Genres and styles : expérimental / contemporain / musique contemporaine / musique de chambre

Additional Information

Presented by the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, this Sunday, May 25 concert at Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours is a “vibrant tribute to Vancouver composer Jocelyn Morlock, who passed away prematurely in 2023, with a moving program built around her memory, featuring works by Samy Moussa, Rita Ueda and Tanya Tagaq. Simon Bertrand, composer and artistic director of the SMCQ, explains his choices.

“The late Jocelyn Morlock (1969-2023), a leading figure in Canadian concert music and winner of numerous awards, including a Juno Award for her piece My Name is Amanda Todd, dedicated to the memory of a young student who was the victim of harassment, was an outstanding composer, as evidenced by “a powerful catalog of works combining lightness and depth in a highly lyrical and personal musical language”.

PAN M 360: How do their works relate to those of the deceased?

Simon Bertrand: This concert was conceived as a kind of ritual in memory of Jocelyn Morlock. The works by Moussa and Ueda were commissioned by the SMCQ with the specific request of being “in memoriam” to Jocelyn Morlock, something made easy by the fact that both composers admired her work, as does Luis Ramirez. As for Tanya Tagaq’s powerful piece, it was all about dramatic effect, as the work is very disturbing. For it is a tribute to life, death, light and darkness.

PAN M 360: Why and how did Jocelyn Morlock make her mark?

Simon Bertrand: Through her music, which is both simple and complex, technically or emotionally, and through her humanist testimony, notably with her iconic piece My name is Amanda Todd, and her generous, empathetic approach to the music world.

PAN M 360: What are her most important works?

Simon Bertrand: In addition to “My name is Amanda Todd”, Exaudi is on the program for Sunday’s concert, and she considered it one of her best pieces.

PAN M 360: Why did you name this program Aurore solennelle?

Simon Bertrand: The theme of this season’s three portraits of female composers (Saariaho, Lizée, Morlock), on the sidelines of the MNM Festival, was the northern lights, in connection with what we experienced in 2024.

Morlock’s two works on the program are The uses of solitude, for flute, harp and viola, and the poignant Exaudi for solo cello and choir. The former is one of the composer’s very last works. It receives its Quebec premiere from Trio Kalysta (Lara Deutsch, flute; Marina Thibeault, viola; Emily Belvedere, harp). The second piece is performed by soloist Chloé Dominguez, principal cello of the Ensemble de la SMCQ and singers from the Voces Boreales ensemble, directed by Andrew Gray.

This concert will be dedicated to the cause of mental health among musicians.

PAN M 360: Why did you choose Exaudi and The Uses of Solitude for this program?

Simon Bertrand: Exaudi is a deeply moving work and a great success, both in terms of the vocal writing and the solo cello part. The Uses of Solitude is one of the last, if not the last, work she composed, and is a reflection on the loneliness engendered by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has caused much suffering in the musical and performing arts in general.

PAN M 360: Beyond the above description, what else can we say about the forms of each work by the composers invited to this tribute program?

Simon Bertrand: Samy has composed a work that is a very simple song for solo oboe that exudes melancholy and solitude. It almost becomes a character in the context of this concert, where there are more and more musicians on stage. Then the Kalysta trio plays two works, and gradually we move towards vocal music, with the oboe becoming English horn and the strings mingling with ritual in Ueda’s work, which is both moving and magical at the same time. The climax is Morlock’s Exaudi, followed by the return of the initial chant from Moussa’s solo oboe. It’s a kind of musical dramaturgy in tribute to Jocelyn.