In March a new music exchange project took place between Ireland and Canada. Tim Brady, the Canadian artistic director, writes about the event.

'In December 1998 I had the good fortune to perform a solo electric guitar concert at the Mostly Modern series in Dublin, followed by several hours of boisterous eating and talking with some of Ireland's leading composers. Over the course of our discussions, culminating in a plate of curry and chips, it seemed obvious that new music in Ireland and Canada had more in common than we might have suspected. Both countries are very young cultures when it comes to 'home-grown' contemporary composition, and both countries have to deal with very large, dominant cultural giants living next door: the UK and Europe for Ireland and the USA for Canada. When I returned home I starting thinking that a project which explored these similarities and that made some links between Dublin and Montréal might prove fruitful for both communities. I spoke to several of my Irish contacts who were very enthusiastic about the idea, and so Voyages: Dublin-Montréal was born.

Over the next two years we created a rather ambitious five-day festival of music and conferences which combined over twenty-four musicians and twenty composers from both cities. The intricacies of organising and funding a project of this size proved quite labyrinthine at times but with considerable effort and a bit of luck we were able to present the festival largely as planned, with the assistance of funding from the Arts Council and Music Network's Musicwide International programme.

Ireland was very ably represented by two ensembles, VOX 21 and the Crash Ensemble, as well as by several composers who were present for the event in Montréal, including Roger Doyle, Raymond Deane, Gerald Barry, Ben Dwyer and Donnacha Dennehy. The Montréal portion was produced by Concerts M, of which I am the co-artistic director. This company is the ensemble in residence at Concordia University in Montréal and includes the Quatuor Bozzini, a young string quartet which is passionate about new music, and my electro-acoustic group, Bradyworks.

Four concerts were presented at the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall at Concordia University with over 500 people attending. The performances by the Quatuor Bozzini and the Crash Ensemble were recorded for Canadian national radio, so the project will be heard from coast to coast this spring allowing new music enthusiasts across Canada to hear the some of the best of Irish new music. Composer lectures, assisted by funding from Ireland's Contemporary Music Centre, were important in helping to put a more human face on new music, and they really helped to generate a sense of excitement about the event.