Barah Héon-Morissette percussionist
Percussionist Barah Héon-Morissette is active in the contemporary music and visual arts scenes. Gifted with great versatility, as much by her ‘orchestra' of percussion instruments and constantly expanding repertoire of new works as by the diversity of artistic projects she participates in, Héon-Morissette is a force to take note of in musical and artistic creation.
Héon-Morissette holds a Master's in Contemporary Music Performance from the University of Montreal under the direction of percussionists Julien Grégoire and Robert Leroux, and conductor Lorraine Vaillancourt, artistic director of the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne.
Co-founder of ensemble In Extensio, she is interested in the communication and relationship between performer and the audience in contemporary music. This research inspired her to create lieu commun, a forum dedicated to communication and dissemination of today's music in Montreal. Her dynamic and poetic playing is nourished by her activities in concert halls and visual arts expositions.
In the visual arts milieu, her creation of sound elements has led her to collaborate with numerous artists. These works have been produced in events around the world, including Artransmédia (France) in 1998 and 1999, Transvernacularité 2000 (France) produced in collaboration with Langage Plus (Alma, Quebec) and the Fondation D.A.N.A.E. (Jarnac, France), M.A.I. (Montreal, Art Interculturel) in 2002, Ryerson Art Gallery (Toronto), Southern Alberta Art Gallery, En Tangsogade 4 Udstilling (Denmark) in 2003, Beetrot Tree Gallery (Great Britain), gallery Observatoire 4 (Montreal), Festival de Trop (Paris) en 2004, Lobe (Chicoutimi, Qc), Vu (Quebec, QC) and in Strasbourg. Héon-Morissette is also greatly interested in the applications of music technology in performance and seeks to develop a new digital instrument mapped and controlled by a specific gestural language. Following this interest, in September of 2009, Héon-Morissette began collaborating as a performer with the Input Devices and Music Interaction Laboratory (IDMIL) of McGill University.
As part of her involvement in the new music community, Héon-Morissette is General Director of Codes d'accès, a new music concert organisation, and board member and artistic committee coordinator of Le Vivier, a collective of Montreal new music organisations dedicated to building a common meeting place.
