MUSIC FOR THE HYDROÖRGANON
Date: February 9, 2018
Location: Saint John's Lutheran Church (3594 rue Jeanne Mance, Montréal (Qc) H2X 2K3)
This concert brings André Forget’s literary work, "The Lower Registers" (audiobook available here) to music and poetic voice. Imagining what music would sound like for his fictional instrument, the Hydroörganon, we commissioned writers, via poetry, to construct blueprints for newly composed electroacoustic music.
Background:
In April 2017, Joel Peters and André Forget collaborated on a literary piece inspired by "Organ Ocean: waves of sound", an organ recital given by Peters at St. Joseph's Oratory. The result: "The Lower Registers," a magical-realist account of an organ builder, theorist, and composer, Kenji Saito, whose theories lead him to the conclusion that the purest form of music, and the most appropriate place to meet the Divine, is in the depths of the ocean. Saito begins to build organs underwater and give concerts on these peculiar instruments. Audiences have mixed reactions. Some claim to be transported into spiritual places, and others hear absolutely nothing.
In 2018, these experiences will take on a further dimension by way of newly commissioned poems by Jenny Berkel, Sarah Ens, Noor Naga, Bardia Sinaee, and Vincent Lauzon. These poems, in turn, became the guiding principles for newly composed electroacoustic music, which offer musical re-imaginings of these poetic narratives.
Poems and music
Poet Collaborators:
Sarah Ens is a writer and editor living in Winnipeg. A graduate from UBC's Creative Writing BFA program, her work can be found in several literary magazines including Prairie Fire, Poetry Is Dead, and Arc Poetry Magazine. Her cat writes sad haiku poems prolifically on Instagram at @balto_thesleddog.
Bardia Sinaee is the author of the chapbook Blue Night Express (Anstruther Press). His poems have recently appeared or are forthcoming in The Humber Literary Review, The Malahat Review, The Rusty Toque, and Best Canadian Poetry 2015 (Tightrope Books). He lives in Toronto.
Vincent Lauzon is a dilettante who writes, versifies, translates and composes. He has been published in French and English, and his first book for young readers, published waaay back in 1987, was nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Awards. He did not win. He lives in Laval.
Noor Naga was born in Philadelphia, raised in Dubai, studied in Toronto, and currently lives in Alexandria, Egypt. Her writing has appeared in The Puritan, Hart House Review, Muftah, and The Sultan’s Seal and was shortlisted for Room magazine’s 2015 Fiction Contest. She received a Canada Graduate Scholarship-Master’s, and the Mary Coyne Rowell Jackman Graduate Scholarship and Avie Bennett Emerging Writers Scholarship from the University of Toronto, where she completed her MA in creative writing.
Jenny Berkel is a poet, singer, and songwriter based in London, Ontario. Her most recent album is Pale Moon Kid.
Narrators
Originally from Toronto, Michelle Rambharose is a Guyanese-Canadian multidisciplinary performer and creator based in Montreal. Since graduating from Concordia University with a BFA in Theatre Performance, she has been creating original theatre performances discussing feminist themes. This past year, she toured with Geordie Production's 2-play school tour bringing plays to elementary and secondary schools around Eastern Canada. She most recently remounted ‘Instant’ at Toronto’s Young People’s Theatre. She will be co-creating and directing an upcoming original production called ‘Maskuline’ in August 2018.
Dakota Jamal Wellman is a multidisciplinary artist currently based in Montreal. Originally from Port Hope, Ontario, Dakota completed his post-secondary studies in theatre at Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke, QC. Upon graduation, Dakota relocated to Montreal to participate in the Artist Mentorship Program at Black Theatre Workshop, and was subsequently cast in Geordie Productions 2Play Tour. Recent theatre credits include: Instant (Young People’s Theatre), The Revolutions (spiderwebproductions), Much Ado About Nothing (Repercussion Theatre). Film/TV: The Bold Type, The Death and Life of John F. Donovan. Later this February, Dakota will be appearing in an original web series called The Walk-In Closet.