Kerry-Anne Kutz

Kerry-Anne Kuts wishes there were more hours in a day.
“Oh, I’d go to a concert every day if I could,” shares the musician over the phone from her home on the West Island. “And I would perform a concert every day if I could!”

A mainstay on the local music scene, Kutz – who holds a master’s degree in Voice Performance from the Université de Montréal – has been involved with almost all aspects of singing over the years, including teaching, writing, recording, and performing across Canada and around the world. She has also appeared on many television and radio programs.

Along with her husband – Mike Cartile, recognized as one of the finest lead trumpet players in Canada, and a veteran who has appeared in more than 30 editions of the Festival international de Jazz de Montréal – the seasoned songsmith recently released For the Future & From the Past, a selection of original compositions and old-school standards, including The Windmills of Your Mind, You Must Believe in Spring, Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, and What a Wonderful World. Pianist Chad Linsley arranged the material, except for the horns, which were handled by saxophonist and former West Islander Chet Doxas.

“I still work in classical music production,” she notes, “but this recording is not classical whatsoever – it is more jazz and pop. Several of the original songs were inspired by my role as the music director at the Lakeshore Unitarian Congregation – we cover all kinds of interesting subjects at our Sunday services, and I have written a number of pieces for those gatherings. Often, when I can’t find a song that speaks to a particular topic, I will write one.
“This year I will have had three albums come out; this one, the Musaique album, and I have also just finished a children’s album.”

The creative output is particularly profound as the new recordings feature live musicians – particularly notable in an era of AI-produced sonic slop.
“I have always been very conscious of hiring professional players and not using any kind of artificial soundtracks or production. I don’t use AI in the music that I am doing.

As an older musician, I don’t feel the impact of social media and technology to the same extent that a younger musician might. I can’t imagine how challenging it must for people starting a career in music now; the sheer volume of new music being produced and released each day is astounding, and they are now competing with ever-evolving technologies.”

Kutz’s desire to present real music to real people was a key factor in presenting the annual Festival de la Voix each April.

“I really feel that it is important to bring people out to concerts, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a little easier getting people out now, but most of the folks that come out to my concerts are older. Yes, younger people are still going to concerts, but they are going to concerts by artists that are their own age.”

That said, Kutz believes that it doesn’t matter what people are listening to – so long as they are listening.

“I believe that the sound of the human voice is essential to our existence…”

“It is incredible to witness how when somebody sings – and it doesn’t matter what kind of repertoire they are singing – it can move people to tears. Beautiful voices can really change our life. They can change our day, certainly. Those voices resonate within us, and we feel that resonance right through the body. And if we sing ourselves, we can feel that resonance.”

As such, she reminds us, music has the power to heal.

“Sometimes we simply need to put aside everything that is going on in the world and listen to beautiful music – the music of Bach, Handel, Brahms, and other greats of the past and present can transport us to better places. That is especially important these days with everything that is going on with the world. Because of that, I believe that it is vital to give our children the opportunity to hear this music and to experience live performances, especially as fewer young people are taking music lessons.”

As busy as she has been, Kutz shows no signs of slowing down in the coming while.

“I hope to present this music elsewhere, and but I’m also working on concerts for our vocal quartet, so I am going to be performing quite a bit until the end of the year. And next year we just keep going with more performance opportunities.”
“I just wish there were more hours in the day, because I would go to a concert every day.”

kerry-anne.net