GroundSwell launches season with Nicole Lizée’s multimedia spectacle A season opener like no other GroundSwell is kicking off its 2025–26 season with a full-length concert work that fuses pop nostalgia with cutting-edge artistry. Breakup Music, by acclaimed Canadian composer Nicole Lizée, takes the stage at Winnipeg’s West End Cultural Centre on Sunday, September 14 at 7:30 p.m. .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; } The centrepiece of the evening is Karappo Okesutura, Volume 3, a genre-bending creation for 11 musicians, video, turntables, and electronics. Inspired by the idea of a karaoke machine gone haywire, the work reimagines pop culture through Lizée’s distinctive lens. Packed with references to icons such as Olivia Newton-John, INXS, Corey Hart, and Alanis Morissette, it blurs the line between live performance and multimedia spectacle. Karaoke, but not as you know it Cellist and curator Leanne Zacharias explained the meaning behind the title. “Yeah, so it means karaoke orchestra. And karappo also means empty. I think the literal translation is empty, but it is used as a term for karaoke. The music is nothing—far from empty, that’s for sure,” she said. Rather than relying on pre-recorded backing tracks, Lizée has meticulously scored them for live ensemble. “In this context, Nikki, the composer, has written out all the backing tracks for these pieces to accompany the singer, but it’s for this amplified ensemble. There are two violas, cello, bass, clarinet, saxophone, electric guitar, two percussionists, piano, keyboard, and yes, turntables, electronics, harmonicas, shakers, Pop Rocks, candy, all sorts of surprises too.” From Brandon to Winnipeg The project has a special Manitoba connection: Lizée is a graduate of Brandon University, where Zacharias now teaches. Though they didn’t overlap in Brandon, the two first met in Toronto. “We, in fact, met in Toronto when I was invited by the Music Gallery to play a concert of her works, and it was one of the projects that sort of was part of the genesis of this karaoke initiative in her writing,” Zacharias recalled. This weekend’s performance will first be staged in Brandon as a co-presentation with Brandon University and the Brandon Chamber Players, before moving to Winnipeg for GroundSwell’s season opener. Australian roots The piece also has international roots. Lizée developed Karappo Okesutura, Volume 3 in collaboration with the Australian Art Orchestra. Zacharias joined the group for its 2020 workshop at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, where Canadian and Australian musicians workshopped and premiered the music. “The music features a combination of Australian and Canadian pop culture icons and artists, [so] they also wanted the band to reflect both Australian and Canadian musicians,” Zacharias said. “So I was one of four or five North American musicians to join them in that process where we learned the material, workshopped it, and gave several premiere performances at that time.” A tightly composed spectacle Though the work incorporates video and electronics, Zacharias emphasized that everything is carefully structured. “Her work is very tightly composed in that it’s complex and it’s a large ensemble, but there’s no improvisation. So everything is very tightly, specifically notated. And we do all play to a click track. So the tempos are non-negotiable, if you will,” she explained. “It’s what aligns the video and also pre-recorded electronics. It’s what keeps us all together. So there’s no conductor, and we all do follow a click track.” Lizée also crafted the video component herself. “Every song in this karaoke set list has a video. And in some cases, it’s a newly created video by Nicole. In other cases, she has altered the original video for that pop song in the same way that she’s altering the music. So we’re hearing some of Alanis Morissette’s music, but then, of course, it degrades and warps. And in the same way, we see part of her video. But again, it’s been altered and manipulated by Nicole.” Building the band For this performance, Zacharias assembled a lineup of players from across Manitoba and beyond. “Many of the decisions about who to ask were really easy because there are a handful of players around our region who have worked with Nicole before and have familiarity with her playing and her style of composing,” she said. The ensemble includes percussionists Ben Reimer and Eric Platz, violist Jennifer Thiessen, guitarist Steve Raegele, and singer Helen Pridmore, among others. Several Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra string players are also featured, along with Brandon University alumni Everett Hopfner and Sean Irvine. A feast for the senses With its mix of nostalgia and innovation, Zacharias believes the piece will connect deeply with audiences. “There’s a lot to take in because there are so many instruments, plus there are backing tracks. Plus, there’s video. There’s just a lot. It’s a feast for the senses, really,” she said. But there’s also the joy of recognition: “If any of your audiences are familiar or listeners of classic rock radio or grew up in the ’80s and ’90s and are interested in that part of pop culture history, there’s also the element of hearing a song that perhaps you haven’t heard in a while so that hit of dopamine when you hear something familiar.” The result, she explained, is both comfortingly familiar and wildly unpredictable. “It’s as if a machine is glitching and warping or repeating in unexpected places or goes back, it rewinds, it fast forwards. It’s really unpredictable. So I think there will be… a combination of moments of familiarity, of recognizing a song or an artist… and then the surprise.” GroundSwell presents Breakup Music on Sunday, September 14 at 7:30 p.m. at the West End Cultural Centre. For details, visit gswell.ca.