Interviews
Our journalist Florence Cantin had the pleasure of speaking with multidisciplinary artist Erika Hagen a few days before her performance at the Taverne Tour on February 12. They talked about her music: her shift to rock, the genesis of her project, her inspirations and aspirations… as well as their respective grandmothers. Here is a summary: a sincere discussion that revolves around the themes that fuel all of her artistic activities.
The American saxophonist Steven Banks will be in Montreal this week to take part in two concerts with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. Starting on Wednesday and Thursday at the Maison Symphonique, where he will present the saxophone concerto by Grammy-winning composer Billy Childs Diaspora before a more intimate concert at the Bourgie Hall on Friday evening, where he will join a string quartet to perform pieces from Mozart but also his own composition Cries, Sighs and Dreams. Banks sat down with us to discuss everything from the pieces he will be performing this week to the importance of making classical music available to everyone.
PAN M 360: Thank you for taking the time to talk with me today. Next week, you’ll be in Montréal for two concerts. One of them will be with the Orchestre Symphonique, where you will perform Diaspora, a piece that Billy Childs wrote for you. What can you tell me about this piece?
Steven Banks: So, basically, it’s Billy Child telling the story of the African American diaspora, and to do so he uses three poems as what he calls guideposts in this piece, written by African American poets Niyura Waheed, Claude McKay, and Maya Angelou. The music goes through all sorts of character shifts and uses both soprano and alto saxophones.
There are battles in the piece, and there are moments that are beautiful cadenzas that I think are sort of maybe aside from the story in the way, that they are sort of like reflections on what’s happening, what’s been happening.
It’s essentially a story of resilience, and he uses anchors like the Black church in America to talk about how, despite all these things that happened, we were able to be resilient and look forward to a brighter future.
PAN M 360: So you’ve played this piece for now, like what, I think it’s your third year starting right now, playing this piece. What attracts you to this piece, and has your performance of it evolved over the years in any way?
Steven Banks: Yeah, definitely. I mean, I’m biased, but I think it’s the best saxophone concerto that there is, partially because it allows the saxophone to do so many things that it’s good at. You’re playing the soprano and alto saxophones, there’s lyrical playing, there’s intense playing, there’s, you know, there’s even a multiphonic in there at one point, and I just think he uses the instrument very well, and audiences really take to the piece.
In terms of what and how it’s changed over the years, I think, honestly, it changes every time I play it, is really what I’ve noticed, because I’ve played it with several conductors now, and each conductor has their own interpretation, each orchestra is completely different, each hall is different. I think that has been a good exercise for me in terms of flexibility and needing to be able to adapt to whatever the circumstances are with the piece and allow it to be organic in any situation.
PAN M 360: What would you say, would you like the audience to remember after hearing this piece? What goal as a soloist are you trying to achieve by touring with this piece across North America ?
Steven Banks: Yeah, there, well, I think I really want people to be aware of the story of the piece. I want them to look up the poets and learn more about their poetry. I want them to look up Billy Childs and learn about the vast repertoire of classical music that he’s written. I want them to hear the saxophone playing in a classical context. I also want them to see this piece as the future of classical music, because I think it has a way of defying genre boundaries. I mean, it is a classical piece that uses the orchestra, but it’s also not jazzy, but it has elements of jazz that allow the storytelling to move forward. I think that is something that might stay with people, and I also just hope that on a base level that they feel emotionally moved, and that it sticks with them for that reason as well.
PAN M 360: You started the Come As You Are initiative, which tries to bring classical music to underrepresented communities. Why was it important for you in your musical practice to include this kind of advocacy?
Steven Banks: Yeah, well, I think that’s been the central aspect of my career, and once I was able to have a platform with different orchestras and composers, it was like, how can I bring them into that? Because I think there are so many people, I think there’s so much potential with music that hasn’t been realized, because everyone doesn’t feel like it’s for them. And so whenever I go anywhere to play this piece or other pieces, I want people to feel as if they belong there and welcome there.
So really, the Come As You Are initiative is, it has a couple of different goals. One is to do these community concerts before a main concert, and the point of the community concert is almost like a lecture recital in which I walk through the piece and I’m playing and walking through the story as we go, reading the poems and all that kind of stuff. And I think it really helps people when they come to the concert feel like they actually know what’s going on and that they can be in on what’s happening.
PAN M 360: How has the industry changed in recent years to make those people feel welcome? And what do you think we need to do more to make sure that, like you said, those barriers slowly go away and more people can enjoy the music that we play in the halls?
Steven Banks: Yeah, I think there’s been a lot more music that’s been performed by all types of people, basically women and people from a lot of different backgrounds and that’s really great. For me, I think that the next step is just continuing to connect the music beyond the concert hall, but getting people to actually come to concerts is my thing. I believe that it is advantageous to perform in a school or community centre, but it is also crucial to bring the audience to the venue. A significant aspect of our work is the incredible sound of a concert hall and the ability to witness the orchestra in action.
PAN M 360: You will also be doing a second concert in Montréal, at the Bourgie Hall. The concert will be centred around strings and saxophone and include one of your own compositions. So how did composing come into your life as a performer?
Steven Banks: So I started writing in 2016 or 2017 during my master’s degree, and I was just going through a transitional time and trying to figure out where I am going next in life, and one of my friends was hearing me talk about it all the time, and he was like, you really should just write music about this. And I was like, I mean, I’m not a composer; I don’t even know where to start. And he was like, just do it.
And so I did. And I started by literally just going to a practice room and sitting down at a piano and turning on a voice recorder and improvised for a while. And then I listened back to it and started finding things that felt resonant to me or I felt could evolve into something. And so I just started writing it down by hand and that organically sort of turned into my first piece. I mean, it took me a really long time to write a very short piece, and now it’s really sort of integral to what I do.
PAN M 360: And how would you say that composition itself has changed you as a performer? How did it change your scope on creating new music and just performing in general?
Steven Banks: I think it makes me a better performer because I understand how I fit into the process of making music a little bit more. When you play and think like a composer, I believe you will perform better than if you think like a saxophonist. A lot of the things we think about as saxophonists are not relevant to how the audience perceives the music. And so I think it helped me release a lot of the things that I thought I should do or shouldn’t do and just really focus on the composer’s intentions.
And especially on a fundamental level, as a saxophonist, a lot of times we think about our parts as opposed to the score that has been written. And that’s the first thing that really changed. I almost never play the saxophone part anymore because the composer writes the whole piece. Even in a concerto, you’re just a part. It’s not like, oh, the saxophone is the thing and then everyone’s background. It’s all one thing. I think that really started to sink in when I started writing.
PAN M 360: You also initiated the (Our Time) commissioning project, which aims to promote the creation of new work for saxophone and establish it as an essential element of the 21st century musical landscape. What do you search for when commissioning pieces?
Streven Banks: One thing I would like to mention about the music I’m creating is that I really want to provide composers with opportunities to express themselves in their own way. I know that a lot of people, when they commission, they ask for specific things, as I really want this to be flashy, or I want this to be lyrical. And when I think about the great works of the past, Brahms Violin Concerto and Rachmaninoff or any important pieces, a lot of times those pieces weren’t commissioned really at all. The composer had something that they wanted to write, they wrote it and because it was genuine and unencumbered, they were able to create this great thing.
I really want us as saxophonists to have that music so that we don’t have to always do transcriptions and stuff like that, because I think we have a unique offering to music that other instruments just actually don’t have.
PAN M 360: So the second concert is called Strings and Saxophone. In this concert, you will be playing a quintet with an oboe, of course, with the soprano saxophone from Mozart. And you will also play your piece that is a string quartet with a saxophone. What captures your attention about mixing string instruments and the saxophone?
Steven Banks: I just love the sound. Like, I think that the string instruments have a lot of upper overtones in their sound, and that often allows the audience to perceive the saxophone as having a darker sort of richer and lusher sound, which I am attracted to.
I think that the saxophone, you know, generally speaking, doesn’t have enough repertoire in that vein. And so I’ve now written three quintets with a saxophone and a string quartet and I just love the possibilities that are there.
PAN M 360: Can you tell me a bit more about this piece of yours? Which is because the concert is like, very classical in some ways, you know, you have Mozart, you have Joseph Bologne, and then you have this more contemporary piece. So can you tell me a bit about this piece?
Steven Banks: Yeah so this piece, in many ways, I wanted to write something that would contrast with, you know, Mozart and more traditional programming. That was a thought that I was having. It’s not the reason I wrote it, but it is a thought. But specifically, the title comes from a quote from Hector Berlioz, where he says that the saxophone cries sighs and dreams, and it possesses a crescendo and can gradually diminish until the sound is an echo of an echo. And I love the idea of reaching the outer limits of something.
And I wrote this piece during the pandemic, when I felt like we were sort of reaching the outer limits of our psychological abilities and I feel like the piece is really like a journey to acceptance. And realizing that when you get to a point of acceptance, that you don’t go back to how you were at the beginning, but that you’re changed inherently in some way, and there are still some remnants of the things that have transpired over time.
I sort of have two streams of composition, I feel like I have some pieces that I write that are. They use a lot of extended techniques and are really out there and sort of crazy. And then I have some that are very, very classical sounding pieces that use cadences and all that kind of stuff. So this is kind of crazy. There are these harmonic glissandos happening in the strings that are supposed to create a feeling of confusion or something like the mind when it’s busy. Like, there’s a lot there and you can’t really focus on anything. But there’s, you hear all these things happening.
PAN M 360: So what would you like the audience to remember after the concert? Seeing all those ways of using the saxophone not only in a classical way, but more in a contemporary way.
Steven Banks: I guess I struggle with that because I want everyone to remember whatever they remember. I just want them to enjoy the music and some people come to music to get maybe a sense of relief and enjoyment and they will be drawn to Mozart because it’s beautiful and playful. But I also, I remember once when I performed Cries, Sighs, and Dreams, someone came up after me, came up to me afterwards and was crying and was like, I just needed to hear that, but I would also imagine that there are people who will be like, oh, that piece was kind of crazy and weird. So I want people to get whatever they get out of it and I hope they enjoy something.
PAN M 360: Well, thank you for your time. I cannot wait to see those concerts next week. And yeah, well, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today.
Steven Banks: Yeah, thank you. And I hope to get to meet you in person !
Rafael Payare, conductor
Steven Banks, saxophone
Nikola Hillebrand, soprano
Jimmy López, Perú Negro (17 min)
Billy Childs, Diaspora, Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra (23 min)
Intermission (20 min)
Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 4 (54 min)
à
The upcoming visit of the renowned Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir to this continent includes a stop in Montreal on Sunday, February 15, at the Maison symphonique, hence this interview with Tõnu Kaljuste. The Estonian musician is both a choir director and conductor of international renown. Among his many honors are five Grammy Award nominations, including one for “Best Choral Performance” for Arvo Pärt’s album Adam’s Lament in 2014. In 2019, our interviewee won the International Classical Music Award for his recording of Arvo Pärt’s symphonies with the NFM Philharmonic Orchestra Wrocław. Considered one of the greatest specialists in Arvo Pärt’s music, if not the most eminent for his stage performances, Tõnu Kaljuste explains his artistic connection with the composer, now 90 years old, and how these works coexist on stage with those of the American Philip Glass, as well as Estonians Veljo Tormis and Evelin Seppar.
PAN M 360: You perform works by Arvo Pärt, as well as Luciano Berio, Eveline Shepard, Vejo Tormis, and Philip Glass. First, let’s talk about your relationship with Arvo Pärt, the most famous Estonian composer of our time. We know that he is always involved in concerts by orchestras that play his works. Is that correct?
Tõnu Kaljuste: It used to be, but not for the last two years. I visited him at his home recently, but he hasn’t been coming to concerts or production meetings.
PAN M 360: Does he still live in Estonia?
Tõnu Kaljuste: Yes, he lives in Estonia, near a center named after him in Laulasmaa.
PAN M 360: Can you summarize the history of your relationship with him?
Tõnu Kaljuste: It started in the late 1980s. He had heard Te Deum performed on Estonian public radio, and we met after he asked me to record the work on the ECM label. I had already recorded his music for ECM, and Te Deum was the second recording. That was it. In 1992-1993, we recorded Te Deum in Finland, in a church. After that, we went to Perth, Australia, for a festival featuring Arvo Pärt’s music. From then on, we began working together on a regular basis.
PAN M 360: A long-standing relationship based on trust and friendship!
Tõnu Kaljuste: Yes, but it is a professional friendship. We are not close friends; our connection is based on work. Our most intense relationship with his music coincided with the recording of his Fourth Symphony. You can find all the stylistic characteristics of his art in it, from the beginning to the end of the performance. I remember when we played this symphony in Stockholm, I realized that this work embodied not only the life of Arvo Pärt, but that of a generation of European composers from this great region who changed their style during the 1980s and 1990s, towards more consonant music, such as Penderecki, Gorecki, Kancheli, and others.
The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir worked with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra in Tallinn. In Canada, however, we are coming with the choir alone, even though several of Pärt’s works were conceived for both orchestras.
PAN M 360: How have you evolved as an interpreter of his work?
Tõnu Kaljuste: People don’t always change their interpretation deliberately, but life experiences can vary: the context of the performance and the performers themselves, for example, lead to changes in interpretation and bring new ideas, particularly regarding articulation. In the context of my Pärt Festival in September, we explore these new avenues of interpretation of his work.
PAN M 360: I invite you to comment on the complete program that will be performed in Montreal.
Tõnu Kaljuste: Yes. You could say that we will be performing Arvo Pärt’s best a cappella music. We will be performing various short cantatas and other large pieces. Of course, there are different styles of interpreting Arvo Pärt’s music.
The second half of the program is inspired by my own perception of the situation in the world, which is connected to pieces such as “Tormis” and “Pagan.” .” It was a historic moment in Europe when people came from Sweden to Finland to baptize the Finns, which generated conflicts between different ideologues on the subject of foreigners coming to change others in a country.
Tormis avait été enregistré précédemment par les King Singers mais lorsque j’ai entendu cette version j’ai demandé à Tormis d’en faire une version version chorale plutôt que pour trois chanteurs.
More closely connected to Berio’s folk inspirations, the second piece in the second part was also written for the King Singers. I made a version for choir and soloists. When I presented this version to Berio in Italy, he was very pleased with it. He initially believed that a choir could not perform this work, but my arrangements convinced him, given the result in terms of expressiveness, among other things.
There is also a connection between these works by Tormis and Berio in that they like to use the human voice not only in a classical way but also in a folk way, thus expressing different colors of the human voice through older musical forms, excluding vibrato or even including the evocation of crying or sounds produced by breathing.
As for Philip Glass’s excerpt Father Death Blues, taken from his chamber opera Hydrogen Jukebox, we recently performed it in Estonia. I think this performance was very successful because the work is closely connected to the current global atmosphere. I think the work was written during the Vietnam War… And since we are back to militarization and armed violence, this work is rooted in our current events. I think it’s good to conclude our program in this way.
PAN M 360: The coherence of this program is noteworthy. Arvo Pärt, arguably the most important living composer of sacred music in the world, is openly inspired by his mystical beliefs, whereas the other composers featured in the program are not, or to a lesser extent.
Tõnu Kaljuste: I see this program as a mirror of different ways of perceiving and experiencing reality. Philip Glass has his own vision of spirituality, and this diversity of thought must be expressed through his works, which are linked to different beliefs and philosophical visions. You know, in this opera by Glass, a character talks to different gods, telling them that none of them could stop the war, and that only humans could do so, if it were possible. Which is in itself a powerful message.
Glass’s words are not linked to any religion, whereas for Arvo Pärt, it is very different. This illustrates how human beings perceive the reality around them, through pain, anger, discourse, or prayer… I therefore see the first part of the program as a meditation based on different stories, while the second part is closer to social or political awareness in the current climate. Personally, I am connected to both visions of the program through my personal view of spirituality. Spirituality can be found in both worlds.Glass’s words are not linked to any religion, whereas for Arvo Pärt, it is very different. This illustrates how human beings perceive the reality around them, through pain, anger, discourse, or prayer… I therefore see the first part of the program as a meditation based on different stories, while the second part is closer to social or political awareness in the current climate. Personally, I am connected to both visions of the program through my personal view of spirituality. Spirituality can be found in both worlds.
Works
Intermission
Released on January 31st, “18 ans et plus” (or 18 and over in English), is a cardinal point in Naïma Frank’s career and possibly in the greater definitions of r&b. As she herself says “Je réfléchis beaucoup à ce que je fait” (I think a lot about what I do), and where most artists would stop, she embraces risk. On “ainsi soit-t-il” she recounts the sheepish feeling of not knowing how such a combination of haitian rara percussions, UK garage beats and R&B vocal would be received. “Even if no one listens to it and people find it strange, I wanted to put a spotlight on my Haitian heritage.”
Now already one week since its release, Naïma Frank confirms the confidence you can hear in her voice throughout the album. Just as her lyrics are honest, she is surrendered, in full embrace of this vulnerability. “Advienne que pourra”.
In this short interview, Naïma Frank talks to our journalist Loic Minty about the long journey she took to reach this point of acceptance, and hints at some ideas she will be exploring for her show on the 19th of March.
To coincide with the production of Orpheus in the Underworld, the opera workshop at the Faculty of Music of the University of Montreal invites us to delve into the satirical world of Jacques Offenbach. Robin Wheeler, co-director of the opera workshop, explores with us the reasons that led him to choose operetta, its pedagogical role, and the artistic decisions that resulted in the final product. Robin discusses the groundwork and challenges encountered during the season. This interview sheds light on the faculty’s mission with its students, highlighting the importance of the process and the crucial balance between voice and orchestra.
PAN M 360: Can you explain your role within the opera workshop?
Robin Wheeler: I am an associate professor at the Faculty of Music and co-director of the opera workshop, which I run with Richard Margeson, an internationally renowned tenor with a long career in opera. Each year, our role is to choose a work, assemble the artistic team—including the stage director—and provide musical guidance for the singers. My main focus is on musical preparation, this year in collaboration with accompanist Esther Gonthier, with whom I also share instrumental work.
PAN M 360: Why did you choose Orpheus in the Underworld this year?
Robin Wheeler: After a darker production last year with Hänsel and Gretel, we wanted to bring something lighter. In the current climate, it seemed important to offer the public a comedy. Offenbach was the obvious choice: there is no better composer when it comes to French operetta. Moreover, choosing a work with dialogue presents a valuable training challenge for the singers, who must learn to transition from speaking to singing, an essential aspect of their training.
PAN M 360: Did the choice of French also play a role?
Robin Wheeler: Absolutely. For most of our singers, French is their native language. Singing in their own language allows for immediate comprehension of the lyrics and more natural expression. It’s a real luxury for the performers, but also an asset for the audience.
PAN M 360: Do you think the work remains relevant today?
Robin Wheeler: Yes, without a doubt. Offenbach playfully subverts the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice: the characters don’t conform to traditional expectations, and the moral is embodied by the figure of Public Opinion. This satirical reinterpretation remains extremely relevant. The music, for its part, engages with tradition, notably through references to Gluck, while maintaining a great freshness.
PAN M 360: How was the artistic vision developed with the director?
Robin Wheeler: François Racine is a highly experienced opera director. He knows singers very well and treats them like true professionals. The staging remains relatively traditional in its aesthetic, but with subtle adjustments to the text to enhance its contemporary relevance and humor. His sense of comedy and his respect for the music make him an ideal collaborator for this project.
PAN M 360: What are the main musical challenges of this production?
Robin Wheeler: One of the major challenges is balancing the orchestra and the voices, especially since our hall doesn’t have a pit: the orchestra plays in front of the stage. Finding the right balance requires constant work. Furthermore, even though the music seems light, it demands great rhythmic precision. Offenbach gives the illusion of simplicity, but everything rests on extreme rigor.
PAN M 360: What learning opportunities does this production offer students?
Robin Wheeler: Beyond the performance itself, the entire process is what matters: the work since October, the very intensive technical week, the management of vocal stamina and energy. The students, from undergraduate to doctoral level, share the stage and form a true company. All the soloists also sing in the choirs, which strengthens the collective spirit and professional experience.
PAN M 360: What message do you wish to convey to the public?
Robin Wheeler: I would like the audience to remember above all the lightness of the work and the pleasure it provides. For two hours, opera allows us to forget the worries of everyday life. Seeing the youth, energy, and commitment of these young artists is something truly precious, both for the audience and for us, the teachers.
PAN M 360: More broadly, what do you think are the current challenges facing opera?
Robin Wheeler: Opera is a demanding and expensive art form, and funding issues are very real. Yet, I deeply believe in its importance, especially in difficult times. Art offers a space for escape, reflection, and beauty. If opera continues to exist, it is because there are still passionate artists and an audience ready to be moved.
Four string quartets by Philip Glass will be performed by the Molinari Quartet on Friday, February 13, at the Montreal Conservatory of Music. This program concludes the Montreal ensemble’s complete cycle of the composer’s nine quartets, a process begun six years ago.
The program begins with the Bent Suite, the score for which, created in 1997, is taken from the music Glass wrote for the film Bent, a cinematic adaptation of Martin Sherman’s moving play about the persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany.
In 2015, the Kronos Quartet launched the Fifty for the Future project, consisting of 50 short works commissioned from renowned composers as well as young composers at the beginning of their careers in order to promote the contemporary corpus, hence Quartet Satz which is intended as an adaptation of Evening songno 2 for piano.
Glass’s 8th quartet takes us back to forms typical of the composer, to a “Glassian classicism” with its repeated arpeggios and its tonal harmony of total sobriety.
As for the 9th quartet, it comes from a piece of theatre music written in 2022 for the play King Lear by William Shakespeare, which was then being presented on Broadway.
Thus, this program promises to be diverse, certainly less linear and repetitive than some might initially believe.
Olga Ranzenhofer, artistic director and first violin of Molinari, tells us more about this program by courteously answering questions from PAN M 360.
PAN M 360: Why choose Philip Glass? For the intrinsic qualities of his work in string quartets? For his undeniable influence on our time? For other reasons?
Olga Ranzenhofer: There are works that are very formative for a string quartet, and Glass’s quartets, which appear rather simple, are among them. These works present great challenges to performers: the tonal harmony must be perfect, and the ensemble impeccable. There are very few nuances in the scores, so one must understand the harmony and play accordingly. One mustn’t over-exaggerate the phrasing, because Glass didn’t include it, although it is often implied. Our task, therefore, is to carefully balance the nuances and the hierarchy of the voices.
Of course, the works of this American composer appeal to all audiences. In our concerts, we often perform highly complex works that are very demanding for our audience. With this concert of Glass quartets, we offer our audience a concert that may be less demanding in terms of listening skill but is nonetheless very diverse and of high musical quality.
Glass enjoys widespread acclaim: fans of popular music and jazz, as well as opera and concert music enthusiasts, appreciate his work. There will always be those who say his music is too simple, too repetitive, but it’s undeniable that concert halls are packed when Glass is playing and the audience leaves very happy.
Indeed, Glass is the first composer to have simultaneously conquered a large multigenerational audience in opera, in the concert hall, in the world of dance, in cinema and in popular music.
PAN M 360: What is your history with these works?
Olga Ranzenhofer: From our very first season in 1997-98, we performed a Glass quartet. It’s always a pleasure to revisit his works, and it delights the audience. With this concert, we complete our full cycle of Glass’s quartets in concert. We’ve already recorded two volumes of quartets with ATMA Classique, and this August, we’ll finish the complete cycle on CD. Currently, volumes 1 and 2 are available digitally on streaming platforms or as downloads, but when volume three is completed, ATMA will release a three-CD set.
PAN M 360: What technical challenges arise in these works in general?
Olga Ranzenhofer: Through simple and repetitive music, one must find the common thread and see the overall form, the grand structure. Sometimes the simplest things are the most difficult to execute well because everything must be perfect: the intonation, the ensemble playing, the balance of voices, the timbre, etc.
PAN M 360: Let’s talk about the specific forms that each of these quartets in the program takes.
Olga Ranzenhofer: The four quartets we will be playing in this concert are indeed very different from one another, both in form and in terms of their genesis. Bent’s Suite is a succession of eight highly contrasting movements, sometimes featuring rhythmic interplay and sometimes accompanied melodies. Quite unusually, the last movement is a violin solo! The score for quartet is taken from the music Glass wrote for the film Bent. This film is a cinematic adaptation of Martin Sherman’s moving 1979 play, which deals with the persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany.
Glass wrote a short piece for piano entitled Evening Song No. 2, and Quartet Satz is its adaptation for quartet. It is a delicate, arch-shaped work lasting 8 minutes.
The 8th quartet is a classically formed and aesthetically pleasing quartet in three movements. Typically “Glassian” arpeggios abound in this quartet. Even the slow movement contains arpeggios that, this time, become melodic.
Finally, the 9th quartet, “King Lear,” is taken from the incidental music Glass composed for the Shakespeare play that was presented on Broadway in 2019. The quartet is in five movements, but each contains numerous highly defined and contrasting subsections. Glass also significantly alters the order of the sections compared to the Broadway production of the play.
This quartet features sounds not found in the composer’s earlier quartets, such as ponticello and col legno battuto. Furthermore, Glass makes extensive use of accompanied melody, another unusual characteristic.
PAN M 360: How do you perceive the formal evolution of these quartets, from 1997 to 2022?
Olga Ranzenhofer: The last four quartets are very different and do not follow any particular development. Each one is the product of a different source of inspiration or a specific need, leading the composer to create within these constraints. The value of playing several quartets by the same composer, or even his complete works, lies in the fact that one can follow the evolution and, in Glass’s particular case, identify the characteristics and particularities of his writing. In light of our work on the complete Glass quartets, we can easily identify the features of his writing, and these are present in all his quartets: the superimposition of duple and triple meter, the grouping of eighth notes (e.g., 3 + 3 + 2 + 2), arpeggios, irregular time signatures, simple rhythms, and, of course, tonal harmony.
PAN M 360: Philip Glass made headlines a few days ago when he canceled the performance of his 15th Symphony, inspired by Abraham Lincoln, at the Kennedy Center in protest against the Trump administration. What do you think of this action by the composer?
Olga Ranzenhofer: Philip Glass’s withdrawal of his work reveals him as a man of principle. It was a highly anticipated event as part of the United States’ 250th anniversary celebrations, and he decided to cancel the premiere at the Kennedy Center. The subject of his 15th Symphony is Abraham Lincoln, one of the most important presidents of the United States, who, among other things, abolished slavery. Given the current situation within the American administration, presenting this work there would have been antithetical and contrary to the values conveyed by the piece.
PAN M 360: Since the Glass effect is also discussed with large audiences, can we also observe that the Molinari concerts attract different audiences from one program to another, given the wide range of your offerings, from Glass to Schnittke? Or is your audience willing to attend almost all of your offerings?
Olga Ranzenhofer: Indeed, our programming is very diverse. Over our 29 seasons, we have succeeded in building a loyal audience. I believe it’s fair to say that they have complete confidence in us and our artistic offerings. If we decide to perform a work, it’s because we are convinced of its quality, and we perform it with great conviction; that’s why our audience is ready to follow us on our adventures.
Quatuor Molinari
Olga Ranzenhofer, violIn
Antoine Bareil, violIn
Cynthia Blanchon, viola
Pierre-Alain Bouvrette, cello
The Quartet according to Glass
Philip Glass (1937)
Suite de Bent (1996)
Bent #1 –
Bent #2 –
Bent #3 –
Bent #4
Bent #5
Bent #6
Bent #7
Bent #8
Quartet Satz (2017)
Pause
Quatuor no 8 (2018)
Mouvement I
Mouvement II
Mouvement III
Quatuor no 9 King Lear (2022)
Mouvement I –
Mouvement II
Mouvement III
Mouvement IV
Mouvement V
Nuha Ruby Ra is hard to pin down, and that’s exactly the point.
The London-based artist doesn’t make music that fits neatly into genres or moods—instead, she creates visceral sonic worlds that live somewhere between industrial grit and raw no-wave vulnerability. Her sound is physical, confrontational, and deeply human, drawing from tension rather than harmony, from honesty rather than polish.
After releasing a series of EPs that established her as one of the most compelling voices in the UK’s alternative underground, Nuha Ruby Ra is now preparing to release her debut full-length album—a conceptual work she describes as her most immersive and outward-facing yet, centred around a mysterious mythology called NOWSYN. With recent single “Fetish 2 Forget” offering a taste of what’s to come, she’s pushing her sound to new extremes while exploring themes of transformation, survival, and the sacred within struggle.
Before her appearances at Taverne Tour, we caught up with Nuha Ruby Ra to talk about art school origins, the messy in-between states that fuel her work, and what it means to create music that’s both a confession and a ritual.
Nuha Ruby Ra: I didn’t intentionally get into music, I went to art school and studied Fine Art. Along the way, I realized that music is the most potent form of art, so I chose to focus on it then. I care the most about communication of feelings and worlds, as a way of survival for me. I started out by making things out of whatever I had. Noise, tape recorders, cheap gear, home-made instruments, my voice. It was never about learning the right way; it was about getting something out of my body. Music felt like the only place I could be completely honest and truly strange at the same time. I’m inspired by tension more than harmony, late nights, concrete warehouses, loneliness, cinema, performance art, confessions, and people on the edge. Anything that feels raw and human.
PAN M 360: Your music is dark, experimental, gritty, and carnal. Is this purposeful?
Nuha Ruby Ra: Yeah, absolutely, but not intentionally. I’m not interested in polishing things unless it’s so you can feel it. Life isn’t clean or symmetrical—it’s messy and physical and emotional. I want my music to feel like that, too. I want you to hear my breath, broken distortions, and mistakes. Dark isn’t an aesthetic choice, it’s honesty. I just follow the truth of a feeling.
Nuha Ruby Ra: It feels like growth. The EPs were very internal, very much me processing things on my own. Now the album feels outward-facing. Made for connection. There’s still a lot of personal intensity, but I’m thinking a lot about connection now. What happens when people are in a room together, when sound is communal, not just private. I used to think the way I wanted people to listen to my music the most was in headphones, like I am their thoughts and secrets. Now I want to be in the room with them and we all feel it together. It feels less like this is mine and more like this is ours. There’s also a bigger world around this record. A kind of mythology running through it. NOWSYN. I’m not giving too much away yet, but it’s definitely the most conceptual and immersive thing I’ve made.
Nuha Ruby Ra: Yeah, I’d say it’s a doorway. It’s taken that physicality of sound and turned it up to 11! But the album moves through a lot of different moods. Some tracks are utterly visceral, confrontational and industrial, others are incredibly vulnerable, low fi, almost hymnal. So it’s a taste, but not the whole picture.
Nuha Ruby Ra: Film, performance art, poetry, fashion. I think in visions and feelings first, like scenes. Directors like David Lynch, early Cronenberg, Richard Linklater, Jim Jarmusch, and a lot of messy or conversational underground cinema. I love focused human conversation and surrealism, and work that leaves space for interpretation. Worlds you’re happy just to be in.
Nuha Ruby Ra: Probably something half-feral that roams the streets. I’d have a mix of the same really adorable, gentle soft meow of my cat Cilla and a sky-shaking roar of Thor.
Nuha Ruby Ra: Transformation. Survival. Rebirth. How do you rebuild yourself after things fall apart? Finding something sacred inside the struggle. It’s not hopeless music, it’s actually very defiant.
Nuha Ruby Ra: The messy, in between states. Not pure heartbreak songs or party songs, but the complicated feelings underneath everything while you’re heartbroken and partying. Shame, lust, desire, rage, devotion, obsession.
Nuha Ruby Ra: It feels exciting and scrappy! There’s less gatekeeping now, people are building their own worlds and communities instead of waiting for permission. It’s very exciting when you don’t feel like you’re drowning, because surviving as a musician in the U.K. right now is damn hard. I feel truly supported by my music community in London, there’s a lot of us in it and it gets bigger and bigger, we’re helping each other all the time. In the right places it feels more like a movement of outsiders than a scene, which I like a lot.
Nuha Ruby Ra: People sometimes think dark means negative or cold. But it’s actually very emotional and very human. There’s a lot of heart in it. People also think i’m scary and intimidating, i can be, but mostly i’m actually incredibly sweet.
Nuha Ruby Ra: It’s physical and intense. I use a hybrid setup, live elements, electronics, playback, sometimes musicians, but it’s very performance-led. It feels closer to theatre or ritual than a traditional gig. Expect something immersive and a bit unpredictable.
For her 15th album, singer, producer, and arranger Emilie-Claire Barlow movingly and skillfully summarizes the most recent chapter of her life. From Toronto, she settled in Montreal, then married (actually, she’s a boyfriend) and moved to Limoilou, where she still lives. Hence this collection of French-language songs from Quebec and Canada, where she interprets Gilles Vigneault, Damien Robitaille, Diane Tell, Daniel Bélanger, Serge Fiori, Jim Corcoran, Michel Rivard, Anne-Sophie Doré Coulombe, and Édith Butler. Only Charles Trenet is an exception to this repertoire of North American French songs. Released on her independent label, Empress Music Group, the album was recorded in Montreal at Hublot and PM studios. The project was co-produced with pianist and arranger François Richard, and features 11 interpretations infused with jazz, folk, bossa nova, bluegrass, and more. That is why PAN M 360 offers you this interview of Alain Brunet with Emilie-Claire, so appreciated by the Quebec public for having understood, respected and sincerely loved him.
For Igloofest 2026, Mathieu Constance is once again at the helm of programming for the four consecutive weekends taking place at Quai Jacques-Cartier until February 7. As a media partner of Igloofest, PAN M 360 presents the artistic recommendations of its lead architect each week of the event, highlighting a top pick for each program.
PAN M 360: Here we are at the last weekend!
Mathieu Constance : On Thursday, February 5th, it’s Elderbrook, Weval, and Lance. And for me, Weval is definitely the set I’d most like to see. Weval is a Dutch duo who released Chorophobia in 2025, a really special album. Sounds a bit breakbeat, organic house, minimalist flavors… I think it’s going to be really interesting to see; these artists have a lot of experience, and it’ll be cool to see their work in the context of Igloofest. They’re then playing an after-party at Newspeak. A festival mainstage followed by a small club show—it’s going to be very interesting. I’ve been listening to these artists for a long time; I know about their affiliation with the Kompakt label in Germany, a label that was really important for my learning about electronic music. They’re a personal favorite.
PAN M 360: It’s now Friday, February 6th: Trym, Azir, Hannah Laing, Zorza
Mathieu Constance: And on February 6th, we’re inviting the Teletech collective to Canada for the first time. They’re a hard techno collective from Manchester, so it’s definitely one of the most popular sounds in Europe. It’s been explosive these last few months, taking over festival stages.
PAN M 360: What is special about this technology?
Mathieu Constance: It’s very, very fast. It can go up to 180 BPM! Teletech is truly one of the strongest emerging acts internationally. It’s really cool to present them at Igloofest! All four artists on the main stage are in this collective. We’ll also be able to identify some trance sounds. I think it’s going to be excellent.
PAN M 360: Before Igloofest moves elsewhere in the coming weeks, the Montreal edition ends on Saturday the 7th.
Mathieu Constance: For me, the must-see event that night was definitely the second stage, featuring Ferias, one of the most important house collectives in Montreal right now. Highly respected and well-known artists. We were lucky enough to have two of the founders, Alina and Guthrie, performing back-to-back for the entire evening!
Pianist Louise Bessette is featured on the most recent ATMA Classique release: Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. In this all-Canadian version, she is joined by cellist Cameron Crozman, violinist Mark Lee (of the Nova Scotia Symphony) and clarinettist Dominic Desautels (of the Hamilton Philharmonic). This resplendent recording (READ MY REVIEW HERE) is a testament to the wonderful communication between the four performers. We can say that “something happened” on the day they first played the piece together in concert. Louise Bessette tells us about this experience and the unusual circumstances that led to the formation of their ensemble.
READ THE REVIEW OF QUARTET FOR THE END OF TIME UNDER THE ATMA CLASSIQUE LABEL, WITH LOUISE BESSETTE, CAMERON CROZMAN, MARK LEE, AND DOMINIC DESAUTELS
PanM360: Hello Louise! Can you explain to us what led to the formation of your quartet for this recording? You, Cameron Crozman, Mark Lee, and Dominic Desautels?
Louise Bessette: It’s a beautiful story. In June 2024, I was invited by Simon Docking, the artistic director of the Scotia Festival of Music in Halifax. His thing is that he doesn’t invite already formed ensembles. When he conceives his programming, he invites solo artists, and he assembles the musicians according to what he thinks will form a beautiful connection. We had talked a few times and he suggested some names. Dominic, I knew him a little, I had already played with him in Toronto. I had done a concerto by Gilles Tremblay and he was in the ensemble.
Cameron, of course, I knew his name, his playing, all that, but we had never met. And then Mark Lee, he lives in Halifax, he’s Associate Concertmaster with the Halifax Orchestra. I didn’t know him at all.
Simon would say to me, “Ah Louise, I can imagine the four of you together, I’m sure you’ll get along well.” The festival took place, we played the Quartet, and it was a very powerful musical moment.
Simon calculated on his watch: it took a full minute of silence before people started applauding at the end.
PanM360: That’s rare…
Louise Bessette: No one wanted to break the spell. We came off stage, we were crying! It was really, really incredible. So, I came back to Montreal and immediately called Michel Ferland, who was still at ATMA Classique at that time. I said, “Michel, I have a project for you.” I told him about it. He said yes. So, there you go.
PanM360: He had a good intuition, this gentleman…
Louise Bessette: Ah yes. We never stop thanking him.
PanM360: We hear this strength, this transcendence, on the album. It was recorded at Domaine Forget in March 2025, some months after Halifax. What was the atmosphere like there?
Louise Bessette: It was about seven, eight months after the Halifax festival. Right away, we felt the same thing. All four of us. We were really, really immersed in the work. At Domaine Forget, we had wonderful conditions with Karl Talbot, the recording director. We worked in exceptional conditions.
PanM360: Remind us of the genesis of this work.
Louise Bessette: It was written during the Second World War, in the Stalag (a prisoner of war camp, different from the extermination camps for Jews – Editor’s note). Then, Olivier Messiaen was there, with other musicians. He used what he had: a clarinettist, a cellist, a violinist, that’s all. He said, well, okay, I’ll do something with that. And that resulted in this Quartet, in 1941.
PanM360: What is the Quartet for the End of Time about? Is it the end of times as in “apocalyptic” or is it something else?
Louise Bessette: Well, yes, of course, it’s the end of time. We know that Messiaen was very, very, very devout and religious. That’s the whole atmosphere. It takes us to the afterlife. When we listen to the last movement, for violin and piano alone, Praise to the immortality of Jesus… I mean, the music is on the verge of being impalpable.
PanM360: These are very original harmonies. Messiaen innovated both rhythmically, harmonically and melodically. He used formulas and techniques that were not common in Western music. From Indian music, among others.
Louise Bessette: Absolutely! In the sixth movement, the Dance of Fury for the Seven Trumpets, we are in unison from beginning to end, with very complex rhythms. But we have a blast playing it!
PanM360: Fool’s Dance, as my grandmother would say. But there are also lots of bird songs in there. How do you feel about these bird songs?
Louise Bessette: Ah, it’s… the whole universe of Messiaen is in this work. His complex rhythm, his chords, his bird songs, the emotion, the very, very fast movements, the extremely slow movements.
PanM360: It’s also a tremendous amount of colour work. You must master your instrument in an exceptional way.
Louise Bessette: Yes, absolutely. And also being attentive. A lot.
PanM360: It’s a bit of the pinnacle of chamber music. Musicians are in absolute listening mode. Listening to themselves and others.
Louise Bessette: Yes, and that’s the pleasure we had working together. Each one adjusted to the other.
PanM360: There is a second layer of meaning in this “end of time.” The end of time, yes, but not just a reference to Religion. A more subtle reference to rhythmic time, very Western, very square. In the Quartet, there is never any “square” time. There is never a true 4-4. There is never a 1-2-3-4, then we start again with a beat. All the phrases are extraordinarily free. There is an impression of wild freedom. But perfectly written.
Louise Bessette: Yes indeed. But I’ve played it often, so I’m starting to “get it in my fingers.”
PanM360: There is one last piece on the program, as a supplement. A Fantasy for violin and piano, from 1933. What can you tell us about it?
Louise Bessette: We were looking for a piece to complement the Quartet. There are very few works of chamber music by Messiaen. I suggested to Marc Lee one of the two pieces for violin and piano by the composer. There is the Theme and Variations from 1932 and there is the Fantasy. Marc preferred the Fantasy. I was very happy because I had never played it. It’s an early work that was published after Messiaen’s death. It’s like a score that was found. We can hear that it’s a youthful work, but at the same time, his entire universe is already there.
PanM360: It’s perhaps a bit, how to say, less assertive.
Louise Bessette: Juvenile.
PanM360: Yes, but a beautiful piece. Honestly, it’s a nice discovery.
Louise Bessette: Allow me, before finishing, to add how proud and very, very moved I am by all the work that has been done, not only with the sound team (thank you Karl Talbot), and then the video team as well, because we have beautiful videos, but also with the entire Atma Classique team.
PanM360: Yes, and the visual is very beautiful too, the one on the cover.
Louise Bessette: Ah yes, that’s fantastic. The photo was sent to us by the Messiaen Memorial in Görlitz, where Stalag VIII-A was located, in which Messiaen was held prisoner. I found this photo by chance on their website. With Atma, we wrote to them and they sent us the photo. They allowed us to use it for the album cover. So, it’s very touching. And in the booklet there is one of Messiaen young, in the 40s, precisely. It was sent to me by the Olivier Messiaen Foundation of the National Library of France. They told me “Go ahead, use it.”
The entire album, the whole product, is a beautiful tribute.
On February 8, 2026, at Bourgie Hall in Montreal, the 29th Opus Awards Gala will take place and will honour artists competing in 33 categories, covering classical music, jazz, world music, and traditional Quebecois music. For the past few years, the Gala has been innovating with a formula praised by artists and the public, in addition to offering former winners and nominees the opportunity to perform in front of an in-person audience and online (the ceremony is broadcast live). I spoke with the artists who will be performing, Gentiane MG, Marie Nadeau-Tremblay, Elisabeth St-Gelais and Jean-Félix Mailloux with the Cordâme ensemble. I asked them what it feels like to receive an Opus Award or to be nominated, and if it has an impact on an artist’s career. Here is Jean-Félix Mailloux (for the other artists, follow the links below).
LINK FOR WEBCAST (FEBRUARY 8, 3 PM)
INTERVIEW WITH SOPRANO ELISABETH ST-GELAIS
INTERVIEW WITH THE VIOLINIST MARIE NADEAU-TREMBLAY
INTERVIEW WITH THE PIANIST GENTIANE MG
DISCOVER MORE ABOUT THE OPUS AWARDS
On February 8, 2026, at Bourgie Hall in Montreal, the 29th Opus Awards Gala will take place and will honour artists competing in 33 categories, covering classical music, jazz, world music, and traditional Quebecois music. For the past few years, the Gala has been innovating with a formula praised by artists and the public, in addition to offering former winners and nominees the opportunity to perform in front of an in-person audience and online (the ceremony is broadcast live). I spoke with the artists who will be performing, Gentiane MG, Marie Nadeau-Tremblay, Elisabeth St-Gelais and Jean-Félix Mailloux with the Cordâme ensemble. I asked them what it feels like to receive an Opus Award or to be nominated, and if it has an impact on an artist’s career. Here is Gentiane MG (for the other artists, follow the links below).
LINK FOR WEBCAST (FEBRUARY 8, 3 PM)
INTERVIEW WITH SOPRANO ELISABETH ST-GELAIS
INTERVIEW WITH VIOLONIST MARIE NADEAU-TREMBLAY
INTERVIEW WITH JEAN-FÉLIX MAILLOUX, OF CORDÂME
DISCOVER MORE ABOUT THE OPUS AWARDS