This Thursday night at Moncton’s Capitol Theatre, as a part of the Acadie Rock Festival, two distinct musical worlds will be coming together:
Moncton’s long-running jazz-fusion quintet Les Paiens will be joining forces for a performance with Tutta Musica, which is comprised of more than a dozen musicians who are the Teaching Artists of Sistema New Brunswick, a successful offshoot program of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra.
While their collaboration this week will be a first for the acclaimed Paiens, Tutta Musica have a long list of previous groups and artists with whom they have performed, including David Myles as well as taking part in this past winter’s Hubcap Comedy Festival.
Tutta Musica Conductor Tony Delgado says he relishes performance opportunities such as the one the group will undertake on Thursday night.
“We have collaborated with many different contemporary artists across many different styles of music, but for one reason or another, some people perceive classical music as not being accessible, or as if the music isn’t for them,” Delgado says. “That is why we place so much emphasis on shows like the one we are playing with Les Paiens. We want to show people that whether you have a background with classical music or not, you can rest assured of a great time if you come out to the show.”
Delgado says that he and Tutta Musica are both looking forward to their collaboration with Les Paiens this week. For Les Paiens, the feeling is more than mutual:
“The collaboration with Tutta Musica is something that has been on the band’s bucket list for quite some time,” Paiens drummer Jean Surette says.
Not having previously performed with an orchestra, the need for musical charts to be drawn up became the first hurdle for the group to mount. Surette credits his Paiens band mate Sebastien Michaud as well as producer Andrew Creegan for having undertaken the scoring of the charts, including a host of material the band doesn’t typically perform in concert.
“When we were talking about the material that we were going to perform, we realized that we couldn’t necessarily go with the material we would normally play at a Paiens show. We needed to look back at our catalogue and find the material that would be best suited to the orchestra. The end result is the inclusion of songs that we either don’t play anymore or play rather rarely. It is a good mix of material covering different eras of our work,” Surette says.
What: Les Paiens with Tutta Musica
When: Thursday Aug. 13, 8:00 p.m.
Where: Capitol Theatre, 811 Main St., Moncton
Tickets are $20. Advance tickets are available at the Capitol Box Office, by phone at (506) 856-4379 and online at capitol.nb.ca