BLAZE: Jane Siberry, François Salque, Megumi Masaki, and BMiR Artists

Banff Musicians in Residence provides space and focused time for program participants of all musical genres to concentrate on artistic development while working on projects that can be either individually or group/ensemble based. Participants have the freedom to structure their time around their project needs, and receive artistic inspiration and career advice from well-established faculty.

BLAZE

Be enthralled by Canadian icon, singer-songwriter Jane Siberry, the profound and phenomenal artistry of French cellist François Salque with pianist Megumi Masaki, and extraordinary participants from the Banff Musicians in Residence program. Exquisite folk-pop music created by Jane Siberry, brilliant music by Fauré, Kristian Schott, Zoltán Kodály, and new musical sensations will blaze across cultural and temporal musical landscapes.

Performances by:

Pre-show: François Salque & Benjamin Portzen
Improvisations on Armaguedon by Astor Pizzola

Chris Lorway
Land Acknowledgement

François Salque & Megumi Masaki
Élégie by Gabriel Fauré

François Salque & Martin Beau
Csardas III de Milena Dolinova / Krystof Maratka

Vox Rea (Kate Kurdyak & Lauren Kurdyak)
Accompanied by Benjamin Portzen
Grass

Coralie Gauthier & Sarah Pagé
Murmuration
Murmuration explores the natural synchronicity of movement between two harps inspired by the intricate patterns of flocks of starlings in flight. The harps are treated with electronic processing in real time to accentuate the parallel gestures between the two instruments.

Martin Beau & Maïa Zifaras
Cello Sonata in D minor by Debussy
One of the last work by the french composer Claude Debussy, initially subtitled « Pierrot is angry at the moon ».

Erin Propp
The Fiction (2023)
On occasion, you may find yourself taking a mental escape from your everyday life to imagine the road not traveled – a secret door in your mind where you live out a fantasy. This can be a place of wonder and propel you to dream. In contrast, it can also be a place that disfigures your reality, where you keep yourself from being fully invested in the life you have. In The Fiction, Erin walks you through the secret door to her fantasy and shares the scene of it being deconstructed.

Justin Wright & Nina Vanhoenacker
Idle Hands: A Cyclic Mass for Two Cellos 
Idle Hands is inspired by medieval chant and its many transformations over the centuries, using the anonymous antiphon Laudemus Dominum In Beati Antistitis as source melody. Each movement is a contemporary bastardization of a different historical tradition of transforming chant, that will either showcase or obscure the source material. Like a traditional cyclic mass, this piece consists of five movements, all making use of the same musical phrase.

III. Organum
II. Cantus Firmus I: Motet
Tonight, we perform movements III (Organum) and II (Cantus Firmus I: Motet). Organum was one of the earliest forms of polyphony in Western Europe, with its rules first being described in the Musica Enchiriadis manuscript (circa 895) and began as an improvised accompaniment to chant before eventually calcifying and being transcribed. In accordance with that tradition, one of the cello parts in this movement will be entirely improvised. The second movement is based on a form of cantus firmus, a tradition of slowing down a chant melody (or a fragment of it) and placing it in the tenor line. Through extended techniques, however, the two cellos create a pointillist eight-part harmony.

I would like to thank Marie de Testa for her projection design, as well as Anastasia Shmytova, prof. Susan Rankin, prof. Rob Wegman, and Marcel Pérès for inspiring me with their passionate research, sharing their original transcriptions, and taking the time to teach me everything I know about chant.

Christine Choi
Sonata for solo violin, Op. 27 no. 4, 1st movement by Eugene Ysaye
Ysaye wrote 6 sonatas for solo violin in 1923, inspired by an analogous collection written by Bach. Each one is dedicated to a violinist he admired. The 4th sonata is dedicated to the great violinist and composer, Fritz Kreisler. The first movement, Allemande, combines Ysaye's signature virtuosic lines with the elegant pacing and harmonies of the Baroque dance.

Jane Siberry & BMiR Musicians
Accompanied by Ryan Davis (viola), Saara Lida - Vihelmiina Sinivalo (cello), Zac Sakrewki (Double Bass), Benjamin Shannon (Drum Kit), Kate Kurdyak (vocal), Lauren Kurdyak (vocal)

Atlantis, the Sequel
Unfinished, this song is wanting to wrest a bit of control from me, the writer. It is delighted that it will be be performed in such a condition and with musicians that don’t know it well.
I, the writer, have noticed that people seem to enjoy seeing the process and perhaps also the possibility that it may race off a cliff never to be heard from again. 

Love is Everything
We are here to remind each other.

Supporting Staff:

Juan Anez, Production Technician
Brendan Briceland, Head of Production Technology 
Ben Ewing, Senior Recording Engineer
Sharon Fish, Assistant Head Stage Carpenter
Lyle Fish, Head Sound Technician
Matt Flawn, Head of Lighting
Brian Garbet, Audio and Music Technician
Sam Hindle, Assistant Head of Sound
Aaric Innes, Projection Technician
Megumi Masaki, Director, Music
Greg Monforton, Assistant Production Manager
Henry Ng, Audio and Music Technician
Ivy Pan, Program Manager
Albert Picknell, Head Piano Technician
Angela Schenstead, Program Delivery Specialist
Donna Sharpe, Stage Manager
Darrell Shaw, Assistant Head of Lighting
Lully Villar, Production Coordinator

Please turn off all cellphones, photo/video cameras.