Festival Bach Montréal launches its 15th Anniversary year with a digital gala concert in support of musicians The Montrealer April 27, 2021 1717 Gala will launch re-branded streaming platform, Canada Classique Festival Bach Montréal has announced that it will host a digital Gala Concert on Sunday May 2 at 2.30pm, launching re-branded specialist classical music platform, Canada Classique (formerly Québec Baroque). All proceeds from ticket sales and donations will be shared equally among the musicians involved, as a way of supporting artists facing hardship during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Bach Gala will feature highlights from the festival’s 2020 season, including performances from artists including cellist Stéphane Tetreault and violinist Kerson Leong, as well as the kind support of cellist Yo-Yo Ma and conductor Kent Nagano. This one-off event will be comprised of not-to-be-missed performance highlights from the festival’s 2020 season, which, as a consequence of the closure of concert halls took place entirely online. This gala is being held in order to raise awareness of the challenges that have been faced and continue to be faced by musicians during the ongoing pandemic, in which performance opportunities are scarce. All proceeds from this Gala Concert will therefore be shared equally among the musicians involved. The Festival Bach Montréal Gala Concert will feature performances from exceptional Canadian artists including cellist Stéphane Tétreault, pianist Anna Saradjian, violinists Kerson Leong and Andrew Wan, and organist/harpsichordist Luc Beauséjour. Ensembles involved include Orchestre de L’Agora conducted by Nicolas Ellis and the festival’s own orchestra, Orchestre Festival Bach Montréal, conducted by Jean-Claude Picard. Alexandra Scheibler, Artistic and Executive Director, Festival Bach Montréal, said: ‘The Bach Gala is seeking to raise awareness and draw attention to the ongoing challenging situation of musicians during the pandemic. Festival Bach Montréal is honoured to find itself among the fine artists performing in this concert. We have been working diligently to demonstrate our solidarity and will show our support by sharing one hundred percent of the proceeds from this event amongst our featured musicians.’ In addition to showcasing the high level of musicianship and music-making taking place in Canada, and supporting musicians who have faced significant challenges throughout the pandemic, this concert will also mark the launch of the re-branded platform Canada Classique (formerly Québec Baroque). Specializing in the broadcast of classical music performances, Canada Classique is entirely conceptualized, devised and run by Bach-Académie de Montréal which also produces Festival Bach Montréal. TICKET INFORMATION: Tickets for the Festival Bach Montréal Gala Concert are now available on Canada Classique, canadaclassique.com. Tickets are available at $15, $30 or $100 Festival Bach Montréal is delighted to welcome back Canimex as presenting sponsor for 2021