A double programme with Montreal cellist/composer Émilie Girard-Charest and Scottish violinist Emma Lloyd!
Emma is an international performer, improviser, composer, and artist. She performs as a soloist and in small ensembles, working often with live electronics, and collaborating regularly with composers. As an improviser, Emma’s performance tends to be quiet and intimate in nature, exploring the innate timbral qualities of the violin, and discovering some of the often hidden sounds that can be found with her unique combination of technique and tools.
1st set: Emma Jane Lloyd
Cat Lamb – Open-scape
Open-scape for solo violin combines detuned violin and human voice, exploring the beautiful timbral interactions and micro-gestures formed in the sustained sound.
Kaija Saariaho – Nocturne
Nocturne was written in 1994 and dedicated to the memory of Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski. The piece is an exploration of early ideas for Kaija Saariaho’s violin concerto, Graal Théâtre, which was premiered in London at the 1995 BBC Promenade Concerts by Gidon Kremer. The first performance of Nocturne was by John Storgårds on 16 February 1994 in Helsinki. (from https://saariaho.org/works/nocturne/)
Emma Jane Lloyd – Caprices Esquisses
for mum and dad
There are four artefacts, three chorales and three murmurs in no specified order. Mostly written in time of reflection, these pieces are an exploration of the violin and my relationship with it. They are a challenge to myself, and a celebration of the versatility of the instrument.
Some of these sounds lie on the limit of tone production of the instrument. For me, subharmonics, bow harmonics, wolf tones and other ‘undesirable phenomena’ are all part of the rich timbral world of this instrument and these pieces embrace these sounds.
They may work or not. Don’t be afraid; this isn’t a test; it is an exploration.
Émilie Girard-Charest – Mue
In French, the word « mue » has several meanings. It can refer to the change of register of the voice of a teenager, but it can also be the moment when a snake looses its skin in order to grow a new one. Overall, it always refers to a transformation process, with all the instabilities and fragilities that it implies.
In Mue, I have been specifically interested in those asperities and in the delicate interstices that open when evolving in new territories. The work is a path exploring the liminal spaces of the instrument with the use of extreme registers and complex timbres. Working with such material implies a high level of risk and strong adaptive skills. Even though the score is fully written, the piece is made of what really happens in the moment of the performance, what emerges and how it is accepted. The purpose of the piece is to embrace instability.
2nd set: Émilie Girard-Charest
Émilie Girard-Charest – Sillons
“On a radio show, Wajdi Mouawad tells the story of an amphibious bird hovering above a lake. Fascinated by the fish, the bird dives. It should drown but it escapes from death because its desire, empathy and curiosity are stronger than the laws that state that birds live in the air and fish in water.”
- Valérie Manteau, Le sillon
We would like to thank the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Conseil des arts de Montréal and the SOCAN Foundation for their support.