Bourgie Hall: a 14th season filled with beauty and discoveries

Bourgie Hall of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts has unveiled its 2024-2025 season. Developed by Artistic Director Olivier Godin and Executive Director Caroline Louis, it emphasizes excellence, beauty and discovery, with more than 90 exciting concerts rooted in a wide variety of styles and traditions.

Olivier Godin and Caroline Louis are thrilled to unveil the details of this abundant and innovative programming that reflects the venue’s image: “Again this year, the public will hear the finest musicians from both Quebec and Canada; and will discover top artists who stand out on the international scene. Furthermore, this season marks the beginning of a major new project at Bourgie Hall: the performance of Schubert’s complete lieder, a body of work of inestimable richness. We hope you will eagerly join us on this ambitious musical adventure as it unfolds over the years to come.”

The excellent acoustics and intimate surroundings of Bourgie Hall make it a favourite destination for local ind international musicians and vocalists.

Offering many great musical moments, Bourgie Hall’s 2024-2025 season will take listeners on a journey through a variety of musical genres and eras. It includes more than 90 concerts, with 50% of its programming showcasing Quebec and Canadian artists. “Caroline Louis adds; “From the very beginning fourteen years ago, we have allotted 50% of our programming to musicians from Quebec and the other provinces.”

Early music will shine thanks to the presence of renowned ensembles (Les Violons du Roy, Stile Antico, Les Talens Lyriques) as well as concerts featuring Bourgie Hall’s newly restored Flemish harpsichord. Strings take centre stage with a new series that includes performances by esteemed artists (Leonidas Kavakos, Kerson Leong, Antoine Tamestit).

Audiences will also be able to appreciate the remarkable sound of Bourgie Hall’s recently acquired Hamburg Steinway piano with highly anticipated appearances by outstanding and internationally acclaimed pianists such as Benedetto Lupo, Louis Lortie and Louise Bessette.

The cycle of Schubert’s complete lieder, an ambitious project spanning several seasons, will overlap with the 200th anniversary of the composer’s death in 2028. Schubert composed these short pieces throughout his entire life, which will be performed by renowned vocal artists, pianists, and ensembles (Benjamin Appl, Ian Bostridge), in concerts highlighting the genius of this famous Austrian composer. Apart from Schubert, numerous vocal recitals will feature great voices performing a vast repertoire (Christian Gerhaher, Barbara Hannigan).

This season, the Italian Days will showcase this country’s rich musical heritage, with repertoire ranging from the Middle Ages to modern music. The season also includes several jazz concerts (Harrison Kennedy, Kellylee Evans) and music from both here and abroad (Oktoecho). Echoing four exhibitions presented in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, five concerts will feature masterpieces ranging from Flemish Baroque masterpieces to French music of the Belle Époque, as well as Canadian folk songs and Inuit throat singing.

Among the outstanding artists performing at Bourgie Hall are pianists Louis Lortie, Jean-Baptiste Fonlupt, Charles Richard-Hamelin, Benedetto Lupo, Herbert Schuch, Elisabeth Brauss, Louise Bessette, Francine Kay, Sofya Gulyak and Kirill Gerstein; violinists Leonidas Kavakos and Stella Chen; violist Antoine Tamestit; cellist Steven Isserlis; singers Ian Bostridge, Barbara Hannigan, Christian Gerhaher and Benjamin Appl; rising star of the guitar Raphaël Feuillâtre and Cuban virtuoso Manuel Barrueco; as well as conductors Jonathan Cohen, Bernard Labadie and Christophe Rousset, to name only a few.

Among the high-calibre ensembles that Bourgie Hall will be welcoming this season are the Modigliani Quartet, Stile Antico, The Tallis Scholars and Les Talens Lyriques.

Here’s a look at Year One of the Shubert Complete Lieder. This season and for many to come, Schubert’s lieder take the spotlight at Bourgie Hall. A wide range of artists will be invited to revive and even reinvent this rich repertoire of vocal music.

● Schubert: The Dream (September 25): Ema Nikolovska (soprano), Nicolas Ellis (conductor) and the Orchestre de l’Agora open the season

● Rachel Fenlon, Soprano and Pianist! (October 4)

● Forgotten Harmonies: Schubert and his Contemporaries (November 2): Magali Simard-Galdès (soprano) and Simon Poirier (natural horn)

● Schubert’s Swan Song (February 13): Benjamin Appl (baritone) and Eric Lu (piano)

● Schubert, Earth & Heaven (February 23): Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal

● Ian Bostridge, tenor and Julius Drake, piano (February 26)

● CMIM Laureates (June 1): Harriet Burns (mezzo-soprano), Julien Van Mellaerts (baritone) and Ian Tindale (piano)

Musicians Of The OSM. Bourgie Hall continues its long and rewarding collaboration with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, a prestigious partner featured in this series that brings their music closer to Montrealers in an intimate setting.

● Romanticism Transfigured (September 27): Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht and Johanna Müller-Hermann’s String Quintet in A minor, Op. 7

● Mozart and the Clarinet (January 24): works by Mozart and Beethoven

● Four Cellos (March 7): cello ensemble from the OSM

● Schubert’s Famous “Trout” Quintet (May 9)

Musicians of the Orchestre Metropolitain. Bourgie Hall is renewing its partnership this year with the Orchestre Métropolitain, with 3 chamber music concerts and 3 family concerts with fabulous actors!

Chamber Music

● Romeo and Juliet (February 27)

● Christian Blackshaw in Quintet (March 23)

● Paris, 1900 (May 21)

Family Concerts In 2024-2025, three family concerts in collaboration with the Orchestre Métropolitain will take place on Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Created, written and directed by François Racine, they are accompanied by a soundtrack performed by OM musicians, who share the stage with popular actors.

● The Music-Loving Witch with Valérie Blais (October 27)

● Cupid and the Song of Hearts with Emmanuel Bilodeau (February 16)

● Springtime Music with Natalie Tannous (May 11)

In order to make concerts accessible to the widest possible audience, reasonable subscription packages ensure that ticket prices remain affordable. As usual, MMFA Members enjoy a 15% discount on the General Public rate at all times. Those who are 34 and under enjoy a 50% discount on the General Public rate as well as rush tickets for $10 (subject to availability).

For individual tickets and concert packages, please visit the Bourgie Hall website: www.sallebourgie.ca, or call 514-285-2000, Option #1 or in person at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Box Office or at Salle Bourgie one hour before the concert.