Directors: Fabrice Marandola and Kristie Ibrahim
Participation: Entrance is by audition. This ensemble is open to music students, and McGill University students from other faculties.
Founded by Pierre Béluse in 1969, the McGill Percussion Ensemble’s distinguished recording history began with Percussion (1979), produced on the McGill label, which won the Grand Prix du Disque-Canada for chamber music from the Canadian Music Council. This was followed by a 1980 recording for Radio Canada International featuring works by Walter Boudreau, Vincent Dionne, and Claude Vivier, and a 1988 compact disc showcasing music by Edgard Varèse, alcides lanza, Jo Kondo, François Morel, Mantle Hood, and Pierre Béluse. In 1992, the ensemble received the Darius Milhaud Prize at the Concours d’interprétation de Musique Française de Montréal.
Currently under the co-direction of Kristie Ibrahim and Fabrice Marandola at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University, the ensemble performs a wide variety of repertoire, playing iconic works for percussion written by renowned composers, while simultaneously creating and discovering the new works of today’s most prominent composers. Local and international festival performances include The Space Between II, IV, and V, Montreal New Music, MusiMars, Cool Drummings, Made Music New York, Scotia Chamber Music Festival, Open Ears Festival and Eurocuivres. In collaboration with the Schulich School of Music Composition Area, the ensemble premieres new works by SSM student composers in residence with the ensemble each academic year and performs annually at the Percussive Arts Society – Quebec Chapter Day of Percussion.
