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y CAROLINE RODGERS PHOTOS OF ANA SOKOLOVIĆ Alain Lefort 4 DECEMBER 2011 / JANUARY 2012
ON THE COVER the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec is putting the spotlight on composer Ana Sokolović this year for the third season of their Série Hommage, previously devoted to Claude Vivier and Gilles Tremblay. Born in Belgrade in 1968, the composer grew up in a creatively and culturally rich environment that gave her the opportunity, while still very young, to learn ballet, take piano lessons and act. She has been composing music for the theatre since her teen years. After studying composition at the University of Novi Sad and at the University of Belgrade, she taught for a few years before deciding to emigrate to Canada in 1992. She completed a Master’s Degree in composition at the Université de Montréal with José Evangelista and married Jean Lesage, a fellow composer. For this neo-Quebecoise, Montreal is an ideal environment for new music to flourish. “Here, we are very closely linked to Europe, but there is a liberty in North America that Europeans do not have. The burden of tradition and judgment weighs little here; there is an extraordinary open-mindedness that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the West. I am extremely happy to be able to work here.” Ana Sokolović’s work is rich and diverse; opera, chamber music, theatre and dance music, and pieces for solo instruments have all crossed her creative path. Many prestigious ensembles and soloists, for example the MSO and the Ensemble contemporain de Montréal, have commissioned pieces from her and performed her works. The public will discover Sokolović’s colourful and original music, infused with the cultural baggage of her native country, thanks to more than 80 concerts and activities across the country that are part of the Série Hommage. Opera, the universal language Ana Sokolović has already written three operas, all of which were premiered in Toronto by the Queen of Puddings Music Theatre company. For her most recent opera, Svadba, which means “marriage” in Serbian, she drew on the model of Stravinsky’s Noces, which tells the story of a peasant marriage in Russia. In this work for six female voices, Sokolović concentrates on the moments that come before the marriage, on what we call a bridal shower in North America. Her primary source: songs and texts related to this ritual at different times in the history of her native Serbia. “It was very difficult to find texts, but I did succeed in finding, for example, a song used while the hair of the bride was coloured. I wrote the libretto myself, drawing on my research. I learned that the ritual of preparation for Ana Sokolović A Chronology 1968: Birth in Belgrade 1979: Actress at the National Yugoslav Theatre 1980-1981: Television program presenter 1986-1990: Studies in music at the University of Novi Sad 1992: Move to Montreal 1993-1995: Master’s Degree in composition at the Université de Montréal 1995-1996: First professional concerts in Montreal 1996 à 2011: Composition and premieres of around forty works in Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, London, Halifax, and Banff marriage lasted seven days, so there are seven scenes in my opera. They include everything that can happen when you’re very nervous during the preparation for an important event: funny moments, touching ones, confrontation.” The work was premiered last summer in Toronto. Sung a cappella in Serbian, with English surtitles, it was described as a tour de force by critics and was very well received in general. “Even if it’s in Serbian, the theme is very universal,” says the composer. “There are surtitles, of course. Nevertheless, what matters most is not whether one understands all the words but whether one understands emotionally what is going on. I incorporate made-up language and onomatopoeia into the piece. I play extensively on the rhythms of the language; its colour and DECEMBER 2011 / JANUARY 2012 5
Page 2 and 3: CONTENTS DECEMBER 2011 — JANUARY
Page 6 and 7: ON THE COVER SVADBA PHOTOS John Lau
Page 8 and 9: N TES by CRYSTAL CHAN, REBECCA ANNE
Page 10 and 11: discovery cd Transposing Tradition
Page 12 and 13: PORTRAIT ALEXANDRE DA COSTA A passi
Page 14 and 15: MUSICULTURE to create music for a f
Page 16 and 17: MUSICULTURE IN MEMORIAM Maryvonne K
Page 18 and 19: PHOTO Philippe Jasmin PORTRAIT NÉZ
Page 20 and 21: OPERA HIROMI OMURA will play Leonor
Page 22 and 23: PORTRAIT LAN TUNG Taiwanese-born er
Page 24 and 25: CONCERT Previews by RENÉE BANVILLE
Page 26 and 27: PREVIEWS A GREAT LIEDER PERFORMER A
Page 28 and 29: 2011 DECEMBER in QUEBEC TO LIST YOU
Page 30 and 31: TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY S
Page 32 and 33: PREVIEWS Elsewhere in QUEBEC OPERA
Page 34 and 35: Mozart: Don Giovanni. McGill S.O.;
Page 36 and 37: SALUTE TO VIENNA Salute to Vienna b
Page 38 and 39: jazz Jazz is particularly fond of h
Page 40 and 41: JAZZ REVIEWS News from Europe Dutch
Page 42 and 43: REVIEWS » cds • dvds• books A
Page 44 and 45: REVIEWS CDs they had already record
Page 46 and 47: variations ON A THEME Looking for a
Page 48 and 49: CONTEST CIOC Pipe dream turned real
Page 50 and 51: ARTS THIS WINTER ΩDance by TAO FEI
Page 52 and 53: ARTS THIS WINTER Visual Arts by JUL
Page 54 and 55:
ADISQ 2011 NOMINATION ALBUM OF THE
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