La Nef presents: Tout tourne and Red Sky at Night

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This page is also available in / Cette page est également disponible en: Francais (French)

Duly recognized for its quality concert presentations, La Nef is equally known for bold programming choices that feature centuries-old music, folk traditions, and contemporary stylings.

Tout tourne, the first of its New Year offerings, pairs two figureheads of the local baroque musical scene, flutist Vincent Lauzer and harpsichordist Dorothéa Ventura, with dancer François Richard. This music and dance encounter is all the more unusual and unique as it weds baroque virtuosity to the tune of modern American minimalism. The second event on tap, Red Sky at Night, will feature vocalist and cittern specialist Seán Dagher in a program of traditional seafarer songs.

Tout tourne

Performed in New Brunswick last July during the Festival international de musique baroque de Lamèque, Tout Tourne is a style-bending initiative given a whole new spin by La Nef’s artistic head Claire Gignac. Front and centre of this concert will be Generic Music, a four-movement minimalist work penned by Canadian composer Peter Hannan in 1983. Built on reiterations from a series of musical cells, this work produces a gentle swirling effect reminiscent of the obsessive ostinato bass figurations of baroque music. Also included on the program are period pieces by Schmelzer, Matteis and Purcell, works that may well trigger associations with the recurring cycles of life for some listeners.

Red Sky at Night

Entirely devoted to seafarer songs, Red Sky at Night is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Seán Dagher, a bona fide specialist of that repertoire. His performance comes a full nine years after his previous one, Sea Songs & Shanties. Depicting the challenges of life at sea, fraught with its hardships and perils from the elements, these vibrant songs are cast in rich harmonies scored for cittern, flute, violin and double bass, all rendered in a spirit of authenticity. Dagher will again rely on his ever dependable crew of musical mates in this instalment totalling some 20 sea shanties from both the New and Old World.

Interestingly, a resurgence of interest in this repertoire occurred in the first year of the pandemic. This, in turn, prompted the vocalist to produce Seán Dagher’s Shanty of the Week on YouTube, a series of 60 or so capsules that enabled him to put together this concert presentation out of the considerable body of material generated in the process. This live event, however, is a stepping stone for him. His sights now set on a recording of the material in June, with a fall release in mind.

Translation by Marc Chénard

Tout tourne

Feb. 14 & 15
Maison de la culture Maisonneuve

Red Sky at Night
March 30
Maison de la culture Maisonneuve

For further concert information and ticket purchases, go to: www.la-nef.com

This page is also available in / Cette page est également disponible en: Francais (French)

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About Author

Arnaud G. Veydarier est actuellement étudiant en musicologie à l’Université de Montréal et nourrit un intérêt prononcé pour le jazz, la musique contemporaine et les liens entre musique et développement urbain. Il est pigiste pour La Scena Musicale depuis septembre 2017.

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