Concert

Alexis Paul and the Mémoire Quartet present a new work combining mechanical music with arrangements for string quartet.

In contrast to mechanical notation, which most often seeks to automate human interpretation, this project takes the opposite approach: having performers play a repertoire composed for a machine and, by manipulating the sound live, returning to the machine through the human filter. Blending sensitive reinterpretation with new possibilities for sound creation, the French composer and Montréal-based quartet open up a mirrored dialogue between a barrel organ and a string ensemble.

Mémoire Quartet, strings

The Mémoire Quartet is a Montréal-based string quartet dedicated to contemporary music. Formed in 2024, the ensemble brings together Bailey Wantuch and Meggie Lacombe (violins), Marilou Lepage (viola), and Audréanne Filion (cello), graduates of the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and the Schulich School of Music at McGill University. Their name reflects their mission: to contribute to our collective memory through the creation and performance of today’s repertoire.

Alexis Paul, barrel organ

Alexis Paul embarks on a nomadic and poetic journey with a reinvented barrel organ. Here, the street organ moves into new territory, becoming a vehicle for creation, a platform and a conduit for culture, delving into an infinite world of forms and possibilities. Combining traditional craftsmanship, unconventional adaptations and new playing techniques, his cross-disciplinary projects take many forms, drawing equally on the rich traditions of oral storytelling, written music and textile arts.

Hugo Siclier, sound and lighting

Hugo Siclier, aka Project Sama, is a clarinettist and producer working at the crossroads of electronic, classical and improvised music. He enjoys connecting these styles through the atmosphere and narrative dimensions they share. Seeking to create deep music with organic textures and chromatic atmospheres, Project Sama hybridizes the clarinet with electronics—and electronics with the clarinet.