Here are my choice Montreal arts and culture highlights for January 2020:
MUSIC
Following the holiday season, the Montreal concert scene is starting to heat up again.
Highlights include the only Canadian stop of famed American musician and conductor Damien Sneed’s North American tour of We Shall Overcome: A Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. which headlines Théâtre Maisonneuve on January 16. The We Shall Overcome repertoire showcases diverse genres of African-American music – from Aretha Franklin to Wynton Marsalis, Duke Ellington to Stevie Wonder, and Nina Simone to Donny Hathaway – performed by a nine-piece ensemble, interwoven with spoken word from Dr. King’s recorded speeches. The event takes place the day after the 90th anniversary of Dr. King’s birth, and 4 days before Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2020
English rock band Temples plays L’Astral on January 26, American nu metal band Korn and Breaking Benjamin headline the Bell Centre on January 28, Florida punk rockers Hot Water Music will shred the Corona Theatre on January 29, and Italian operatic pop trio Il Volo will harmonize at Place Bell on January 30.
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Four renowned organists from Notre-Dame de Paris are the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal’s guests for an exceptional concert in which they will play the Grand Orgue Pierre-Béique at the Maison Symphonique de Montréal. Proceeds from the January 21 concert will benefit the fund of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral.
Created jointly by five of the world’s most prestigious opera companies and hailed by the New York Times as “a triumph,” opera fans will enjoy the Opéra de Montréal’s new production of British composer George Benjamin’s Written on Skin at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier (January 25, 28 and 30 and February 2).
At Bourgie Concert Hall on January 26, the Arte Musica Foundation presents the sacred cantatas of J. S. Bach with Theatre of Early Music, starring celebrated countertenor Daniel Taylor. Other artists on the bill are soprano Ellen McAteer, tenor Charles Daniel and baritone Peter Harvey.
THEATRE
Centaur Theatre presents its 23rd Annual Wildside Theatre Festival (January 7 to 18) which showcases independent works from Québec and beyond. The festival presents eight trailblazing works this year, including the Centaur debut of Montreal soul icon Michelle Sweeney in the 60-minute show Her Songs, My Story, in which Sweeney retells her life story through the music of Aretha Franklin (January 8, 9, 12 and 16).
Also at Centaur, don’t miss the Stratford Festival production Paradise Lost (January 14 to February 2), a theatrical adaptation of John Milton’s Paradise Lost.
DANCE
The famed Riverdance production, showcasing traditional Irish music and dance, celebrates its 25th anniversary with five performances at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier (January 10 to 12).
Montreal’s Compagnie Marie Chouinard presents bODY_rEMIX/les_vARIATIONS_gOLDBERG (January 28 and 29) as well as the choreographic collection Radical Vitality, Solos et Duos (January 30 to 31, and February 1), both at Théatre Maisonneuve, as part of the city’s hugely popular Danse Danse series.
The 10th anniversary edition of Le Festival Bouge d’ici once again celebrates Montreal’s up-and-coming contemporary dance community, at MainLine Theatre from January 9 to 19. Bouge d’ici was founded in 2009 to support emerging contemporary artists, as a reaction to the lack of realistic opportunities for emerging choreographers and dancers to present their work in professional contexts. For the full line-up of events and workshops, visit mainlinetheatre.ca.
ONE KIND FAVOR explores kindness and grace in our increasingly brutal world. Co-presented by Danse-Cité and choreographed by George Stamos in collaboration with Karla Etienne and Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, ONE KIND FAVOR runs at the MAI from January 21 to 25.
ART AND MUSEUMS
The British Museum exhibition Egyptian Mummies: Exploring Ancient Lives makes its North American premiere at the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts. Combining art and cutting-edge technology with more than 200 items from the British Museum’s renowned Egyptian collection, this exhibition reconstructs the lives of six Egyptians who lived along the Nile from about 900 BC to AD 180. The exhibition runs to February 2.
The MMFA exhibition “For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you”draws its title from Walt Whitman’s celebrated 1881 poem Song of Myself, and displays more than 100 paintings, photographs, sculptures and works on paper from different time periods and cultures, all from the extraordinary art collection of renowned Ontario art collector and patron W. Bruce C. Bailey. Some of the artists included in this exceptional exhibition are Francisco José de Goya, Rembrandt, Richard Avedon, Robert Mapplethorpe and Kent Monkman. The exhibition runs to March 29.
Montréal designer Jean-Claude Poitras – who left his mark on prêt-à-porter over the course of a prolific career that began in 1972 – gets the career retrospective treatment in the Jean-Claude Poitras: Fashion and Inspiration exhibition at the McCord Museum. The exhibition runs to April 26.
Discover one of the world’s great and mysterious civilizations in the blockbuster The Incas, Treasures of Peru exhibition at the Pointe-à-Callière Montréal Archaeology and History Complex. While their domination lasted less than a century (from 1450 to 1532), the Incas built one of the most spectacular empires the world has known, spreading from Ecuador to Peru, Bolivia and half of present-day Chile. This exhibition explores the world of the Incas and Andean culture – mainly that of Peru – from prehistory to the contemporary era, and features nearly 300 pieces including eye-popping gold and silver work, ornaments, jewelry, vases, clothing, funerary masks and ritual objects. The exhibition runs to April 13.
FILM
The 2019 documentary film Cunningham marks the centenary of legendary American choreographer Merce Cunningham. The film traces Merce’s artistic evolution over three decades of risk and discovery (1944–1972), from his early years as a struggling dancer in postwar New York to his emergence as one of the most visionary and influential choreographers worldwide. The 3D technology weaves together Merce’s philosophies and stories, creating a visceral journey into the choreographer’s world. The film opens at Cinéma du Parc on January 17.
LITERATURE
Renowned Montreal writers H. Nigel Thomas, Horace Goddard and Maguy Métellus co-host Lectures Logos Readings, the monthly bilingual reading series of poetry, fiction and spoken word at the Universal Negro Improvement Association (U.N.I.A. Hall at 2741 Notre Dame St. W.) in Little Burgundy, January 13 from 7 to 9 pm. The guest readers this month are Eddy Firmin, Jean-Yves Métellus, Chloé Savoie, Norman Cristofoli, Fimo Mitchell, Compere Anansi and Clarence Bayne, followed by an open mic. The event is free, but a small donation is welcome.
VARIOUS
The unique Imagine Van Gogh exhibition at the Arsenal Contemporary Art Centre in Griffintown projects 200 paintings by the artist on “out of the ordinary” 3D shapes, offering different angles from which to discover Van Gogh’s work. The exhibition runs to February 2.
The 14th annual edition of Igloofest (see photo at top) runs from January 16 to February 8 at the Jacques-Cartier Pier in the Old Port on Thursdays (7:30 pm to 11 pm), and Fridays and Saturdays (7:30 pm to 12:30 am).
Highlights this year include French duo THE BLAZE (DJ set, FR) on January 16; Nina Kraviz (RU) returns on January 25, seven years after her first festival appearance; and hometown hero Kaytranada returns to Igloofest on February 1 after his 2018 appearance broke attendance records.
Any tips for festivalgoers attending Igloofest?
Festival programming coordinator Patrick Meloche told me, “Igloofest is all about good boots and socks. Everything else matters too, but if your body is warm and your feet are freezing or wet, you are done for.”
