All GroundSwell—Live concerts are pay what-you-can; how-you-can. Tickets are available online, at the door by cash or cheque.
GroundSwell brings nine-piece Ensemble Télémaque from Marseille, France to Winnipeg and Brandon for a diverse program featuring the North American premieres of four newly-commissioned Canadian works. These concerts are the culmination of years of collaboration between GroundSwell and one of France’s premier new music ensembles.
Artistic Director and conductor Raoul Lay founded Ensemble Télémaque in 1994. Raoul has a mission to connect Marseille and his Ensemble with composers and audiences around the world via international performances.
Concert curator Jim Hiscott provides some background:
“Raoul & I first met in Marseille at one of the Ensemble’s concerts in 2010, then reconnected at the World New Music Days in Vancouver in 2017. We began discussing an exchange between Canada and France, sponsored by GroundSwell and Ensemble Télémaque. The idea was to co-commission new pieces from four Canadian composers from different parts of the country. Télémaque would premiere the pieces in Marseille, then travel to Manitoba to give the Canadian premieres. The four composers are Bekah Simms from Toronto, Vancouver’s Rita Ueda, Montreal’s James O’Callaghan and myself from Winnipeg. The premieres took place in Marseille in the fall of 2019, with the composers present. It was a great experience working with the Ensemble, Raoul, guest soprano Brigitte Peyré and actor Olivier Pauls over a week. The Ensemble gave excellent performances of the works in a concert of avant-garde, theatrical and new tonal music with humour mixed in.”
Ensemble Télémaque and GroundSwell now bring this concert to Manitoba, and we’re delighted to welcome the group. First-rate musicians and performers, Télémaque looks forward very much to playing for and meeting new music fans in our province.