The University of Toronto’s Canada-France cross-cultural exchange program in music and art history was established in 2022 with support from Fondation DRG. It’s designed to connect student artists and scholars in both countries.
Participants have the opportunity to study, perform, and collaborate with French institutions, gaining hands-on experience along with valuable connections and partnerships. On the scholarly side, it’s a chance to dive into research by collaborating directly with French academic institutions.
The goal is to help students build lasting connections, both academic and artistic.
The UofT in France 2024
Maria-Eduarda Mendes Martins, a music composition student at the University of Toronto, spent part of her summer at the Académie Francis Poulenc in Tours, France. She became one of the first Canadian participants in an inaugural internship program between the UofT and its French counterpart.
The Académie works with selected young artists to perfect their interpretation of French melody. Attendance includes concerts, exhibitions, films and other cultural events along with the focus on music practice and scholarship. Both musical and literary aspects of French melody are addressed in the curriculum, and new works as well as historical repertoire are on the menu.
Maria-Eduarda was selected, in part, because of her background, which has included composing music for vocalist/pianist duos for about a year.
Working With Rules
She notes the “strong aesthetic component” of the Academy and its work. “It was my first time working so closely with it,” she says.
Maria-Eduarda says that it has influenced her writing in unexpected ways. “In ways that I haven’t experienced before,” she adds. “I wrote four melodies in total, and I was really fortunate, in that all of the duos made a point of performing the duos that I wrote.”
As she was writing, she kept the aesthetics of the historical background of the music in mind to guide her. “It influenced [my] ideas.”
Students don’t always get the chance to work specifically with voice and piano accompaniment, as she notes, particularly when it comes to contemporary repertoire. The piano provides support and accompaniment in a duo with a vocalist traditionally, creating a different dynamic than when working with an instrumental ensemble.
“When you work with an ensemble where the tradition is so strong, you feel that,” she says. “It’s exciting to be creative in a more traditional setting.”
The traditions of French song and melody created a new and unexplored musical landscape for her to explore. “It’s a different kind of challenge to be creative when you have a whole tradition behind you […] and you feel like you can’t break from it entirely,” she says. The traditions, however, can also be inspirational. “These kinds of situations can also bring out creativity,” she adds.
“It focuses your creativity in many ways when there are traditional formats that you are working in.”
The challenge was an enjoyable one. “I usually like working in different situations compositionally speaking,” Maria-Eduarda says. “I like the challenge of trying to be myself […] in different situations.”
Making Connections
While the trip lasted a mere two weeks, it was packed with experiences. “I learned so much when I was there in France,” Maria-Eduarda says. She reports meeting many other artists via workshops and performances that she hopes to stay in touch with.
“I had many very interesting experiences,” she says. One occurred after a concert of her music. She as talking to a member of the audience, who told her that his own father had been a composer. She Googled the name he’d given later, and had a listen, introducing her to the work of French composer Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur. “It reminded me of my music,” she says. “It was like having a connection that I didn’t know I have.”
The atmosphere was collaborative, with participants eager to work together. “This was one of the experiences that I had that was really enriching,” she says. Connecting with local artists is part of the experience. “All of these components are so, so valuable. I think of this experience with nostalgia.”
In particular, she worked with some talented singers she hopes to be able to perform with again.
“I was very lucky to be part of this program. I consider myself very fortunate to have had this experience.”
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