I am writing from Montreal following our May 28th Turning Point Ensemble concert at the Salle Pierre Mercure. It was a fulfilling experience to be hosted by Canada’s largest and most historic new music organization, the Société de Musique Contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ), in such a magnificent hall. The acoustic of the theatre is truly brilliant and colourful, and you can hear every last detail on stage.

Our program was almost identical to the concert we played in Vancouver for our 20th anniversary celebration on May 18th, so it was special to extend our celebration in Montreal for what was their final concert of the season. SMCQ had specifically asked for a work from our dear late colleague Jocelyn Morlock, so we were pleased to open the concert with her Zart, a work we had premiered in 2006 and played recently on the commemorative concert we did of her music this past September. That piece includes quotes from Mozart, including opening with a bit of the Mozart Magic Flute Overture, as it was written on the 250th anniversary year of his birth.

It was very meaningful to give a second premiere of Farangis Nurulla Khoja’s Double Concerto written for our trombonist Jeremy Berkman and double bassist David Brown plus our ensemble divided into 3 groups encircling the soloists. Farangis lives just across the St. Lawrence River in Longueil but her music is rarely played in Montreal. It was very fitting, then, to make an important performance for her in her home city. Farangis had made a few revisions in the week between the two concerts, so that helped make it like a new premiere and kept us on our toes! The subtle and unique textures and layers of sound were truly magnificent in the space.

SMCQ creates a year-long homage to a different composer every two years, inviting other organizations nationally and internationally to join them in giving performances. This 2023/24 year they recognized Sandeep Bhagwati who lives in Montreal and teaches at Concordia University. Like in Vancouver, we performed our one-of-a-kind journey through his epic composition RASAS. We had never performed his work before, so it was very exciting to add a new composer with his original aesthetic to our repertoire. His piece (consisting of the 12 movements we chose) closed the concert. It was rewarding to have a standing ovation response afterwards.

Lastly, what a treat for me to have another fantastic performance of the work I wrote for TPE’s first concert – The Widening Gyre. I could never have imagined when I wrote it that TPE would still be as active as we are 20 years later, and giving repeat performances of my composition.

As always, we had an eventful and enjoyable time together including a dinner in Old Montreal on the night of our arrival, and some forays after the concert for poutine on Rue St. Denis just around the corner from the concert hall. You can’t do much better than spring in Montreal although many of us were drenched with extended rain showers the day before our concert. The rest of the time was sunny and a perfect temperature.

Although the distances are large in Canada, it is important to connect across the country to perform and share our music together.

Although most everyone went home the day after the concert, I stayed on with Jeremy where we have been doing a project very dear to me – a second recording of my string quartets with the Bozzini Quartet, this time including two new pieces that add countertenor Daniel Cabena and Jeremy playing sackbut, the forerunner of the trombone. We have been going each day east of Montreal to a church in Rivière-des-Prairies. There we are working hard, but have picnics each day at lunch break across from the church and looking over the river that feature Canada geese families (two parents with at least 10 gosling) coming by to visit.

We will be home soon!

Thanks for reading,
Owen Underhill