“[Contemporary] music is very experimental and is based on concepts, ideas and very long verbal explanations rather than being music that actually moves you emotionally and makes you feel something,” said cellist Sahara von Hattenberger. “There's nothing wrong with the avant-garde, but we’re trying to do music that's beautiful.” For von Hattenberger and soprano Vanessa Croome, who were both trained at McGill University’s prestigious Schulich School of Music, classical music should never feel elitist or impenetrable to listeners.
During their first Island tour in early December, this unlikely duo from Montreal aims to redefine classical music in a unique way, making it accessible and enjoyable for everyone. Named Duo Etrange (French for Strange Duo), von Hattenberger explained that their ensemble’s name stems from the unusual combination of the two artists' disciplines. “Instrumentalists rarely work with singers,” she said.
“The only time that an instrumentalist might associate with the singer is if maybe they're an accompanist, like a pianist.” Despite this interdisciplinary divide, von Hattenberger, awestruck by a piece from the late British composer John Tavener that blended a soprano’s voice with a cello’s melody, reached out to Croome to propose a collaboration. In 2021, the two started working together, but one major roadblock hindered them from progressing as fast as they wanted.
“We quickly discovered that there was really no music written f.
