Blog

Whether it is through concerts of the Sixtrum Series, or of the Youth Series, or concerts on tour, Percussion Ensemble Sixtrum shines and makes contemporary music for percussion shine as well. To understand the impact of Sixtrum in the careers of its performers, I propose a series of blogs based on interviews with the musicians of the group.

Sixtrum recently returned from a three-day whirlwind tour to New Brunswick with La Grande Tortue.  La Grande Tortue is a show for young people ages 3 - 12, written and created by Sixtrum with director Michel G. Barrette, in co-production with Jeunesses Musicales du Canada.  

For the past several years, Sixtrum has been working with director Michel G. Barette in the creation of many of their concerts. This is the case for their upcoming concert, Histoires de gestes, to be presented at the Society for Arts and Technology (SAT) on Monday, November 7^th. If working with a director is a common practice in many arts such as dance, circus and, of course, theatre, this form of collaboration is much more unusual in the world of contemporary music. To better understand the role of a stage director in a project such as Histoires de gestes, I spoke with Michael G. Barette. whom I thank for the time he gave to me.

Last Wednesday, September 21st, percussion ensemble Sixtrum presented a piece written by famous American composer Steve Reich: Drumming. This piece, which was composed in the early 70’s, is regularly performed by Sixtrum, and its technical specifications hold no more secrets for the musicians of the group. An extraordinary aspect of Drumming is that each performance is unique, given that it is the musicians who control the length of the piece.

In this fifth episode of our podcast, we introduce one of the founders of Sixtrum, Kristie Ibrahim. Kristie musical life has has a special course. Born in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, she completed her undegraduate studies in percussion at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia amd then joined Strike percussion ensemble in New-Zealand and stayed there for two years before returning to Montreal

She then went to MacGill University to complet a Masters Degree with percusionnist D'Arcy Philip Gray, and after a few years joined Sixtrum.