A smorgasbord of summer festivals

Festival de Lanaudière - Bernard Labadie and Violon du Roy players

Paul Serralheiro

Whether you plan to go out to the country or stay in town, there are plenty of musical events to celebrate the summer season. Choices abound, from festivals in bucolic settings that give “country music” a totally different meaning to urban festivals a metro ride away.

Running July 5 to August 3 just a short distance from Montreal, the 31st year of the Lanaudière Festival has a rich offering of first-rate classical musicians, both local and international, from medieval to contemporary, throughout July and early August. Featuring Kent Nagano and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, pianists Alain Lefèvre and Valentina Lisitsa and the Baroque Orchestra of Freiburg, the festival offers a healthy fare of music with dinner, encounters with musicians and cruises on Lac St-Pierre. There is also a special sound installation of bird songs taking its cue from the works of Olivier Messiaen.

Francofolie crowd

Music of a different ilk can be heard north in the hills of the Laurentians, with the Mont Tremblant Blues Festival running from July 4-13 and featuring Johnny Winter, Paul James, Keb’ Mo’ and a tribute to the recently deceased Jeff Healey.

Along the breathtaking views of the lower St. Lawrence just south of Rimouski, the Parc du Bic presents its Concerts aux Îles du Bic chamber music festival from August 1-10. Yuli Turovsky and I Musici of Montreal perform intimate classics. The varied chamber music formations deliver the calming repertoire of Mozart, Debussy and Poulenc.

Festival international du blues de Tremblant

If your summer promises to be an inner-city affair, there are scores of festivals to choose from. Besides the well-known Montreal International Jazz Festival, there’s Nuits d’Afrique, which runs from July 8-20, and features African musicians with both free shows, at the Place Émilie-Gamelin, and ticketed shows. There’s also Francofolies, from July 24 to August 3, which serves a wide range of music by francophone artists, in the same setting as the Jazz Fest, this year featuring homage to the great Félix Leclerc.

Urban and bucolic at the same time are the events known as Les Weekends du Monde held at the Parc Jean-Drapeau throughout July. The program features daylong activities with music from the Caribbean and Latin America, as well as Classical Thursdays.

The Celtic Music Festival, held on the beautiful grounds of the Douglas Hospital in Verdun ran until a couple of years ago. It featured wonderful music from North America, Ireland and Britain, Celtic France and Spain. Hopefully this festival will see the light of day once more, although not likely this summer. Perhaps in 2009?