The Festival Lanaudière in Joliette is the largest classical music festival in Canada, and many of the musicians, chamber music quartets and orchestras who perform in at Tanglewood in the Berkshires also come to this largest festival in Canada. The amphitheatre provides a stage for the orchestra and sheltered seating for 2,000 people. Local churches also provide intimate performance spaces.

The festival opens on July 8 to August 10, and the performers read like a Who’s Who in classical music. Kent Nagano will conduct the Montreal Symphony Orchestra on August 8 and 9. Yanick Nezet-Seguin will conduct the Orchestre Métropolitain in a Sunday afternoon program of Richard Strauss on July 27. Violinist virtuoso Stéphane Tétreault will perform on Saturday July 12 with the Festival Orchestra, made up of the finest musicians in greater Montreal.

There is a Festival Express that leaves from Cavendish Mall and the Infotourist Centre on Peel St on Friday and Saturday evenings, plus July 10 and August 6. For information and reservations: 1-800-561-4343. For complete programming: www.lanaudiere.org

Cutline: Festival Artistic Director Alex Benjamin and musical Ambassador Alain Lefèvre

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