Dominique Lafortune (b. 1989) (NO)

Born in Longueuil in 1989 and raised in Saint-Césaire (Québec, Canada), Dominique Lafortune currently writes mostly modal instrumental works. He took his first steps in music with violin and choir, and later learned trumpet and piano. He then earned a double DEC in music and multimedia at L’école de musique Vincent-d’Indy and Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, after which he went to McGill’s Schulich School of Music, where he studied composition under Philippe Leroux, Denys Bouliane, Brian Cherney, Christopher Paul Harman, and during a workshop at Domaine Forget, under John Rea and Lasse Thoresen. In 2014, he finished a master’s degree in composition under the supervision of Denys Bouliane and is now pursuing doctoral studies. The second year of his doctorate degree is devoted to an exchange in Norway, during which he is undertaking further studies with composer Lasse Thoresen.

Dominique has written for a variety of ensembles (pieces for soloist, for performer and electronics, for choir, for symphony orchestra, as well as chamber music ranging from two to fifteen performers) and his works have been performed by ensembles including Montreal’s NEM, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Meitar Ensemble, McGill’s Contemporary Music Ensemble and Ensemble Arkea.

 

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PROGRAM NOTE:

As a child, I remember being fascinated by my grandfather’s work: elaborate paper sculptures of diverse historical figures. It still fascinates me today. I can remember how precious the great quantities of scrap paper that he produced (and kept, for later use) were: a collection of paper sheets and fragments with various forms cut into them, mostly unrecognizable silhouettes. So many games were possible: trying to reconstruct the original sheet to guess what shape had been cut into it, assembling diverse fragments to produce new forms, or making further cuts in these so called “retailles” (“scrap paper”) to create new shapes.

These games are at the heart of this piece. In the manner of a shadow theater, where holes within textures are given a characteristic shape, conditioning is used to create a play: “what has been cut out?”