Interviews

From the 5th to the 6th of June, the SAT (Société des Arts Technologiques), is celebrating its 30th anniversary with the ambitious Futurs Antérieurs event, where 30 artists will take over the entirety of the building over the course of two days. PAURRO (Paulina Rodriguez) is one of these artists, and the one who will oversee Satosphère’s closing DJ set on the night of the 5th. 

With more than a decade of experience in the music industry and having played in famous venues such as Berlin’s Tresor and The Boiler Room, the Mexico born and Barcelona based DJ, Producer, independent label owner and radio host will bring an eclectic sound to the dancefloor. We can expect Breakbeats, Latin music, Hard grooves, techno, 90’s dance influences, and many surprises over the course of her upcoming DJ Set. 

In this interview, she offers us a sneak-peek into her approach to DJ-ing and producing, what’s to come on the night of the 5th, and where she currently stands in her creative journey.

FUTURS ANTÉRIEURS, INFOS & TICKETS HERE

PAN M 360:  Ok, Let’s start by introducing who you are to the reader. Who are you, where are you from, what is your practice and what kind of music do you make? 

PAURRO:  My name is Paulina. I’m from Mexico City, born and raised in Mexico City. I am currently based in Barcelona.

I am a DJ and producer. I see myself as a DJ first, and a producer second. The type of music that I like playing and making is dance-y, upbeat, a little bit rave-y, with lots of references to the nineties.

Oh, and I’m also a label owner and radio show host as well. I’m a multitasker. 

PAN M 360 – Looking at your current practice, and comparing it to when you started your career, what would be the core of your creative practice as it stands now, both as a DJ and as a producer?

PAURRO:  I definitely feel like what I produce came from what I like playing because I started DJing first. When I started producing, I just tried to replicate songs that I really liked playing. It was kind of one after the other, you know, the first helped the other come to life. I feel like my music has obviously evolved, as it is a little bit more… refined? I do it with more intention and I have clearer intentions. When I started, it was about experimenting and seeing if the music sounded okay. It was rawer. 

It was more about trying to figure out the structure of the tracks, but now I’m more focused on the sound and the details within the music, on the textures. I definitely feel like it came from playing dance music. It’s like I want to replicate all these tracks that I really love. In every track that I make, I try to replicate one or two tracks that I really like.

PAN M 360 :  Pointing at something you just said, what’s the importance of texture for you? It seems to be something that’s really at the core of what you’re doing.

PAURRO:  It’s the production journey; it really expands your horizons. The more you get into textures, the bigger the world becomes, the more you learn about them, and the more creative possibilities you have. I really like it when music has hidden sounds and textures. Lately, that’s what I focus on the most, because I have kind of already found a structure that works for me, with sonic elements that are always in my music. I already know like the base of my, I don’t know, my music pizza (laughs).

I really like it when I have textures and weird sounds coming in every once in a while. I love that. So yes, I think textures are what I’m most focused on right now.

PAN M 360: I was listening to your music while preparing for this interview. I really enjoyed how you use voice samples, especially how you use them as rhythmic elements. It’s something that seemed quite consistent across your work. 

PAURRO: Yes. Yes! I love chopping voices.

That started because when adding a vocal to a track, let’s say from a sample, I struggled to accommodate the timing properly. That’s why I started chopping vocals to time them how I wanted them to be. It was a way for me to just figure it out. It wasn’t very thought-out.

My melodic side isn’t very well developed yet, but my friend Matias, with whom I will be playing at the SAT, and who is a sort of mentor figure for me, told me to not worry about melodies. He told me to look at musical elements, say a piano or vocals, as rhythms. So that’s what I try to do, in ways that make sense with the tracks, to use different patterns, to make different patterns, from even just one vocal sample. I like the way it sounds.

PAN M 360 :  You like to blend genres; you’ve even said in past interviews that you simply don’t pay attention to them. It’s something that shows when listening to some of your music, you are indeed very eclectic. Thus, what kind of sounds can we expect to hear in your upcoming performance at the SAT? Perhaps not a specific sound, but maybe a kind of mood, an emotion, that you’ll be going for?

PAURRO:  I mean, I will be coming right after Matias, who is also super eclectic. There is always something unexpected in his set. I want to follow what he is doing. 

I know it will be very percussive. So, I will have a lot of percussion in my sets.

I like 90’s sounding vocals, so that will be there, but I also want a rave-y side. Lots of breaks, too, which is one of the things that I like most. Mood wise, I want to go for something, hum, sexy, still rave-y, but not too fast, slower, a little bit more paced.

PAN M 360- I’m kind of curious: when you do a DJ-set, how much of it do you plan in advance? What’s the portion that is pre-selected before the event, and what is the portion that you work-out on the spot?

PAURRO : What I like to do is picking the first three or four tracks in advance, and have the first two or three transitions be pre-planned as well. I like knowing what I’m doing at the beginning, it allows me to gain confidence, read the room, and then decide where it should be going. It also gives me time to get familiarised with the equipment and see if the monitoring is okay. It gives me the space to really get into it and be present. It’s about gaining confidence and then improvising. I have a playlist, but I rarely follow it. 

I sometimes also have a final track in mind, towards which I try to build up when I arrive at the last hour of my set. To get a good sense of closure.

PAN M 360 : Here at PANM, we also care about what happens on and under the table. What kind of gears do you work with? How do they shape your DJ-ing and producing?

PAURRO :  I don’t really have any gear for production; I use my computer. I mean, I use lots of plugins, but I feel like I barely know how to use Ableton, to be honest. It’s like there is always something new that I need to learn, so I’m just really focused on that for now.

But I do want to explore playing with hardware as well. That’s another step in the journey. It would be like a step up, I guess, sound design with hardware is another level to focus on. It would sound so different, with way more texture, and it just has more flavor. But I’m not there yet. I’m really getting comfortable with Ableton, which is what works for me now.

For DJ-ing, I like playing with digital and vinyls. Every time I can play both, I do both. I haven’t done an all vinyl set in a while, which I really want to do. But the music that I play right now, I don’t think I have it on vinyl. I need to get more records that represent what I am right now. But I never want to stop playing records, because that’s how I learned to DJ.

PAN M 360:  Will your set at the SAT be an all-digital mix?

PAURRO:  Yes. I’m still moving from Mexico, so it was too much for me to bring records to play for this tour, but hopefully next time I can bring records. I feel like a lot of people stopped doing it because it is hard to travel with them. It’s expensive now because now you have to pay for extra luggage, and it’s something physical that you have to take care of. But I mean, you just have to get used to it.

PAN M 360: For the SAT show, what kind of equipment are you bringing in with you?

PAURRO:  I play with four C-DJs and a B10. Yeah, I love the B10. You can do so many things with it. I like doing sharp cuts. It depends on the tracks, but let’s say that what I’m going to play has a big bass line, a fat bass line, I want it to come in, not as a shock, but to make it suddenly very present.

PAN M 360:  How do you plan your set? Do you start from a song, a mood, a certain sound, a place, a time period, et cetera? And how do you assemble things together? Do you work from like free association, collage, looking for contrast or continuity, a chapter-like structure? More simply, how do you build your sets sound wise and how do you construct their “narrative”?

PAURRO:  So I have an idea of how the gig is. I look at who else is playing with me and what the place is like. Is it a warehouse or in a club? I look at the vibe of the event, and I interpret it in my own way. It’s about what their vibe is according to me. Should my sound be more Latin? Maybe more bass-y? Maybe more house-y? Whatever the room needs, I create something from there. The first song I play really sets the mood for what I am going for. 

I really care for the whole to feel harmonic, for all of it to make sense. I want my set to be as cohesive as possible. But I also love surprise elements. I am not a DJ who likes things to go up slowly. I like it when there are sudden downs and ups. I go for wow moments, rather than just making it all nice and cohesive. But in general, I try to mix both. I really feel satisfied when I get a sense that my sets have a common thread woven through them. I want to make it “grow” nicely

PAN M 360 :  You will be performing in the Satosphère, the 360-degree projection dome at the SAT, which allows for both total sonic and visual immersion.

How will this impact your set? Have you been in conversation with the VJs (Visual Jockeys) who will be performing with you or no? What can we expect from the encounter of your sonic world with their visual world?

PAURRO : It’s really funny because it’s Bunbun who is doing the visual for me, and Alex. And Alex did the visuals for me in Mutek Japan. And unfortunately, we both had technical issues with our sets over there. We were both struggling at the same time. So we asked the SAT to let us work together again, so that this time we could do it properly. Based on what he did for me in Mutek, I know what he is going to do. I will be presenting a world that is similar to what I presented on Mutek, but for a space like the SAT, which is smaller, more intimate.

PAN M 360:  Could you describe a little bit what it is you did at Mutek Japan then, to give us an idea of what it might be like on the 5th?

PAURRO: It was kind of crazy because it’s Japan. I felt like I had to show a crazy side, something riskier. Like crazy vocals, screams, random sounds, something more techno, a little bit faster, with many genre variations because I wanted to show my full range. I think it will be like that at the SAT as well.

PAN M 360:  What are you hoping that people will get from your performance at the SAT? What would be the ideal experience they would get from your set?

PAURRO:  It’s a closing set, so I hope they go home really satisfied with all of it, that they leave with a good taste in their mouth. I want them to see how much work I have put into making my set. To show that I am a pro, (laughing). I just want them to dance a lot and to go back home having spent every last bit of their energy, thinking “I’m good, I’m ready for bed. This was a good night out. She was dope”.

PAN M 360:  Last question, an open ended one: is there anything in this conversation that we didn’t touch upon which you feel to be important in your artistic practice?

PAURRO: Something that I didn’t mention, and which has been really important as part of my whole journey as a person, DJ and producer is my label. It gave me a lot of perspective. Having a label gives you a sense of reality of how things really are in the music industry. It sounds a little bit cheesy, but it makes me feel grateful that I get to do what I do because the music industry is really bad right now for independent artists. Also, listening to all this great music that comes in and that we’re gonna release, it inspires me a lot. It gives me more ideas on how I want to approach production and moods that I want to explore. And also, collabs. Now I want to do collabs. I was always very insecure about collabs, but now that I have the label, I just want to make that happen. It’s opening a new door.

PAN M 360: Thank you very much for this interview. Any closing comment about your upcoming Set on the 5th and the Futurs Antérieurs event overall?

PAURRO:  It’s gonna be really really fun, so people should go! All your senses are going to be entertained and you’re gonna see things that are kind of out of format. And I am not just talking only about myself; I am talking about all of the other artists. They are incredible. I’m excited for the whole night. I will be hanging around; I want to see it all.

Publicité panam

Speculative futures will protect us by opening space for imagination where the present feels increasingly constrained. In Matias Aguayo’s work, dancing becomes more than celebration; it operates as a form of resistance and collective survival. Across clubs, public spaces, and unexpected contexts, rhythm becomes a way of reorganizing how people meet and listen to one another. In this conversation, he reflects on freedom, counterculture, and the need to keep movement alive as a response to a world shaped by acceleration and control.

PAN M 360 : Before we started recording, you were saying you’re in Porto right now?

Matias Aguayo: Yes, I’m in Porto where I did a show involving dancers and other musicians presenting the album (Anenao), which was released on Friday.

I’ve been on an extremely busy schedule, but also very happy to finally share this music and live with it. Releasing an album is kind of half of the project, and the other half is to let the music live, travel around, show it to people, sell the record, etc. So I’m very excited.

PAN M 360: That’s awesome. As you said, embodying the music through performance is definitely part of the process.

I’m also thinking about your upcoming set at SAT’s 30th anniversary. SAT is a space that sits at the intersection of art, technology, and community. You’ve just mentioned working with dancers, voices, and other forms of performance beyond electronic music. How do you see your work fitting into that conversation?

Matias Aguayo: I see it absolutely fitting, especially because it’s such a diverse space in its expressions.

I come from electronic dance music, but for me it was always important to have these intersections with other entities of society and not be closed within this rather conservative environment of dance music. Whether it’s street parties in Mexico City, events involving dancers and local communities, music for theatre plays, or working with inmates, I find the most inspiration in these intersectional points where one abandons the format that is expected from you.

It’s also an opportunity for me to come back and interact with the Montreal audience, which has been something that spans a few decades now. I haven’t been there in a while, so for me it’s a re-encounter with a city and an environment that I appreciate a lot.

PAN M 360: You mentioned the conventional electronic dance music scene. What do you mean by “conventional,” and how do you move outside of that framework?

Matias Aguayo: I think it’s quite natural in the sense that I seek inspiration and exciting moments, and I don’t find them so much in formats where it is already clear what is expected from you. Abandoning the booth, grabbing the microphone, going into the audience and interacting is very important to me. I find that contexts that are not restricted toward one direction, or where the micro-discourse of a scene is not so important, force you to open up to other perceptions of what you do. That’s always inspiring. It’s also more challenging, and it’s more fun for me.

Sometimes it’s simply about creating conditions in which the surprise effect is practically inevitable. Nowadays, electronic dance music has become very predictable and very focused on specific genres and tags. Corporate social media, streaming services, and algorithms drive you towards that. It’s not an environment that really encourages the intersectional, the weird, or the things that are not so easily definable.

PAN M 360 : When I was reading about the BoomBox parties, I was struck by how they seemed to create space for unexpected encounters and new directions in music. Could you tell me a bit more about that experience?

Matias Aguayo: BoomBox spans a long time ago now. Those were parties we were doing especially in Argentina and Chile, and at some point in Colombia, where we played all kinds of music. The music that emerged from there was very groove-oriented, vocal-heavy and direct. 

Nowadays, in Mexico City, I’m participating very much in La Nueva Red de Bailadores, a collective devoted to making free parties in public spaces. These parties are some of the most diverse parties I’ve seen. The DJs come from very different backgrounds, often from the neighborhoods where we go. You can hear all kinds of musical styles. We also don’t announce who’s playing, so nobody really knows who’s behind the decks.

For me, that creates very special situations. It’s inspiring because it encourages you to try different things. When I make music, including the music for this album, I like to test tracks before they’re finished. I like to play them out, see the reactions, and enter into a dialogue with the spaces where I’m playing.

The studio can be very introspective, but it always has a dialogue with the outside. That’s very important for me. Not so much the idea of the lonely poet screaming in his book, but more the person who moves around and confronts different situations. For me, that’s also a little bit the essence of the DJ. Being in a context, knowing what to play, knowing how to react, reading the audience, and establishing a dialogue.

PAN M 360 : You mentioned La Nueva Red de Bailadores. Looking at electronic music today, which has become increasingly globalized and digitalized, it feels like there are still these underground spaces that create room for other ways of gathering and listening. What aspects of that culture do you think are the most important to preserve?

Matias Aguayo: I think it’s very difficult to answer in some way because the times are changing so rapidly, and especially the developments that are about to come in the next years are completely unpredictable to us.

If somebody had told me ten years ago how the landscape of music, politics, and society would look today, I would have been shocked. So we don’t really know what’s about to come. What we can do, and what I think is important, is to preserve the spirit of counterculture. To focus on imagining better possible ways of community and communitarianism, and also imagining better futures. If all the dystopias people told in the past have become true, maybe positive stories about the future can also become true if we imagine them.

Electronic music is only a reflection of something that is happening in society as a whole. If we see that the underground scene is struggling, or that middle-class artists and the independent music industry are disappearing, it’s not so different from seeing the corner shop replaced by a Starbucks. The interconnection between these things is super important. We shouldn’t forget that what happens in our scene is related to what happens in society.

For me, that means resistance against fascism, basically.

PAN M 360 : I’ve seen that you’ve collaborated with artists from many different musical and cultural backgrounds throughout your career. I imagine there must be something to learn from those encounters, not only as a musician, but also as a listener. Are there collaborations or moments that particularly changed the way you listen to others?

Matias Aguayo: On the one hand, if I choose to work with people, it’s usually because I think we share similar values, because they’re good at what they do, and because it’s fun to work together. But when I think about listening and opening up to others, one experience comes to mind.

It happened at the Centre Pénitentiaire de Meaux during the pandemic. We were celebrating after a rehearsal and I felt very much the need to play music and make people dance because there was a festive mood in the room. Many of the inmates were of Algerian descent, and I had some Rai music from the 1980s on my computer. We talked about it together, whether it would be cool to play this song, and everybody agreed. So I played it.

Suddenly everybody started dancing. Everybody knew the lyrics. Even from the cells you could hear people joining in because there was suddenly this little party happening in a place that isn’t very festive at all. One of the inmates came to me and told me, “This is the first time I’m dancing with friends in ten years.” It was emotionally very touching.

But it also made me realize something. I thought, okay, this is actually the work. Bringing a song at the right moment to the right place. In this case, bringing festivity into a place that isn’t very festive. Moments like that inspire me a lot.

Songs like Sentimientos Encontrados on Anénoa, or El Internet, are also inspired by talking to people on the dance floor in these public-space parties in Mexico. The idea of speaking over the track and delivering content in a poetic but concrete way comes directly from having your ear on the dance floor and on the moment we’re passing through.

PAN M 360 : That’s beautiful. I watched the music video for El Internet, and what struck me was how central the voice is, not only as a musical element, but almost as a theatrical presence. Listening to Anenoa, it really feels like the voice becomes the central instrument.

Thinking about this new record in relation to Support Alien Invasion, how do you feel you’ve evolved between those two albums?

Matias Aguayo: I think they’re very much reflections of different moments.

Support Alien Invasion was kind of a desperate record. It was 2019, and I had the feeling that a lot of things were about to happen that were not so cool. It was almost a call: okay, please, somebody from outside come help us. Let’s try a new communication. That’s also why the album is instrumental, although there are elements that remind you of vocals in the communicative or melodic sense.

It was an important statement for me at that moment.

Anenoa feels different. I took my time with it. It works in its own timeframe and space. Whereas Support Alien Invasion was almost like a warning, Anénoa feels more open. I don’t want to say the previous record was dystopian, but it was certainly darker and more alienistic. And it’s true that in Anenoa there’s a strong sense of joy and freedom.

PAN M 360: There’s a real sense of joy throughout the album, and in today’s cultural climate that almost feels like a political gesture in itself.

Matias Aguayo: Yes, absolutely.

Freedom is a word that has been very much co-opted by the political right and deprived of a lot of its meaning. But I try to live musical freedom. If you ask me what I would like to preserve, it’s definitely that: a deeper meaning of freedom.

And dancing is part of it. The joy that dancing creates is a regeneration of energy that one needs in every process of resistance. It’s an answer to dystopian times. A lot of music right now is very hard and very dark. For me, it often feels like an amplification of the things we’re already going through rather than an answer to them. I think of minimalism in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It wasn’t an amplification of information overload; it was a response to it. Answering anxiety with more anxiety doesn’t really work for me.

PAN M 360: It’s been quite a while since you’ve performed in Montreal. What can audiences expect from your set at SAT’s anniversary?

Matias Aguayo: It’s been quite a while, I think maybe 2018 or something, almost ten years ago.

I always try to arrive early at gigs, catch a bit of the vibe, see what people seem open to, and what not. Then I decide very much at the last minute what I will play.

I’ll obviously play things from the record, but also other stuff. I can only decide in the moment, really. So I guess it will be a surprise.

PAN M 360: And my last question… Do you have any rituals before going on stage? Something that helps you get into the right state?

Matias Aguayo: I stretch a little bit, and I change clothes shortly before playing. I like that moment of changing outfits because it feels like I’m getting into the zone of a performance.

It’s more of an inner thing. I don’t really have a fixed ritual that I follow every time, but maybe that’s it. Just being a bit grounded, and then going in.

Publicité panam

“Chamber music is an intimate form of musical art—a kind of language that begins where words end—that brings people closer to their everyday lives and soothes the soul. ”

Now in its 31st year in Montreal under the direction of cellist Denis Brott—a member of a prominent family of Montreal musicians, as is well known—the Montreal Chamber Music Festival showcases both classical repertoire and jazz.

As the festival’s founder and ongoing artistic director, cellist Denis Brott brings together a national and international community of outstanding chamber music performers of all generations and renown—some sixty in total—around whom he builds his programming.

From June 9 to 21, primarily at Salle Bourgie, with the exception of a very special performance at the Maison symphonique, the Montreal Chamber Music Festival presents 16 original programs.

To achieve his goals, Denis Brott uniquely brings together a distinguished group of select musicians whom he features in several of his programs, often participating himself as a performer. The Chamber Music Festival presents varied programs that reflect the broad cultural scope of its artistic direction.
Among the many concerts on the schedule, the following stand out: starting June 9, violinist Sirena Huang, winner of prestigious international competitions, will perform Bach’s complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin in a series of three concerts; For the Love of Brahms, on June 9; conducted by Denis Brott, Cellobration pays tribute to the legendary Russian cellist Gregor Piatigorsky on June 11. Under the direction of pianist Matt Catingub, a jazz program explores three distinct worlds in big band style: Sinatra, Ellington, and Gershwin, on June 12. Beethoven’s famous Symphony No. 9 in D major, Op. 125, is performed in an arrangement for 8 instruments and 4 voices by Francis Malka, the highlight of the Ode to Joy program on June 16. The program “An Evening in Vienna” is scheduled for the festival’s closing night, featuring Schubert with the Barbican Quartet and cellist Denis Brott, or Fritz Kreisler with virtuoso violinist Kevin Zhu, to name just a few.

In the run-up to the FMCM, there’s nothing like chatting with Denis Brott to make us eager to dive into his program.

Publicité panam

Watch this interview !

There are those encounters whose emotional strength one does not suspect will emerge. My conversation with soprano Karina Gauvin in anticipation of her recital on June 3, 2026, at the Classica Festival is one of those. The Quebec artist will perform Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs for the first time in her life, a poignant work with exquisite emotional subtlety. It is in a version with a chamber orchestra, arranged by Olivier Larue, that the masterpiece will be performed. Also on the program, a chamber version of Mahler’s First Symphony, “Titan,” an arrangement by Klaus Simon. Listen with me as Karina shares very intimate and deeply touching reflections on her personal relationship with this end-of-life music (Strauss wrote it in his last year before dying).

INFO AND TICKETS FOR THE JUNE 3 CONCERT

The Montreal International Music Competition is currently in full swing with its 2026 edition dedicated to the violin. During the two intense weeks of this major event in Montreal’s musical life—akin to a violin marathon—the various competitors invited to Montreal to showcase their artistry have taken the stage at Salle Bourgie, performing a succession of sonatas, contemporary works, and virtuoso pieces. At this stage of the competition’s journey, the finish line is near, and the final four are taking shape as ten finalists have already been selected. A few days before the competition began, PAN M 360 contributor Alexandre Villemaire spoke with Chantal Poulin, the competition’s executive director, who has been leading the production of this edition with her team for the past year. Here is a look at what drives this edition and a glimpse at who the key players are for the final stages.

PAN M 360: What can you tell us about the 24 competitors who have arrived in Montreal for this competition?

Chantal Poulin :As you know, we work with three disciplines: piano, violin, and voice. Each group has a distinct profile as a competitor. When we work with violin, the age range is much broader. This year, for example, we have two 17-year-olds and others who are in their thirties. But they all have one thing in common: they all come from leading music schools around the world. These are people who stand out. Today, the music world is so competitive that if a young artist from the new generation wants to make it, they have no choice but to be excellent. The 24 contestants were selected from 250 applicants and come from 17 different countries. We’re quite proud of that. In a world where borders are often becoming increasingly closed off, being able to create such a gathering through music is exceptional.

Yes, it’s a competition, but it’s also a friendly gathering that goes beyond that to allow music and humanity to triumph through it. The competition is, above all, a wonderful human adventure. When you see them arrive with all their baggage and their personal backgrounds, it’s a truly enriching experience.

PAN M 360: What are the new features—or elements that may be new—that you wanted to introduce this year in this edition of Violon 2026?

Chantal Poulin : Some things remain constant. We have a winning formula that we are committed to maintaining and replicating, and which has set us apart as a Montreal-based competition.

We also keep a close eye on developments in the field because, above all, we want to ensure that the competitors we select as winners are truly ready for an international career. We always strive to provide jury members with all the necessary experience to fully evaluate the artist. Each stage of the competition allows jury members to examine and assess certain complementary aspects. Of course, in the semifinals, we always feature the great violin sonatas.

But what’s new this year is that we’ve added two rounds to the finals. We’ll have five competitors in the first round, five finalists in the first round of the finals, and three grand finalists who will perform the following day, June 4, at the Maison symphonique. All of this is to allow the jury members to hear the strongest performers in the group in two types of concertos.

Another standout feature of the competition is the opportunity to work with jury chairs who are experts in the field.

This year, Lucie Robert’s involvement alongside my colleague, Artistic Director Shira Gilbert, allowed us to reevaluate how we select, listen to, and judge the 24 artists coming to Montreal. This applied both to the works that were commissioned and to the selection of the program.

Otherwise, there’s always this desire to really put down roots in Montreal. We’re very proud of our international reach, which is undoubtedly recognized in the music world, but we’re also very proud when our Montreal competition can establish a strong foothold in the Montreal ecosystem. That’s why it’s so important for us to have these connections with institutions and other classical music presenters. The Emerging Artists jury is also back.

PAN M 360: The Mini Violini are back this year. What is this category of the competition, and who is it for?

Chantal Poulin : This is an activity that complements the competition but is not part of it. The young people participating are not competing against one another. That’s not what we want. It’s an opportunity for the public to see these young people at the beginning of their training and to witness their potential. This year, they will take turns performing excerpts from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. These are young people we are bound to see again. There is an Australian, two Canadians, and a young woman with dual American and South Korean citizenship. All are studying at prestigious music schools.

We also have, among the competitors in the 2026 edition of the Competition, Hannah Tam, who is an alumna of the 2017 Mini Violini.

PAN M 360: What does a typical day look like for a contestant in the Montreal International Music Competition?

Chantal Poulin : It’s very interesting, because playing the violin is, first and foremost, a physical endeavor. The young people who come to us are aware of this physical demand and usually take good care of their bodies. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. The students often eat a healthy breakfast, go outside to get some fresh air, some do yoga, some go running, some meditate, but they all have a moment when they retreat into their own space to take care of themselves physically.

Some of them practice a lot, while others have already practiced extensively before arriving; when they get here, they’re pretty much settled in. They’ll go over things a bit, review certain passages, and work with the official pianist assigned to them, but for most of them, the work is already done before they arrive, so they won’t be spending as much time rehearsing. And they’ll also be careful not to get injured in the final hours. It would be a shame to injure a hand after working so hard. So it’s a bit of a mix of all that, which comes down above all to discipline and rigor, but also has a lot to do with each person’s personality. And then there’s the level of stress, and how each person handles it. It’s beautiful to see how everyone embraces that necessary stress in performance, but also how they manage it and bring it under control.

PAN M 360: What would you say to someone who saw the ads for this contest to convince them to come?

Chantal Poulin : One thing is certain: this challenge is shared by all classical music organizations in Montreal. Whether we’re talking to our colleagues and friends at Salle Bourgie or discussing it with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, which is our official orchestra, it takes a tremendous amount of work to get people into the concert hall. But with conviction and determination, we’re getting there. With the competition, there’s an added challenge: people get the impression that it might be a bit elitist, but on the contrary, that’s not the case at all.

Attending a classical music competition is often more accessible than a more formal concert, since you get to see different musicians—each with their own unique style—take the stage one after another to showcase their best. Whether you’re a professionally trained musician or have no musical background at all, the fact remains that by the end of each session, everyone has an opinion. People will say, “For me, tonight, the second contestant really moved me.” ” Or others will say: “As for me, I didn’t like the third contestant’s repertoire.” One thing is certain: everyone can be moved by music. It’s a bit like the Olympics! I don’t usually sit in the stands to watch the runners around a track. But when the 100-meter dash comes around every four years, I like to turn on the TV for those 10 seconds to watch these amazing athletes race against each other. It’s spectacular, but why is it so spectacular? It’s because they’re driven by each other. That’s kind of what the Competition is all about.

Announcement of the finalists

Of the 24 competitors who lined up at the start of last week, only five remain! Following a highly competitive semifinal that ran late into the evening on Sunday, May 31, at the Salle Bourgie, the international jury, chaired by violinist Lucie Robert, advanced Laurel Gagnon (United States), Koshiro Takeuchi (Japan), Sara Watanabe (Japan), Aozhe Zhang (China), and Bade Dastan (Belgium/Turkey) to the penultimate stage of the finals. These five violinists will perform on June 3 at the Maison symphonique with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, where they will each perform a Mozart concerto. The Montreal orchestra will be conducted for the occasion by Austrian conductor Sascha Goetzel. Following this round, three will be selected to perform a major concerto from the violin repertoire the following day, June 4, for the grand finale.

To view the finalists’ program, watch the performances of the competitors in the Violin 2026 edition, or purchase tickets for the final rounds, please visit the competition’s website.

Photo Credits: Tam Photography

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For the third consecutive year, the Montreal International Music Competition once again assembled a jury of emerging artists. Working in parallel with the main international jury, the emerging artists’ jury is tasked with evaluating the violinists’ performances and, at the conclusion of the competition, awarding its prize after assessing the 24 competitors in the first round according to its own evaluation criteria. What exactly are these criteria, and what kind of experience does this represent for these young violinists? These are among the questions posed to the jury’s chair, Canadian-Serbian violinist and professor Ana Drobac, by PAN M 360 contributor Alexandre Villemaire.

PAN M 360: For those who may not be familiar with it, what is the Young Artists Jury at the Montreal International Music Competition, now in its third year? Could you say a few words about what it is and what it means for the young people in the competition?

Ana Drobac : The Young Artists Jury provides university students—specifically those pursuing bachelor’s and master’s degrees—with the opportunity to sit alongside the international jury, just behind them on the balcony of Salle Bourgie, and listen to all the candidates in the first round. Their mandate is to award a prize to the violinist whom they deem the winner. This prize, accompanied by a cash award, will be presented following deliberations on Friday, May 29, in the afternoon. It is also an opportunity for them to interact with the members of the international jury—not to discuss the contestants, but simply to talk a bit about music or their future, and perhaps even to network. It is truly a wonderful opportunity that the Competition offers young artists to interact with great masters and see how they approach a competition, because who knows—perhaps among these young people there will be future contestants.

PAN M 360: As chair of the jury for emerging artists, what role do you play in this capacity with these young musicians?

Ana Drobac : Above all, it’s about guiding them effectively as they listen, encouraging them to ask themselves what the key elements are, what characteristics we look for in a winner; is it someone with perfect technique, or someone who moves us with their personality and whose performance we’ll remember, making us want to buy a ticket to hear them again, or an artist we’d like to follow in the future, someone with a strong personality who can convey the composer’s message and the emotions of the works—perhaps someone who brings tears to our eyes or makes our hearts beat faster, you know, like awakening all our emotions.

So, I think my role would really be to guide them and enrich the conversations we’ll have after every three or four candidates, but also to refocus them and remind them: “What’s the jury’s goal? What are we looking for?” But at this point, it’s also a bit personal—what we like. Sometimes, we like artists who are like us. So, if we’re passionate, we’ll look for someone like that, but if we’re more reserved, maybe someone who’s like us will resonate with us more. Sometimes we like things that we also play as violinists—we can feel it—but sometimes it can be the opposite; we’re really drawn to or we like things we don’t have.

PAN M 360: Based on what you just said, what balance do you think there should be between emotion and the perhaps more rational aspect, which includes instrumental technique?

Ana Drobac :  You know, every member of the jury is human. Sometimes it might depend on how we’re feeling that day. We might be more emotional because something is going on in our personal lives, so we might be a little more sensitive to the phrasing in the slower movements, or if we’re so happy because the weather is nice in Montreal after six months of winter, maybe we’ll be drawn to someone who’s more virtuosic. So we really get to see each candidate’s personality through the works they’ve chosen. That’s the hardest part because we only get one chance! If that person plays the day before, or with a different jury, maybe the result will be different. It’s really a perception in the moment—what we feel.

When I went to hear Christian Tetzlaff perform Bach’s sonatas, it was among the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard in my life. It’s truly a model for me when I teach Bach to my students. It’s like a reference for how it should sound. That’s what we’re looking for: the moment when the candidate leaves us with the strongest impression—one we can’t forget.

PAN M 360: How was this jury of emerging artists selected?

Ana Drobac :  Each institution has selected its candidates. At the Conservatory, we met with violin professors Anne Robert, Alexandre Read, and Andrée Azar to decide on the profile we were looking for.

Our three candidates are truly exceptional violinists who will likely benefit from this experience and may even, eventually, find themselves among the contestants in the competition one day. It gives them a different perspective, since most of the time, we’re always on the other side of the coin. It’s truly rare to begin serving as a jury member in a competition as important as the Montreal International Music Competition.

PAN M 360: In your opinion, what challenges do you think they will face, particularly when it comes to evaluating peers who are roughly their own age?

Ana Drobac : Honestly, I don’t think they do this often enough. I think the challenge is to maintain a balance, to really look at the whole picture from a very broad perspective. When you have a deep knowledge of the repertoire, you can often judge pieces you’re familiar with or have already performed better than a work you’re encountering for the first time. That’s the challenge facing the emerging artists’ jury. It requires great intelligence and careful thought to choose and arrive at the right result—ideally, one that comes close to the official jury’s choice.

Even though they’re exceptional students—some of whom are almost the same age as the competitors—they might feel like they’re not quite at the same level, but I hope that will motivate them and that they’ll take it in a constructive way, inspiring them to push themselves even further and go the extra mile. Ultimately, I think the challenge will be ensuring that, at the end of this process, they’re all happy with the choice they made. If we end up having to vote because we can’t reach an agreement, there shouldn’t be any hard feelings if our candidate isn’t chosen. That’s part of the challenge, too!

Choosing the next generation

The challenge of evaluating the 24 competitors in the first round by the emerging artists jury resulted in the selection of one candidate from among the 10 violin students from the Université de Montréal, McGill University, the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, and the Royal Conservatory of Music. With her passionate performance of Jörg Widmann’s Étude No. 3, Johann Paul von Westhoff’s Suite for Solo Violin in A Major, and Maurice Ravel’s Rhapsodie de concert (Tzigane), it was Dutch violinist Charlotte Spruitt who won the Richard-Trempe Prize from the Emerging Artists Jury. The prize is awarded in partnership with Richard Tremblay and comes with a $1,500 grant.

Charlotte Spruit avec M. Richard Tremblay et Ana Drobac

Photo credit: Tam Photography

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As we do every year, the PAN M 360 team is getting ready to cover the Nuits d’Afrique International Festival, one of the highlights of our summer. But this year will be special, as it marks the 40th edition, and the organizers intent on making it a memorable one. For the occasion, we spoke with Suzanne Rousseau, Executive Director of Productions Nuits d’Afrique and co-founder of the Nuits d’Afrique International Festival. She is therefore uniquely positioned to give us an overview of the past 40 years, sharing the highlights, the defining years, the festival’s evolution, and the reasoning behind this year’s programming. A first this year: the anthem created especially for the 40th anniversary, with music composed by Meiway and featuring collaborations from several artists—a sort of “We Are the World” to mark this milestone. With Oumou Sangaré opening and Tiken Jah Fakoly closing—both of whom made their debut in Montreal with Nuits d’Afrique—this reflects the richness of this special program. Our reporter Sandra Gasana spoke with Suzanne Rousseau for PAN M 360.







Artists who create a meaningful project during the pandemic, there have been many, and it is very fortunate because it is the best example of the transcendent power of Art: turning the worst into a springboard for the best. The pianists of the BoMi duo, the Quebecois Michel-Alexandre Broekaert and Boran Zaza (of Kurdish origin), are of this kind. It was during the lockdown that the couple had the idea to play the music of composers from West Asia (commonly known as the Middle East), Lebanon, Kurdistan, Iran, etc., and to make it the heart of a concert program that also includes Ravel, Fazil Say, Khachaturian, Massenet, etc. The pandemic over, the first concerts were given and, with success on their side, they continued. Then, to have a little something to offer the audience, the duo has just released a short album, an EP, titled Du Liban au Kurdistan, which brings together compositions by the Lebanese Maurice Ghanem and the Kurdish composer Brahim Shexo. An album of beautiful melodies, little known here, and which I reviewed elsewhere on the site.

CHECK OUT THE REVIEW OF THE ALBUM DU LIBAN AU KURDISTAN

In order to shed some light on the initiative undertaken, on the works of these lesser-known composers, and on their love for piano duets, I met with Michel-Alexandre and Boran. Here is the interview:

The Caprice Ensemble, under the direction of Matthias Maute, is preparing to offer Bach’s six Brandenburg Concertos in a single concert evening on June 2, 2026, at the Sainte-Famille Church in Boucherville. An exciting evening for any self-respecting music lover, as these examples of Bach’s genius are colourful, brilliant, rich, and complex with stimulating ideas. They are also extremely different from each other, which imposes on the performers, in addition to the formidable lines of virtuosity, constant adjustments in terms of dynamic playing, articulation, and expression. The six jewels of Baroque construction were never really designed to be played in one go. In preparation for this concert, I invite you to delve into these works with the conductor himself, Matthias Maute.

INFO AND TICKETS FOR THE BRANDENBURG CONCERTOS CONCERT, JUNE 2, 2026

After nearly a decade’s absence from French-speaking America, Thomas Fersen is finally coming to the Palais Montcalm on June 11th as part of a short Quebec tour. Last year, the Parisian artist released Le choix de la Reine, an ambitious reinterpretation of 19 of his own songs, arranged by Clément Ducol and performed with the percussionists of the SR9 trio.

Thus, the entire menagerie of his songs comes alive in a new stage performance: Les malheurs du lion, le chat botté, La chauve-souris, Les Papillons or Mon chien will share the stage with Louise, New Year’s Day, Dugenou, and others like Blasé. His repertoire of classics is interspersed with monologues, a theatrical technique he has employed in recent years.

TICKETS AND FMC INFO HERE

PAN M 360: Hello Thomas, you don’t see me in this communication, but I want to let you know that we’ve spoken several times, though a long time ago. The first time I did an interview with you was at the FrancoFolies festival in La Rochelle, in 1993.

Thomas Fersen : What is your name ?

PAN M 360 : Alain Brunet.

Thomas Fersen : Ah, Alain, of course! What a shame I haven’t seen you. What’s become of you?

PAN M 360: I’ve always continued to write music reviews, but I’ve branched out. Some younger colleagues had expressed a desire to interview you, so I stepped aside so other writers could discover you… and cover you, haha! And we only live once, with so much music to listen to, without denying our past. And here I am again, talking to you, which I’m delighted about.

Thomas Fersen : Me too! Like you, I haven’t stopped since.

PAN M 360: You came to Quebec a lot until the early 2010s, less afterwards.

Thomas Fersen : It’s been nine years since I last came, actually. I think it faded over time because, little by little, my work generated less interest among you, I think. The audience changed, and above all, the music industry changed. At one point, I was offered the chance to come alone and rehearse with other musicians. It was also partly my fault for not coming anymore, because I didn’t like that offer. Also, the gaps between album releases have lengthened considerably. In fact, the last album of original songs came out in 2019.

PAN M 360: Le choix de la Reine, an album of reinterpretations with a particular orchestration, was released in 2025. Why such a long delay?

Thomas Fersen : Because I’ve been involved in other projects, including two plays. And yes, I made an album, but no original songs, except for one, a piece rearranged by Clément Bucol, released last year, which led to a show featuring only percussionists, since it’s an album recorded with a percussion trio. It’s with this trio that I’m going to Quebec in June.

PAN M 360: I listened to SR9, a trio from Lyon if I understood correctly.

Thomas Fersen : Yes, well, they all attended the Lyon National Conservatory of Music and Dance (CNSM), but they’re not all originally from Lyon. So, they live in Lyon now, I think. And Clément Ducol, composer and arranger, did the arrangements. He’s Camille’s partner.

PAN M 360: Oh really?! She composed the excellent soundtrack for Jacques Audiard’s film Emilia Perez. Very talented! But let’s get back to her partner.

Thomas Fersen : He’s a very good musician! Clément himself graduated from the Lyon Conservatory (CNSM), where he studied percussion before turning to composition. He’s a bit older than the SR9 trio, but that’s where he met the performers. Two years ago, he suggested we record an album together, and I was immediately drawn to the idea, especially since this album was, in a way, the anniversary of my first album, released 32 years earlier. I was two years late for the 30th anniversary, but that didn’t matter, and I thought it was a good idea.

And above all, I felt completely at home, I mean, in this environment of harmonic percussion, composed mainly of keyboards, vibraphone, glockenspiel, marimba, and xylophone. I immediately sensed that the vibrations would amplify the dreamlike dimension of my songs, as well as their realism. And that seemed perfectly conducive to a collaborative project.

I immediately felt that the vibrations would amplify the fantastical and unreal quality of my songs. It was perfectly conducive to a project together, that’s all. And then, in the meantime, I had these experiences with monologues and theater, so I blended these monologues with songs from my repertoire for this new show. These monologues are therefore accompanied by music from my repertoire; all of this constitutes a panorama of what I’ve accomplished since the release of my first album in July 1993, when we first met.

PAN M 360: It’s true that the arrangements fit your repertoire perfectly. Quite a retrospective, with 19 songs on this album!

Thomas Fersen :  Clément Ducol made the choice, actually. Because I didn’t want to impose anything on him. I wanted him to follow his own path, and I didn’t want to force him into anything. I think that was the right thing to do; to get the best out of someone, you have to let them do what they want to do. As it happens, he was familiar with my repertoire; he was a student when he discovered my songs, which he listened to a lot. For this project, he undertook to find all those songs from the beginning of my career. Which I found relevant, because there were some I no longer sang, like “Les tours d’horloge” or “Au Café de la Paix.” He composed others that aren’t on the album, but which are performed live.

With Vincent Frèrebeau (from the label Tôt ou tard), who had produced my first album and with whom I wanted to celebrate this anniversary, we realized it was more relevant to delve into the beginning of my repertoire rather than the recent material. Re-recording the old songs would give this project more character.

PAN M 360: This is a form of classicization of Thomas Fersen.

Thomas Fersen : I was recently told I was very classical, and I wasn’t sure if that was a pejorative term or not. Ultimately, it wasn’t. Classicization isn’t understood as a long-term consecration that occurs three, four, or five years after an album’s release. From the moment you start reinterpreting your own repertoire, you can speak of a form of classicization, not in a pejorative sense, but in the sense of enduring quality. And that’s why I really enjoyed this orchestration: for me, it wasn’t about looking back at the past and being nostalgic, but rather towards the future. It was therefore important to me that this project involve a significant amount of original creation.

PAN M 360: Musical tastes evolve, songs can also carry what we like now and not what we liked in the past.

Thomas Fersen : Yes. I’m increasingly drawn to this kind of writing, rigorous and classical, less close to the rock I loved in my youth. You have to explore other horizons, which is what I intended to do with Clément, so I was very enthusiastic about this project.

PAN M 360: It’s a success! There haven’t been any harmonic extensions, but at the same time, all the percussive effects and the harmonics of the notes themselves create a new atmosphere, and you’re absolutely right to believe that this reinterpretation is creative and contemporary. It’s definitely not a nostalgic or outdated project.

Thomas Fersen : It’s not a boring job! The worst thing for me would be to be a museum guard at my age (63), a job for old people…

PAN M 360: Absolutely! There’s always a risk in managing your assets in a bland way when you reach your sixties. So I’m talking to someone who’s very much alive creatively, who’s also interested in greater musical complexity.

Thomas Fersen :  Clément Ducol, incidentally, had a completely different path than mine. He was fascinated by self-taught people who created things, which was my case. And I, for my part, have always looked with complete objectivity, without any condescension, at people who, unlike me, had received more classical training. I had a lot of respect for that, and I still do today. My wife, incidentally, is a classical violinist; she introduced me to a great many things. She’s also the one who helps me move in this direction. It was she who told me about Clément, whom I knew by reputation. As a violinist, she was familiar with his repertoire and had already had the opportunity to appreciate his writing. She introduced me to him and encouraged me to explore his music. And I was quickly captivated. 

PAN M 360: So, your tastes have diversified. You’ve discovered new things not only through your partner but also through other interests. It’s true that when you’re over forty or fifty, you can’t always listen to the same thing.

Thomas Fersen : Yes, it also corresponds to my age. Rock music doesn’t surprise me anymore… As you get older, you tend towards more refinement, less instinct, less brutality. You become more delicate, I think. And since I still have my childlike curiosity, I’m naturally drawn to other things.

PAN M 360: What happened on the theatre side?

Thomas Fersen : Actually, I haven’t written music for the theater, but it so happens that over the last twenty years of my shows, I’ve started speaking songs rather than singing them, like little three- or four-minute sketches recited in verse. I did this more and more, to the point that I’ve done about 300 solo shows, accompanying myself on the piano for the songs I could speak rather than sing, embodying them in a different way… Basically, it was a single character speaking and singing, a kind of one-person musical. Gradually, people started asking me if the monologues from these shows would ever be published.

During the pandemic, I collected these monologues to see if they formed a cohesive whole. I then wanted to write a biography of my character to create a link between all these texts, which seemed rather disparate. Writing the biography of my song character, drawing heavily on my own life story, was a lot of fun.

So, I wrote a verse biography of my song character, which led to the show “God on Earth.” From there, I adapted it for the stage. I worked with the director, Benjamin Lazar. So, there were these texts, and then some songs from my repertoire that fit into the narrative, and then music from my repertoire that also accompanied these monologues recited in verse. That’s what you hear, by the way, in the album “Le choix de la Reine”—all the spoken parts come from this show and the book—the character’s biography.

I continued after that, I wrote a second book which will be published by Seuil, entitled Like Taking Off a Raincoat. It’s still my song character, but this time he’s going on a journey of initiation to Mexico, he’s going to undergo, against his will, rites of passage, encountering death, danger, the unknown, and so on. But that’s another project, another project I’m working on right now, and it’s to say that this was the kind of theater I’m talking about, a sort of narrative concert. And now, I’m doing it again, working on another one.

PAN M 360: An extension of your expression, if we understand correctly.

Thomas Fersen : Exactly. And so, it’s interesting for me because it’s also a circuit that’s expanding, an audience that’s expanding, moving towards a different taste, a different desire, and it also corresponds to what I want, since I’m increasingly drawn to language, storytelling, precision in storytelling—tastes of my generation. Yes, but at the same time, we can maintain an interest in everything that’s new. Right now, I’m with the trio SR9. For the next show, there will also be three musicians. But there’s less and less of that pop element that used to color my albums in the 2000s.

PAN M 360: And will the next songs be recorded in the same context with the same trio? Or will it be completely different?

Thomas Fersen : I don’t know. Actually, for now, I’ve written original songs for my next show (not the one in Quebec), but I don’t know if they’ll be recorded on the album. This next show will premiere in Avignon this summer. But the one you’re going to see is still songs. It’s still narrative, but it’s not theatre, whereas what I’m going to do after that will be completely different.

The most important difference is that when you perform a song, you address the audience directly. Whereas when you do theater, you face the audience, but in theater, it’s the opposite: the audience (mentally) comes onto the stage. This reversal is fundamental. I find it very amusing. For me, it was a truly fresh and enriching experience that taught me a great deal.

PAN M 360: And what’s next? If you’re doing more theatre than songs, are you planning an audiovisual project?

Thomas Fersen : This is both the problem and the virtue of theatre. It’s live performance; you have to come and see it; it’s a moment of communion. You’re not alone. That’s what’s fundamental, that’s the role of theatre and live performance. You’re not the same person when you’re alone at home as when another person enters the room. You’re transformed, and you don’t perceive things in the same way. That’s the whole point of live performance.

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With the Montreal International Music Competition just around the corner, some twenty young violinists will converge on the metropolis to showcase their talent and musicality to the Montreal public. As in any competition, an international jury will have the difficult task of selecting each of these young musicians from the new generation to help them progress. Composed of leading figures in the violin world—Ju-Young Baek, Glenn Dicterow, Simin Ganatra, Yuzuko Horigome, Régis Pasquier, Barry Shiffman, and Pavel Vernikov—the jury for this 2026 edition is chaired by Montreal-born violinist Lucie Robert.

Praised by critics for her expressive lyricism and impeccable playing, she is also a highly sought-after teacher, a professor at the Manhattan School of Music since 1988, where in 2023 she received the institution’s highest honor, the President’s Medal for Distinguished Service, and is a member of numerous international violin competitions worldwide. On the eve of the competition, PAN M 360 contributor Alexandre Villemaire spoke with her about her role as jury president and what awaits the competitors over the next two weeks.

PAN M 360: The last time you came to Montreal as a jury member for the Montreal International Music Competition was in 2023. You’re returning this year for the 2026 Competition – Violin Edition, but as president of the jury this time. How are you approaching this new task, this new role that falls to you?

Lucie Robert : It’s a great responsibility, and I was so happy and honored to be asked to do it two years ago now. As president of the jury, there’s a tremendous amount of work that goes into the competition. I do want to emphasize the importance of the team, though. And when you have a team like Shira Gilbert and Chantal Poulin, it’s a job that’s a real pleasure.

PAN M 360: What does your role as president of the jury consist of?

Lucie Robert : When I was asked to be president, I made a few decisions and implemented some changes in collaboration with the Competition’s management. The first concerned the pre-selection stage for candidates. This is a very important stage because, naturally, it’s not the same jury as the final jury. Applications for international violin competitions are very numerous, and Montreal, along with the Indianapolis competition, is among the most prestigious and renowned music competitions. This year, with the number of applications received—approximately 250—you can imagine that narrowing it down to twenty-four competitors is an enormous task. I therefore suggested holding two rounds of pre-selection. Three international judges listened to all the candidates’ recordings. They selected 72: then, three other judges listened to this first selection to arrive at 24, in addition to a selection of some young people who will be placed on a waiting list.

Another element was very important to me: I didn’t want the selection panel to see the young people’s names or their country. They would only see the person’s age. We also made changes to the scoring system. In international competitions, some use a 1-to-9 scale, with a few variations. I’ve seen all sorts of ways to judge. For international competitions, the current trend is more towards an evaluation using “Yes,” “Maybe,” and “No” responses. In Montreal, we eliminated points altogether. This is how the international panel will evaluate the 24 competitors to select only 10 semi-finalists, each with a limited number of “Yes” and “Maybe” ratings. My results will be final and will only be used as a tiebreaker if necessary.

One of the major roles of the presidency is also to choose the international jury. I wanted leading figures, obviously from several different countries, but also people who have represented, or currently represent, different aspects of the violin world. Ultimately, I suggested splitting the Final into two parts. Generally, we always have six finalists. Three who play on the first evening and the other three the following day. After discussions with Shira Gilbert, we decided this year that five finalists will be selected: they will have to perform a Mozart concerto from among Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4. In addition to the Mozart concerto, which isn’t very long, these five finalists must be ready, in case they are one of the three finalists selected for the Grand Final the following day, to present a major violin concerto of their choice, again with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Competition’s official orchestra. That’s real professional life! Throughout all stages of the competition, seeing how the competitors decide to build their program will be really interesting: the jury will observe how they think and how they can promote themselves with what they feel they play best.

PAN M 360: What elements will you and your colleagues analyze and look for in the young male and female competitors who will parade before you?

Lucie Robert : If I can speak for myself, what’s most important is the interpretation, the character, the persona of the violinist, their musical personality, their individual voice. I have to be transported! I’d like the young people who come to Montreal and read our interview to see that the competition isn’t a test. I want them to come on stage with a deep desire to play for their audience, to demonstrate their passion for being on stage. I want the audience to be completely enthusiastic about some of them, because that’s what building a career is all about: you have to think about the audience.

PAN M 360: What is your view on what characterizes young violinists of the new generation today and the challenges they face in the professional world of today, 2026 and the 21st century?

Lucie Robert : I’m always impressed by how these young musicians manage their schedules, playing in Tokyo one day and a different concerto in New York the next. It’s incredible! It demands a lot, and, it must be said, the technical level of our young musicians today is incredibly high. The problem, however, is that it often becomes the most important thing, when it isn’t necessarily so. I’m convinced that now, with all our political problems and social challenges, we need to return to the soul of music.

I always tell my students how privileged we are to do what we do. We must never forget that, in fact, it’s often the violin that chose us. We can’t live without our instrument. It’s truly a calling. We always work very hard and can’t imagine doing anything else. However, we mustn’t forget why we love music. I always like to say that music is a language. It’s a language of expression and ideas. So, it’s not just about playing well. We must never stop learning. We must always try to better understand what a composer wants and how we, as performers, feel within these different works. Technique must serve the music. As my great teacher Josef Gringold used to say, the left hand is like the craftsman; we must master and possess our technique. But the right hand is the artist.

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