Laura Bowler’s Deconstructing Pierrot

Reimagine a legendary piece of music with Laura Bowler’s electrifying take on Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire.  

Co-commissioned by Red Note Ensemble, Music on Main, and Ensemble Offspring, Deconstructing Pierrot is a bold response to Arnold Schoenberg’s celebrated Pierrot Lunaire, widely regarded as a masterpiece of musical Expressionism. In this new work, composer-vocalist-provocatrice Laura Bowler takes Albert Giraud’s original poems and Schoenberg’s music and turns them inside out in an act of creative rebellion.

Premiered at Scotland’s soundfestival in 2024, Bowler’s reimagining keeps what she loves and reshapes what she resists. The result is a deeply personal exploration of the artist’s tragic vulnerability: the longing to please, to be heard, and to be seen.

Western Canada’s foremost new music chamber ensemble, Standing Wave, brings Bowler’s vision to life with electrifying precision. The familiar fragments of Pierrot Lunaire remain, but transformed into something vivid, subversive, and that unmistakably belongs to Bowler.

This performance is part of Music on Main’s 20th Season.
Music that resonates.

Everyone attending a show at the FOX Cabaret must be 19+ with valid ID