Arts
Labour of love
DAVID DUCHARME
Spring 2010 |
The piece, entitled Calligramme, will be performed by the Sydney Conservatorium Saxophone Ensemble. The festival will take place from April 30 to May 9. The World New Music Days is a prestigious international festival devoted to contemporary music. Organized annually in different cities around the world, this year’s event in Sydney is presented by the Aurora Festival and features the music of composers from 52 countries, including three from Canada. This is the text of the original article from Sudbury Living, Winter 2007 In the purest form, a life’s work should be enjoyable, driven by creativity and passion. And success should be measured by the satisfaction that comes only from producing something of merit from within.
Scored for six saxophones (soprano, two altos, two tenors and baritone), Calligramme was premiered in Paris in 2005 by the Ensemble de saxophones du CNR de Boulogne-Billancourt, under the direction of Jean-Michel Goury, at the Maison du Canada. The piece has since been performed by ensembles in France, the US, and at the 15th World Saxophone Congress in Bangkok, Thailand. The piece was inspired by French poet Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918), who was a noted exponent of the calligram, a form of visual or concrete poetry where the verses are arranged on the page in the shape of an object.
Sure, it’s a completely impractical point of view, for most people, in the soul sucking, work-a-day world. But for a lucky few, there is truth in such wisdom.
Montreal-born Robert Lemay seems to be one of those few.
He began playing piano at the age of eight, and quickly took to it. As his interest grew, his skills followed.
Lemay said he knew at a young age what he wanted to do and stuck to it. He ultimately attained a doctorate degree in composition from the University of Montreal.
But despite the unconventional career path, Lemay ended up in Sudbury through a tried and tested method.
“I followed my wife,” joked Lemay.
He is referring to Yoko Hirota, an accomplished Japanese-Canadian classical pianist, who was hired as a professor at Laurentian University back in 2000.
“We were a package deal,” said Lemay. “They needed someone to teach upper level theory, so I took a job here too.”
Lemay and Hirota met years earlier while both were students at the State University of New York in Buffalo.
Lemay’s primary motivation in going to Buffalo was to learn English. But he left with much more than command of the language.
The experience gave Lemay the sense that his music could take him anywhere.
And it has.
His music has been performed across North America, Japan, South America and Europe.
In October Lemay travelled to Luxembourg to take part in a prestigious international competition. He is one of four finalists selected from a pool of 152 composers from 38 countries, for his composition titled, Mare Tranquilitatis.
Lemay wrote the piece specifically for the consideration
of the Luxembourg panel.
He said the challenge in doing so was to handle the unusual and eclectic instrumentation required for qualification in the competition.
Inspired loosely by Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, Lemay wrote parts for 14 separate instruments.
He had only a brief rehearsal session the day of the performance with the musicians who brought it to life.
Lemay never gets used to the pressure of high-level, international competition.
“I am always nervous. The worst part is that things are completely out of my control. The music is being played by a group of musicians I have never met.”
His work in Sudbury is possibly a little less complex, but equally important to Lemay.
In addition to his teaching duties at Laurentian, Lemay is president and co-artistic director of the 5-Penny Music Concerts.
The organization is a non-profit organization dedicated to the performance of classical music written in the 20th and 21st centuries. Concerts are scheduled for Nov. 3 and Feb. 8 and 9 at St. Peter’s United Church on York St.
Lemay wrote a one-movement concerto for piano and orchestra for his wife, which was premiered by the Sudbury Symphony Orchestra in February 2006.
He said he looks forward to working more with the Sudbury Symphony Orchestra.
“Right now the symphony is working on a project to hire me as a composer in residence,” if it recieves a grant from the Ontario Arts Council.
Until then, he will continue to do what he loves, without calling it “work.”
“It may sound cliché, but for me, writing music is a necessity. There is never a time where I do not create.”
