For a 39e and last time, Michel Levasseur will be our host at the Festival international de musique contemporaine de Victoriaville (FIMAV), of which he is the founder. After this edition which begins today and which will resonate in the Bois-Francs until Sunday, he and his wife Johanne will leave their positions as co-directors of the festival. “We are part of the generation that has created movements and structures in Quebec culture” and who, after navigating through the pandemic, decides to pass the torch. “I’m completely calm with that, I’m even super happy to tell myself that I won’t be doing the next program! “, laughs the pioneer of music.
Featured in 39e FIMAV, it’s like reading a list of the artistic director’s favorite artists: Lori Freedman, Fred Frith, John Zorn, Ikue Mori. All that’s missing is Roscoe Mitchell, Merzbow or members of the Ambiances Magnétiques tribe, René Lussier, Joane Hétu, Jean Derome, Diane Labrosse, Martin Tétreault, the whole band.
He spoils himself, Michel, before leaving. “How disappointed I am to disappoint you! », replies Levasseur. “I didn’t put on this program as if it were my last, and in truth, I’ve been thinking about leaving my place for 4 or 5 years now. I’m 70, I can feel it; health is good, but we have the problems we have at this age. Then there is the difficulty of managing the pressure: that of putting on the most relevant programming, that it arouses interest, hoping that the public will show up in the rooms, I see it less and less well. People think that with experience it bothers us less, but when I have artists on the verge of canceling for all sorts of reasons, I just don’t get used to that. »
Sustainability! It’s a term I don’t like
But one after the other, the FIMAV cashed in: after announcing last January that the City of Victoriaville was withdrawing the organization’s right to use the Colisée Desjardins, the largest venue at the festival, to give free rein to the team of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (LHJMQ), the departure of Michel Levasseur will transform the event. “The news had its effect in the Quebec cultural milieu and in the milieu of current and avant-garde music,” admits the general and artistic director, who still says he is surprised to be touring the media, from here. and moreover, to talk about the future of the festival he founded.
The decision, he assures, was taken last December, even before having been informed by the municipality that the festival would be excluded from the Colosseum. “There is therefore no connection between the Colosseum and our choice to give up our place – in fact, it confirmed that we had made the right choice”, he says, believing that a new direction will be able to resume the conversation. on new bases with the municipality to ensure the sustainability of FIMAV.
“Sustainability! It’s a term that I don’t like”, jumps Levasseur, who remembers discussions on this theme with the festival’s board of directors. “I don’t believe in infinite things, nor in working for the future. I believe in the present, working with artists who create there, now. » A point of view which sums up well the spirit of FIMAV: to present artists who create live, in front of an audience, lively, unpredictable music, to form lasting impressions and memories.
Why not wait until 40e before taking his leave? We have often asked him. A number like any other, like 10e anniversary of FIMAV, or the 25e which aroused a great deal of questioning, the answer to which was revealed in the section of sound installations set up in the city center and accessible free of charge to festival-goers. Led by curator Érick d’Orion, this year’s tour presents works by Manon Labrecque, Eric Quach (Thisquietarmy) & Jim Demos, Stéphanie Castonguay, Béchard Hudon and many other creators.
“The sound installations gave another energy to the festival, insists Levasseur. They even saved the indoor event, which was running out of steam. It’s accessible, and popular — three times as many people tour the facilities as there are in theaters. And it’s interesting because this aspect is directly linked to the theatrical programming, while remaining at the cutting edge. The future of FIMAV may lie in these welcoming projects which arouse curiosity and perhaps even a passion for the creators of audacious musical forms.
This will not only ensure sustainability — oh! the bad word! —, but perhaps also the growth of the event, which has still not found its next general and artistic direction. The candidacies have come forward, assures Michel Levasseur, who believes he will soon be able to announce the choice of the board of directors, ensuring that he is at the disposal of his successor until December.
Any advice for the next artistic director? “Programming is everything,” replies Levasseur, who will continue to manage the Victo Records label. “The programming, as well as the human contacts: that’s how we did it, this festival, by surrounding ourselves with a family, the musicians as much as the people who work with us in the organization” .