the witch, this person condemned, burnt because she had a knowledge that was different, a collective knowledge. That’s one of the things she wants to convey in this piece.

PanM360: Regarding Limules, what is it, and how long has it been around?

Éric Normand (Limules): We’ve barely been around for a year. These are all people I’ve been working with for almost 20 years, and whom I’ve brought together. It’s improvisation, but I call it chosen improvisation, in the sense that we know each other very well. There is still an implicit direction, even if it is completely improvised and we won’t say anything about the music before playing. These are musicians who master what could be called the “extended language.” This group is a dream for me. It’s the perfect group, the ideal group.

PanM360: And what does it look like, in terms of sound, style?

Éric Normand (Limules): It’s not going to be free jazz, far from it. We are in the texture, in the listening, in the close listening. One could say that it is something very heartfelt, which does not mean that there are no moments of energy, of contrasts. It’s a sharing, really a co-creation, and spontaneous. As I said, we won’t say a word about the music. We have so much trust in each other that we don’t want to plan anything. With this group, for me, there is no risk factor. I know it will be very satisfying.

PanM360: Even in spontaneous creation, can there be themes, guidelines?

Éric Normand (Limules): No, our philosophy is that anything is possible as long as you start from nothing. If we start from something, we limit ourselves and create a hierarchy. First of all, someone has decided something. For us, it’s completely collective. There is no choice possible. It’s music.

PanM360: Wow. We’re going to have a lot of fun.

Éric Normand (Limules): Oh yes!

PanM360: Thanks, guys.

No Hay Banda: nadie nos quita lo bailado

NO HAY BANDA

Geneviève Liboiron (violin)

Audréanne Filion (cello)

Pablo Jiménez (double bass)

Lori Freedman (basse clarinet)

Daniel Áñez (ondes Martenot)

Noam Bierstone (percussions)

Ana María Romano (artistic direction, electronics)

Limules

Xavier Charles (clarinet)

Barbara Dang (piano)

Peter Orins (drums)

Audrey Lauro (alto saxophone)

Anne-F Jacques (objects)

Éric Normand (electric bass)

From Strasbourg, the collective Lovemusic will perform the project Protest of the physical for the first time in Montréal. From this encounter between bodily movement and music, PAN M 360 speaks with members of the collective, Finbar Hosie, Adam Starkie, and Emiliano Gavito. The aim of this conversation is not only to discuss the ensemble itself and provide an overview of the Montréal program, but also to reflect on the importance given to movement, a central theme of this Semaine du Neuf.

TICKETS AND INFO

PAN M 360 : You are visiting Montréal for the first time, so let’s take a moment to introduce the collective to the Montréal audience: what is Lovemusic?

Adam Starkie : Lovemusic is a collective based in Strasbourg, France. We’re about ten musicians. Next year we’ll celebrate our tenth anniversary, so we’re still at the beginning of the adventure. Our goal was to found a collective where perhaps there is less hierarchy than in other ensembles. That means less separation between artistic direction, the musicians, administration, and so on—so that everyone really contributes to everything.

Above all, we want to create projects in which each musician has the possibility to contribute freely to the artistic process.

It’s also about creating processes with composers with a bit less hierarchy involved. We really work collaboratively. We try to take the time to get to know the composers we work with, rather than commissioning pieces one after another and finishing after the performances. We aim to build relationships that last over time.

And of course we also want to offer something meaningful to hear, while paying attention to the visual dimension of what we do—lighting, videos, staging, costumes.

PAN M 360 : What kind of backgrounds do your members generally have?

Adam Starkie : It’s quite mixed, in the sense that we come from all over the place, and everyone now lives where the collective was founded. So we are all expatriates, and that’s something that comes up quite often in conversation.

In terms of education, we all went through the classical conservatory system. But because of our diverse experiences within that system—and also because it connects us—we quickly specialized in musical creation and contemporary performance.

Finbar Hosie : And we also bring very diverse musical backgrounds. Since we all ended up in this rather small world of contemporary creation, some members have done a lot of improvisation, others play different kinds of music. That definitely contributes to the diversity of the ensemble.

PAN M 360 :  Let’s talk about your concert presented at Semaine du Neuf, Protest of the physical. This program connects music and movement. Where did this desire to combine these two aspects come from?

Adam Starkie : It’s actually something we had wanted to do for quite a long time. We had experimented with it through different pieces and concert formats where physical gesture often played a role. But this time, for the first time, we decided to work with a choreographer, Anne-Hélène Kotoujanskiy, who created one of the four tableaux of the concert together with the composer Annette Schlünz.

She also helped us tremendously throughout the entire process of the project.

For us it was very important to take a step toward something that is more physically explicit, but also to have someone with an external perspective—someone very sensitive to the fact that we are not dancers, but who still wanted to work in this way. The goal was to find a meeting point between the two.

Finbar Hosie : What’s great about Anne-Hélène is that she doesn’t try to hide this vulnerability that exists very directly in the bodies of musicians. It’s very interesting how she approaches that relationship without creating anything artificial or something that doesn’t resemble us individually.

Adam Starkie : Because when you watch it, it doesn’t feel like musicians trying to dance. That’s not the idea. The movement was created for and with us. We spent a lot of time together doing workshops.

Emiliano Gavito : Yes, and it also comes from the need to express that as musicians we are also performers. We are not just there to produce sound—we produce sound using our bodies.

What does it physically produce in us to use our bodies to make music? Historically, the musician’s body was something people tried to erase. The musician’s body is considered less important than the dancer’s or the actor’s body, for example. But we are still a presence on stage. We are producing sound, but our body has a presence and it communicates something.

You don’t only listen to a concert—you watch a concert.

PAN M 360 : Let’s go through the program of the evening to give the audience an idea of what they will see at the concert on Thursday.

Annette Schlünz, Anne-Hélène Kotoujansky — In die Ferne, dem Berg zu, 2025, for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, electric guitar and gestures — création

Adam Starkie : Annette Schlünz wrote the music, while Anne-Hélène Kotoujanskiy created the movement. They really worked as a duo, because we wanted to avoid something that happens quite often: adding gestures to music that already exists, or the other way around.

The goal was to create both elements in parallel, which required a lot of time working together.

Finbar Hosie : It’s a piece about loss—the heaviness of loss. There are moments where stones appear on stage, manipulated by the musicians. They create a sense of gravity, something tactile, but they also produce sound.

It reflects how the two artists worked together. As Adam said, we didn’t want music first and choreography afterward. They continuously shared their ideas and work in progress, and we were present throughout the process doing workshops with them.

That’s what makes it interesting: the two aspects are intrinsically linked.

Adam Starkie : The stones play an important role. All the gestures revolve around them. Their meaning remains somewhat ambiguous: we try to push them away, but then we start searching for them again after losing them.

At one point there are lines of stones that trace a path or a thought. The whole action revolves around this idea. It’s never completely clear what this loss represents or what exactly we are trying to remove or recover, but those ideas are strongly present.

Nik Bohnenberger — hands, drum—three bones, 2025, for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, electric guitar, electronics and video — création

Adam Starkie : The project was premiered at Rainy Days, a festival at the Philharmonie de Luxembourg. The Philharmonie asked if we would be open to selecting another composer with them to add a new work to the program.

So there was a call for Luxembourg-based composers, and Nik won the selection.

We gave him a fairly specific brief, because the project already had a clear structure. But he decided to shift the physical action toward the audience.

We were very excited about that idea, because it changes the energy in the room. The experience is no longer passive. At one point in the piece, the audience must perform actions in order to listen to it.

There is a video in which Nik himself demonstrates different gestures that filter the sound.

Finbar Hosie : He explores everything you can do with your ears—blocking sound, filtering sound. There are also very pointillistic moments where the rhythm of the audience’s gestures interacts with the rhythms played by the musicians, who are spatialized throughout the hall.

This opens the space between audience and musicians. The boundary between receiving sound and producing sound disappears.

So you feel completely immersed inside the sound.

It’s also very funny for us on stage to watch the audience performing the gestures together.

Bethany Younge — Seed, 2025, for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, electric guitar —création

Adam Starkie : Bethany Younge is a composer we had wanted to work with for a long time. We had already performed some of her pieces, and this project gave us the opportunity to collaborate more deeply.

She came to Strasbourg last summer and we spent a week experimenting together.

Her pieces involve a lot of gestures and physical actions. I would say this is the funniest piece in the program.

It’s quite strange. The starting idea is the physical relationship musicians have with their instruments.

In the piece we rarely play our actual instruments, but they are always present—almost like ghosts. Sometimes we play them briefly, then place them on the floor as if in a ritual.

At one point in the middle we play them properly, but the music becomes completely unhinged and mechanical, as if it’s malfunctioning.

Finbar Hosie : It’s almost cliché, but in a good way. It creates something almost ironic. It questions the relationship musicians have with their instruments.

Does the instrument control the musician? Or the opposite?

There is always a power relationship between the two.

Helmut Oehring — [iɱˈfɛrno] (extrait de : MAPPA) Contrapasso I — V (à Wladimir Poutine/Sergej Lawrow), 2022, for bass flute, bass clarinet, cello, electric guitar and tape

Adam Starkie : This is a piece we commissioned a few years ago and have performed in several different contexts.

Helmut Oehring is a composer who was born to two deaf parents. Sign language was his first language.

In the project MAPPA, we alternate between playing and signing. The signs are specific to his own language system. They are inspired by sign language, but he deliberately distorts them slightly, which creates another layer of meaning.

The result is quite ambiguous—but it’s also an extremely powerful piece, and physically very demanding to perform.

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Programme

  • Annette Schlunz, Anne-Hélène Kotoujansky: In die Ferne, dem Berg zu , 2025 (commande de lovemusic) pour flûte, clarinette, violon, violoncelle, guitare électrique et gestes  – création
  • Nik Bohnenberger: hands, drum – three bones , 2025 (commande de la Philharmonie de Luxembourg pour lovemusic) pour flûte, clarinette, violon, violoncelle, guitare électrique, électronique et vidéo  – création
  • Bethany Younge: Seed , 2025 (commande de lovemusic) pour flûte, clarinette, violon, violoncelle, guitare électrique  – création
  • Helmut Oehring: [iɱˈfɛrno] (extrait de : MAPPA) Contrapasso I – V (à Wladimir Poutine / Sergej Lawrow) , 2022 (commande de lovemusic et le festival klangwerkstatt – Berlin) pour flûte basse, clarinette basse, violoncelle, guitare électrique et bande  – création

Artistes

On March 14, as part of Semaine du Neuf, Jean Derome and Joane Hétu will present Au confluent des âmes, an improvisation event shared with dancers Sarah Bild and Susanna Hood.

For decades, the two artists have explored the shifting territories of improvisation with their duo Nous perçons les oreilles. Two alto saxophones, two voices—but above all two forces that respond to one another, pursue each other, and blend together. On stage, breaths intersect, timbres rub against one another, objects creak, hiss, and resonate. Sonic gestures almost become creatures: gargoyles, satyrs, or mischievous spirits emerging from a sonic bestiary. Music loses its familiar contours and becomes a profane incantation, a hall of mirrors, and a feast of sounds.

In Au confluent des âmes, this symbiosis expands. Two moving bodies join the two musicians, creating a space where voices, objects, gestures, and presences meet in the moment.

PAN M 360: First of all, where does the title Au confluent des âmes come from?

Jean Derome: I think I proposed it. The concert will be an improvisation with two dancers. So we’ll be two musicians and two dancers. In free improvisation, I often feel that souls meet in a very transparent way. There is a blending of each person’s spirit. The title evokes that idea—like several rivers converging at a common point. In this case, that point is the performance.

Joane Hétu: We share the stage with Sarah Bild and Susanna Hood, who have a similar vision of improvisation. We live in the present moment. The gesture that happens there will not come back. We’re not trying to reproduce something. Each concert will be different. We interact in a way that may seem abstract, but is very real. The title fits well with the energy between the four of us.

Jean Derome: In improvisation, it’s mostly about accepting what happens without preparing anything. Some people use improvisation to find ideas that they later fix into a composed work. They improvise, identify interesting passages, and then structure them. That’s not our approach. We accept what improvisation generates without trying to reproduce it. Every time we begin again, we try to forget what happened before. Ideally, we start from a blank page. It’s paradoxical to say that, since I’ve been doing this for fifty-five years. But the idea remains not to rely on what we already know.

Joane Hétu : And you shouldn’t judge what’s happening while you’re doing it. If you start telling yourself a moment is good or bad, you step outside the experience. You simply have to stay present. A less successful passage can lead to something extraordinary. You have to accept the imperfections of the moment.

PAN M 360 : Can you sometimes come close to a perfect moment?

Jean Derome : Maybe, but when that happens we try to forget it. What matters is to make the gesture again—differently. The goal is to always remain fresh and honest.

PAN M 360 : You mentioned free improvisation, but your practice also seems to exist on the margins of certain musical traditions.

Jean Derome : Yes. We don’t really situate ourselves within contemporary music as it is usually understood. We identify more with musique actuelle. Even within improvisation, we situate ourselves beyond free jazz. Jazz is often the reference point for improvised music, but it’s not our starting point.

In this concert, we won’t use our usual instruments. Joane and I normally play the alto saxophone, and I also play the flute, but here we’ll only use objects: whistles, duck calls, aluminum plates, pieces of plastic used to wrap flowers—any object capable of producing a sound.

We stand behind a small table filled with objects. When we imagine a sound, we look for the object that can produce it. It’s very spontaneous, but with experience you develop a large palette. The possible combinations are immense.

PAN M 360 : How did you manage to integrate Sarah Bild and Susanna Hood into your creative process?

Joane Hétu : When we play just the two of us in Nous perçons les oreilles, the dynamic is different. Here there are bodies moving around us—a physical presence.

One might think the music accompanies the dance, but that’s not really the case. It’s a meeting between four practices. These dancers also have a long history together. They’ve developed a very strong relationship, almost theatrical. They speak, sing, and dance.

Jean and I remain behind our tables, but there is still interaction. It’s not a dance show with music, nor a concert with dance. It’s truly a project by the four of us together.

And there’s also the audience.

In improvised music, its presence strongly influences what happens. When the performance works, you feel that the stage and the room become one. That feeling of symbiosis is very powerful—and the audience feels it too.

PAN M 360 : How do you prepare for such an unpredictable moment? Do you rehearse with the dancers?

Jean Derome : We do some improvisations together and sometimes talk about what happened, but very little. In theory, we could almost present the concert without rehearsal. In this case, we rehearse mainly because the dancers need it more. Movement involves a physical relationship with space.

Joane Hétu : Yes. For dancers, the main instrument is the body. They need to rehearse a lot to integrate things physically. Dancers rehearse enormously—much more than musicians. We already thought there were many rehearsals. But for them, it’s necessary.

PAN M 360: How do the rehearsals unfold?

Joane Hétu : We tried improvisations of different lengths—five minutes, twenty minutes, forty minutes. Duration is a difficult aspect of improvisation. It’s interesting to feel what forty minutes represents, since that will be roughly the duration of the concert. We don’t work with a stopwatch. Everything happens by sensation. During the concert there may also be moments when we stop and then start again. The audience will understand that it’s not an ending, but rather a new chapter.

We also tried shorter exercises—for example, one dancer with one musician, then the reverse. But in the end these are mostly working processes. We don’t really retain those exercises.

Jean Derome : Maybe we retain something unconsciously, but never with the idea of saying, “That was good—we’ll do that again.” We simply try different situations: shorter formats, longer ones, different positions in space.

Joane Hétu : Yes, we did work on positioning in the room. At one point we found an arrangement that suited us and didn’t change it afterward. That’s the one we’ll use for the concert.

PAN M 360 : Is there any chance that it might change during the performance?

Joane Hétu : The general positioning will probably stay the same.

Jean Derome : But a musician might move into the audience space to play somewhere else. That’s possible.

Joane Hétu : And the dancers can also approach us.

Jean Derome : In any case, the concert will be presented in Montreal, then in Quebec City and Rimouski. So there will inevitably be three different versions. The venue and the audience always influence what happens.

PAN M 360 : Perhaps that’s the beauty of improvisation: a living music that transforms according to places and encounters. On March 14, at the heart of Semaine du Neuf, the Montreal audience will discover its first version.

With Holding Present, Ula Sickle and Ictus will be collaborating on a piece that combines not just music and choreography, but where listening and acting are one movement. With instruction scores fashioned by Pauline Oliveros and Alvin Lucier among others, the musical approach promises something out of the ordinary, reviving the American (avant-garde’s) dream in a new light. 

Here we are not simply talking about being present, but of holding this present, as we would hold space. It is a resistance piece, an intervention that addresses a growing sense of global injustice. Ula Sickle, choreographer and conceptualiser of the piece, finds inspiration in this collective and historical struggle:

“Holding Present speaks about the human need to resist oppression and the mechanisms involved in assembling towards becoming a collective body.”

While the culture of dissent is under threat worldwide, Sickle boldly reinstates its importance. In this interview, Sickle describes the protests that influenced the gestures in her choreography, her outlook on global conflicts, and the relevance of Deep Listening today.

TICKETS & INFOS HERE

PAN M 360 : The title Holding Present suggests a contradiction: holding onto something that is always here. Can you tell us about the initial concept that sparked this piece? 

Ula Sickle : In 2018 I made a work called Relay, a solo for a large black flag that is kept in continuous motion for hours on end, by a group of performers. The work was commissioned by Nuit Blanche in Brussels as a reflection on the 1968 student protests in Paris, which sparked similar protests around the world. Half a century onwards, there is a certain feeling of inertia. We go out again and again into the streets for the same reasons. Some of the freedoms my parents fought for back then are now being put into question. After touring Relay in many different contexts, I decided to make Holding Present as an affirmation. Rather than a relay, this performance is built around a principle of accumulation; one performer is joined by another, then another. There’s a power in being many. This work is more about the need to come together and to hold our ground, particularly in the face of rising fascism. 

PAN M 360 : The piece uses three distinct sound meditation scores by Pauline Oliveros. How did you approach interpreting the more abstract scores, like Teen Age Piece, compared to the more literal Rock Piece? 

Ula Sickle : Pauline Oliveros pioneered Deep Listening, an approach to sound and composition that requires focused listening. Her life’s work was about being present in the moment and starting to compose from what is already there. Her work Environmental Dialogue (1996), which inspired the performance, proposes taking the environment as a basis, players reinforce perceived sounds either mentally or vocally, so that the player merges with the present moment. Teen Age Piece follows this basic approach, but is boisterous and loud, with yelling and cat calling, while Rock Piece is quiet and meditative; but both scores belong to the same deep listening approach, that’s what I find interesting.  

PAN M 360 : We see gestures of combat and resistance in the work. What would you say is the focus of this protest? 

Ula Sickle : The work takes protest as a social choreography, emphasizing the collective momentum that can be built by gathering together around a common cause. Like Relay, the piece is not about one single issue. The gestures in the work are sampled from different protests, both past and present, such as occupy Wall Street, where hand gestures were used to signal agreement or disagreement and to communicate across the crowds. Or the gesture of holding hands in a line, that comes from the Baltic Way protest, where over two million people peacefully held hands across three Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania; an action that contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union. Gestures are by nature both generic and inhabited, they move from one body to another. They are easily transmitted and can speak when words fail or get drowned out by ambient noise. Holding Present speaks about the human need to resist oppression and the mechanisms involved in assembling towards becoming a collective body. 

PAN M 360 : This piece was developed in 2023. Since then, the world has continued to shift. How does the work resonate with you now, and how does your art engage with the present moment? 

Ula Sickle : At the time when the performance was created, we were going onto the streets to protest the climate crisis, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Then came 7 October, and the retaliatory strikes on Gaza, which have completely destroyed the territory over the past three years. The ongoing genocide in Gaza has marked a shift in the way wars are waged, in the role of international law, and in the very possibility of protest itself. Around the world, citizens and students have been arrested, artists silenced and institutional directors dismissed. The work resonates differently in the wake of this shift, which I believe we will one day look back on as a turning point.

I think the role of artists is not necessarily to react to what’s happening in the present moment, but it is our role to hold space for the values we feel are under threat. We can tune our work to the present moment by consciously connecting to the surrounding context. Our medium as performing artists is not only the human body, music or sound but also attention, awareness and connection.  

PAN M 360 : There’s a common assertion that “all art is political.” Do you agree with this, and how does that perspective influence your creative practice? 

Ula Sickle : I don’t know if I agree with the statement. There is also very unpolitical art, in the sense of art that remains unengaged. Art is also not the same as activism, though there are artists who are also activists. One could also put it another way: all art participates in the politics of aesthetics. Some works reinforce the status quo, or the aesthetics and voices of the majority—for instance widely accepted conventions and norms—while others question the status quo, by showing disagreement, making other forms of beauty visible or different voices audible. In my practice I try to do the latter. 

PAN M 360 : As you prepare to present Holding Present again, is there a specific feeling or question you hope the audience leaves with? Ula Sickle : In the times we are living in now, it is so important that we do not feel helpless. In the face of ongoing war and the breakdown of international law, the violence we are witnessing or experiencing at this moment can be debilitating. I want the audience to leave feeling empowered to protest and to keep constructing ways of being together that reinforce our sense of community and inclusion. I think Pauline Oliveros’ listening practice offers such a possibility. It asks us to remain open to what is there, reinforcing with our own voices the rhythms and tones we resonate with and want to amplify.

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Akawui has been immersed in music from a very young age. With a musician father and a mother who listened to a lot of music at home, he quickly developed a sensitivity to this art, even though he originally thought he would become a percussionist. After experimenting with several styles—particularly rock, hip-hop, and even Brazilian and Andean music—he decided to reinvent himself through this project, which in some ways aims to pay tribute to his parents.

He wanted to tell their story while literally immersing the audience in his own world. To do so, he recreates the setting of his mother’s living room on stage, even going as far as finding an old telephone from that time. In short, his trio—featuring Matthew Goulet on cello and Gabriel Evangelista on piano—takes us on a journey through time and allows us to discover the artist from a side we know less about.

Sandra Gasana spoke with Akawui about the evolution of his career and the behind-the-scenes of his project as part of the Mozaïk series, produced by Vision Diversité.






There will be something new on Wednesday, March 11 at the Espace Orange du Wilder in Montreal: the Quasar saxophone quartet will present five new artistic creations during the La Semaine du Neuf festival, organised by Le Vivier. Creations resulting from as many composer-dancer pairs. A marriage between music and movement, as is the theme of the 2026 edition of the festival. A union, however, that is likely to offer something quite different from a usual choreographic performance. Indeed, the question at the heart of the creative process is this: Is there an implicit hierarchy between dance and music, where one is subordinated to the other? One can guess that the presence of the four Quasar saxophonists on stage will have a significant impact on the outcome and the music-kinetic dynamics. The five new works are the result of residencies carried out by Quasar and the artists present at the National School of Music and Dance of Monterrey in Mexico. I talked about all this with Marie-Chantal Leclair from Quasar.

DETAILS AND TICKETS

PanM360: Hello Marie-Chantal. What is the idea behind this show?

Marie-Chantal Leclair : It is a creation project that places musical composition and dance on an equal footing. There are about twenty people in the project: six dancers from the Escola in Monterrey, the four saxophonists from Quasar, and five composers and five choreographers.

PanM360: Have you wanted to do this with this Mexican institution for a long time?

Marie-Chantal Leclair : This is our third collaboration with the Escola. At the beginning, it was only about working on the music aspect, in a very usual way. Then, recently, Alejandro Padilla from Escola proposed that we be part of this co-creation project with both disciplines. And we said yes.

PanM360: Is there a common thread among all the creations?

Marie-Chantal Leclair : Good question. Each piece lasts about ten minutes. Each composition/choreography pair operated independently. But we commissioned musical interludes between the numbers from the Quebec composer Chantal Laplante. So, in the end, it is a show that lasts about an hour and unfolds continuously, without interruption. The whole is a coherent artistic gesture.

PanM360: That isn’t the first time you’re doing interdisciplinary work?

Marie-Chantal Leclair : We collaborated with Carré des Lombes and Daniel Desnoyers last summer. We did a project at Domaine Forget, with a dance troupe, for the commemoration of François Sullivan’s 100th anniversary. And other interdisciplinary projects. We already presented a show in Montreal with the Escola in 2023. It was a more classical collaboration where we played the music to choreographies. But this is our first collaboration of this participatory and integrated scale with dance. It was a very free encounter.

PanM360: What is your role in the staging?

Marie-Chantal Leclair : We are always on stage. In each of the pieces, we are situated differently. For example, in the first piece, that of Daniel Desnoyers, we move around during the performance. We don’t dance, but we move. It’s very important not to be out of place. But still, Daniel guided us.

In other pieces, we are in the four corners of the room. We encircle the dancers. In each creation, it was necessary to find a physicality in the space. It’s certain that it’s the dancers who occupy the most space. In Sophie Dupuis’ piece, we are very separated. Even though we play with music stands, the dancers pass right through us. It’s really not an orchestra pit thing.

PanM360: How did the composers and choreographers work together?

Marie-Chantal Leclair : A lot of back and forth, dialogue, exchanges. Then a lot of changes once on stage. Some scores give us a lot of freedom and creativity while the dancer is working. In other cases, the scores are very detailed. Sometimes the dancers follow us, other times we follow them in the movements and the type of energy deployed. Sometimes, I have to check when the dancer exits, and then I have to stop playing. Or it’s the dancers who wait for us to do certain things before they perform. It’s always a dialogue. We wanted to create an equal relationship. In most choreographies, one form of art is more subordinate to the other. Not here.

PanM360: What do you take away from this experience at Quasar?

Marie-Chantal Leclair : It makes us want to keep going. The approach was non-hierarchical, with a lot of collegiality. Everyone arrived there with a lot of openness and listening, a lot of generosity, a lot of passion, a lot of commitment. We were welcomed really well there. They took care of us. We are really happy to welcome them to Montreal.

And we can’t wait to see them again. It will be like reuniting with friends and welcoming them into our home. And to be able to introduce them to Montreal as well. It’s perfect. We are fulfilled.

PanM360: Thank you!

Programme:

Sophie Dupuis (composition), Daniel Luis (choreographer): New work, 2026 – premiere Olivier St-Pierre (composition), Jaime Sierra (choreographer): New work, 2026 – premiere

Miguel Vélez (composition), Brisa Escobedo (choreographer): New work, 2026 – premiere

Eduardo Caballero (composition), Lila Geneix (choreographer): New work, 2026 – premiere

Alejandro Padilla (composition), Danièle Desnoyers (choreographer): New work, 2026 – premiere

Quasar 

Jean-Marc Bouchard (baritone saxophone)

André Leroux (tenor saxophone)

Mathieu Leclair (alto saxophone)

Marie-Chantal Leclair (soprano saxophone)

Higher School of Music and Dance of Monterrey 

Grecia Kristell Chapa Gonzalez (dance performer-creator) 

Sofia Tellez Marquez (dance performer-creator) 

Paola Espinosa Castro (dance performer-creator) 

Jorge Daniel Gomez Andrade (dance performer-creator) 

Santiago Morales Maya (dance performer-creator) 

Cristina Mabeth Soto Martinez (dance performer-creator) 

On the evening of March 9, as part of Semaine du Neuf, the Bozzini Quartet invites the Montreal public to a sonic journey built entirely around listening: listening to others, listening to silence, listening to the smallest movements that transform musical matter.

The program features a world premiere by Fulya Uçanok, created during a residency with the quartet, and the Canadian premiere of two works by Cenk Ergün, conceived as a diptych.

Two forms of writing, two gestures, two relationships to time. On one side, the piece Companionning for quartet and electronic processing explores sympoiesis—a form of collective production in which systems evolve together, interconnected without predefined boundaries. This “making-together” blurs the line between instrument and technological device. On the other side, there is a striking face-off between Celare, a microtonal landscape suspended in ancient resonances, and Sonare, a virtuosic surge stretched like a collective sprint.

In line with the theme of Semaine du Neuf 2026, this concert examines movement: movement at the edge of stillness, almost inaudible; movement at full speed, pushing toward exhaustion. Between these poles, one central question runs through the evening: what does it mean to play together today?

We spoke with Stéphanie Bozzini, violist and founding member of the Bozzini Quartet, and the renowned violinist Alissa Cheung about the concert and their creative process.

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TICKETS AND MORE INFO

PAN M 360 : Your work has long been based on close collaboration with composers. With Fulya Uçanok and her idea of “faire-ensemble,” did this residency transform your dynamic or reveal something that was already there?

Alissa Cheung : We knew Fulya’s work and had artists in common, but we hadn’t spent much time with her before. We like to take time with composers to really understand their language and personality. By working closely together, it becomes clearer how to interpret and bring the music to life. The title of the piece, Companionning, emphasizes interaction. Fulya studies this concept in her research: how we work together, between composers and performers. Fulya observed our dynamic, our personalities, and how we react to the sounds we produce, especially because there is live processing involved. The piece is alive, rich in color, and leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

PAN M 360 : That’s beautiful. The dialogue between musicians, and between musicians and machines, is very present. From the beginning of the process until today, what has changed? Were there unexpected moments or reactions that created something new?

Alissa Cheung : The sketches she initially presented to us were more open than the final version. The finished piece is more structured. For example, the management of effect triggers and the timing of events were more precise than in the sketches. That was a surprise, but it doesn’t prevent individual expression. Toward the end, there are more openings in how the melodies can be played.

Stéphanie Bozzini : At first we thought there would be improvised or very free sections, but everything is written. That said, the way it’s written doesn’t feel restrictive at all—it’s very open. Without giving everything away, the form moves toward openness: it starts tight and small, then gradually opens up as harmonies layer on top of each other. With the sound projection, the effect is magnificent. It’s a very beautiful piece.

PAN M 360 : The two pieces by Cenk Ergün are very contrasting, one atmospheric and the other virtuosic. Do you see them as a diptych, with an intentional dialogue between them?

Alissa Cheung : Yes, they were designed as a set. There were commissions connected to the Jack Quartet, based in New York, and I think after their premiere people started to consider these two pieces as a diptych, with the intention of programming them together.

Stéphanie Bozzini : They were written to be played together but can also be programmed separately. They complement each other very well: the first, Celare, is atmospheric. It evolves slowly with microtonal chords and inflections that sometimes recall Turkish music, as well as echoes of early music. The sound is quite classical but slowed down, with a lot of silence and a kind of subtle theatricality—an amplification of silence and very measured musical gestures.

The second, Sonare, is hyper-virtuosic, very fast and demanding, exhausting both for us and for the audience, with two moments of slowing down before taking off again even more intensely. It’s very gratifying to play. Sonare dates from around 2016 or 2017; it has toured a lot, and its premiere in Turkey was an important event. We performed it in Istanbul, and next week it will be the first time in Canada.

PAN M 360 : How did the first performance in Istanbul go?

Alissa Cheung : Very well. We rehearsed with Cenk and he was open to adjusting the score for us. For example, we removed the mutes that dampened the sound too much, and he accepted that the sound would change. We also discussed dynamics: he had many indications of piano and mezzo-piano, but we preferred to write even softer dynamics, to create a kind of echo, a remnant of music. This work with the composer also involved the visual and theatrical aspects of the piece.

PAN M 360 : Could you elaborate on this use of gesture?

Stéphanie Bozzini : Yes. He explained that he is fascinated by string technique and virtuosity, and that he wanted to highlight certain gestures—sometimes slowed down and without sound, but perfectly synchronized. These gestures are subtle; they mark actions we instinctively make when handling the instrument, but here they become scenic elements.

Alissa Cheung : Celare is therefore a very close listening experience, while Sonare is an extremely intense listening experience. For about 11 or 12 minutes it’s almost nonstop, quite loud, and the virtuosity is striking.

PAN M 360 : I’m going to buy tickets for the front row. (laughs)

Stéphanie Bozzini :  We played a very contrasting program recently in Madrid: a slow, meditative piece by Jörg Frey in the first half, then Baobab by Femi Bloch, very loud and projected, in the second half. The contrast worked well.

Alissa Cheung : Placing pieces side by side often reveals unexpected connections between them, or between the composers’ backgrounds.

PAN M 360 : Between Celare and Sonare, do you already feel a connection after working so much on these pieces during the residency, or will it take more time for that to emerge?

Alissa Cheung : Sometimes it takes time, even years, for connections to become clear. Right now it’s only been two weeks, so it’s still fresh in our fingers.

Stéphanie Bozzini : That’s the beauty of replaying pieces: you rediscover things, perhaps thanks to other experiences accumulated since the last time.

PAN M 360 : After such a program, how do you feel when the concert is over and you pack away your instruments?

Stéphanie Bozzini : For Fulya’s piece, I felt a lot of gratitude because she wrote it for us and we were able to make it our own quite naturally. After the technical work and the run-throughs, the concert leaves a very good feeling. For Cenk’s pieces, even though they weren’t written for us, they are very enjoyable to play. Sonare is exhausting but very satisfying—you feel energized afterward.

Alissa Cheung : After Sonare I’m full of adrenaline. It took me a few hours to calm down. It’s like being at the Olympic Games: everything has to succeed, every note, in perfect synchronization. It feels like a kind of collective sprint.

PAN M 360 : We talked about this earlier: some pieces require intense performance presence, others a meditative listening. Where does your interest in such contrasting repertoires come from?

Alissa Cheung : We’re often known for soft and microtonal repertoire, but we also like to play virtuosic pieces. These projects push us to develop our technique, our playing, and our musical perspective—not just stay within slow or gentle music.

PAN M 360 : The concert is on March 9. How are you preparing—rest or practice?

Alissa Cheung : We’re going to practice. Fulya is on a research residency in Turkey and can’t be in Montreal, so we’re working with the sound engineer to calibrate the sounds. Today and tomorrow we’ll do technical tests and run-throughs to make sure the patch works. We’re also diving back into the repertoire: over the past weeks we’ve played a lot, including pieces by young composers in England and our concert in Madrid. Refocusing for Monday’s concert is our priority.

PAN M 360 : And upcoming projects—new collaborations or revivals?

Alissa Cheung : For April, I can’t reveal everything yet, but we will perform a piece again. In June, we will participate in a project with internationally invited musicians as part of Suoni Per Il Popolo.

PAN M 360 : That certainly makes us want to stay tuned… It sounds like there are still a few surprises under the lid. Thank you very much, and we’ll speak again very soon about what’s next!

On February 18th 2026, the international oud scene and the music scene of Montreal lost an exceptional musician: Nazih Borish. Struck down suddenly, he was still in his early forties. The artist of Syrian origin, born in 1982, had arrived in Quebec in the wake of the civil war in his country and the reception of tens of thousands of refugees here. We remember that some fools who operate on social media had shouted about the risk of “bringing bombs here.” There was never any bomb, but rather people like Nazih Borish, who illuminated our winter country with human warmth and extraordinary creative talent. I spoke about Nazih Borish with Frédéric Léotar, co-founder and general director of the Centre des Musiciens du monde, who knew him well. He talks to us about Nazih’s art and the humble beauty of this man who spoke and expressed himself essentially in the silence of words and the emotion of music.

PanM360: Hello Frédéric. Thank you for being here. You knew Nazih Borish well, didn’t you? When did you first meet?

Frédéric Léotar: Somewhere in 2014. It was at the time when the creation of the Centre des Musiciens du Monde was in the air. Nazih was a very strong inspiration for this creation. Why? Because in 2014, Nazih had just arrived. He spoke neither French nor English. I was conversing with him through a translator. I had this magnificent artist in front of me, uprooted by war, an exceptional talent. He had no network, no way to connect with the local music community. And in fact, from that moment on, for me, the Centre des Musiciens du Monde is exactly for people like Nazih that we created it.

In each of my interventions during the creation process of the Centre, Nazih was there. I mean, in my mind and in the examples I was giving. He was the inspiration for our mission.

PanM360: He is recognised as one of the great oud players of his generation worldwide. The most extraordinary thing is that he was self-taught?

Frédéric Léotar: Yes, absolutely. Reaching such mastery without having followed the teachings of an experienced master is an exceptional rarity. I think that’s why he developed such a personal and unique style. He would switch from one style to another. From traditional maqams to flamenco, jazz, classical, etc. He had this crazy ability to switch from one to another effortlessly and fully master the desired spirit. And in Montreal, it allowed him to meet many musicians with whom he collaborated. Ultimately, he transcended a particular culture, even though, of course, Arab classical music remained the foundation from which he invented all his melodies.

PanM360: What has been its impact on the Montreal scene?

Frédéric Léotar: We had taken him under our wing a bit, for the reasons mentioned earlier. He played with the Montreal Symphony, at the Arab World Festival, at Upstairs Jazz Club, with plenty of artists from all genres. He was one of the great artists of the city. That said, he was still yet to be discovered by the general public. It was still a growing plant, despite his mastery.

PanM360: And he managed to live off his art and maintain a great international career…

Frédéric Léotar: Yes. He played all the time, all the time. Every day. He breathed music. He always walked around with his passport because he could receive a call at any moment and he wanted to be able to leave quickly. A real troubadour ready for travel, no matter the conditions. They would call him from a Gulf country and pay for his flight, hotel, everything and all. For a concert. He had tens of thousands of followers on his social media.

READ THE REVIEW OF NAZIH BORISH’S ALBUM ROOTS OF STRINGS

PanM360: A man of few words, too, if I understood correctly…

Frédéric Léotar: I remember some times when journalists wanted to interview him about the situation in Syria. He wasn’t very comfortable talking about all that. He was almost a taciturn, actually, Nazih. Indeed, he spoke little. His language was the oud. For me, Nazih, it felt like a friend with whom you don’t need to talk much. Nazih was a soul. We don’t really want to talk about material things with an artist of that calibre. When he played, everyone fell silent. The silence was good with Nazih. The silence between us was good, and the silence he caused when he played was good too.

PanM360: Beautiful memories?

Frédéric Léotar: I remember, once, we were on stage, it must have been in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. During the rehearsal, when I walked in, he gave me a look and then started playing the Godfather music. He was open, and he knew so many things. He had a repertoire that one wouldn’t suspect upon seeing him.

PanM360: What will you miss the most about Nazih?

Frédéric Léotar: Nazih was a soul. We don’t really feel like talking about material things with an artist of that calibre. When he played, everyone fell silent. He had that aura. So, I would say that’s what we will miss the most. That’s what I’m going to miss the most.

He was also of immense humility. He didn’t claim anything at all. He never showcased his knowledge. If he played with someone who played louder than him, he let it be. And then he would leave afterwards, quietly, without making a fuss.

PanM360: How do you plan to preserve Nazih’s memory at the Center?

Frédéric Léotar: We have tonnes and tonnes of videos, photos. We have plenty of them from the beginning. We see him change over the years, like us, like the Center. I don’t know how we will manage to keep this trace, this heritage, this soul, both so subtle and important in the center. We’ll see.

PanM360: In the meantime, he still leaves several beautiful marks in the form of an album…

Frédéric Léotar: Yes, the album Roots of Strings, under the Analekta label in collaboration with the Centre des Musiciens du Monde. And we were preparing the sequel, Andalusyria, his project with Gabriel Evangelista. But we didn’t have the time. That said, a live recording at the Center is available on the web. That’s at least something.

PanM360: We will pay tribute to him, and PanM360, along with all those who knew him, of course, offers their most sincere condolences to his family, a wife and two young children, among others…

Frédéric Léotar: Yes, we are thinking about them a lot.

In the context of International Women’s Rights Day, Arion Baroque Orchestra promises as many tears of joy as of sorrow—sometimes both at once—throughout this program built around the name Marie, an unavoidable one if ever there was one.

Marie, as in the mother of Christ at the foot of the cross in the moving cantata Il pianto di Maria by Giuseppe Battista Ferrandini, but also as in the first name of two eighteenth-century composers who left their mark on opera—Grimani and Agnesi.

For this program, Arion welcomes—fittingly—women of great talent: the contralto Anthea Pichanick and conductor and harpsichordist Marie van Rhijn, invited by PAN M 360 to give us a preview of the two performances scheduled for Saturday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, March 8 at 2:30 p.m.

Alexandre Villemaire spoke with Marie via video call so that she could tell us about… Marie.

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PROGRAM

Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741)
Cantate Cessate, omai cessate, RV 684
Concerto in D minor for strings and basso continuo RV 129, « Madrigalesco »
Maria Margherita Grimani (fl. 1713–1715)
Cantate Pallade e Marte (extraits)

Intermission

Maria Teresa Agnesi (1720–1795)
Serenata Ulisse in Campania (extraits)
Giovanni Battista Ferrandini (1709–1791)
Cantate Il pianto di Maria

FEATURED ARTISTS:

Anthea Pichanick

Contralto

Marie van Rhijn

Clavecin et direction

Next Saturday evening, March 7, one of the highlights of the Semaine du Neuf will be presented at the Studio-Théâtre de l’Édifice Wilder: the multidisciplinary performance Hide to Show by the Flemish Belgian ensemble Ensemble Nadar, conceived by German composer Michael Biel. The work explores hyperreality, solitude, visibility, and synchronicity in the digital age.

Hide to Show, literally “to hide in order to reveal,” is an artistic reflection that illustrates how we synchronize with other human beings while simultaneously concealing ourselves. It also evokes our behaviour on social media and our use of avatars to better hide ourselves in order to express ourselves without restraint.

In the performance, eight musicians are filmed in real time—from backstage preparation to the moment they step onto the stage. A subtle interplay gradually takes shape, altering the audience’s perception of what is actually being performed live before them and what is not. A metaphor for our era, Hide to Show is explained here by Pieter Matthynssens, artistic director of Ensemble Nadar.

TICKETS AND INFORMATION HERE

PAN M 360 : The artistic direction of the Semaine du Neuf presented your program Hide to Show as a major highlight—if not the highlight—of this year’s festival.

Pieter Matthynssens : I didn’t realize he had emphasized our program to that extent, and I’m very happy to hear it! We actually met him about two years ago in Strasbourg, I believe. He told me he had been very impressed by this work, which I would describe as a “stage composition.” We are very excited about the idea of presenting our work in Quebec. We will be performing at least three dates—we wanted to present at least three performances in Quebec (in Saguenay and Gatineau), partly for ecological footprint reasons.

PAN M 360 : This work was created by German composer Michael Beil. Can you remind us of the process behind it?

Pieter Matthynssens : The piece was conceived during the COVID lockdown. We had to postpone its performance, which ultimately turned out to be beneficial because it gave us time to study and refine the work. Its premiere eventually took place in 2021.

PAN M 360 : And Nadar is a Flemish Belgian ensemble?

Pieter Matthynssens : Absolutely. We are all Flemish and funded by the Flemish government. I’m based in Sint-Niklaas, in northern Belgium.

PAN M 360 : Let’s talk about gesture, movement, costumes, and scenography as part of the sonic material. Could you elaborate?

Pieter Matthynssens :  Hide to Show is what I like to call a “stage composition” by Michael Beil. Throughout his career, he has worked extensively with live video. For this piece, he considered all aspects of the performance. He composed all the notes and sounds, but he also designed the entire video programming. Cameras are placed on stage to film and record the action in real time.

Additionally, he designed the set and costumes. The stage is divided into six compartments where the musicians perform, isolated from each other. Artists can also be separated from the audience by Venetian blinds, which double as projection screens when closed. Musicians are projected on these screens, making it impossible to tell whether the performance is live or pre-recorded. Michael Beil creates a virtuosic interplay between the performers and the video recordings, so much so that you can no longer distinguish what is really being played in front of you.

PAN M 360 :  So it’s a dialogue between scenography, costume, movement, and performance. You are the ensemble’s cellist, but there’s also flute, clarinet, saxophone, percussion, violin, keyboards… and electronics?

Pieter Matthynssens :  Yes, most of the time. The electronics come from a pre-produced tape. Michael Beil drew on the sound material of Hatsune Miku, the Japanese virtual singer who became famous performing as a holographic projection. Her “Leek Dance” went viral on YouTube, inspiring countless fan imitations. This dance became a starting point for Beil’s electronic work, which anime fans will recognize in subtle references. The performance also nods to the 1990s, American pop (including the Beach Boys), and the Belgian acid scene. Beil conceived this piece before the ’90s revival trend.

PAN M 360 : Why the isolation compartments on stage?

Pieter Matthynssens : In a way, it’s a very “COVID piece,” because we were all isolated. It reflects the virtual ways of rehearsing during the pandemic, which became a creative method here.

PAN M 360 : How do you see the relationship with the performers as actors? What are the interpretive challenges?

Pieter Matthynssens :  We manage because we’ve worked with Michael Beil for a long time, since 2012. He had composed a 10-minute piece and thought, “This is the limit of what I can ask of a musician.” We said, “Really? We can do more!” Then he wrote a 30-minute piece, and we replied, “OK, we can reach the next level.” Finally, he said, “Now I’ll truly compose everything I can imagine with a performer,” and created a 70-minute work.

PAN M 360 : There are limits to human ability, though?

Pieter Matthynssens : The most important thing in Beil’s work is that we remain musicians. Yes, we perform gestures as actors, but these gestures are always connected to the music. We execute them in real time without feeling fake. The gestures become musical and are part of a precise vocabulary, like the musical material itself.

We achieve a very high degree of precision. Every movement is captured by cameras; mistakes appear in the recording, so we must be extremely accurate. The interpretive challenge lies in simultaneously combining musical performance with physical gesture. For example, I may play one measure, then pause, move, dance, and return to my instrument, sometimes singing in unison elsewhere.

PAN M 360 : So it’s difficult to perform all that?

Pieter Matthynssens : Yes, it may seem easy at first, but it’s complex, chromatic music, exploring microtones and shifting keys. For 70 minutes, our brains function like computers processing multiple data streams. We perform entirely from memory, without a score. After many performances, we now play flawlessly; the piece has become part of us, and muscle memory ensures an accurate interpretation.

PAN M 360 : Program notes say the piece explores hyperreality, solitude, and synchronicity with unseen humans who are observed or choose to become invisible.

Pieter Matthynssens : The core idea is exposure versus concealment. Knowing how to behave when the camera is on—or off—even though, in the end, it’s impossible. Michael Beil asks us to act as if we were at home.

PAN M 360 : Why? What is the work’s central meaning? Or is that question irrelevant?

Pieter Matthynssens : You’d have to ask the composer! Personally, I see the tension between live performance and recorded performance. Concert promoters always ask for videos of our shows. But the magic disappears when you watch only a recording. Being there, you realize the cameras have significance. The audience tries to discern the “real” live performance from the recordings. Michael Beil asks the question: to what extent can we manage the fake?

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A completely unhinged corporate retreat where a steroid-fueled host leads the event like a hallucinatory TED Talk cum musical, set to contemporary percussion music that draws as much from abstraction as it does from industrial Muzak or rock spectacle, barely scratches the surface of Architek Ensemble and soprano Sarah Albu’s Quigital: Corporate Retreat. Add to that audience members (you) who will be part of the show as employees of the multinational Quigital, complete with access card, corporate email and all the trappings of a loyal employee trying to become better, unaware that their job is on the line until the end of the show. Ouch, but what bit composer and designer Eliot Britton and made him embark on such an adventure? Critiquing corporate culture, surveillance capitalism, or just having fun? A little bit of all of that, actually. I met with Eliot, Ben Duinker from Architek, and Sarah Albu to talk about this intriguing and potentially fascinating show.

INFO AND TICKETS – November 13, 2025 at La Sala Rossa, Montreal

The show was written by Eliot Britton, Patrick Hart, David Arbez, and Kevin McPhillips.

The staging and dramaturgy are by Marie-Josée Chartier.

The interview is bilingual (French and English)

Among Quebec’s favorites in Scandinavian rock, The Flower Kings remain at the forefront. For Friday, March 13—the date of their stop—it’s easy to anticipate a well-filled Palais Montcalm to welcome the Swedish quintet, preceded by California’s multi-instrumentalist and singer Neil Morse, himself part of the prog movement that unites so many Quebec fans. For this occasion, which promises to be very special for fans in Quebec, PAN M 360 connected with the leader, guitarist, and singer of The Flower Kings. Roine Stolt was reached at his home in Uppsala, a town located 60 km from Stockholm, where the 69-year-old musician was born and still lives… and who couldn’t care less about the stylistic labels people try to attach to him. A must-read!

TICKETS AND INFO HERE

PAN M 360 : We’ve known The Flower Kings for a long time. You have 14 studio albums, 5 live recordings. That’s a huge contribution to the prog—or even jazz-rock—scene.

Roine Stolt : I don’t think “progressive rock” is necessarily the right label for us… It’s rock, but beyond that, I don’t always know how to describe it. In my mind, when people say “progressive rock,” you start thinking of King Crimson, Yes, bands like that—or even Frank Zappa. Anyway, I didn’t get into music to play progressive rock. I got into it to play the music I loved. I like King Crimson, but I also love ABBA, The Beatles, Elton John, pop music in general. Any good music works for me.

PAN M 360 : No worries, we’re not tripping over the flowers on the carpet. Let’s talk about Love, your most recent 12-track album. Is there a connection to the current moment, or does it reflect what’s happening in your life?

Roine Stolt : For many reasons, actually. I’d say it’s not exactly a romantic Love, if you know what I mean. It’s more the love we feel for the planet, for our children, for our pets. That’s the starting point. As Burt Bacharach and Hal David said, What the World Needs Now Is Love… sweet love. I felt it was the right time to name an album Love. And I already have a good idea for the next album—it will probably be the start of a trilogy.

PAN M 360 : Go on…

Roine Stolt : Usually, I’m not really into concept albums, but at my age, you think a lot. You wake up early, your mind starts racing, imagining the day ahead, studio work, family, the news, the state of the world. That’s why lyrics have become more important, much more than when I started this band 35 years ago. Back then, the music was the main focus. It’s a personal development. Of course, the music itself has changed, too.

PAN M 360 : In what way?

Roine Stolt : I think especially about guitar solos, which used to feel very “cool” to me. Now I ask myself whether a new song really needs a guitar solo.

PAN M 360 : You have a sort of space-rock approach with the guitar—your solos are never overstuffed, not overly complex, not extremely fast, no shredding. Musicality comes before technical display.

Roine Stolt : Yes, for me, the starting point was probably the blues. I was very influenced by B.B. King, Duane Allman, and especially Jimi Hendrix. I first saw myself as a blues player, but with orchestral ambitions.

PAN M 360 : Sometimes, the guitar in The Flower Kings approaches David Gilmour’s space-rock style (Pink Floyd).

Roine Stolt : He probably had the same starting point—melody and tone over complexity. That doesn’t mean I like only that style. I also love guitarists like Allan Holdsworth, who was a major influence. But I never tried to play like him; he was unique and beyond my technical capabilities.

PAN M 350 : Understandable—Holdsworth (1946–2017) was one of the greatest of his generation. Your path is different because you are also a composer and orchestral designer.

Roine Stolt : Yes, and I stay open. I still believe my type of guitar can adapt to progressive, space rock, or orchestral rock concepts. There’s always improvisation in the guitars and keyboards in The Flower Kings.

PAN M 360 : How have you managed to keep the core of The Flower Kings together for so long? You must have some kind of magnetic force with your friends to keep the family united, right?

Roine Stolt : Yes, probably. It’s easier to see from the outside, but it’s probably true. We still feel like we’re learning and evolving, even if we’re all old.

PAN M 360 : What have you learned recently? For you, aesthetics still take priority over technique.

Roine Stolt : Yes, indeed. I’ve spent more time thinking about arrangements and production. I approach songs like orchestral works, with strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion. On stage, we have guitar, keyboards, bass, vocals, trumpet. The orchestral arrangements are also in the keyboards. I like to think we are different from other bands in our orchestral approach.

PAN M 360 : You could call it “chamber rock.”

Roine Stolt : Yes, that’s true. It’s a good way to describe what we do.

PAN M 360 : Do you ever invite extra sections, like a string quartet?

Roine Stolt : No. But I can say it’s a dream I had once in my life. I still think it would be really nice to do something like that.

PAN M 360 : You’ve played many times in North America, in Canada, and in Quebec, which is ideal for your kind of music. We’re northerners, like you. One could even argue that prog rock, space rock, and related styles have always resonated well in northern regions, both in Scandinavia and Canada.

Roine Stolt : That’s true. Even bands like Genesis, Gentle Giant, King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, or the Canadian band Rush generated a lot of interest there, just like here. The first time we toured North America, we played in Quebec, at a venue called D’Auteuil. I even played in Quebec with Kaipa and Agents of Mercy. As for The Flower Kings, they’ve come to Quebec several times. Not long ago, I also performed there as a bassist in Steve Hackett’s band.

PAN M 360 : Will you play a mix of your past hits in Quebec or focus on songs the audience loves?

Roine Stolt : We’ll play several tracks from Love because we like the songs and enjoy performing them. Learning new songs is always a challenge. Of course, we’ll include a few older songs, maybe going back to Stardust We Are. But we won’t stick strictly to the hits.

PAN M 360 : There’s always a tension between what artists want to express and what the audience expects.

Roine Stolt : Yes. Lately, I’ve been listening a lot to European folk, northern and Mediterranean, music for accordion, violin… For me, evolution continues. I’ve spent a lot of time developing these sounds, and I’m still taking time to express musically what I love today.

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