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The choral fantastic thing about the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and the lyrical fantastic thing about the works of choreographer Laurence Lemieux come collectively in a programme titled In Time: On the intersection of music & dance. The efficiency takes place September 22 and 23, and options gems of the Baroque period.
Together with the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers, the TMC’s core skilled group, and the dancers of Compagnie de la Citadelle, an ensemble of dwell musicians might be offering accompaniment. The programme contains Dixit Dominus HWV 232 by George Frideric Handel, Christ lag in Todesbanden BWV 4 by Johann Sebastian Bach, and Caroline Shaw’s To the Fingers.
We caught up with TMC’s creative director Jean-Sébastien Vallée (JSV), and choreographer and creative director of Compagnie de la Citadelle Laurence Lemieux to speak concerning the present.
The Interviewees
Jean-Sébastien Vallée
The Canadian-American conductor had constructed a robust status as a specialist in choral and vocal works earlier than taking up the helm of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir as its Inventive Director in 2021.
His levels embody: a B.Mus from l’Université Laval, a Graduate diploma from l’Université de Sherbrooke, and M.Mus from the College of California, Santa Cruz, adopted by a D.M.A. from the College of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Vallée has carried out ensembles throughout North America, Europe and Asia, and labored with the TSO, Chicago Symphony, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and the Nationwide Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO). Along with his work as conductor, he’s an Affiliate Professor of Music, Director of Choral Research, and Coordinator of the Ensembles & Conducting Space on the Schulich Faculty of Music of McGill College.
Laurence Lemieux
Dancer and choreographer Laurence Lemieux is the Inventive Director of Citadel + Compagnie dance firm. A local of Québec Metropolis, Laurence studied dance at L’École Supérieure de Danse du Québec, and at The Faculty of Toronto Dance Theatre (TDT).
It’s with TDT that she gained a Dora Mavor Moore Award in 1998 for her work in a chunk by Christopher Home. She’s labored with famous choreographers like James Kudelka, Margie Gillis and Jean-Pierre Perreault. She’s offered greater than 30 unique choreographic works since her debut in 1983.
Along with her work as dancer and choreographer, Lemieux is a famous dance educator, and has labored at lots of Canada’s distinguished faculties, together with York College, the College of Quebec in Montreal, l’École Supérieure de Ballet Contemporain and Canada’s Nationwide Ballet Faculty.
The Interview
Q: How did this challenge come collectively?
JSV: The challenge stems from a shared creative imaginative and prescient between the 2 artistic teams. Its inception occurred through the pandemic — throughout that interval, the TMChoir and Laurence Lemieux (Compagnie de la Citadelle) collaborated on a digital choir video challenge that includes Bach’s Christ lag in Todesbanden, complemented by a freshly choreographed carried out by Laurence.
As we approached the design part for the 2023-2024 season, I aimed to delve deeper into the fusion of dwell music and dance, crafting a particular and immersive encounter for our viewers. This prompted us to increase the repertoire, now together with G.F. Handel’s Dixit Dominus, that includes a wholly new commissioned choreography. The collaboration emerged organically by way of the interconnection of each teams, pushed by our shared aspiration to problem the standard boundaries of efficiency.
LL: This challenge was commissioned by the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, however was created in two elements.
The primary half was created in 2021, through the lockdown… when the choir commissioned me to create a solo to the Chris lag in Todesbanden BWV4 by Johann Sebastien Bach. The work was recorded on video and streamed later, however in September 2023, it will likely be the primary time that I might be performing it with the choir.
Here’s what I wrote once I created the work again in 2021:
The right way to categorical and describe human struggling, human loss within the time of the pandemic.
How can one dancer convey the worldwide loss we’re experiencing.
How can we even comprehend the dimensions of this loss?
Maybe it’s within the private tales, the person ones that we will perceive the scope of this human tragedy.
The music impressed by the loss of life of Christ.
The ache of its mom
The ache of all humanity.
My method might be in fact impressed by the music and its absolute magnificence.
It resonates in so many hearts, and resonates with me due to its Christian background, due to my catholic upbringing.
The start line is the ache of the mom dropping a toddler.
It’s a common ache.
The dance will goal to precise in a easy setting, an empty room, the loss. The absence.
The “coming to phrases with.”
If music and dance are capable of elevate the soul, to make us really feel a part of the larger universe,
I actually hope to have the ability to pay homage to this, and in doing so actively take part in our world therapeutic.
LL: The second half, a gaggle work to Handel’s Dixit Dominus, was commisionned by The choir within the spring of 2023, and can premiere in September. The work is carried out by 6 exceptional dancers, all at completely different stage of their lives… from 10 years previous to 50 years previous.
It’s a tribute to the power of lady and their resilience.
Q: Are you able to share any particulars concerning the musical items carried out: Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Bach’s Christ lag in Todesbanden?
JSV: Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Bach’s Christ lag in Todesbanden are important choral compositions from the Baroque period. Dixit Dominus is a very exhilarating work by Handel, famend for its vibrant and virtuosic choral writing, which superbly exemplifies Handel’s mastery in mixing varied nationwide kinds.
Notably, it showcases the profound affect of Italian operatic writing inside the context of a sacred choral piece. In distinction, Christ lag in Todesbanden is an early cantata by Bach that delves into themes of loss of life and resurrection, embodying the extra restrained model attribute of his early oeuvre. Collectively, these items weave a wealthy musical and emotional tapestry of the Baroque interval, providing a charming fusion of intricate vocal textures and expressive harmonies.
Moreover, this challenge encompasses a composition by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw. This exceptional piece unfolds inside the Seventeenth-century soundscape paying homage to Baroque music, dynamically increasing, infusing colour, and redefining the musical language. Its core themes revolve across the world struggles of people in search of refuge and our shared function and duty in addressing each native and worldwide crises. Because the composition unfolds, these themes steadily ascend to the forefront, inviting a extra profound and poignant exploration of human struggling and resilience.
Please word that, according to Baroque efficiency follow, the soloists are drawn from inside the ensemble, the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers.
Q: Dance and dwell music efficiency collectively: Ought to or not it’s explored like this extra usually, i.e. exterior the standard dance repertoire?
JSV: Integrating dance and dwell music performances gives a multi-dimensional and charming expertise for audiences. Traditionally, dance and music had been carefully intertwined in varied eras, contributing to a extra immersive and holistic creative encounter. Exploring such collaborations throughout completely different eras can certainly present contemporary views and have interaction audiences on a profound degree, transcending the boundaries of typical efficiency.
It’s necessary to recall that music, in its essence, is motion — vibrations that traverse house. Including motion to music, even when the unique composition didn’t anticipate it, considerably enhances the expression of each artwork types. Such integration ought to unquestionably be pursued extra often.
LL: I believe the connection between music and dance ought to all the time be explored, concerning of the period it’s located in.
Not all dance is related to music and naturally not all music is related to bounce. What’s necessary is the connection between the 2 and the way the 2 artwork kind can type of work collectively inventing a brand new language that may be seen and that may be heard.
Q: What are you able to inform us concerning the form of choreography you’ve created for Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Bach’s Christ lag in Todesbanden?
LL: The choreography may be very a lot a response to the music. Musical patterns and textures are explored to create the idea of the choreography.
The Christ lag, is extra sombre and inside whereas the Dixit Dominus is extra exuberant and outspoken…
Q: Does the truth that the music is being carried out dwell change the way in which you method the dance?
LL: Probably not, we frequently work with dwell music… its all about listening to tempo and intention.
It’s really an actual deal with to carry out to dwell music, each time we have now the prospect…. … and we really feel very privilege to take action.
Q: What do you hope audiences will get out of the efficiency?
JSV: This distinctive collaboration between the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers and Compagnie de la Cidatelle is geared in direction of delivering audiences an immersive and thought-provoking expertise. It achieves this by infusing new layers of that means and relevance into the works of Bach and Handel by way of the inclusion of dance and juxtaposing these masterworks with Caroline Shaw’s composition.
By seamlessly merging the drive of dwell choral music with the dynamic artistry of dance, the efficiency will stir a spectrum of feelings, evoking the Baroque Impacts, and forging a particular bond between the performers and the viewers. This connection invitations a profound exploration of the various human experiences prevalent in our communities.
Tickets for In Time are on sale now [HERE].
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Anya Wassenberg is a Senior Author and Digital Content material Editor at Ludwig Van. She is an skilled freelance author, blogger and writing teacher with OntarioLearn.
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