Interviews

For those unaware of the country rock singer songwriter, Julianna Riloino, you may have heard her voice as part of Daniel Romano’s The Outfit. But since 2022, she has been releasing fantastic solo music. She just released a deluxe version of her sophomore album, Echo in the Dust, and is currently finishing her Canada East Coast tour in support of it. Echo In The Dust builds on the alt-country elements of All Blue. On top of that, she started her own record label, Moonwhistle Records, late last year. We spoke with Julianna Riolino about the new deluxe version of Echo in the Dust while she was in her home studio on her farm in Ontario.

PAN M 360: So you live on a farm? That must be great for inspiration as an artist?

Julianna Riolino: It is. I think that so much of my life, when I’m on the road, surrounded by people and having to be social. Having a place to relax and be, you know, quiet for a bit, is really nice in order to recharge. It used to be a fully functional farm back when, my cousins, who have had this place since the ’60s, were much younger. I like to grow my own vegetables and monopolize as much of the warm weather as I can by not having to go to the grocery store. So yeah, I dabble in growing a garden, but if a horticulturalist saw it, they’d be like what the heck is going on? 

PAN M 360: Cool. Let’s get into your music. So what brought on this idea to release a deluxe version of Echo in the Dust?

Photo by Colin Medley

Julianna Riolino: So, when we were recording the album, we were able to record 14 songs, but the problem that I faced was that 14 songs on the physical album would have changed the demand for the physical record. So it would have had to have been like a double LP, which is a much harder sell. It’s also way more expensive, too. So I had to make the hard decision of cutting three of them. The hope was to have them be an EP or something. But then the album was released in October. I just felt like it was too sad to separate all of them. There’s a thread I think that binds all of those all of 14 songs together. Thematically, they go, and I tend to like once a record is recorded, I’m on to the next thing.

PAN M360: So basically, you needed to get them out there, but you didn’t want them to be separate from the album.

Julianna Riolino: Yeah, exactly. They needed to be bound together.

PAN M360: I suppose because you have your own label now, you can just do that too? You’re the decision maker. Was that the reason you started the label?

Julianna Riolino: I think so. I think I don’t like being told what to do. Which is maybe a character flaw or maybe it’s a good thing? I want to be fluid and have the freedom to make these decisions when I want to and release music when I want to release it. So that’s definitely a bonus. I have a lot more freedom, and I don’t have to, you know, wait.

PAN M 360: I love one of the newer songs, “Don’t Put Me in the Middle.” What spurred that one on?

Julianna Riolino: I think I look at songs as more like encapsulating feelings. So I think that like, it’s being in situations with people or in relationships with people where they’re dysfunctional, or you’re trying your best and nothing’s really good enough, and you have to decide to leave. So I mean, you can look at it as like my farewell to something that is no longer serving me, and it’s kind of identifying all of those different things, as you know, I gave it everything I could. It’s kind of me writing a letter to whatever fill-in-the-blank situation or person, and saying I tried my best, and you know, it’s all love and great, but I have to move on.

PAN M 360: That thread of moving on is definitely on this album, thematically.

Julianna Riolino: Yeah. I think that this is like another window into that. Like, I look at “Smile” as unpacking a lot of stuff and still being like really tethered to it. And then “Don’t Put Me In The Middle,” I always kind of compare it to—and I know this is like an insane thing to say because this is like an iconic song—but it’s like my version of “I will always love you,” by Dolly Parton. You know, she wrote this song for Porter Wagoner because she wanted to leave the show and move on to her own things. Like that was kind of what I had in my head, that motivated and propelled the song forward.

PAN M 360: Your first album, All Blue, is much more country, but Echo in the Dust really moves through different genres. Did you know you wanted this early on?

Julianna Riolino: There’s obviously the country nuances to all of my songs. Like people said All Blue was country, and I think yeah, “Queen of Spades” is a country song. But, like for more or less, it’s always just little little trickles of it. I think that Echo in the Dust is a lot more rocking than All Blue, and I think maybe some of the listeners were missing a bit more of that, like Americana.

PAN M 360: I wanted to ask you about glass staining. How did you get into that, and do you still do it?

Julianna Riolino: I went to school for Architectural restoration, and I went to a small, little, it’s like a trade college in Niagara on the Lake, which is really close to where I live. I ended up picking it up again during the pandemic. Stained glass is like the term that everyone can easily identify, but it’s more leaded glass because I’m not actually painting on the glass. Staining, that’s a whole other like scientific … that’s what you see in like churches, though, is stained glass. You’ll see leaded glass windows at churches, too, depending on how many of those windows at churches are sponsored by families. All of those windows are supposed to be like memorials for people who have passed away. So I don’t do that because of time. I did a restoration project this past fall. And I’ll do more when I have time. Last year was crazy. I think I got home from like a festival and then immediately went into this restoration project, and then I was back on tour again. So, I’m taking a break, but I think I’ll be back at it when I have a window of time, after the tour, maybe.

Cellist and composer Vincent Bélanger and his company, Productions (VBMP), present a live performance of Songe, his original chamber music album. This new work features original compositions where the cello, double bass, and human voice play a prominent role in the arrangements, as well as adaptations of works by Johann Sebastian Bach and the late composer André Gagnon, one of its main inspirations. Songe was produced in collaboration with Toronto-based producer Jay Lee, renowned in the international audiophile community. Recorded at Saint-Benoît Church in Mirabel, Songe maximizes the church’s natural acoustics, which prompted its creator, also an ambassador for the British high-fidelity company Audio Note, to plan a tour of churches in Quebec and Eastern Ontario to showcase their acoustic qualities. Before the tour dates are officially announced, it all kicks off this Saturday, February 28th, at the magnificent Church of the Visitation. A winter afternoon’s dream, needless to say. The following interview reveals much more; here is Vincent Bélanger interviewed by Alain Brunet.

Dominique Fils-Aimé continues her rigorous artistic trajectory with the release of her fifth album, My World is the Sun, the second chapter of her new trilogy. Conceived as a concept album, the work explores intergenerational transmission and the structuring role of natural elements in her personal and creative journey. Her first three albums—Nameless (2018), Stay Tuned! (2019), and Three Little Words (2021)—formed an initial trilogy built around the roots of African-American genres: jazz, blues, and soul. With Our Roots Run Deep (2023), she began a new cycle, more introspective and grounded in heritage. The third single, “PHOENIX RISING,” is accompanied by a double music video directed by Vladim Vilain and Miryam Charles, visually extending this reflection on memory, resilience, and rebirth. Our journalist Keithy Antoine spoke with the artist for PAN M 360.

Credit: Vladim Vilain






She’s Brazilian, she’s a photographer, and recently she’s become a cultural event organizer—but not just any kind of event. In November 2025, Renata Carmo gained recognition thanks to her highly successful event celebrating Black Awareness Month, the Brazilian equivalent of Black History Month, in Montreal. After a trip to Brazil during the holiday season, she returned even more energized to launch the very first edition of Brazilian Black History Month. While Montreal has a large Brazilian population, the Black Brazilian community is smaller and still relatively unknown. This is precisely the mission Renata set for herself by creating Racines Cor d’Anil and her project combining photography and interviews to shine a light on her compatriots. The first two events, held on February 14th and 21st, exceeded Renata’s expectations, and she anticipates a successful evening on February 28th, which will include a roda de samba. Sandra Gasana met with her, after her dance class, to discuss the plans for February 28th and also to learn more about her many roles.





During his visit to Club S.A.T., Amselysen presents on stage the culmination of a project that has been a long time in the making: American Vulgarities, You’re My Lucky Star. He refines a more embodied, more direct approach. In this interview, he looks back on the evolution of his live performances, the influences of his years in a band, and the conceptual dimension of the album, where political fiction, irony, and marketing strategy intersect as an artistic gesture.

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Performance as an outcome

Amselysen: It’s going to be the culmination of the material from American Vulgarities, You’re My Lucky Star. The album is in its final stages and quietly preparing for release.

I had the opportunity to tour Europe, which allowed me to refine some of the material. The prototype was first presented on May 31, 2025. After that, I went on tour with the album and composed a few new songs.

J’ai pu raffiner tout le processus. À Club S.A.T., ça va être l’aboutissement final de cette tournée-là. C’était un privilège de pouvoir vivre cet album en live avant sa sortie, une chance que je n’ai pas toujours eue avec mes anciennes parutions.

PAN M 360: How has the tour changed your approach to the project?

Amselysen: The first time I performed live, I realized that what interests me and what interests people is when I pick up the microphone. That was the first step toward returning to a more embodied dynamic. Then I thought to myself that now that everything was back on the table and I no longer had to adhere to a self-imposed technical standard, it was time to bring the bass guitar back into my music.

I used to have a band, largely inspired by the Californian duo The Garden, who gave me the courage to release music. It was a pastiche of their lineup: guitar, bass, vocals, and drums.

I brought back the bass as a lead instrument, very prominent on certain tracks. There are also live percussion and mini beatboxing samples added to give a little flavor to the very electronic drums, which were composed using oscillators rather than samples.

I tried to breathe new life into the whole thing. Lots of vocal improvisation, a few slightly ridiculous interludes. At times, it almost becomes a comedy sketch.

PAN M 360: How do your years in bands influence your current practice?

Amselysen: It’s years of living live music 100%, and also messing up. It’s happened to me a lot, an absolute disaster on stage. It sounds like a LinkedIn post, but it teaches you stress management, how to deal with failure, moderate your expectations, and recover from accidents in live situations.

Amselysen is conceived as a concert project, structured in terms of songs, even for the instrumentals, rather than according to logic more strictly linked to dance music such as techno.

PAN M 360: An even more LinkedIn-like version?

Amselysen: Screwing up on stage eight times taught me a lot: B2B interactions with the audience, managing demographics and audience size, public relations, PR, and dealing with failure in a professional environment.

An album between fiction and reality

PAN M 360: What does the title American Vulgarities, You’re My Lucky Star represent?

Amselysen: The name was decided before the current political dynamics in the United States. I wanted to construct a form of docu-fiction through the track names, imagining a potentially terrible political reality.

But as time goes by, reality is surpassing my fiction, which was already quite dystopian. I felt the need to emphasize the slightly cruder, more vulgar side of the project in the process.

PAN M 360: Do you have a release date?

Amselysen: Until everything is finalized, I don’t want to spill the beans. I’m in talks with a record label.

I am also developing the marketing campaign, which plays a central role in the album. It has been designed with a visual dimension, not audiovisual, but conceptual, inspired by Theodor Adorno’s theory of the fetishization of music, Guy Debord’s The Society of the Spectacle and Georges Bataille’s The Accursed Share.

There is a reflection on the objectification, commodification, and fetishization of the product. The idea is to turn it into something akin to a fashion item, an object intriguing enough to attract an audience that would not naturally be interested or that would be very new to the field.

I am in the process of producing this material.

PAN M 360: So marketing is also becoming an artistic endeavor?

Amselysen: Listen, there’s nothing more American than turning marketing into a form of self-expression. Thematically, it fits perfectly with the concept of the album.

👉 Découvrez la programmation complète et réservez vos billets ici

The transcultural ensemble Oktoecho, in collaboration with the Gaïa and Phœbus choirs, presents the program Nordic Voices. This program will be presented on Saturday, February 21, 2026, at 3:30 p.m. at the Church of the Annunciation in Oka. The performance will be preceded by a talk at 3:00 p.m.: An Encounter Between Inuit Throat Singing and Western Choral Music. Under the direction of choir director Roseline Blain and Oktoecho director Katia Makdissi-Warren, this program offers an exploration of Nordic identity through Nordic, Scandinavian, and North American voices and traditions. Throat singers Lydia Etok and Nina Segalowitz will express themselves in this process, bringing together three ensembles on stage and adding an Inuit touch to choral singing and original music of Western origin. The program highlights works by Erik Bergman, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Sibelius and Mäntyyärvi, Richard Kidd, and Katia Makdissi-Warren. The following interview brings together Katia and Roseline, who explain this summit of choral singing, throat singing, and chamber music that couldn’t be more contemporary.

TICKETS AND INFO

February 21, 2026 – 3:30 p.m.

Church of the Annunciation
181 Rue des Anges, Oka

QC J0N 1E0

Her name might raise eyebrows at times, but it certainly doesn’t leave anyone indifferent. She can be found on several Montreal stages, as well as across the Atlantic, notably in France where she has already completed two tours. LiKouri, whose name is inspired by both China (Li) and her Lebanese roots (Kouri), is a singer-songwriter, accordionist, and storyteller. She was one of three finalists at the MUZ showcase of world music in 2024, and since then, her rise has been meteoric. She has several projects underway, but one of them is with her trio, formed by Charles Cantin on guitar and Isabelle Gaudreau on clarinet. Together, they are the creators of the “Dans mon quartier” project, which they will present at Le Ministère on February 26, as part of the Mozaïk series of world music evenings, presented by Vision Diversité. For the occasion, Sandra Gasana spoke with Li to learn more about her career and her many projects for 2026.






This Sunday, February 22, at 4 p.m., in the Pierre-Mercure Hall, the first Carte Blanche concert presented by Pro-Musica will feature Alberta pianist Jan Lisiecki. Preceded by a talk led by Maurice Rhéaume, the program explores two themes: first, the theme of the 2026 season, “The Great Romantics,” and second, a collection of 14 dances composed by Romantic and modern composers. This program was conceived and performed by Lisiecki himself, who joined us in Calgary to explain its intricacies.

PAN M 360: We’ve known about your career for a long time, even though you’re barely 30. As a child, you were already well-known as early as 2010! How would you summarize your long progression? Artistically and professionally?

Jan Lisiecki : I was very lucky because I started playing at a very young age.

PAN M 360: That said, we also know that it is difficult or even dangerous for a virtuoso to endure all this pressure from the gifted child.

Jan Lisiecki :I think I’d forgotten about those issues. I tried instead to stay true to myself, to keep learning from others, to receive advice, to listen. In that sense, I was very lucky because even though I started performing at a very young age, I was able to experience working with the best musicians on Earth, to share with them. And when you keep your eyes wide open, it really allows you to create something new while remaining true to yourself. That’s how I saw my own evolution.

PAN M 360: So you had to find your own fuel and feed it, didn’t you?

Jan Lisiecki : In many ways, I’ve stayed the same. I taught a very young person to discover themselves, to try to figure out who they were. I think that’s very important for any artist who has to perform at a concert. Because we’re like Olympic athletes. We have to perform when the time comes. There’s the same kind of stress, the same kind of challenge, and also the same pressure on you.

PAN M 360: Of course, the evaluation of an artist and an athlete differs profoundly.

Jan Lisiecki : Yes, absolutely, and I think one of the main differences between a classical performer and an Olympian athlete is that the classical soloist is more on their own. Of course, they have a teacher… and that’s it. You don’t have that incredible support team that a top athlete has. So, you have to rely on yourself, you have to be able to teach yourself, depend on your own resources when you travel…   

PAN M 360: Competition does exist, but you are judged according to very different criteria.

Jan Lisiecki : Competitions remain an incredible tool for me; they’ve given me many concert opportunities. It was always my goal to play with an orchestra. I didn’t enter competitions primarily for the grant or the prize, but above all to play with an orchestra. In the end, I think the most interesting aspect is playing for yourself. Of course, you play for your audience, but you play first and foremost for yourself; you have to be convinced of your interpretation. If you’re doing it to please someone else, you’re going astray. I had a teacher who told me that trying to repeat what’s already been done is a caricature, just to impress the audience.

PAN M 360: You then become a crowd pleaser.

Jan Lisiecki : Exactly.

PAN M 360: As a player, where do you see your recent improvements and achievements?

Jan Lisiecki : As a pianist, I’m very happy to discover the repertoire; it’s a virtually limitless source. For example, I recently played a Prokofiev concerto for the first time. It was a bit strange for me, very different from anything I’d done before.

For me, in terms of technique, I think the last big step was when I took lessons with Professor Marc Durand, who was at the time at the Glenn Gould School of Music in Toronto. He really helped me create sounds. I was always focused on the beauty of the sound. I loved pianissimo, but projection wasn’t really my goal.

I didn’t want to play very loudly. Marc Durand then helped me to create something bigger.

PAN M 360: What are your next challenges as a player?

Jan Lisiecki : Honestly, I don’t see anything that scares me. I’ve worked with singers, with violinists, I’ve played with great conductors, symphony orchestras, chamber orchestras, small ensembles… You also have to know how to work with a singer, how to breathe with him or her, discover languages ​​with which you are not completely comfortable.

PAN M 360: Where are you based?

Jan Lisiecki :I’m still in Calgary, but I also have a place in Poland. My 93-year-old grandmother lives there and is still in good health.

PAN M 360: A few words on each of the 14 pieces in the Montreal program? It’s an ambitious and diverse program, from Piazzolla to Martinu.

Jan Lisiecki :

Bohuslav Martinů, 3 Danses tchèques, H. 154 : Martinů is a Czech composer. Very enjoyable. This music always carries you along. You can also hear the folk elements. It’s quite angular, I’d say. Contemporary in that sense, but you can still feel the melodic line. For me, it’s a discovery.

Manuel De Falla, Danza Española N° 2, N° 1:   The arrangement of this piece comes from the composer himself or was approved by him. It’s interesting because it has this incredible orchestral sound, this orchestral energy. And at the same time, it’s written for the piano. You can imagine yourself in Spain. That’s the aim of this program: a journey through the world of dance. 

Karol Szymanowski, 4 Danses polonaises, M60 :  In my previous program, I had a set of Szymanowski pieces that weren’t so difficult to play but very difficult to memorize—so much tonality and complicated harmonies. It didn’t always seem logical to me, but here it’s simpler. It’s a mix of dissonance and consonance, and we have this Polish dance rhythm in the middle of it all. It took me a while to find my own voice in it.

Franz Schubert, 16 Danses allemandes, D. 783 :   Schubert isn’t usually associated with dance music, and perhaps that’s not his strength. In fact, these 16 dances are very short pieces and contain a lot of repetition. I was able to read them all quite easily in a day after asking myself, “Oh! What am I going to do with this musically?” Nevertheless, for me, it’s one of the best parts of the program because there’s so much energy, so much elegance, and also so much room for change because of the repetition. I can have fun in concert and spontaneously decide to do something different.

Béla Bartók, Danses folkloriques roumaines, Sz. 56 :  Some people are familiar with these dances. However, the arrangements are often not very good, whereas here we have the original version. I think the key here is the transition: when you go from Schubert to Bartók, you stay in the same key, and the dance continues with the same flow. You don’t feel like you’re in a completely different world. And I think that’s why Béla Bartók works so well.

Alberto Ginastera, Danzas Argentinas, Op. 2: Ginastera is a fantastic composer for the piano, and these are three great dances. The first dance has an incredible writing style; the second is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful pieces on this program, possessing an elegance enriched by adversity—otherwise, it would be too kitschy. And it leads into a dance of the outlaw. Very technical, very demanding… It’s simply amazing!  Frédéric Chopin, Grande valse brillante, Op. 18 : Cette valse est absolument magnifiques. Qui plus est, très amusante à jouer. Puisqu’ il y a beaucoup de répétitions dans cette pièce, vous avez beaucoup de flexibilité dans la façon de l’exécuter. C’est l’un des morceaux que j’ai le plus joués.

Johannes Brahms, Valse, Op. 39 N° 3: From Chopin, we move directly to one of the two Brahms waltzes I’ve often played. When I played No. 3 in Vienna earlier this year, I was asked if it was Chopin. It relies on a delicate arrangement in this program and makes a charming interlude for what follows.

Frédéric Chopin, Valses, Op. 34, N° 1 and N° 2  & Johannes Brahms, Valse, Op. 39 N° 15:

These pieces were composed around the same time. Of course, but you don’t really think about Brahms and Chopin. Brahms is darker, more serious, while Chopin was always romantic. However, this contrast also highlights the similarities; the way these pieces are combined is important, beyond just preparing for performance. Both of Chopin’s pieces are wonderful. Chopin brought forward his own vision, his world of colors and emotions that exist only in his music.

Astor Piazzolla, Libertango:  I’ve always loved tango, but also the bandoneon, which I’d love to learn to play; it would be quite a challenge. For now, this is as far as I’ve been able to go with this music. This transcription incorporates the piano and the bandoneon, the common lines of the composition and the improvisation, which makes it very technically challenging to play. Astor played it slowly and maintained a magnificent tension with his quartet (piano, bandoneon, double bass, violin). For my part, I continue to experiment with this arrangement by Nikola Kuznetsov. It’s a very dissonant, very energetic, very modern Argentine tango.

Isaac Albéniz, España, Op. 165 n° 2: Tango:  Here again in this program we have a contrast between the previous piece and that of Albéniz, with less tension, a kind of elegant dance.

Manuel De Falla, Danse du feu (Ritual Fire Dance) :  Once again, we have that great Spanish energy. Super!

Frédéric Chopin, Polonaise en la bémol majeur, Op. 53 : This is a work by Chopin, composed late in his life. I think the audience will appreciate it; it’s a good way to conclude.

PAN M 360: Why did you choose dance as the main theme of this program?

Jan Lisiecki : My last program was based on preludes, the one before that on nocturnes, and now here are the dances. It’s a kind of continuity and also a way to create an original program. Of course, bringing together wonderful works that people love is very good, but it’s also very good and different to conceive such a program, to create an arc, a thematic cohesion.

PAN M 360: In short? 

Jan Lisiecki : I sought to achieve an interesting balance, to find a way to show not only the Beethovens, the Chopins, the Mozarts, but also to find these gems and present them to the public.

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The journey of this flamboyant 60 something-year-old does not seem to be coming to an end anytime soon, and it will be beautifully summarized on stage this Tuesday, February 17, at 5 p.m., at Le 9e in the Eaton Center.

Soprano Sharon Azrieli is a key figure in Montreal, Quebec, and Canadian culture. A vibrant opera singer, well versed in the classical repertoire as well as the Great American Songbook, modern jazz, and sacred Jewish music, Sharon Azrieli has enjoyed a long career and has also been one of the most influential patrons of the arts in the local music scene. She is responsible for the AMACC (Azrieli Music Arts and Culture Centre), a natural extension of the Azrieli Foundation, which was started in 1989 by her late father David J. Azrieli (1922-2014), a wealthy architect and real estate developer.

On the eve of what promises to be a packed show (one hour long), PAN M 360 caught up with Sharon to find out more.

TICKETS AND INFOS HERE

PAN M 360: How did you design your menu for Le 9e?

Sharon Azrieli: It will be a true Montreal concert, a true Quebec concert, even featuring excerpts from Gilles Vigneault! With my musical director, the wonderful pianist John Roney, I assembled (not composed) a song for Canada. I was looking for a pro-Canada song, but couldn’t find one, so John and I put one together from several Canadian songs.

PAN M 360: So you took a few fragments from each song.  Today, we call that a mashup!

Sharon Azrieli: Exactly, that’s it! I hope we did this mashup right, you’ll have to let me know after the concert!

PAN M 360: Okay!

Sharon Azrieli: In any case, we really worked hard… I did a lot of research to find songs that were pro-Quebec and pro-Canada. But that song didn’t exist, so we made it from several well-known and lesser-known songs.

PAN M 360: What is the core of this show?

Sharon Azrieli:  Basically, this show tells the story of my life. And I’m not a young woman! But what John Roney and I have put together is fantastic! I’ll even be dancing with four wonderful men who will twirl me around! 

PAN M 360: Not exactly a recital!

Sharon Azrieli: This is the first time I’ve done this. The first time I’ve danced. The first time I’ve spoken to the audience like this, with monologues between songs. Yes, it’s completely new to me!

PAN M 360: What instruments will be featured in the concert?

Sharon Azrieli: It will be piano and vocals, not counting the men who will join me on stage. I am very fortunate to be working with John Roney, my pianist and musical director. In addition to being an excellent pianist, he is so patient , so just with me and gives such sound advice… In short, he is perfect!

PAN M 360: An overview of the repertoire?

Sharon Azrieli: As I said, this is my life. I sing a varied repertoire, I will perform an excerpt from a piece by André Previn (Magic To Do), then the aria “O Mio Babbino Caro”, a very famous aria by Puccini (Gianni Schicchi ), perhaps the first opera aria I ever learned. We’re starting at the beginning of my life!

I then perform a song simply titled Chanson, from the film The Baker’s Wife (an American adaptation of Marcel Pagnol’s French film La femme du boulanger), composed by Stephen Schwartz, which is performed half in French and half in English.

What follows is jazz, for example, “C’est si bon,” which I perform in French, as well as excerpts from George Gershwin (“S’Wonderful,” “Our Love Is Here to Stay”). We continue with the mashup in tribute to Canada, then I will sing “Get Happy” (Harold Arlen/ Ted Koehler) as performed by Judy Garland.

And then my male colleagues will take to the stage to sing. And it will be the first time, old woman that I am, that I will dance on stage Broadway style. Incredible… so much fun! Of course, I might stumble, put the wrong foot forward… anyway, the audience will be amazed to see me dancing on stage!

PAN M 360: It’ll be entertaining, no matter what happens!

Sharon Azrieli: I hope so! So there will be this tribute to Judy Garland and then a “Rainbow medley”, made up of all my favorite songs about rainbows that I have been singing for a long time and still sing to my grandchildren.

PAN M 360: There is also some very good Jewish music on the program, since that is also part of who you are.

This is my life: I learned Jewish music from my parents, then I learned opera singing, and then… at my age it becomes very difficult, nobody sings opera at my age. I consider myself very lucky to still have a voice! I can still sing, but I’m not stupid (laughs), and I still try to sing the classical repertoire and also vary the repertoire towards Jewish music, Broadway music, or jazz. You know, you can be in your sixties or even eighties and still sing jazz!

PAN M 360: And what will be the Jewish inspiration for this program?

Sharon Azrieli: Of course! There will be, among others, “Sabbath Prayer”, a song from the movie Fiddler on the Roof, and it’s very beautiful when the men sing on stage. And then I’ll do Michel Legrand, “Papa, Can You Hear Me?” from the movie Yentl (Barbra Streisand). I myself recorded a tribute to Michel Legrand that I still find relevant, never boring or redundant, always creative. And then I’ll do “Everybody Says Don’t”, an incredible song by Stephen Sondheim (from the musical Anyone Can Whistle). Another song with a Jewish flavor, but which isn’t actually Jewish, is a song from Leonard Bernstein’s opera Candide that I often perform, called “I’m Easily Assimilated”, completely revisited with four dancers who throw me into the air—you won’t believe it! Obviously, I’m not a dancer, and I might end up laughing at myself!

Finally, there will be sacred Jewish music, the real thing, which I learned from the great cantor Sol Zim (Solomon Zimelman), who was my teacher.

PAN M 360: In summary?

Sharon Azrieli: Everything you see and hear will be authentic. It will only be about the truth about me as a singer, but also as a mother and grandmother. It’s all true, all these songs, it’s me… because otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to memorize them, haha!

She doesn’t come from a family of griots, but if she has to attribute her success to one person, it’s probably her grandmother. Indeed, Senny Camara went to live with her grandmother from a very young age, and it was her grandmother who introduced her to music, first to singing and then to the kora. Today, she travels the world with her 21-string instrument to spread human values. She recently received an award at the Aga Khan Music Awards in London in November 2025, and this continues to open doors for her. In addition to being a singer, guitarist, and kora virtuoso, she also self-produced her album Yéné, released in 2024. But it’s her meeting with Zal Sissokho that we’re about to witness (and yes, they’ve never met before) at Balattou on February 20th, during her very first visit to Canada. She’ll take the opportunity to do a short tour of the country. Our journalist Sandra Gasana joined her live from France to find out more about her and her background.




Their names are Vanessa Croome and Sahara von Hattenberger. The first is a soprano and the other is a cellist. They form an unlikely duo, rarely used in classical music, hence their name, both intriguing and appealing.

Their reality: the scarcity of compositions specifically designed for their training. Their solution: order new ones! The result of their calls: the album I Wish I Were Dead, which will be released by ATMA Classique on February 20, 2026.

READ THE ALBUM REVIEW

A program of contemporary music, accessible, non-experimental but original and surprising. Sometimes more lyrical, other times more atmospheric, the pieces presented are from today’s talented composers, mostly from Quebec (Montreal). Fong Jeffrey, Airat Ichmouratov, Luna Pearl Woolf, Laurence Jobidon, Nicole Lizée. Joining them are the American Maya Fridman and the Swede Anders Hillborg.

An unusual and captivating album, which I discuss with the two artists in this interview (why this title?) conducted in French and English, with respective translated subtitles.

On February 24, the program will be performed in its entirety at the Bourgie Hall in Montreal. Looking much forward to it!

DETAILS AND TICKETS

Interview bilingual (FR and ENG) with respective translated subtitles

La violoniste Marie Nadeau-Tremblay a failli arrêter la pratique du violon. C’est la rencontre avec la musique baroque qui lui a donné le souffle de continuer et de faire carrière pour de bon. Après un premier album nommé Préludes et solitude, c’est Obsession, sorti fin 2025 sous étiquette ATMA, qui cristallise toute la passion de la jeune artiste pour cette musique. 

Une obsession profitable car ça lui a permis de recevoir le Prix Opus 2026 dans la catégorie Album de l’année – Musique médiévale, de la renaissance et baroque. J’ai parlé de cet album bien nommé avec Marie, ainsi qu’avec le luthiste Kerry Bursey, qui joue également sur l’album. 

LISEZ LA CRITIQUE PANM360 DE L’ALBUM OBSESSION

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