Works by Leroux and Provost.

The NEM will perform two major works by Philippe Leroux. The first is Voi(rex) (premiered in 2002) for voice, ensemble and electronics. The performance will benefit from the considerable skill and talent of soprano Donatienne Michel-Dansac. Lorraine Vaillancourt will conduct this work for her second time. In March 2004, she conducted the Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain de Lyon, in the series “Musiques en scène 2004.”

(d’)Aller, for solo violin and an ensemble of 16 players, was composed at the Villa Medicis in Rome, in 1994-1995. In this work that is not technically speaking a concerto, the violin part, performed by Alain Giguère, does not so much compete with the instrumental ensemble, but is instead like a catalyst crossing back and forth over the orchestral material like a ray of sunshine that makes a window sparkle.

Commissioned by the NEM and premiered at the 2004 annual Grand concert of this ensemble, Les ruines du Paradis by Serge Provost was inspired by the composer’s visit to the Russian pavilion at the seventh international architecture exposition of the Venice Biennale. The exhibit entitled “Le rovine del paradiso” featured a series of drawings and photographs of Russian architecture. “Architecture – as much of a utopia as it is a critique of society. Utopia-Paradise-Ruins, the world turns from dreams to devastation,” writes Serge Provost on his work. “Music is also a form of utopia, of kind of dream, it also serves as an expression of the world and of oneself within this world… a paradise? Hell? Conflict … hope… peace…”