In September we brought Marseille’s wonderful Ensemble Télémaque to Manitoba. With conductor Raoul Lay, soprano Brigitte Peyré and actor Olivier Pauls, Télémaque is an excellent ensemble who specialize in a wide variety of new music styles. It was the completion of an exchange begun in 2019 with performances in Marseille; we were delighted to host the 9 performers for three events in Winnipeg and Brandon. They are like a big family, and loved being in Manitoba. They brought new music, theatre and a bit of comedy to their shows here.

The central focus was four new commissioned pieces by Canadian composers with a diversity of styles and backgrounds– Rita Ueda (Vancouver), Bekah Simms (Toronto), James O’Callaghan (Montreal) and Jim Hiscott (Winnipeg)– and these pieces are the focus of this online video from our Winnipeg Main Series show. Rita’s piece is gentle, spiritual and theatrical, James’s is lively and references animals, Bekah’s is a subtle setting of her own poem, and Hiscott’s is a mini-drama based on a love poem from Shakespearean times. We end with a very entertaining piece by France’s Georges Aperghis. We hope you enjoy it!

Jim Hiscott, Concert Curator