Montreal's diverse Ensemble Obiora is changing the faces of classical music

Montreal Gazette

2 days ago

Music
The classical music world is pretty white. But rather than simply accept the imbalance and hope things change eventually, Allison Migeon and her partner Brandyn Lewis decided to do something about it.
'It started in 2021,' Migeon said. 'Brandyn and I were asking ourselves a lot of questions, like many people, about what we wanted to do and things we wanted to change professionally. Also, with everything that happened around (the death of) George Floyd, we took time to think — how could it be that in the milieu we had evolved in for so many years, there was so little representation of people of different origins? It was always the same types of people on stage, and the same types of repertoire being played.'
And so Migeon and Lewis founded Ensemble Obiora, Canada's first orchestra comprised primarily of professional musicians from culturally diverse backgrounds. Migeon, who has experience in cultural administration, is the group's director. Lewis, a double bassist who is the first Black musician to perform regularly with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, is Ensemble Obiora's artistic director.
They began reaching out to racialized musicians they knew, and as word spread, people began contacting them.
'There was a lot of interest,' Migeon said. 'It's something new that had never been done in Canada. We're used to seeing this type of orchestra in the U.S., and there's Chineke! Orchestra in London, but in Canada, there's nothing like this in classical music.'
Ensemble Obiora is made up of approximately 50 musicians primarily from Quebec and Ontario, who come together in various combinations depending on the repertoire of a given concert. They are of African, South Asian, Middle Eastern and Indigenous heritage, with a few white players thrown in for good measure.
'Our goal is to reflect the society we live in,' Migeon said. 'We don't want to discriminate. It's important to have allies.'
The orchestra is in its fourth year of participation in the OSM's Virée classique concert series, being held Aug. 13 to 17. As the ensemble in residence of the music department of Université du Québec à Montréal for the past three years, it engages in activities with students and performs regularly at UQAM's Salle Pierre-Mercure.
This weekend, Ensemble Obiora steps outside, performing for free Saturday at 7 p.m. in N.D.G. Park and Sunday at 2 p.m. in Ahuntsic Park as part of the Campbell Concerts series. For the occasion, the group will play music by composers of African descent.
The program features three works. Tzigane, for wind quintet, by Grammy-nominated American flautist and composer Valerie Coleman, 'a piece inspired by Eastern European music and the Roma,' Migeon said; Nonet In F Minor, by 19th-century British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor; and Danzas de Panama, by 20th-century American composer William Grant Still, whom Migeon describes as 'the don of African-American composers, and the first Black man to conduct an American orchestra.'
Engaging with such material 'is important for us,' Migeon said. 'It creates energy between the musicians on stage.'
Toronto violinist Kirit Mascarenhas was drawn to that energy. He was introduced to Ensemble Obiora by violinist and Obiora concertmaster Tanya Charles. (Obiora operates with guest conductors, with Charles generally leading rehearsals.)
'I had always looked for an opportunity to feel this sort of connection with an ensemble,' Mascarenhas said, 'a place where I feel a sense of community, a collaborative space that is inviting and where I can look out in the audience and in the orchestra and feel seen and included.
'It's an opportunity to explore new music in unique ways that really engage audiences, while still paying homage to the work we have done in our formal education in the classical scene.'
Mascarenhas was born in Goa, India, and has lived in Canada since he was six. His last name is Portuguese, a legacy of colonization he says creates 'almost an identity crisis, where you're Indian but you've got this Portuguese heritage so you could apply for European citizenship; but Indian people say, 'Are you really Indian?' It's convoluted.'
He was inspired by a concert Ensemble Obiora gave in March celebrating the diversity of female expression and women's impact on classical music, with guest conductor Janna Sailor. The performance included a rendition of Meri Sakhi Ki Avaaz (My Sister's Voice), a piece for chamber orchestra by Indian-American composer Reena Esmail featuring Cameroonian-Québécoise soprano Suzanne Taffot and Toronto-based Hindustani singer Anuja Panditrao. The first movement offers a modern take on 19th-century French composer Léo Delibes's famous Flower Duet from the opera Lakmé.
'The structure demonstrates how you can showcase two voices from different worlds,' Mascarenhas said. 'It was an incredible opportunity and the kind of collaboration that reveals how we can really push boundaries within the classical field.'