The year was 1973, and Jean Duceppe decided Montrealers should
experience productions of Charbonneau et le Chef and
Death of a Salesman that had just played at the Trident
Theatre in Quebec City. And so he founded his own theatre company,
from the outset infusing it with the passion, instinct and drive
for which he was known. The company proved a hit from that first
season, in which it sold 152 262 tickets at the
Théâtre Port-Royal of Montreal's Place des Arts. Official website
This 2007-2008 season will mark the 51th anniversary of Les
Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal. Since its founding by
Ludmilla Chiriaeff in 1957, the company has presented a wide
variety of ballets ranging from the great classics to
groundbreaking 20th century works by Balanchine, Jooss, Nijinsky,
and many others. It has fostered the emergence of artists who went
on to international renown, like Fernand Nault, James Kudelka,
Édouard Lock and Ginette Laurin. Les Grands Ballets also
stands out for presenting the works of up-and-coming choreographers
like Kim Brandstrup, Stijn Celis and Didy Veldman. As well, the
company has collaborated with today’s top choreographers,
including Jiří Kylián, Mats Ek, Nacho Duato and
Ohad Naharin. They all love working with Les Grands Ballets, thanks
to the talent and calibre of the company’s dancers. Official
website
Opéra de Montréal has been founded on January 30,
1980. It ranks today among the 15 most important opera companies in
North America. Since its creation, it offered 852 performances of
86 operas, 2 premieres, 49 new productions and several
collaborations with various opera companies. Each year,
Opéra de Montréal presents 4 operas from the great
repertoire, and one production by its Atelier lyrique. Pierre
Dufour is the General Director (since August 2006) and Michel
Beaulac its Artistic Director (since April 2007). Official
website
Founded in 1934 by a group of devoted music lovers, with the
backing of the Québec Government, the Orchestre symphonique
de Montréal is one of the major cultural organizations of
the city whose name it bears with pride.
The music directors who have contributed to its growth and success
are Wilfrid Pelletier, a Montrealer by birth and conductor at the
Metropolitan Opera in New York who became the first Artistic
Director of the OSM; Désiré Defauw; Igor Markevitch;
Zubin Mehta, who guided the OSM from 1961 to 1967, bringing
increased prestige to the Orchestra since under his direction the
OSM began its touring career in Europe; Franz-Paul Decker; Rafael
Frühbeck de Burgos; Charles Dutoit, from 1977 to 2002, with
whom the OSM assumed an important place on the international stage;
and, since September 2006, Kent Nagano. Official
website
