You probably caught a few snippets of a World Cup soccer game in the past couple of weeks but, like me, became quickly disturbed by the beelike buzzing of the infamous vuvuzelas, those cheap trumpets clearly built to annoy the listener? What if they were playing a real song, something by Beethoven for instance. Wouldn’t it be a little different?
The Mystery GuitarMan decided to toy with the concept in this video… Enjoy!
Her latest album with big band may be on the effervescent side but, tonight and tomorrow night, you are invited to take in Lorraine Desmarais’ fabulous pianism as she performs solo at the Montreal Jazz Festival.
It’s at Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur at 7 p.m. and the tickets are more than affordable.
Bring your instruments, whatever that may be, and play a new work by Matthias Maute, of Ensemble Caprice, tomorrow afternoon. Don’t fret about it, it’s not a real concert! Instead you will be part of the Montreal Baroque Festival parade! The meeting place is on Place Jacques-Cartier, corner of St-Paul at 2 p.m. The parade should leave 15 minutes later.
With the participation of Bread & Puppet, the parade will take over the Old Montreal, filling it up with the magic of giant puppets.
It’s not too late to rehearse the short motif Matthias Maute has designed for you. The score is here (four short bars, really, it’s easy as pie!). Maybe we’ll play next to one another?
“Art, and above all, music, has a fundamental function, which is to catalyze the sublimation that it can bring about through all means of expressions. It must aim through fixations which are landmarks to draw towards a total exaltation in which the individual mingles, losing his consciousness in a truth immediate, rare, enormous, and perfect. If a work of art succeeds in this undertaking even for a single moment, it attains its goal. This tremendous truth is not made of objects, emotions, or sensations; it is beyond these, as Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony is beyond music. This is why art can lead to realms that religion still occupies for some people”
Iannis Xenakis, Formalized music
I must recommand the exhibit Iannis Xenakis: composer, architect, visionary, held at the Centre Canadien d’Architecture until October 17, which explores the fondamental role played by drawing in Xenakis’ works. A total immersion can be experienced, through sound (thanks to iPods and two listening stations) and sight (drawings and photos). Fascinating…
The event is not celebrated that much (not enough?) in Canada but, today, first official day of summer, it’s Music Fest all over the world. If the initiative was born in France in the 1980s, it quickly spread to the rest of Europe and now, our American neighbours are starting to seriously get into the knack of things.
Indeed, “Play Me, I’m Yours” brings 60 public pianos to outdoor locations around New York City for two weeks starting today. Donated for the cause and decorated by a host of artists, pianos will invade the city. Manhattan will get 27 pianos, Brooklyn 10, Queens 5, and 4 to both Staten Island and the Bronx. The ferry terminal, the Staten Island Zoo, the Children’s Museum at Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden and the South Beach Boardwalk all will get pianos.
The installation opens on the same day as the free citywide outdoor festival Make Music New York, which features more than 1,000 concerts at outdoor locations around the city, but continues for two weeks. When the installation is over, the instruments will be donated to schools and hospitals.
How more inspiring can this get? And you, what will you listen to today?