DeutschIncense of Music 73
gamba, liuto e controtenore
A multisensory concert – Friday, 8. May 2026, 8 pm
Michael Taylor: countertenor
Vanessa Chartrand: viola da gamba
Pedro Alcàcer Doria: lute
Incense: Artemisia vulgaris, Mentha arvensis
PANDA Platforma in der Kulturbrauerei, Knaackstr. 97, 10435 Berlin
Immerse yourself in Early Music and new senses. An intimate concert with Michael Taylor (countertenor), Vanessa Chartrand (viola da gamba), and Pedro Alcàcer Doria (lute). Accompanied by a fragrant composition of Artemisia (mugwort) and Mentha arvensis (field mint). This event is not recommended to people sensitive to smoke.
Acclaimed by critics for his “great virtuosity”, “vocal radiance” and “outstanding voice”, Michael Taylor has performed leading roles in operas around the world ranging from the baroque to the modern era. The young Canadian countertenor Michael Taylor picked up his first instrument, the violin, at age three. Despite an (arguably Sherlock Holmesian) enthusiasm for Bach’s solo partitas and the Devil’s Trill, he soon discovered his true instrument of choice when he began his vocal training as a treble with St. Michael’s Choir School at age nine, where he was to sing more or less every day for the next ten years. After a brief intermission in which he completed a degree in Physics and Neuroscience at McGill University, Michael took up further vocal studies in Germany with a focus on opera performance and early music under the tutelage of Jeanne Piland and some of Europe’s most talented Early Music specialists, including Andreas Scholl, Sara Mingardo and Michael Hofstetter. He is a prize-winner of the Gürel International Singing Competition in Istanbul and the International Voice Competition Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg in Germany, as well as a grant-holder of the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation for Young Canadian Opera Singers. Highlights of his wide-ranging operatic repertoire include Oberon in Britten’s “A Midsummernight’s Dream” in Norfolk (2013), Goffredo in Handel’s “Rinaldo” at the State Theatre Mainz (2014), Corindo in Cesti’s “Orontea” at the Hamburg State Opera (2014), Liscione in Scarlatti’s “La Dirindina” with L’Arte del Mondo (2014/15), Adriano in Pergolesi’s “Adriano in Siria” (2015) and Alceste in Hasse’s “Demetrio” (2016) with Opera Settecento, Artemis in Henze’s “Phaedra” at the Halle Opera (2015), Ariel in Purcell’s “The Tempest” with Montreal Baroque, Argone in Handel’s “Sosarme” and Ormonte in Handel’s “Elpidia” at the Handel Festival Halle (2016), a revival of Porpora’s “L’Agrippina” with the Barber Opera (2017), two new chamber operas for the Biennale di Venezia (2017), Sciarrino’s “Luci mie traditrici” at the Ukraine National Opera (2018) and his hometown operatic debut with Opera Atelier in Monteverdi’s “Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria” (2018). Also highly sought-after in concert and oratorio, he performs regularly with exceptional ensembles worldwide, including Handel’s “Messiah” with the Grammy-nominated Trinity Choir at the Lincoln Center New York (2012) and with the Juno-award-winning ensemble L’Harmonie des Saisons (2017), Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Telemann Baroque Orchestra at Izumi Hall in Osaka (2015) and at the Maison Symphonique de Montreal (2018) and a series of Bach cantatas with Montreal Baroque now available on the Atma Classique label. Michael is a core member of Berlin’s Solistenensemble Phønix16, specialising in the performance of contemporary and experimental vocal works; he has appeared in several major festivals, including MaerzMusik and Ultraschall Berlin, performing works by Ferneyhough, Xenakis, Stockhausen, Grisey and Vivier as well as new works by Pryzbylsky, Bumsteinas and Fure. As founder and co-director of the baroque ensemble “The Dansant”, his debut album “To Die, To Sleep”, featuring opera arias by Handel, Vivaldi and Graun accompanied on period instruments, is available here.
Berlin-based Canadian conductor Vanessa Chartrand is a 2020 Opera Awards Foundation bursary recipient and scholarship holder from the Royal Philharmonic Society of London. From her rich background as a classical singer and viola da Gamba player, her conducting encompasses symphonic works, contemporary music, baroque music and opera. Up-coming highlights of the season 25/26, include Vanessa’s debuts with the Berliner Symphoniker at Berlin Philharmonie in a program of Kodaly, Vaugh-Williams, Dukas, and Gerschwin’s piano concerto. It will also be the premiere of Dear IRIA, a new film by Finnish Director Janna Kyllästinen, for which she has composed the music. In recent seasons, Chartrand has worked with orchestras such as the Danish Philharmonic, Orchestre National d’Auvergne, Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, the Kiev Symphony orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Cascais, London’s Chroma Ensemble, Ensemble UnitedBerlin, Zafrann Ensemble, Mosaik Ensemble, and Phoenix16. Vanessa was Vladimir Jurowski’s assistant at the London Royal Opera House’s in a production of Jenufa, and with the Berlin Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra for 2 years. She conducts a wide range of repertoire from the baroque to the contemporary; Debussy, Stravinsky, Bartok, Haydn, Zemlinksy, Mendelssohn and is a pioneer of new music. She has performed both as a singer and conductor at the most important festivals of new music in Germany: MärzMusik, MIKROMUSIK Festival for Experimental music and sound art, ULTRASCHALL Festival, Documenta 14, Ruhrfestspielhaus Recklinghausen, and Duisburger Akzente. She also premiered composer Lisa Bielawa’s Mauer Broadcast for double choruses, ensemble and soloist for the Fall of the Berlin wall celebration. A passionate opera conductor, Chartrand gained many years of stage experience; first as an opera singer ( Carmen, Hermia, Cesare, Dorabella, Cherubino, Charlotte to name a few) but also as a viola da Gamba player, conducting from the continuo works such as Orlando, Monteverdi’s Orfeo, and The Fairy Queen. She has worked with small opera companies in Berlin conducting Don Giovanni, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Carmen, L’Elisir d’amore, and Le Nozze di Figaro. As a composer, Vanessa has received many recognition for her works both on stage and on screen. Some highlights of her work include GAIA-Cyborg Oper nominated for best production of 2021 by Nachtkritik. Her latest soundtrack, A Body like mine, documentary by Maja Classen, won many prizes, including Best German Documentary at DOC.BERLIN 2023. Vanessa’s music is known for her remarkable emotional depth, which lends itself to a sense of openness and breathability. Across a wide variety of genres, she explores sounds, textures, and movements. Her music is deeply moving and tends towards minimalism, focusing on the core of an emotion in its rawest form. In 2018 she founded OpusXX Orchestra, a chamber orchestra based in Berlin, which has been applauded for its rich sound and unique repertoire, shading a light on forgotten female composers, and pioneering new works by women composers. Vanessa was born in Québec, Canada. Where after graduating with honours from McGill University in voice, she attended a Master’s degree in viola da Gamba at the Université de Montréal before moving to Germany to pursue her operatic studies with Ks. Jeanne Piland. Vanessa counts among her conducting mentors Vladimir Jurowski and Jessica Cottis. She has worked as well with Luigi Gaggero, Hervé Niquet, Jay Bernfeld, Skip Sempé, Alexander Schmalcz, Michael McMahon, Falk Struckmann, and Xenia Meijer.
Born in 1982 in Mexico City, Pedro Alcàcer Doria began his musical education at an early age under the influence of his father, the Catalan jazz musician Francesc Alcàcer, and was born into a creative family. He studied jazz guitar with Francisco Lelo de la Rea and immediately began learning classical guitar and composition with Hector Ramos. He completed his studies in classical guitar at the renowned “Escuela Nacional de Música-UNAM” and continued his studies with renowned teachers such as Isabelle Villei, Eloy Cruz, and Antonio Corona, specializing in Renaissance and Baroque repertoire. In 2006, he moved to Barcelona, Spain, where he obtained the “Berufstitel” for Renaissance and Baroque plucked instruments at the Conservatory of Girona under the renowned teacher Xavier Diaz-Latorre. He then continued his studies at the University of the Arts in Bremen, where he studied lute with Joachim Held and Lee Santana and earned his degree. As a passionate musician, he continued his instrumental improvement with Evangelina Mascardi in Italy while working intensively as a soloist and continuo player. He has worked with important conductors such as Gabriel Garrido, Alessandro di Marchi, Marco Mencoboni, Paolo Faldi, Riccardo Doni, Horacio Franco, Cristoph Hammer, Carlos Aranzay, Gerhard Oppel, Burak Özdemir, and others, and has performed at prestigious festivals and forums in Italy, Germany, Spain, France, Czech Republic, Belgium, Netherlands, Brazil, and Mexico. He currently lives in Berlin and collaborates with various realities of early music in Europe. The artist is known for his profound experience and artistic sensitivity, which he has acquired through collaborations with outstanding musicians and teachers from all over the world. His international experience and high qualifications make him an outstanding artist in his field.
Artemisia vulgaris, commonly known as mugwort, is a tall, herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the daisy family. It typically grows 60 to 180 cm tall, with erect, grooved stems that often have a reddish-purplish tinge. The leaves are dark green on top, densely covered with white woolly hairs underneath, deeply lobed or pinnately divided, and have a distinct aromatic scent when crushed. It spreads vigorously via rhizomes and produces small, inconspicuous flower heads that are reddish-yellow to greenish-white, appearing in panicles from mid-summer to early autumn. Native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North Africa, it is naturalized in North America and often considered an invasive weed, commonly found along roadsides, waste places, and disturbed areas. As an incense, mugwort has a long history of traditional use in spiritual and medicinal practices. The dried leaves and flowering tops are burned for their aromatic smoke, which has an earthy, bitter, and slightly pungent scent with sage-like notes. It is perhaps most renowned as a “dream herb” or oneirogen, traditionally used before sleep to promote vivid and lucid dreaming. The smoke is also valued for its purifying and protective qualities, often burned in cleansing rituals or smudge blends to clear stagnant energy from a space or person. Additionally, it has been used as an insect repellent and was historically added to fires to deter moths and other insects. Due to its thujone content, mugwort should not be used during pregnancy.
Mentha arvensis, commonly known as corn mint, field mint, or wild mint, is a herbaceous perennial plant in the mint family. It typically grows 10 to 60 cm tall, with erect or ascending stems that are square in cross-section and often branched. The leaves are arranged oppositely, are ovate to elliptical in shape, have serrated margins, and are aromatic when crushed. The small flowers are lilac, pale purple, or whitish, growing in dense whorls in the leaf axils, not in terminal spikes like some other mints. It spreads vigorously via creeping rhizomes and is native to temperate regions of Europe, Asia, and North Africa, typically found in moist places like fields, ditches, and riverbanks. As an incense, Mentha arvensis is valued for its strong, fresh, minty, and herbaceous fragrance, derived from its high essential oil content, particularly menthol. The dried leaves and stems are traditionally burned, and the essential oil is also used in diffusers. The sharp, cooling aroma is known for its purifying and clarifying properties. Ethnobotanically, the Cheyenne people used the leaves and stems as a perfume and deodorizer in dwellings. It is also used in some spiritual practices to remove negativity and promote concentration and mental clarity, helping to counteract emotionality and stimulate focus. The smoke or vapor is believed to be energizing and uplifting. Caution is advised as the essential oil is potent; it should be used in moderation, avoided during pregnancy, and kept away from young children.
