Here are my choice Montreal arts and culture highlights for June 2019:
MUSIC
Many top touring acts headline various Montreal concert venues this month.
American a cappella group Pentatonix (June 11) and Montreal’s very own Corey Hart (June 15) headline the Bell Centre, while Cincinnati rock band The National (June 21) play at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts.
Over at the Corona Theatre, Canadian hip-hop music producer and recording artist NAV headlines his North American Bad Habits Tour (June 11) , while legendary British ska revival band The Specials (June 17) – true innovators of the punk era – are touring their recently-released Encore, the band’s first album of new material since their reunion.
A couple of notable shows at Les Francos de Montréal (formerly Les FrancoFolies), which runs from June 14 to 22: British pop icon Petula Clark – hugely popular in Quebec for more than 50 years – headlines Théâtre Maisonneuve at Place des Arts on June 14, while African roots-reggae hero Tiken Jah Fakoly headlines MTELUS on June 18.
I’ve interviewed Fakoly (pictured at top) a few times over the years. He was an aspiring reggae star when he arrived in Montreal from Ivory Coast to headline an outdoor concert at the Festival International Nuits d’Afrique in 2000, and he was bedridden in a Montreal hotel room recuperating from malaria for three days before he “willed” himself onstage at Place Émilie-Gamelin.
“That concert is the one that has most marked my career,” Fakoly said.
And so a legend was born.
“When I am in Montreal I feel very much at home,” Fakoly added. “There is a love affair between us.”
Montreal’s terrific Folk Fest sur le canal festival runs from June 13 to 16. Their 12th annual edition features such mainstage performers as the Damn Truth and Hanorah (June 14); Ashley MacIsaac, Hawksley Workman and Cécile Doo-Kingué (June 15); and Good Lovelies (June 16). Folk Fest sur le canal is a pay-what-you-can event. Donate $20 and get a special souvenir cup. There is also a pretty nice ticketed VIP area.
The biggest jazz festival in the world, the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal runs from June 26 to July 6. For its 40th anniversary, the fest has programmed more than 500 concerts – of which two-thirds are free – presented over 11 days in some 30 Montreal venues. Indoor headliners include Buddy Guy, Norah Jones, Blue Rodeo, Dianne Reeves, George Benson, Alan Parsons, British reggae legends Steel Pulse, and Peter Frampton in what will be his final Montreal concert. Frampton is officially retiring because he has been diagnosed with a degenerative muscle disease.
Here are my choice picks of the free jazz fest outdoor concerts by Montreal entertainers:
The soulful African blues of guitarist Cécile Doo-Kingué (June 27); Harmonica player Guy Bélanger will share the stage with supersonic soul diva Kim Richardson (June 27); Blues Queen Dawn Tyler Watson presents the blues, soul and gospel songs of her new album MAD LOVE (June 30); bluesman and guitarist extraordinaire, the Ben Racine Band (June 30); legendary Montreal-based South African singer Lorraine Klaasen (July 1); Montreal roots-rock-reggae revolutionary and blue-eyed soulman Paul Cargnello with musical guests Aiza, Fredy V, Sarah MK, Satellites and Clerel (July 4); legendary Stephen Barry Band, marking 44 years in the music business (July 4); the Beth McKenna Quintet (July 4); and three free must-see indoor midnight shows at M2 inside MTELUS (June 29-30, July 1) by funk prodigy Fredy V & The Foundation.
For all jazz fest info, visit montrealjazzfest.com.
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Mark the inauguration of Espace 67 at Parc Jean-Drapeau with a free concert of classical music performed by the Orchestre Métropolitain conducted by Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin, June 27 at 8:30 pm. The orchestra will perform many major works, including Maurice Ravel’s Boléro and Carmen, Suite No. 2 by Georges Bizet.
Founded by its Artistic Director Denis Brott in 1995, the internationally-acclaimed Montreal Chamber Music Festival’s 24th annual edition (June 7 to 16) showcases performers from around the world, including acclaimed Quebec pianist and entertainer Gregory Charles who stars in the Montreal premiere of L’Air du Temps. In this show, Charles takes a bilingual look back at the past 250 years of western music, from Baroque to hip-hop, and from the French Revolution to the digital revolution, at Pollack Hall on June 7.
Also during the festival, Metropolitan Opera tenor Joseph Kaiser returns home to Montreal to star in two programmes at Salle Bourgie: Masters in Performance with Martin Beaver, former first violinist of the Tokyo Quartet, on June 11; and Viva Voce on June 12, featuring music by Brahms, Respighi, Richard Strauss and Chausson, when Kaiser will be joined by American mezzo-soprano Jeanne Ireland.
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, June 10 from 7 to 9 pm. The guest readers this month are Tanya Evanson, Brian Campbell , Elaine Kennedy, Carlyle Williams, Elvira Kamara-Nangnigui aka la Katiolaise, and Marie Louise Mumbu, followed by an open mic. The event is free, but a small donation is welcome.
Legendary Rush frontman Geddy Lee will be signing his Big Beautiful Book of Bass at a special Drawn & Quarterly public conversation and book signing at the Rialto Theatre on June 4.
ART AND MUSEUMS
New this month is the fascinating Over My Black Body group exhibition that delves into the ways in which Black bodies are codified and controlled. Curated by Eunice Bélidor and Anaïs Castro, Over My Black Body showcases works by local as well as American and British artists, and runs at the Galerie de l’UQAM until June 22.
Over at the McCord Museum, the internationally-acclaimed touring exhibition The Polaroid Project: At the Intersection of Art and Technology – featuring the original works of some 100 of the most celebrated international artists of the 20th century, along with the Polaroid cameras they used – opens on June 14 and runs to September 15.
Opening on June 20 at the MAC is contemporary Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson’s six-hour movie A Lot of Sorrow shot during a 2013 New York City performance by American indie rock band The National, who plays its 3-minute 35-second song Sorrow live onstage continuously for six hours. The film screens at the MAC until July 28.
Continuing exhibitions:
The Fondation Phi pour l’art contemporain (formerly called the DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art) located in Old Montréal presents the popular Yoko Ono solo exhibition LIBERTÉ CONQUÉRANTE/GROWING FREEDOM, which runs to September 15. Free admission.
The Montréal Museum of Fine Arts blockbuster Thierry Mugler: Couturissime exhibition showcases Mugler’s work as a visionary couturier, director, photographer and perfumer. The gorgeous exhibition features more than 150 ensembles, most of them on display for the first time, created between 1973 and 2001, as well as many never-before seen accessories and stage costumes, clips and videos, archival documents and sketches.
Couturissime runs to September 8.
THEATRE
The Montreal Fringe Festival presents more than 800 performances by some 500 artists from across the globe, at various Montreal venues until June 16. The Fringe Park (Parc des Amériques at the corner of Saint-Laurent Boulevard and Rachel Street in the Plateau) is Fringe central, with live bands and the festival’s marquee event, Montreal drag icon Mado La motte’s 19th annual family-friendly Mado’s Drag Race on June 15. Yours truly will be one of the “judges” on the drag race “jury.” Expect over-the-top hilarity.
Also, click here for regular Curtains Up Fringe fest theatre reviews by Beth McKenna during the entire run of the festival.
Montreal’s terrific Lyric Theatre Singers under the direction of musical director Bob Bachelor will again wow audiences with their TOO DARN HOT! A Sizzling Broadway Revue at Concordia University’s gorgeous DB Clarke Theatre, from June 13 to 15. This production features musical theatre favourites by Cole Porter, as well as from such shows as South Pacific, Next to Normal, Ragtime, Guys and Dolls, Singing in the Rain and Come From Away.
The French-language adaptation of the ABBA-solutely fabulous blockbuster musical Mamma Mia! (with English songs) runs at Theatre St-Denis from June 5 to July 18. The fab ensemble cast includes terrific Montreal actor Eloi Archambaudoin.
DANCE
Dance the night away at the longest-running electronic festival in Canada, Bal en Blanc, which presents its 25th edition at the MTL Grandé Studios in Pointe St-Charles from June 28 to 30. More than 15,000 partygoers are expected to attend. Dress code: White.
Fascinating trivia: Red Bull Music Academy reports the original Bal en Blanc was held at Montreal’s legendary Lime Light disco – which rivaled Studio 54 in the 1970s – and where clubgoers would wear all white.
FILM
I am delighted to learn that the personal life of pop icon Elton John is full embraced in the hit biopic Rocketman, which is screening in Montreal theatres now.
“I’m proud Rocketman is the first major studio film with a gay love sex scene in it. If I’d left it out, I’d have felt I was cheating people,” John told The Mirror. “I’m so glad it’s in there because I am a gay man and I didn’t want to airbrush it under the carpet. If they don’t like it, I understand, but it’s part of who I am. That night was a very, very important part.”
In January 1972, Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin recorded a live album in an intimate church in the Watts district of Los Angeles. The disc of this legendary concert, AMAZING GRACE, became the best-selling Gospel album of all time, but the documentary film was only recently released after years in litigation. Amazing Grace the film is a must-see at the Cineplex Forum.
VARIOUS
Drag fans will love the kickass House of Laureen’s inaugural Mx. Queerdo MTL drag competition at Café Cleopatre on the Main (June 6-8-12-13-14-15) during the Montreal Fringe Festival.
Montreal’s 11-day MURAL Festival (June 6 to 16) champions live art, music, exhibitions and artist talks on Saint-Laurent Boulevard where local and international artists paint large-scale urban art and graffiti on building facades.
Beloved by fans around the world, the reboot of Cirque du Soleil’s iconic Alegría Under the Big Top in the Old Port of Montreal is actually pretty damn good, and runs to July 21.
Last but not least, Les Jardins Gamelin continues at Place Émilie-Gamelin at the western end of the Village, just outside the Berri-UQAM metro station, until September 29. The site features bar services at its snack bar, which opens weekdays from 11 am to 11 pm and from 9 am to 11 pm on weekends. The onsite Maison Jaune offers creative workshops and activities for children in a shaded area. Click here to check out the daily cultural programming, including renowned DJs and live performances on its outdoor stage. Free admission.
