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About
Quasar continues its exploration of the world of sound in the digital age, presenting four works for saxophone and electroacoustic audio and video components. Four composers at the forefront of contemporary music team up with the musicians of Quasar to explore the many fascinating possibilities that arise from the encounter between acoustic instruments and technology. Real-time sound processing, electronic soundtracks, video, spatialization, and virtual identities are just some of the ways in which they explore the world of sound, offering audiences an immersive, sensitive, powerful experience.
A week-long residency is the core of the artistic process. It's a time for research, experimentation, and exchange, that culminates in a workshop open to the public. Workshops during the week are open upon request to the CIRMMT and McGill communities.
Since 2013, the Électro series has been co-produced with CIRMMT, optimising the conditions for research and creation. The series has won two Opus awards from the Conseil québécois de la musique.
For this edition, Quasar is joining forces with Ensemble FlashBack for the Électro series in two phases: one in Montreal and the other in Perpignan, where a visual component will be added to the constantly evolving project.
Discover or rediscover previous Electro Series.
Program
Andrew Staniland : Begin Again
Duration: 12:00
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few” ― Shunryu Suzuki
Quasar has developed a successful method of collaborating. Each composer is invited for a full week of rehearsal at the mid-point of the creative journey, to try things out. This is a rarity in new music, and provides composers with an opportunity to experiment safely, before the public hears the work. I used the workshop to focus on the acoustic score, which was about 90% finished at the time. The workshop turned out to be especially important for me, as it inspired me to pursue a totally different direction on the composition of the electronics than I had anticipated. It is better to approach a composition with a set of questions, rather than a set of answers. “What is possible here?” is far more interesting to me than “this is what I planned to do here”. Quasar’s workshop provided an opportunity to approach the electronic composition with a fresh ‘beginners mind’.
In the acoustic score, I write for saxophone quartet almost like it is an acoustic analogue of a synthesizer, capable of voicings, modulations, arpeggiations, and delays. The electronics, which are all fixed as digital sound files, emulate pulsating delay lines, synthesized and sampled tones, and various classic EA sounds such as sine tones, trains, sirens, whales, and bees. Some of these sounds are personal easter-eggs of sorts, borrowed from previous EA works (the whale is featured in Blackwood Sketches, and the bee in Orion Constellation Theory). There is also a vocal appearance by my friend and musical collaborator Dani Oore, who helped me find my beginners mind at a critical time in the creative process. This work is written for Quasar, and dedicated to Dani.
Bekah Simms : Bug
Duration: 09:00
"Lofi, glitch, and dreamy brokenness permeate: a hazy and smally kinetic computer-saxophone hybrid."
Frédéric Le Bel : Le cas du quatuor augmenté
"Le cas du quatuor augmenté benefited from the production and creation support offered as part of the residency program at the Society for arts and technology (SAT)"
My proposal is part of an artistic approach that focuses on the issues of mixing in the context of mixed music, i.e. music that combines acoustic and electronic sources. Obviously, the issue of mixing can be approached in different ways and can take different forms, both in terms of conception and realization, moving from writing to sound, and vice versa. For example, a multitude of approaches have already been proposed in response to different aspects of the problem, such as computer-aided composition, audio processing, sound synthesis, digital organology or reactive audio, to name but a few. However, the theme I'm seeking to explore in this project is more specifically that of space, spatialization and hybrid broadcasting systems.
Having worked on the question of augmented instruments, those modified by the addition of a transducer enabling them to be used as loudspeakers, this technique seems to me particularly interesting in that it allows us to further confuse cause and effect due to the physical, and cognitive, proximity of the sound sources. In this case, it's no longer a question of hearing the acoustic sources through the loudspeakers, but rather the opposite: it's a question of hearing the electronic sources through the musical instruments. The approach is similar, but the effect is completely different: unlike the neutrality of the loudspeaker, the musical instrument is not. As well as literally giving body to sound, the nature of the object already imposes a number of expectations, but this method can quickly bypass them by creating unusual encounters, such as a piano that sings, or a cello that speaks. In a way, it's a question of creating a kind of augmented reality where analog and digital merge. With this in mind, I'm looking to take the idea a step further by exploring the possibilities of using a hybrid system, combining a configuration of multidirectional loudspeakers, audiodices, and a configuration of traditional loudspeakers, in writing a work for saxophone quartet and electronic device.
In this sense, I'd obviously like to explore the question of mixing from the point of view of the relationship between instrumental and electronic writing, but above all from the point of view of the spatialization of sounds on three distinct planes: (1) the audiodices, (2) the saxophones and (3) a set of loudspeakers arranged around the audience. The idea is essentially to produce complex situations from simple elements by exploiting the combinatory potential of this variable-geometry configuration. Whether unified or fragmented, superimposed or juxtaposed, the three components are obviously used to create trajectories, timbre and textures, but always in such a way as to exploit the potential of the augmented quartet as a kind of meta-instrument, both real and virtual.
In addition to the mixing of sounds and the technical challenges involved in this context of hybridization, the question of mixing is also concerned with the problem of embodiment, that is, how to embody sound. In a way, it's a question of finding a form of presence in absence and, possibly, a form of absence in presence. Thus, the integration of audiodices within the saxophone quartet seems to me a rather interesting and innovative way of exploring this issue, not only by approaching the type of radiation of acoustic sources or moving away from that of conventional loudspeakers, but above all by integrating them at the same level as the musicians. With this in mind, the reverse is just as interesting when it comes to using saxophones in a similar way to an electronic device.
Musically, I paid particular attention to the evolution of the material over time in its relationship with the electronics, audiodices and loudspeakers, not from a process perspective but rather from a dialectical one, i.e. how one can influence the other in such a way as to sublimate their own identities despite the space that separates them. Relying on a dynamic, articulate rhetoric, the idea is to use a rhythmic scenario that exploits contrasts between simple, eloquent materials, all of which carry ideas that are both fragile and powerful. At times complementary, at others contradictory, the materials are used to articulate a virtuoso sonic discourse in which the proposals intersect and collide to the benefit of an intrepid narrative. With this piece, I'm also continuing my exploration of phenomena linked to the perception and legibility of the formal organization articulating the musical material, in a language that I'd like to be as direct and communicative as possible, and in which the freedom of the writing remains at the service of the imaginary and its materialization.
Alexander Vert : Take me for a ride
This creation is part of a larger body of works conceived around the theme of altered states of consciousness.
For the writing of the piece, I was inspired by an encounter I had in the summer of 2022 with a healer who worked with the sounds of gongs (Tam Tam) to provide her treatments during sound baths called "Bains de gongs".
The recording of a ceremony I took part in is the starting point for this work and Take me for a ride is modelled on this shaman's healing ritual.
The first part is followed by a sequence with the chacapa, a ritual foliage used by Amazonian tribes that activates and circulates the air around itself, a second phase with a conch shell, used to summon religious assemblies in Buddhist rites, and a sequence played with an Ocean Drum, which imitates waves and whose virtues are to awaken the body and its energetic structures.
The second movement follows directly on from the first. It is a framework evolving from harmonic readings of vibrating gongs.
In December 2023, I presented the recordings to the members of the Quasar saxophone quartet, and, during our work sessions, we recorded improvisations on the proposed material.
Then, in my studio, I cut, transposed, and manipulated these improvisations to construct the work and its electronic parts.
Performers
Quasar4
Bios
Andrew Staniland
Described as a “new music visionary” (National Arts Centre), composer Andrew Staniland has established himself as one of Canada’s most important and innovative musical voices. His music is performed and broadcast internationally and has been described by Alex Ross in the New Yorker Magazine as “alternately beautiful and terrifying”. Important accolades include 3 Juno nominations, an ECMA award, the 2016 Terra Nova Young Innovators Award , the National Grand Prize winner of EVOLUTION (presented in 2009 by CBC Radio 2/Espace Musique and The Banff Centre), and was the recipient of the Karen Keiser Prize in Canadian Music in 2004. As a leading composer of his generation, Andrew has been recognized by election to the Inaugural Cohort of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists Royal Society of Canada.
Andrew was an Affiliate Composer to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (2006-09) and the National Arts Centre Orchestra (2002–04), and has also been in residence at the Centre du Creation Musicale Iannis Xenakis (Paris, 2005). Recent commissioners include the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Brooklyn Art Song Society, cellist Frances-Marie Uitti, and Les Percussions de Strasbourg. Andrew also performs as a guitarist and with new media (computers and electronics).
Andrew is currently on faculty at Memorial University in St John’s Newfoundland, where he founded MEARL (Memorial ElectroAcoustic Research Lab). At MEARL, Andrew leads a cross-disciplinary research team that has produced the innovative Mune digital instrument: www.munemusic.com
Bekah Simms
JUNO award-winning composer Bekah Simms hails from St. John's, Newfoundland and is currently based in Glasgow, UK after nine years living and working in Toronto. Her varied musical output has been heralded as “cacophonous, jarring, oppressive — and totally engrossing!” (CBC Music) and lauded for its "sheer range of ingenious material, expressive range and sonic complexity" (The Journal of Music.)
Bekah's music has been widely performed across North America and Europe. She has worked with some of the top interpreters of contemporary music internationally, including Crash Ensemble - with whom she is currently an artist-in-residence - Riot Ensemble, Quatuor Bozzini, Eighth Blackbird, and l’Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal. Bekah has also been the recipient of over 35 awards, competitive selections, nominations, and prizes, including the 2019 Barlow Prize and the 2023 JUNO Award for Classical Composition of the Year.
Bekah is a Lecturer in Composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Frédéric Le Bel
Frédéric Le Bel began his studies in jazz performance in 2004 but since 2007 he devoted himself entirely to composition. In 2011, he graduated from the University of Montreal (Canada) where he studied with Philippe Leroux. In 2013, he received his first prize (M.Mus) with high distinction from the Conservatory of Music in Montreal where he studied with Serge Provost. After obtaining an artist diploma from the same institution in 2014, he attended both Ircam Cursus Program and is now pursuing a PhD degree in the same institution under the direction of Mikhail Malt (Ircam) and Alain Bonardi (Paris 8) working on the development and the integration of machine-learning techniques into its creative process.
Frederic has also participated in several international academies such as the Impuls Academy in Graz (Austria), the ManiFeste Academy in Paris (France), the Young Composer Meeting in Apeldoorn (Netherlands) and the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne International Forum for Young Composer (Canada). His music has been awarded several times by the SOCAN Foundation in Canada and has been performed in different festivals such as the Montreal New Music Festival (Canada), the Cheltenham Music Festival (UK), the Time of Music Festival (Finland), the Gaudeamus Muziekweek (Netherlands), the Mise-en Musique festival (USA) and at Expo Milano (Italy).
His repertoire consists of instrumental music, mixed music and acousmatic music. From soloist to symphonic orchestra, he has worked with exceptional people and ensembles such as, Brice Martin, Cameron Crozman, Ricardo Descalzo, the Quasar saxophone quartet, the TANA String Quartet, the Dr. K Sextet, the Curious Chamber Players, the Divertimento Ensemble, the Barcelona Modern Project, the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, the Klangforum Wien, the Orkest de Ereprijs and the CMM Youth Orchestra. For him, composing is a strange mix of research, discovery and confused sensations. The expression by the sound phenomenon through an architecture bearing knowledge and meaning remains its greatest artistic preoccupation.
Alexander Vert
A composer for over 20 years, Alexander Vert is also director of the Flashback ensemble, dedicated to today's music and new technologies, which he founded in 2012.
His repertoire, rich with over sixty works to date (mixed, electroacoustic and instrumental pieces, multimedia), is performed internationally (China, Spain, England, Switzerland, Germany, Japan...).
Since 2015, he has been co-leader of the "GeKiPe" research project (Gesture, Kinect and Percussion) conducted in partnership with the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève (CH) and IRCAM (FR). In this capacity, he composes for the "GeKiPe" device and develops cultural actions around gestural capture within conservatories, schools and colleges.
Since 2015, he has also been teaching sound creation and contemporary music at the Perpignan CRR.
Quasar
Fascinated by the music of our times, the Quasar saxophone quartet dedicates itself to the creation and promotion of contemporary music. The group's ventures have included instrumental music, improvisation, and electronics. Alone or accompanied by a symphony orchestra, acoustic or plugged, Quasar offers its audience unique and deeply original programming. The ensemble has won 10 OPUS prizes awarded by the Conseil québécois de la musique, including for "Artist of the Year". Quasar presents a series of concerts in Montreal and performs regularly in Canada and abroad.
Since its founding in 1994, Quasar has premiered over 200 works spanning multiple areas of musical creation. A real driving force of creative music, the quartet works closely with composers favouring research, experimentation and the emergence of new ideas. Quasar thus contributes in an exceptional way to the development of Quebec's music while also being credited several premieres of works by foreign composers.
Quasar is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Conseil des arts de Montréal and Vandoren.
Marie-Chantal Leclair
Mainly interested in creative music, Marie-Chantal Leclair shares most of her time between performing, artistic programming and improvisation.
In 2009 the Canadian Music Centre recognized her outstanding contribution to the development of Canadian music by awarding her the title of CMC Ambassador.
Besides her work with Quasar, Marie-Chantal Leclair is regularly invited to play with other ensembles, from chamber music groups to orchestras. Among others, she was heard with Bradyworks, Miriodor and Totem Contemporain. In 2008, she co-wrote, with Jean-Marc Bouchard, the music for the concert Cinq orients, which won the Opus Prize for "Concert of the year new music, electroacoustic". In spring 2010, she was guest soloist with the Appassionata Chamber Orchestra in the Villa-Lobos's Fantasy and the premier of a work by René Orea-Sanchez. More recently, in 2012, she was soloist with the Orchestre Métropolitain in Debussy's Rhapsody.
Very much involved in her community, Marie-Chantal Leclair is Vice President and member of the artistic management committee of the Le Vivier group. She also sits on the Board of Directors of the Conseil québécois de la musique and was president of the Codes d'Accès concert society from 1994 to 1999.
As an apreciated teacher, Marie-Chantal Leclair has given master classes and conferences throughout Canada and Europe. She teaches saxophone at the Schulich School of Music, McGill University.
With a Master Degree in performance (MA) from Université de Montréal, Marie-Chantal Leclair has also completed an advanced training course in improvisation with the American flutist Robert Dick.
Mathieu Leclair
Mathieu Leclair holds a BA and MA in Music performance from the University of Montreal. He also studied with Eugene Rousseau, professor at the University of Bloomington (USA). In parallel with his activities within Quasar, he teaches saxophone in various high schools in the Montreal area. He was also general manager of the Codes d'Accès concert society for several years.
André Leroux
Well known for his work in the jazz field with, among other artists, Michel Cusson, Vic Vogel, James Gelfand and François Bourassa, André Leroux first obtained a Bachelor of Music in performance from the University of Montreal. Since then he has been regularly performing in concert with various ensembles including Bradyworks, Orchestre Métropolitain and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.
André is also still pursuing a very active career in jazz. He has played in almost all jazz festivals in Canada and participated in many recordings. His work in the jazz field has taken him around the world including China, Sweden, France and Africa. Recently, he performed at the Blue Note in New York as part of an event organized by the CBC. Accomplice of the jazz pianist François Bourassa, with whom he plays in duo and quartet, André Leroux explores the jazz idiom in a very personal and innovative way with energy and an extraordinary virtuosity.
Jean-Marc Bouchard
A passionate of creative music, Jean Marc Bouchard explores its many facets either as a performer or as an improviser. Founding member of the Quasar saxophone quartet, he also is the artistic director of the In Vivo series dedicated to improvisation. With In Vivo, (now in its 7th edition) he offers musical journeys, which mix, hybridize and mingle improvisation, composition, electronics and new instruments. In Vivo is also a privileged meeting space where Quasar invites musicians from different backgrounds into new territories.
His work as an improviser and has led him to collaborate with many musicians including John Butcher, Jean Derome, Christine Duncan, Jean Martin, Robert Dick, Rémi Leclerc, Danielle P. Roger and Jérôme Blais.
His approach to improvisation, and his intimate contact with the music of modern composers, led him to develop his own compositions with fascinating projects. Over the years, he wrote several works including Le Cri des oiseaux fous, Jeux, L’éveil de la tortue and Les Cinq Orients OPUS prize concert of the year). Jean-Marc teaches saxophone at the University of Montreal where he also conducts the improvisation workshop, an ensemble open to instrumentalists and composers of all categories.