Jean-Pierre Ferland will be entitled to a final tribute on Saturday in Montreal, when the national funeral of the singer beloved by Quebecers will be held.
The ceremony, presided over by the Archbishop of Montreal, Mgr Christian Lépine, will take place at Marie-Reine-du-Monde Cathedral starting at 11 a.m. Here is the process in detail.
After the arrival of the urn in the basilica, the entry procession will take place to the sound of the song “I come back to our house”, written and composed by Mr. Ferland himself.
The Premier of Quebec, François Legault, will then speak.
This will be followed by the first performance, given by Florence K, who will perform “La musique”, taken from the album “Ecoton pas ça”.
After this musical interlude, three testimonies promise to be particularly emotional, while the two children of the late artist, Julie and Bruno, will address the assembly, then his great friend Pierre Séguin, who is also responsible for the staging. of the event.
His widow, Julie Anne Saumur, will deliver a speech after the second performance, which will feature the composer of several pieces from the “Little King” of Quebec song repertoire, François Cousineau. He will accompany on the grand piano seven faithful singers of Jean-Pierre Ferland since the famous album “Jaune”, including Nanette Workman, Judy Richards and France Castel, as well as his wife. This all-female choir will perform “T’es belle” and “Le soleil emmène au soleil”.
Another of his former choristers, Jean-Sébastien Lavoie, will sing “I don’t want to sleep tonight” after Ms. Saumur’s testimony.
The author of the biography “Jean-Pierre Ferland: un peu plus haute, un peu plus further”, Marc-François Bernier, will then appear at the lectern to pay tribute to him, before the fourth performance, in which the composer and conductor The Daniel Mercure orchestra will play the piece “Conversation between Jean-Pierre and Daniel” alone on the piano.
The music will resume with a vengeance in the second hour, where three performances by well-known artists from the Quebec landscape appear on the program. First, Mélissa Bédard will sing the great hit “Une chance qu’on s’a” alongside Ms. Saumur. Then, Claude Dubois will appear in front of the altar to perform his classic “If God exists”.
Finally, emotion should be at its peak when Ginette Reno performs “Un peu plus haute, un peu plus loin” just before the end of the ceremony. Unlike the other artists, Ms. Reno will not be on site, but by video link.
The whole thing will also end in a touching way, while the exit procession will take place to the tune of the song “Avant de m’assagir”, in which Jean-Pierre Ferland rightly sings “I want to die my life and not live my death.
As seats reserved for the public are limited inside the cathedral, the funeral will also be broadcast on a giant screen at Place du Canada.
Those who attend are invited to wear a yellow accessory, in reference to the album “Jaune”, on which we find in particular “Le petit roi” and “When we love we always have twenty years”.
On Friday, the population was able to pay a final tribute to Jean-Pierre Ferland, who was laid in state at the Théâtre Maisonneuve at Place des Arts.
The singer-songwriter died on April 27 at the age of 89 from natural causes. He had been hospitalized since February 14 at CHSLD Desy, in Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon, in Lanaudière. He would have been 90 years old on the next National Day, June 24.