6 artistes se mettent à table
Marc Hervieux
Growing up in a working-class family in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve does not predispose someone to become a world-class tenor, but at 24 years old, Marc Hervieux gave it a shot and started learning the ropes. Fifteen years later, he earned important parts in different productions of famous operas including La Bohème, La Traviata and Roméo et Juliette and truly made a name for himself when he starred in the symphonic version of Starmania with the MSO in 2005. Working tirelessly, he continues to sing and impart his love of song in all of its forms to audiences everywhere, appearing on popular television shows such as Star Académie, Tout le monde en parle and Bons baisers de France.
“It’s fascinating to see how dancers communicate with their bodies.”
If he wasn’t an opera singer, Marc Hervieux would certainly be a storyteller. In fact, he can talk for hours about his craft and interests. He has countless anecdotes and becomes very passionate when the subject turns to culture, even though it hasn’t always been part of his life. “When I was growing up, there wasn’t much cultural stimulation. I didn’t know what culture was and when I realized that it existed, it seemed unapproachable, a totally inaccessible world.” Even so, as a teenager, Marc joined a local amateur theatre company. “That experience opened the door to culture and the arts. It was a complete shock.”
Since then, culture has become his life and singing is what he loves most. “I always have 25 projects on the front burner and try to explore as many facets as possible through different projects.” In fact, his first two albums (a Christmas CD and a pop recording) will be released this fall. Are they attempts to democratize his art and draw audiences to the opera? “My goal is to stop people from putting up barriers between genres and styles so that they can give themselves the chance to choose what they like. Often, people who have never even been to the opera say that they don’t like it! They think that opera is a fat lady in a helmet with horns, and that’s so far removed from what it really is.”
Marc Hervieux also wants to get classical music back on the right track. “People need to be aware that they don’t have to rent a dress or know everything about the composer to go to a concert. All they have to do is listen to the music. They may like it or dislike it, but what’s important is to try…” Stereotypes beware!
Sophie Cadieux
Charismatic Sophie Cadieux discovered the vast world of culture through books. As a child, she would make up stories from the images in the volumes that her mother would give her. She discovered the stage through her high school’s theatre subscription (like many of us!) and improvisation in CEGEP. After graduating from the Conservatoire d’art dramatique de Montréal in 2001, she quickly made a place for herself on television, starring in the teen show Watatatow. Adults came to know her on Rumeurs, La job, Les boys and Les Lavigueur, and kids discovered her on Kaboom ! and Tactik. She has had few film roles, mainly treading the boards in, on average, three productions a year. She considers herself to be a woman of the stage and is the co-founder and co-artistic director of the Théâtre de la Banquette arrière theatre company.
“Culture is what keeps me alive.”
We sat down to discuss arts and culture with the young actress. “Culture has many facets. There is alternative culture, more experimental culture and popular culture, which are sometimes difficult to distinguish! But culture must remain changing, not monolithic. Innovative creators and methods embody this idea as new ways of thinking, seeing things, moving and reasoning emerge. It would be really difficult to grow tired of it.”
“Culture is classical music…
and death metal!”
Generalizations, especially about her medium of choice, irritate her. “Those who say that they don’t like theatre…There is a difference between a TNM and an Espace Libre production! It’s important to be curious and willing. You may not like a particular show but another may thrill you. It sometimes takes a little digging to discover what you like and try things that you may not. Of course, culture is trial and error but that’s where the beauty lies: your mistake may be my great discovery.”
For the past eight years, the woman who once thought she would become a literature professor has been enthusiastically pursuing her art. With good humour she recognizes that her passions in life – photography, improv, dance and graphic novels – are intimately linked to her craft. To her, culture is everything: “I drink it all in. It feeds me and I try to nourish others by giving back. It’s my goal; it’s how I contribute to society.” We certainly thank her for it.
Elisapie Isaac
Imagine growing up in Salluit, Nunavik and moving to Montréal for college – total culture shock! In 2000, singer, songwriter and filmmaker Elisapie Isaac did exactly that, and the cultural environment in which she landed astounded her. “It was unbelievable! When I first arrived, my antennae were very sensitive. Such a creative city, artists everywhere…I took in every minute of it. Let’s just say that my first years here were pretty intense!” Today, in addition to watching documentaries, she loves heading to the record store to discover artists from all over. “Now, when I listen to the albums, I feel like I’m hearing them in a different way.”
“Culture is language, history and heritage – it takes roots!”
But let’s go back a few years. As a young girl, coming into contact with teachers from Québec (and with Québec TV!) made her wonder about the world outside her small village. “My imagination really developed and I realized that I was very different from the people around me.” Born of an Inuit mother and Newfoundlander father, Elisapie was adopted into an Inuit family who raised her in the Inuit tradition and surrounded her with music. Along with her mixed heritage, which she finds “interesting and universal”, she also wants to share the culture in which she takes so much pride by making it her own, “more modern, very urban and current.”
As a teenager, she was drawn to the field of communications. She produced and hosted a radio show and, in the summers, worked as a journalist, liaison officer and youth counsellor. In CEGEP, she took part in a documentary on circumpolar peoples and later produced an award-winning short film. “As an artist, and even before I considered myself to be one, I was culturally sensitive. When you have something to express, you search for themes and ideas, and a culture that is changing and in upheaval is part of my core. My culture, even though it has changed immensely in the past 50 years, has lived in me for a long time.”
Elisapie will release her first solo trilingual (Inuktitut, English and French) album this fall and admires the openness of audiences, who see beyond the language that they do not understand. “The people who came to see Taima [her first group with Alain Auger fascinated me. It’s not necessarily easy to listen to someone singing in a completely different language for which the audience has no reference.”
Today, she soaks up culture in all of its forms and seeks to better understand the one that inhabits Québecers. “Learning a language and being able to speak it and feeling like you belong is really something! Québec isn’t that old but it has its own fascinating heritage.” Elisapie Isaac will certainly make the most of the Journées de la culture to discover new facets of her adoptive culture. Will you?
Gontran Chartré
Bob le Chef
Robert James Penny started school (cooking school!) with his family on Sunday mornings. His parents’ divorce and his exasperation with boring and repetitive lunches (frozen dinners, Chef Boyardee and carbon-copy sandwiches) drove him to develop what he calls survival cooking. Born of a French-speaking mother and an Anglophone father, in his teens, armed with his modest culinary culture, he began concocting his first recipes and developed a craving for good, inexpensive food…With a name like Penny, it must have been written in the stars!
“If there’s something that I want to see at the museum, I’ll go.”
Bob le Chef, who has hosted a Web cooking show since 2005, is definitely a foodie. After holding down a few sideline jobs and setting aside his broken dream of becoming a professional skateboarder, he enrolled at the ITHQ (Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec) to gain some hands-on knowledge. Stirred by his professors, who expanded his culinary horizons with different cuisines and endless new products, he realized that he couldn’t even recognize 20% of the ingredients in his plate! “I was stunned. That’s when I really started to learn – it sparked my passion.”
Why talk to a chef about culture? Because cooking is culture! “Cooking is an important part of our culture, and we should be proud of Québec’s typical dishes. In the last ten years, we’ve become more aware of our culinary traditions and their importance. In fact, Québecers have the healthiest eating habits of all North Americans.” What would be this seemingly-half-baked-yet-überprofessional chef’s goal? “I want to instill affordable cooking principles through simple recipes. Anything is possible in the kitchen, especially having fun. Getting rid of the formality and breaking the mould: that’s my concept of culinary anarchy.”
The tech-friendly chef makes use of all possible means of communication (you can even catch his show on your cell phone!). Internet also plays a key role for him and a large part of his audience. “It’s important for young people to be able to identify with the show. The Web is really their medium, even more so than TV. It’s cool and still a little underground.” Juggling his Web show, blog, book, restaurant kitchen, family, speaking engagements and clips for Radio-Canada, Bob often has little time for cultural activities, except a few that are music-related. “I go see a lot of emerging bands. I like knowing about all of the new releases, and when I go to the movies, it’s to see food documentaries!” Did we mention his appetite? Insatiable! Bob le Chef’s culture is of the culinary kind and it’s definitely all-you-can-eat.
Catherine Perrin
Television and radio host, journalist and musician Catherine Perrin considers herself to be an all-around consumer of culture, since through her various professions, she is able to take full advantage of numerous artistic projects. How does she manage to reconcile all of these aspects? “Happily! It’s cliché to say that I’m lucky to be doing what I love, but it’s true. It’s a privilege to be able to work in a field that stimulates and drives me. If I had to work as hard at accounting, they’d have had me committed by now!”
“Culture is what prevents the world from becoming one big shopping centre.”
When she was younger, the Québec native was extremely particular: “I wouldn’t go to just any show.” After completing her studies in classical music, she focussed on classical concerts and contemporary international film. But in time and through her profession, her vision changed, and she now takes great pleasure in finding the remarkable in everything. “In Montréal, you can make very specific choices, and that’s a good thing! I understand people who are passionate about a given genre, but there are outstanding cultural activities across Québec. As long as you remain very open-minded, it’s entirely possible to go out – even once a week – and see excellent shows throughout the year. In fact, this is one of the most interesting aspects of the Journées de la culture.”
Today, Catherine appreciates “the risk of making great discoveries”. Though certain works may be disappointing, the Six dans la cité host admits that “the joy is sometimes in the escape, in being pushed a little and experiencing a completely different human event that isn’t materialistic but rather an exercise in responsiveness.” The woman who practically leads two concurrent careers prefers things that are a little out of the ordinary. “I like the idea of bringing new life to a concert or reinventing storytelling like Robert Lepage, for example, who creates theatrical machines and narrative tools. I enjoy works that renew the theatrical experience without being unapproachable, because productions that re-examine traditional forms may attract new audiences that are younger and multicultural.”
Though she used to play with the I Musici ensemble, Catherine now lends her talents as a harpsichordist to a group called Bataclan. She believes that her performances make her better at her profession because they enable her to stay in touch with the reality of being an artist. She says that she could never give up arts and culture. “It’s like the air that I breathe; it’s almost as vital as that very first breath. To be in contact with culture and take part in it is fundamental to me. I’m very sure about that.” It goes without saying, of course, that we believe her!
Mike Sawatzky
Don’t ask Mike Sawatzky how important music is to him. Don’t even ask him how it entered his life. Simply put, it was just in him. “My earliest childhood memories involve music. When I was a kid, becoming a musician just felt right. Music affected me immediately and attracted me so much that I even lied to be able to take an introductory music course because I had seen all of these mind-blowing instruments! I spent two months in the class before my parents realized that I had started learning music. They were angry but knew that I was serious about it.”
“Besides music, scientific and culinary cultures are my favourites!”
After trying the trombone, ten-year-old Michael discovered the saxophone and decided that he needed to learn how to play. “My adoptive parents preferred the sax. They thought that I would play classical music, not knowing that it was great for jazz. They were a little closed-minded about music!” At 14, he wanted a guitar but had to pump gas to get one. “When I was young, I really had to fight to become a musician. But it’s my passion; I was born with it in my blood.”
An Amerindian of mixed heritage, Mike was raised in an Anglo-Canadian family of German background in Saskatchewan and didn’t exactly grow up in an environment that embraced the arts or culture. “No one ever showed me these things. It was nice but I didn’t really get it. In Saskatoon, there aren’t any Belgians, and no one is Senegalese. My involvement in cultural activities started in Montréal, and I just dove in!” Meeting André Fortin from Lac-Saint-Jean and Patrick Esposito di Napoli of France would prove to be pivotal, and the three would become the Colocs. As other musicians arrived, Mike continued on his way. “It opened my eyes to the rest of the world. I discovered it all at once.”
As part of the culturally-diverse Colocs, the future producer soaked up music and cultures, exploring unchartered waters. But after Dédé’s death, he lost everything. “I didn’t have a job, a band or any money, and I didn’t have Dédé. I had nothing.” Life had left him feeling sucker-punched. He then began to focus on his family, visiting scientific exhibitions and museums, expanding his knowledge of topics such as Egyptology, palaeontology, entomology and space. He even learned about world cuisine to teach his children. Through his family and close friends, Mike has rediscovered the love of music that he had temporarily forgotten. Poussières d’étoiles, the tribute concert that he produced, is a step in the right direction.
