ASSELIN VENTURES IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION
Inspired by her album Canada / Notre Pays, Ottawa-raised soprano Mireille Asselin ventures beyond the operatic repertoire and joins forces with the Amici Chamber Ensemble. The singer discusses her music with Peter Hum.
Q What led you to record your album?
A The initial inspiration for undertaking this recording project came when I joined the Amici Ensemble for their annual fundraising event a year ago, where we performed a program of jazzy, popular pieces that Serouj Kradjian, the pianist and arranger of the group, had written for the occasion. We so enjoyed working together and the musical results of that experiment that we just had to explore the idea further.
It started out more broadly — what can we arrange for clarinet, cello, piano and voice to make a songbook of sorts? But we soon realized that a lot of the pieces we were drawn to were Canadian, like Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah and Joni Mitchell’s A Case of You. And it being Canada 150, we thought, what better time to delve into the treasure trove of musical material we have here at home!
I’ve also been a fan of the Amici Ensemble ever since I first heard them as an undergraduate student in Toronto. They come up with the most wonderful, varied, challenging programs and they play with such love and joy (and skill!). They’ve also previously won a Juno for their recording Levant, so it was truly a dream come true for them to ask me to join them on this project.
Q What does it mean for you to step beyond operatic repertoire?
A We wanted to bring together the best musical material we could find regardless of traditional classifications, and in a lot of ways that’s what makes this album so unique. Serouj and I spent the whole summer digging through the library stacks, poring through anthologies and listening to lots of great recordings to gain inspiration and see what spoke to us. There are popular tunes, jazz standards and cabaret, traditional folk songs from across the country, some orchestral music adapted for the voice, and other gems that defy categorization.
Although I primarily work in the operatic world now, what first gave me the music bug was working on art song in my early voice lessons — songs by Debussy, Schubert, and others. And in many ways, I consider the works of Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell as well as those by great Québecois chansonniers like Claude Léveillée and Gilles Vigneault to be Canada’s iteration of the art song — a true marriage of poetry and music. Although we are all classical performers, we’ve adapted the material to fit our group and I think it suits the chamber music idiom shockingly well!
From a singer’s perspective, it was a lot of fun to bring as much vocal versatility to the table as I could and throw lots of different styles and colours into the mix. There’s a bit of scatting in the jazz, some growly smoky sounds from the French cabaret tradition in Le Vieux Piano and Ma2 cabane au Canada, some breathy, speech-like effects in the Mitchell and Cohen, some lilting swing in a country music take on the Red River Valley, and finally also the full use of an operatic palette in some of the more classical tracks.
The advantage of working so closely with the arranger is that he wrote things to enable this flexibility and encouraged us to colour outside the lines at times, to risk letting things get messy, which can be hard for a classical musician. We’re used to trying to make every note flawless and beautiful. It was great fun to set things free and explore the dark, scary corners of tonal production.
Q What was the recording process?
A We recorded the whole album in just three intensive days in September in the middle of a heat wave! I consumed a lot of water on those days, let me tell you.
Q What hopes do you have for the album?
A I really have no specific hopes for the album other than that people enjoy it and that it evokes something nostalgic or joyful in the listener. The process of conceiving, developing and recording the album was extremely
personal for us and each track represents a specific memory or emotional touchstone for someone in our ensemble. The end result feels like a love letter to the country and we hope it helps to show off Canada’s rich musical landscape.
Q Will you tour in support of the album?
A We do hope to tour this program across the country and are working on this next step. We’ve done a few performances in Toronto already, and are looking forward to making Ottawa the first stop on our unofficial tour this July.
Q Apart from working on your CD, what’s been keeping you busy recently, both musically or personally?
A I’m based out of Toronto and bop around from gig to gig. I’ve been very fortunate to have spent the past five seasons as a singer on the Metropolitan Opera’s roster in New York, so I’m usually there a few months a year. A major career highlight was jumping in to sing Adele there on opening night of Die Fledermaus in 2015. I’ve sung with some of North America’s top orchestras and opera companies in the past few years, and overseas have sung at the Royal Opera House of Versailles in France and debuted at the International Handel Festival in Göttingen, Germany, singing the title role in Berenice, which was recorded for German National Radio. I have some more fun European work coming up next year, which I’m looking forward to.
On the personal side, I got engaged this fall and am very excited to be marrying my partner, Chris, this summer. There’s a track dedicated to him on the CD as well, The Red River Valley, which has become one of my favourites!