Intercontinental Dialogues: Eleven live musicians in Montreal, Bergen and Freiburg invite you to live the unique experience of technology-assisted musical creation!

Montreal, February 27 2023 – As part of the 11th edition of the Montreal/New Musics Festival – Music and Spirituality, Quasar presents a concert of three new works and two repertoire works in collaboration with some of the most interesting musicians of the European contemporary music scene as well as with a "musician" generated by artificial intelligence (AI). Between Montreal, Freiburg and Bergen, audiences and performers in each of the three cities will enjoy a unique perspective on the musical experience imagined by the composers.

Under the theme of the festival, some works are inspired by the creation myths of Genesis (Cain and Abel, the Tower of Babel) while others question our humanity and our consciousness through the prism of our ever-growing relationship with technology in all spheres of activity.

It is this same technology that will bring Quasar and European musicians together live and remotely, in Montreal and Bergen respectively, for works by Dániel Péter Biró and Juan S. Vassallo. The performers will share the score on both sides of the Atlantic, with the sounds of ones traveling through the acoustic space of the others. In the work of Hong Kong-born composer Hongshuo Fan, we witness a conversation in the ''Cloud'': in Montreal, Jean-Marc Bouchard of Quasar dialogues with bass clarinetist Andrea Nagy live from the Experimental Studio in Freiburg and with an artificial intelligence (AI) generated musician who expresses his/her own ideas and ideas. In the work of Hong Kong-born musician Hongshuo Fan, we witness a conversation in the Cloud: in Montreal, Jean-Marc Bouchard of Quasar dialogues with bass clarinetist Andrea Nagy live from the Experimental Studio in Freiburg and with an artificial intelligence (AI) generated musician who expresses itself through sound and image via his creator in Manchester.

With a program inspired by millennial stories paired with cutting-edge technologies, Intercontinental Dialogues offers a unique, fraternal and sensitive experience.

Intercontinental Dialogues will be held in Montreal on Saturday, March 4, 2023 at 3pm in the Agora Hydro-Québec of the Coeur des sciences of UQAM, presented as part of the 11th edition of the Montreal/New Musics Festival.

Tickets from $24

Coproduction Quasar and Montreal/New Musics. Thanks: Norwegian Artistic Research Program (Diku), Faculty of Fine Arts, Music and Design (KMD) and Grieg Academy of the University of Bergen, Experimentalstudio des SWR (Germany), NOVARS research centre (University of Manchester).

This concert is part of the Sounding Philosophy research project initiated by Dániel Péter Biró.

PROGRAMME

Hongshuo Fan – Conversation in the Cloud (2021)
Jean-Marc Bouchard (Quasar, Montreal), Andrea Nagy (Freiburg) and Hongshuo Fan (Manchester)

Michel Gonneville – Abel : L’a-mort, (2022), Premiere
Quasar (Montreal)

Juan S. Vassallo – I am a strange loop (2022), Premiere
Quasar (Montreal), Hans Knut Sveen and Jostein Gundersen (Bergen)

Örjan Sandred – Engrammes (2020), Commissionned by Quasar, Canadian Premiere
Quasar (Montreal)

Dániel Péter Biró – Migdalim Bavel (Tower of Babel) (2023), Premiere
Quasar (Montreal), Ensemble Mixtura, Sergej Tchirkov, Kai Wessel (Bergen)

QUASAR SAXOPHONE QUARTET – https://quasar4.com/en

Passionate about the music of its time, the Quasar saxophone quartet has been dedicated to the creation and promotion of contemporary music since its founding in 1994. Instrumental music, improvisation, electronics: they explore all musical pathways. Whether alone or accompanied by a symphonic, acoustic or hybrid/electronic orchestra, Quasar offers the public a unique and profoundly original program. The ensemble has won 10 OPUS awards from the Conseil québécois de la musique, including “Performer of the Year”. Quasar presents a series of concerts in Montreal and performs regularly in Canada and abroad.

Since its inception, Quasar has premiered over 200 works spanning multiple areas of musical creation. As a truly  creative force of international stature, the quartet works closely with composers, encouraging research, experimentation and the development of new ideas. The ensemble thus contributes in an exceptional manner to the development of Quebec music and also has several premieres of foreign works to its credit.

CONTACT

Roxanne Gallant

Communications coordinator – Quasar saxophone quartet

roxanne@quasar4.com | 1.418.732.2413

Quasar are available for press, radio and televised interviews.