MUTEK 2024 | Mathew Jonson, A Master’s Magic

by Salima Bouaraour

The PAN M 360 team is criss-crossing the entire MUTEK 2024 program, observing as many artists as possible during this 25th edition of its Montreal version. Keep up with our experts until Sunday evening, as no other MUTEK event promises such extensive media coverage!

Berlin-based Canadian Mathew Jonson, a staple of the electronic music scene for the past two decades, closed the show with a bang! The sonic experience was at its peak. Rich in diversity. Warm and round sounds. Jazzy at times, with a touch of electronic samba, not to mention the interweaving of techno and house, the evocations of xylophones and marimbas, and the multiple effects. A regular on stage and in live performances, he worked his magic non-stop, making us completely forget the rainy ceiling and cool temperatures. Regularly touring internationally, including Sydney, Bali, Ibiza, Berlin, London, Naples and Tulum, this globe-trotting performer made Montreal shine during his twilight set. Indeed, this seasoned music producer, who has released albums such as Marionette, Decompression and Agents of Time, was applauded by the international electronic community. And now, by the MUTEK 2024 audience!

Photo credit: Frédérique Ménard-Aubin

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Electronic

MUTEK 2024 – Beyond Buzzwords

by Elsa Fortant

On August 20, 2024, during the MUTEK Forum, a panel entitled “Beyond Buzzwords: what does generative AI do to creative practices?” was held at the Monument-National, bringing together experts from diverse backgrounds to explore the impact of generative AI on artistic practices. Moderated by Mila’s Rose Landry, the panel included Sofian Andry (Hexagram), Pía Balthazar (SAT), Yves Jacquier (Ubisoft), and Éric Desmarais (Sporobole).

Yves Jacquier opened the discussion with a look at the integration of AI in the video game industry, pointing out that AI – a 70-year-old term – has gradually become an integral part of video game production. He highlighted the importance of an interdisciplinary approach involving designers, programmers and artists to exploit these technologies ethically and effectively.

Pía Balthazar shared his experience at SAT, where the development of arts and sciences is carried out in partnership with artistic and academic communities. SAT and Sporobole are working on a project that aims to understand how machine learning tools can serve artists rather than constrain them. By mobilizing the notion of the imaginary and taking artists’ practices as a starting point, the aim is also to deconstruct the techno-deterministic, fear-filled discourse that surrounds these technologies.

Sofian Andry brought a historical perspective from his book Art in the Age of Machine Learning, published by MIT Press. In it, he traces the origins of art and science in the age of machine learning, focusing on a material analysis of machine learning models. He explores what constitutes a machine learning model and examines how some artists have appropriated these mechanisms, bringing them closer to practices such as genetic algorithms and data-driven approaches, opening up new perspectives in artistic creation.

Éric Desmarais discussed the evolution of artistic practices within Sporobole, notably through creation and applied research cycles, during which artists experiment with different technologies. Pre-pandemic, the cycle focused on virtual universes. In 2021, as the cycle drew to a close, the ChatGPT wave broke, bringing to light a whole host of generative AI tools. The AI cycle enables artists to experiment, create works and, through this research process, develop a strong artistic voice for independent artists.

This brings us to the heart of what we’re interested in when we talk about generative AI and buzzwords: are these technologies really disruptive? Is it a paradigm shift, or rather the arrival of a new tool? Pía Balthazar noted that this tsunami-like “violent” change had been in the pipeline for some time, while Yves Jacquier confirmed that there is a real disruption underway, with the arrival of new players, the transformation of structures and the evolution of working methods.

The panel also raised the question – which must be central – of the value of works created by generative AI. Sofian Andry reminded us that while AI can produce novelty, the value of this novelty remains a complex issue. Culture is human, and a system disconnected from the world, disembodied, cannot understand or “be” in culture. Éric Desmarais, joined by other panel members, pointed out that, with AI, the value of the work/production shifts from the result to the concept, unlike the work of an illustrator, where it’s the result that takes precedence.

Nevertheless, optimism is the order of the day: we need to take advantage of the momentum to rebalance power and value throughout the artistic ecosystem. The best ways to achieve this are to encourage interdisciplinarity, as Ubisoft and SAT are doing, and not to underestimate the power and agentivity of local businesses, because not all important decisions are made in Silicon Valley.

Photo credit: Maryse Boyce

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Chanson francophone / musique traditionnelle arménienne

Virée classique de l’OSM | Armenian Harmony for The Rhapsodie Quartet

by Alexandre Villemaire

There was a full house at the Espace culturel George-Émile Lapalme for the performance by the Quatuor Rhapsodie, made up of Amélie Lamontagne and Ana Drobac (violins), Nayiri Piloyan (viola) and Sophie Coderre (cello). Under the theme Mélodies arméniennes sous le soleil méditerranéen (Armenian melodies under the Mediterranean sun), the ensemble took the audience on a journey to the ends of the earth, from Armenia to Italy and France, with music steeped in Armenian folklore in all its forms and influences. It was easy to navigate between traditional Armenian folk songs, notably those collected by Vardapet Komitas, an important figure in the preservation of Armenia’s musical heritage, classical music and popular music.

Musically, the ensemble is very solid, playing with assurance and an ample, even and homogeneous sound. The interpretation is sparkling and luminous in the pieces, more active and sensitive in those requiring more restraint and interiority. These included Vittorio Monti’s energetic and emblematic Czárdás, which showcased Amélie Lamontagne’s virtuosity, as well as Aleksey Hekimyan’s beautiful and touching rendering of the traditional song Pari Arakil and Goran Bergovich’s Underground Tango. The works performed were all arranged by Nayiri Piloyan, whose intelligent writing, in which each instrumental line is brought to the fore, gives the works a new dimension while preserving their nature. Excerpts from Gayaneh and Aram Khatchatourian’s Valse illustrate this point.

The quartet concluded their concert with a medley of songs by Charles Aznavour, another strong symbol of the Armenian diaspora, who would have celebrated his 100th birthday this year.

Photo Credit: Gabriel Fournier

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MUTEK 2024 – Utopia or Oblivion

by Elsa Fortant

Held on August 19^th, 2024, The Future Festivals Summit has launched the 10^th edition of MUTEK Forum “Utopia or oblivion” at the Société des arts technologiques (SAT). The objective of the day was to bring together festival makers, artists, and audiences to explore innovative ideas and projects for the future of festivals. PAN M 360 attended the opening conference and here is what you should know about it.

The opening conference of The Future Festivals Summit, titled “From Festival as Lab to Temporary Utopias”, started by Drew Hemment asking two simple but complex questions: “Why do we do festivals? Why do they matter?”.

Drew Hemment is a British academic, artist, and curator known for his pioneering work in the intersection of technology, culture, and society. Hemment’s work spans across fields such as data science, AI, and design, and he is currently associated with the University of Edinburgh, where he contributes to projects like Future Festivals at the Edinburgh Futures Institute and works with the Alan Turing Institute.

During his presentation, Drew Hemment explored the evolution of festivals as platforms for innovation and social change. He began by tracing his journey from DJing in the late 80’s to founding FutureEverything in 1995, highlighting how his own practices are intricated in the research projects he is leading now, notably The New Real, a hub for AI, creative research and futures research, run as a festival.

Drawing on his experience with the FutureEverything, Hemment discussed the ethos behind festivals, emphasizing the need for prototyping methodologies and create tools at the crossroads of festival-making, critical theory and design methods. The Festival As Lab toolkit , FutureEverything Manual or the Future Festival Field Guide are perfect examples of what can be shared.

The UK scholar then put into light six key trajectories (not predictions!) for future festivals:

Lightning Rods for Weak Signals
Enablers of Serendipitous Discovery
Creators of New Senses and Forms
Fostering Connections and Communities Beyond the Filter Bubble
Additive & Regenerative Cultural Infrastructures
Catalysts for Planetary Intelligence

You can find the details of those trajectories, each one accompanied by a recommendation, in a (very accessible) article wrote by Hemment at https://www.holo.mg/dossiers/future-festivals-field-guide/#68760

Drew Hemment’s dedication to share his knowledge about interdisciplinary and socially engaged festivals highlights his belief in their essential role in shaping the future. However, to ensure their sustainability, it will require to face infrastructural challenges through collective effort, care, and determination.

Photo Credit: Maryse Boyce

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Ambient / Electronic / Experimental

Virée classique de l’OSM | A Transcendent End to The Evening

by Alexandre Villemaire

The PAN M 360 team is very present at the Virée classique, presented by the OSM. In the field, at free activities and indoor concerts, Alain Brunet, Alexis Desrosiers-Michaud and Alexandre Villemaire report on what they’ve seen and heard at events presented in Montreal until August 18.

The evening of August 17 at the OSM’s Virée classique concluded with a live performance where classical music met electronic music. On the large outdoor stage at Esplanade Tranquille, a trio of OSM string players – violinist Abby Walsh, violist Scott Chancey and cellist Julien Siino – joined keyboardist Nicolas Boucher and VJ Line Katcho to perform Guillaume Coutu Dumont’s Les Empires. Drawing its inspiration from childhood nostalgia, including memories of cartoons and movie soundtracks, the performance drew a respectable crowd, perhaps more than anticipated, as Virée volunteers had to busily set up extra rows of chairs. If the referents eluded us, the musical material as a whole and the interaction with the musicians, whose circular patterns and melodic lines were one of the driving forces behind the sound samplings controlled by Dumont Coutu. The video-music match was pleasant without being aggressive, for music that is complex in its treatment, but deliberately accessible: music that you can easily get carried away and transported by.

This concert, presented in partnership with the MUTEK festival, which kicks off on August 20, was a gentle introduction to electronic music and its potential collaborations with other musical genres, including orchestral music.

Photo Credit: Antoine Saito

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classique / musique de chambre / période romantique

Virée classique de l’OSM | Virtuosity, Elegance and Listening from Fauré to Chausson

by Alexandre Villemaire

The PAN M 360 team is very present at the Virée classique, presented by the OSM. In the field, at free activities and indoor concerts, Alain Brunet, Alexis Desrosiers-Michaud and Alexandre Villemaire report on what they’ve seen and heard at events presented in Montreal until August 18.

After performing Saint-Saëns’ Concerto No. 5 with the OSM, pianist Cédric Tiberghien returned to the stage for a second concert. As Marianne Dugal, associate concertmaster of the OSM, explained, the performer deserves a medal for his stamina, given the complexity and virtuosity of the two works, especially Ernest Chausson’s Concert op. 21, which is of titanic pianistic proportions. The central work of this concert, programmed in the intimate Cinquième salle, is distinguished by its unusual instrumentation: piano, violin and string quartet. Halfway between a chamber music piece and a concerto, the form does not appear disproportionate or disparate to the ear, so fine is Chausson’s writing, giving pride of place to each of the players.

What is equally striking and captivating is the musical language deployed by the composer. Borrowing as much from French aesthetics as from Wagnerian language, the work is astonishingly organic, with movements featuring folk themes and dramatic chromaticism. In the purest spirit of a Wagner work, we’re on the edge of our seats to see – and hear – where the harmony is going. Tiberghien again stands out for his clear, precise playing, refined, energetic fingering and attentive listening to his playing partners, Dugal, (concertmaster), Alexander Read and Richard Zheng (violins), Victor Fournelle-Blain (viola) and Anna Burden (cello), who all gave solid performances.

The work was preceded by Debussy’s Sonate pour violoncelle et piano and Fauré’s Élégie, performed by Anna Burden with great elegance and intensity. The only slight drawback was that the balance of the amplified microphones was not equal according to the area occupied by the string players on stage, so that in the solo passages, the sound of Marianne Dugal and Anna Burden seemed muffled at times.

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classique

Virée classique de l’OSM | A Vibrant Harmony

by Alexandre Villemaire

After their colleagues from the OSJM, it was the turn of the members of the Harmonie des jeunes de la Virée to fill the space at Complexe Desjardins. A regular at the event, this large wind ensemble, made up of students from several Montreal high schools, filled the mall’s atrium with a homogeneous, balanced, clear and biting sound to deliver a most dazzling performance. Solid and energetically directed by Éric Levasseur, the ensemble played a succession of oriental and Mediterranean tunes, perfectly in tune with the Virée’s theme. Rachmaninov’s Italian Polka and Emmanuel Chabrier’s famous España made it impossible not to tap your toes or dance a little. A father and his two young daughters, for example, enjoyed swaying to the various rhythms and melodies!

After the festive character of his pieces, the young musicians also demonstrated the breadth of their playing and color palette with the piece Duat by composer Alex Poelman. The piece evokes the journey that a human soul – in Egyptian mythology – had to take through the underworld of Duat in order to gain eternal life. At the end of its journey, the soul was weighed on a scale and, in order to rise, had to weigh no more than a feather. The music perfectly evokes this tale, with darkly dramatic rumbles in the lower registers and Arabian melismas. The work concludes with a luminous finale held together by the high flutes. The audience, spread across the different floors of the complex, was certainly won over.

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classique / Moyen-Orient / Levant / Maghreb

Virée classique 2024 | OSM and Constantinople: Colourful Dialogues, a Conversation To Be Continued

by Alexandre Villemaire

The PAN M 360 team is very present at the Virée classique, presented by the OSM. In the field, at free activities and indoor concerts, Alain Brunet, Alexis Desrosiers-Michaud and Alexandre Villemaire report on what they’ve seen and heard at events presented in Montreal until August 18.

On paper, it was a premiere like no other. For the first time in its history, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal welcomed a traditional music ensemble to the Maison symphonique for a joint concert. And not just any ensemble: Constantinople, a well-known and well-established presence on the Montreal and Quebec musical scene. The choice of Constantinople was an obvious one, since the ensemble’s identity and practice are, as its artistic director Kiya Tabassian reminds us, dialogue and cross-fertilization between musical universes. A vision also shared by Rafael Payare.

If we can say that there was indeed a dialogue, the concert we were treated to showed that the conversation, for its part, deserved to gain in depth. While we expected to hear and see interaction between the orchestra and Constantinople’s musicians, we were treated to a question-and-answer exchange in which Constantinople’s virtuoso interventions of Dimitrie Cantemir’s pieces were interspersed with excerpts from Grieg’s Peer Gynt suite, played with fervor and mastery by the OSM. Peer Gynt makes sense thematically, the eponymous character of Ibsen’s fairy tale embodying the figure of the traveler who, in the course of his tale, settles for a time in North Africa. Unfortunately, the interplay with the music, particularly in the “Anitra Dance” and the “Arabian Dance”, seemed more like a pastiche than an organic element.

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Virée classique 2024 – The Symphony of the Virée: Not So Amateurs After All

by Alexis Desrosiers-Michaud

Now a tradition, the Symphonie de la Virée is a concert bringing together amateur musicians of all ages who have been selected in advance. Rafael Payare leads the ensemble for the last work on the program.

This event is living proof that professionals do not have a monopoly on good musical product and that with a lot of passion and a little work, we can achieve a frankly convincing result. Let’s look beyond individual errors and small imbalances to look at the whole thing as a whole. It’s not because they are amateurs that they can’t make great music.

There is a cohesion that holds in this ensemble. Conductor Adam Johnson breathes a contagious energy. We feel the work of listening done in rehearsal; the violin and oboe solos have enough space for lyricism and expression. The sound is homogeneous and the dynamics are respected to the letter, as much in terms of nuances, phrasing and articulation.

As Payare takes the reins for the opening of the opera Nabucco, he proves what a great conductor he is and raises the bar. Like Johnson before him, he makes no compromises on anything. He pushes the audacity to take the coda at breakneck speed and the musicians respond.

In the future, don’t hesitate to go to the concert of the neighbor who plays in the Monday night band. There is a good chance that, for a handful of dollars, you will have a good time.

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Virée classique 2024 – OSM and Miloš: Between Classics and Rarities

by Alexis Desrosiers-Michaud

On Saturday evening, the concert with the OSM of guitarist Miloš took place in Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, preceded by excerpts from Bizet’s Carmen and works by Rossini, Ravel and Mel Bonis.

Let’s ignore the opening L’italiana in Algeri, which didn’t bring anything masterful and was too much in this concert. Ravel’s Cinq mélodies populaires grecques is a short, brilliantly orchestrated collection. Mezzo-soprano Emily Sierra unfortunately performs it almost without any difference in nuances, only exaggerating the consonants in the fast melodies. Conversely, in Carmen, she plays the part. With a suave, mischievous and resonant voice, adding a few vocal inflections, the rendering of this classic is successful, despite poorly coordinated accelerations with the orchestra in the Chanson Bohème.

Before the Aranjuez, we were treated to a short four-minute work by Mel Bonis, Salomé. We would have taken more because this composer, a student of Franck, knows how to orchestrate. We will remember the central portion of the work in five beats.

Then came Miloš. He plays with great precision and a sensitivity to nuances that takes us into another world. His dialogue with the English horn remains memorable and the orchestra adjusts in its accompaniment, too present in the first movement.

Alas!, this moment of grace was spoiled by (another) cell phone ringing. As such, through the coughs and the multiple escaped programs, we heard three last night, including one between the end of the warning message and the entrance of the solo violin, which did not fail to raise general laughter.

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Arabic / Maghrebi

Virée classique de l’OSM | An Arabo-Andalusian orchestra from MTL

by Alain Brunet

The PAN M 360 team is very present at the Virée classique, presented by the OSM. Alain Brunet, Alexis Desrosiers-Michaud and Alexandre Villemaire report on what they saw and heard at the concerts presented in Montreal until August 18.

Montreal’s Mezghena Orchestra features over fifty instrumentalists, the majority of whom are female soloists.

Astonishing? For the mother of one of the instrumentalists, it seems to be a widespread practice. Wow! One thing’s for sure: the Montreal version of the idea of an Algerian-style Arabo-Andalusian music orchestra, a sub-genre of a genre developed at a time when North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula were linked politically and culturally, involves more than equal participation by women in the orchestra – oudists, bouzoukists, violinists, percussionists, singers, etc. – and the fact that the musicians are not all professionals, the level of training is very low. Friday at Complexe Desjardins, we could tell that the performers were not all professionals, but the level of execution was nonetheless acceptable, if not surprisingly good. Singers took turns expressing themselves with this large-scale orchestra, no less. Under the direction of Sid Ali Mohand Arab, musically educated in Algiers and thus a specialist in classical Arab and Arab-Andalusian music, the Mezghena Orchestra of Montreal is a jewel of North African immigration to Quebec. At first glance, it attracts the local Maghrebi population, but also all music lovers who come to explore the OSM 2024 Classical Tour free of charge. This is how an inclusive city is enriched by its local culture from elsewhere. What a discovery!

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT MEZGHENA

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classique

Virée classique de l’OSM | A Requiem of Contrasts

by Alexis Desrosiers-Michaud

The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and its choir were in top form for the first concert of the Virée classique weekend, in Guiseppe Verdi’s Requiem.

What’s striking from the outset is the respect and accuracy of the nuances, as indicated in the score; the “very soft” indications are almost imperceptible, and the “very loud” ones shatter the ceiling, to the point of literally vibrating the plexiglass on stage. On the other hand, when singing piano, consonants must be exaggerated, and both soloists and chorus lose the first consonants of words. Conversely, the consonants at the end of words are more sonorous.

The four soloists, including the tenor, Oreste Cosimo (forgotten in the program), sing not with the score in hand, but placed on a lectern. In this way, they can “play” their text. Mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb stands out in this respect, detaching herself from the score to interact with her counterparts, or staring at the audience to convey emotion.

The chorus is solid, fair and balanced. It sings loud enough to take its place in the din of the Dies Irae and the Tuba Mirum. In the Sanctus, however, the orchestra and choir are on two different levels. The orchestra is loud and festive, while the choir is restrained and angelic. This part, with 8 voices, should stand out more to perceive the various entries and avoid being swallowed up.

Photo credit: Antoine Saito

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