A summer based on
the theme of love and war

The Festival de Lanaudière unveils its 41st season programming

Press release

The Festival de Lanaudière sets the stage for its 41st season with programming in which love and war unite as intertwining states of mind that have inspired music and art. From July 5 to August 5, music lovers are invited to uniquely pleasant experiences in rural surroundings, both at the enchanting site of the Fernand Lindsay Amphitheatre and at regional churches.

Grégory Charles

For his first Festival as artistic director, Gregory Charles has drawn on personal resources to devise a program festival goers can truly look forward to. “I wanted to leave my mark on the Festival by infusing it with emotional power – what elates us with joy and what provokes violence and disarray. A summer in which two forces – love and hate – confront each other on the field of battle. Which one will win? Both, and they will fascinate us. Come experience these emotional forces with us.”

A summer of searing emotion at the Amphitheatre

The honour of presenting the first concert at the Fernand Lindsay Amphitheatre on Saturday, July 7, goes to the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and cellist Alban Gerhardt, led by Susanna Mälkki. With its program of romantic music by Berlioz, this concert will give us a taste of what the season holds.

Susanna Mälkki

On Sunday, July 8, Alain Trudel and the Orchestre symphonique de Laval offers distinctly contemporary, energizing repertory by Michael Daugherty, George Gershwin, and John Adams.

The second weekend opens on Friday, July 13 at the Amphitheatre with Roderick Cox, one of the leading African-American conductors, and pianist Stewart Goodyear performing music of spiritual, heavenly, and earthly love by Goodyear, Barber, Gershwin, and Rachmaninoff.

The Festival de Lanaudière sets the stage for its 41st season with programming in which love and war unite as intertwining states of mind that have inspired music and art.

On Saturday, July 14, Krzysztof Penderecki’s St. Luke Passion will receive its Canadian premiere with Kent Nagano conducting the OSM. Here is your unique opportunity to hear this deeply felt, emotional work describing the passion of Christ. Immediately afterward the orchestra takes off for Europe, where it will present the same work at the opening concert of the Salzburg Festival.

On Sunday, July 15, the Jireh Gospel Choir and soloist Kim Richardson share their love for this colourful, spiritual music with contagious enthusiasm.

Boson Mo

Saturday, July 21 brings a tribute to Céline Dion, our Lanaudière diva who is celebrating her fiftieth birthday this year. Some of her most beautiful songs will be heard against an orchestral backing. The Amphitheatre will resound with the Orchestre du Festival de Lanaudière and renowned musicians like Marc Hervieux, Marie-Ève Janvier, Johanne Blouin, Kim Richardson, and Alexandre Da Costa.

On Sunday, July 22, the Orchestre national de jazz de Montréal and singer Kim Richardson, led by Ron Di Lauro, will explore music dating from World War II. Songs like We’ll meet again, Run rabbit run and Lily Marlene serve as a sound track for love and war during these dark years.

The penultimate weekend begins on July 27 with the Canadian National Brass Project, which consists of some of the finest brass players on the continent led by James Sommerville. Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Holst, Mussorgsky, Bernstein, Giovanni Gabrieli, Calixa Lavallée, Morten Lauridsen, and Eric Crees are on the program.

On Saturday, July 28, the Festival welcomes the English choral conductor Stephen Layton, one of the most highly regarded in the field, who will conduct music of the hugely-popular Karl Jenkins.

Rachel Barton Pine

On Sunday, July 29, Stéphane Tétreault, a Lanaudière favourite, will share the stage with eleven other cellists in a varied program that includes music of Bach, Vivaldi and Debussy.

The Festival closes with the Orchestre Métropolitain and pianist Marc-André Hamelin, led by the orchestra’s music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Concerts on this final weekend will explore the themes of war and resistance to Nazism.

Saturday, August 4 brings an all-Bernstein program. The Chichester Psalms, in their melancholic beauty, offer a message of hope and peace in a war-torn world. Symphonie No. 2 (The Age of Anxiety) delves deeply into man’s search for faith.

The season concludes on Sunday, August 5 with one of Shostakovich’s best-known works, the Seventh Symphony, which became a symbol of resistance to Nazism and militarism.

Church Concerts

Regional churches will also serve as venues for outstanding performances. Here is a brief overview:

July 5 – Rachel Barton Pine – Église de Sainte-Mélanie
July 6 – Boson Mo and Tony Yike Yang – Église de Saint-Sulpice
July 10 – Canadian Guitar Quartet – Église de la Purification
July 12 – Gryphon Trio – Église Saint-Henri-de-Mascouche
July 17 – Amy Hillis and Meagan Miltaz – Église de Lavaltrie
July 18 – Ève Dessureault and Romain Pollet – Église de Saint-Paul-de-Joliette
July 19 – Anagnoson & Kinton – Église de Saint-Ambroise-de-Kildare
July 29 – Voces Boreales 18 – Église de L’Assomption
July 30 – Arod Quartet – Église de Saint-Alphonse-Rodriguez

Box offices

On Friday and Saturday evenings, and on Sunday August 5, the Festival Express will run a shuttle bus between the Infotourist Center on Peel Street in Montreal and the Amphitheatre. For information and reservations, call 1-800-561-4343.

Feature image: Kent Nagano
All images: courtesy of the Festival de Lanaudière

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