Vancouver Public Library - Central Library
Medieval Music with COMTESSA
Artists: Len Torrie, voice, Isabelle Douailly-Backman, medieval fiddle; Maria Gajraj, organetto (Mentored by Benjamin Bagby)
Run Time: 60 Minutes, No Interval
This is a free event in collaboration with the Vancouver Public Library – event registration is required.
As part of the 2026 Early Music Vancouver Summer Festival, the Vancouver Public Library is presenting a very special concert of medieval music performed by visiting ensemble COMTESSA.
COMTESSA is a Montreal-based ensemble that brings the music of the 11th to 15th centuries to life through dynamic performances and meticulous research. Using medieval period instruments, the ensemble offers audiences an immersive journey into the soundscapes of medieval music. Featuring women and nonbinary performers, COMTESSA showcases a fresh perspective on this timeless repertoire.
Benjamin Bagby has been closely associated with Early Music Vancouver for more than forty years. Since first coming to Vancouver in 1984 to lead medieval music courses in partnership with the University of British Columbia, he has played an integral role in the artistic and educational life of the organization. Those pioneering workshops introduced generations of musicians to the study and performance of medieval repertoire and helped establish Vancouver as an important centre for this remarkable tradition. Bagby has returned to Early Music Vancouver on many occasions with Sequentia and as a solo performer, sharing programmes that combine meticulous scholarship with an extraordinary gift for communication.
Internationally recognized as one of the leading interpreters of medieval music, he is renowned for bringing historical sources vividly to life through informed performance, whether reconstructing forgotten repertories from fragmentary manuscripts or performing the epic Beowulf in its original Anglo-Saxon while accompanying himself on a reconstructed early harp. His long association with Early Music Vancouver reflects a shared commitment to scholarship, artistic excellence, and the enduring power of medieval music to engage contemporary audiences.
Len Torrie, voice
singer-songwriter, and performance curator known for their crystalline tone, expressive
versatility, and storytelling depth. A sought-after soloist, Len performs internationally with
leading early music ensembles including L’Harmonie des Saisons, Mercury Baroque, Studio de
musique ancienne de Montréal, and Ensemble Caprice.
Len holds a master’s degree in early music vocal performance from McGill University, where
they studied under Suzie LeBlanc and Dominique Labelle. Internationally, Len has trained with
the Accademia Europea dell’Opera and the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart. They are one-
third of the medieval trio COMTESSA, where they sing and play citole and Anglo-Saxon lyre.
A queer, non-binary artist, Len draws on the wisdom of queer elders and ancestors in their
research and performance of radically inclusive stories. Their work bridges early music and
contemporary folk, and also includes self-accompanied performance on both period and modern
instruments.
Isabelle Douailly-Backman, Medieval Fiddle
Isabelle Douailly-Backman (she/her/they/them) is a Montreal-based historical string player. Originally from Chicago, she moved to Montreal to pursue a degree in modern viola at McGill University. There she discovered a love for early music and has since completed a B.Mus in Baroque Viola and a M.Mus in Baroque Violin from McGill University under the tutelage of Hélène Plouffe and Olivier Brault.
Today, Isabelle frequently performs on baroque violin, viola, and medieval vielle with ensembles and festivals in Canada, including Ensemble Caprice, Arion Baroque Orchestra, Tenet Vocal Artists, L’Harmonie des Saisons, Musique Royale, and Montreal Baroque Festival. She is also currently studying medieval vielle at the prestigious Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland, under the tutelage of Baptiste Romain. She is the artistic director and founder of COMTESSA, an historically-informed ensemble who performs 11th to 15th century music on medieval period instruments. Isabelle is the 2023 recipient of the Barbara Thorton Memorial Scholarship, a biennial scholarship awarded by Early Music America and members of Sequentia to “an outstanding and highly motivated young performer of medieval music.” Isabelle also collaborates outside the early music scene with groups like the queer arts collective Sapphonix.
Maria Gajraj, Organetto
Maria Gajraj is a Montréal-based organist and Doctoral Candidate at McGill University. Her research focuses on 20th-century Caribbean organ repertoire. She is the co-founder of Sapphonix Collective, which promotes women, queer, and racialized classical musicians, and has been featured on CBC Radio. Maria is also the executive director of medieval ensemble COMTESSA, in which she plays organetto.
Maria has performed internationally, at venues like Salle Bourgie, Maison Symphonique, and the Orgelpark (Amsterdam) and in series such as Cal Performances (USA) and Bergen Orgelsommer (Norway). A recipient of the Godfrey Hewitt Scholarship (2022) and other awards, her doctoral research is funded by the FRQ (Fonds de Recherche du Quebec).
In her concert programs, Maria is passionate about highlighting women and composers of colour. As Deirdre Piper wrote in “Pipelines”, Maria’s “spirited, clean, and colourful performance lent real meaningful significance” to this music. By creating engaging concert programs, and by featuring the organ in innovative and multidisciplinary contexts, Maria strives to break stereotypes, and to make the organ more accessible to everyone.
Benjamin Bagby, Ensemble Mentor
Vocalist, harper and medievalist Benjamin Bagby has been an important figure in the field of medieval musical performance for over 40 years. Since 1977, when he and the late Barbara Thornton co-founded Sequentia, his time has been almost entirely devoted to the research, performance and recording work of the ensemble.
Apart from this, Mr. Bagby is deeply involved with the solo performance of Anglo-Saxon and Germanic oral poetry: his acclaimed performance of Beowulf has been heard worldwide and was released as a DVD in 2007. In 2017, he was awarded the Artist of the Year Award by REMA, the European Early Music Network. In addition to researching and creating over 75 programs for Sequentia, Mr. Bagby has published widely, writing about medieval performance practice; as a guest lecturer and professor, he has taught courses and workshops all over Europe and North America. Between 2005 and 2018 he taught medieval music performance practice at the Sorbonne – University of Paris. He currently teaches medieval music performance at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany.
