Weekend plans | To start the year off right

Bugs Bunny at the Symphony Orchestra

After Quebec and Toronto, the FILMharmonique Orchestra will present its film concert Bugs Bunny at the Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of chef George Daugherty at Place des Arts. The legendary Looney Tunes characters – Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote, Daffy Duck, Sylvester and Tweety Bird, Taz and Speedy Gonzales – will appear on a giant screen, carried by music from the classic repertoire, performed by an ensemble of 64 musicians. The current North American tour marks 35 years of this production, acclaimed by critics and audiences around the globe. Ideal multi-generational show, Bugs Bunny at the Symphony Orchestra promises to prolong the childhood of spectators.

At the Wilfrid-Pelletier room at Place des Arts on January 12 and 13

Luc Boulanger, The Press

Marie Chouinard at Usine C

After a brief stint in 2017, (soft) VIRTUOSITY by Marie Chouinard is back in Montreal, at Usine C. The Quebec choreographer explores different temporalities, moving from frantic rhythm to extreme slowness. A contrasting and very destabilizing work where the bodies, but also the faces of the dancers, are magnified by images captured live and projected in the background. A choreography that aims to be “an emotional kaleidoscope in perpetual evolution”.

From January 12 to 20 at Usine C

Stéphanie Morin, The Press

Mahler at the OSM

For the first concert of 2024 of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, conductor Rafael Payare continues to weave his Mahler cycle begun in the fall of 2022. This time, it is the Symphony n^o 7 in E minor, which is considered the most modern written by the Austrian composer, which is on the program. The other work performed will be the Violin Concerto^o 1 by Szymanowski, with violinist Simone Lamsma as guest soloist.

January 16, 17 and 20 at the Maison symphonique

Josée Lapointe, The Press

Screening of Oscar-winning Quebec shorts

Want a Quebec-style pre-Oscars evening? This Saturday, January 13 (6:30 p.m.) and Friday, January 19 (7:30 p.m.), Cinéma Moderne (5150, boulevard Saint-Laurent) is offering the screening of the three Quebec short films still in the running for the 96^e Oscar night. These are dead cat by Annie-Claude Caron and Danick Audet, Oasis by Justine Martin and Invincible by Vincent René-Lortie. Added a fourth court, An Avocado Pit by the Portuguese Ary Zara and distributed by the Quebec house Traveling. The distributor h264 and the production house La Boîte à Fanny are associated with the presentation of the three other films. These works are semi-finalists (short list) for the Oscar evening. We will know the names of the finalists on January 23. The Oscars will take place on Sunday March 10.

André Duchesne, The Press

Immersion at Tête-à-la-Baleine

Multimedia artist Alain James Rioux Dubé invites us to experience the crab and lobster fishing season in Tête-à-la-Baleine, on the Lower North Shore, through a sound and visual exhibition , Raised in the mist. The artist offers a series of photographs of the territory and its inhabitants, while the local community radio, CJTB 93.1, collaborates on the sound aspect of the project. Alain James Rioux Dubé thus offers an “immersive perspective in the daily life of fishermen, highlighting our special link with the Saint-Laurent”.

Marie Tison, The Press

From January 18 to 22 at Espace Loulou, 184, rue de Louvain Ouest, room 402

Brel!

Performers of Jacques Brel’s songs can be found in spades. We have also seen a lot of singers who go so far as to copy his manner and replicate his gestures. On all kinds of stages, confidential or event-related. Here’s another: Olivier Laurent, Belgian talent once spotted by the former big man of the Just for Laughs Festival, who returns to Quebec accompanied by a favorable rumor that has not been denied for years. He brings to life the songs of the great Jacques in the company of four musicians Tuesday, 8 p.m., at the Théâtre Maisonneuve at Place des Arts.

Alexandre Vigneault, The Press

Wonka : chocolate is so good!

“A cross between Oliver Twist and Mary Poppins, disarmingly candid, Chalamet’s Wonka is closer to the elegant and playful Wonka of Gene Wilder than to the disturbing and neurotic Wonka of Johnny Depp,” writes our journalist Manon Dumais.

American Fiction : the writer and his double

“Tasty adaptation of the novel Erasure (2011, Graywolf) by Percival Everett, this first production by screenwriter Cord Jefferson (The Good Place, Watchmen) seduces by the power of his dialogues, the relevance of his reflections on the feeling of belonging to his community, otherness, racism, the culture of banishment and right-thinking, as well as his formidable humor”, writes our journalist Manon Dumais.