This text is part of the special section C’est l’été
Let the music !
The first summer in Montreal for the conductor and new music director of the Orchester symphonique de Montréal (OSM), Rafael Payare, promises to be effervescent! Classical music lovers will be delighted this summer thanks to a host of free initiatives and low-cost concerts, everywhere across the city (and even beyond, with the OSM’s participation in the Festival de Lanaudière).
After a two-year hiatus, the Classic Spree is back for its 9e edition, under the theme of the Americas. The free concert on the Olympic Park esplanade will kick off the event, which will take place from August 10 to 14. With author Natasha Kanapé Fontaine, singer Jeremy Dutcher, soprano Jeanine De Bique and trumpeter Pacho Flores, the OSM will perform works from the musical repertoire from the Americas, from Indigenous song to “New World” Symphony Passing by West Side Story and the Concerto for trumpet by Paquito D’Rivera.
As part of the Classical Spree, 24 new, low-cost concerts will be presented by the OSM, and numerous local artists and artists from the American continent will play in four halls at Place des Arts. The event, which will present a total of more than a hundred works, will end with a concert by the Ensemble de la Virée (a temporary ensemble made up of OSM musicians, guest soloists and winners of the OSM Competition ) directed by Rafael Payare. Free concerts, conferences, instrument demonstration workshops complete the program for these five days. The free programming will be unveiled at the beginning of June.
The summer of 2022 finally marks the return of the OSM to the parks. Three free concerts under the stars will be presented in major parks in the Montreal region: July 26 at Poly-Aréna Park in Brossard, August 19 at Angrignon Park in Montreal, and August 20 at Externat Sacré- Heart to Rosemere. The OSM musicians will also meet their audience in August, during the 3e Edition of Summer Quarters. Sixteen chamber music concerts will be given outdoors in various parks and neighborhoods around the city, from August 24 to September 3.
Good weather, bad weather
Until June 30 is held on 14e Underground Art festival. On the theme Resilient Ways-Voices, the public is invited to discover some forty works of contemporary art through a 6 km underground route in underground Montreal. Bringing art to its audience, Underground Art invests in non-traditional places to surprise and interact with visitors.
The 34 local and international artists were selected by the artist and curator Eddy Firmin as well as by the collective of artists and cultural workers Intervals, made up of Caroline Douville, Maria Ezcurra, Miwa Kojima, Romeo Gongora and Dominique Fontaine. This year’s theme focuses on inequalities and minority voices, whether national, ethnic, cultural, religious or sexual, and immerses the public in the universe of struggles for difference and dignity. Guest artists include Moridja Kitenge Banza, Nadia Myre, David Garneau and Anna Binta Diallo.
After a hiatus imposed by the pandemic, it is the return of mediation activities and free artistic discoveries: guided tours by curators, by personalities from the visual arts community or curators, performance by Lucia Vergel Loo, mediation activities ad hoc, round tables. Several workshops are offered in collaboration with many partners such as the Phi Centre, Wapikoni or the Cultural Institute of Mexico in Montreal.
Underground Art is also preparing the second edition of Creating Bridges, which will take place in mid-August. This initiative, supported by the City of Montreal, allows local artists to take over a dozen vacant premises downtown, and the public to discover the wealth of visual arts in Montreal.