After the rain, the OSM: a magical evening under the stars to launch the classic trip to the Olympic park

The Montreal Symphony Orchestra inaugurated, Wednesday evening, the 12th edition of its classic trip to the Esplanade du Parc Olympique, with its traditional outdoor concert in front of a few thousands of filled people.

During this meeting led by Maestro Rafael Payare-which was in its fourth edition-, the OSM revisited nearly ten pieces of its repertoire inspired by nature-the theme of this year-, especially The Song of the Earth de Míkis Theodorákis, Wind and sea dialogue by Claude Debussy, and the heat movement of the Verglas storm symphony Quebecois Maxime Goulet.

The composer went on stage to timidly greet the public, Wednesday evening, after the interpretation of his song, created in 2023 in memory of the 1998 ice crisis.

On the occasion of this fifth external concert of the OSM, a sea of people stood in front of the main scene and continued to flock to the esplanade of the Olympic park as the sun fell.

The orchestra launched its evening under the stars with the opening of the opera Guillaume Tell by Gioachino Rossini, before continuing with the orchestral composition A camil Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz.

“Nature can also serve as a powerful metaphor to talk about love,” said the evening host, André Robitaille, introducing the tenor Pene Pati on stage, who joined the 90 other musicians to sing love.

Among other things, he lent his voice to the air Love! … Ah! Get up, sun! of Romeo and Juliet by Charles Gounod and What a freezing hand by Giacomo Puccini. He then went up on stage to interpret No sleeptaken from the opera Turandot de Puccini, thanks to which he managed to raise the crowd.

The evening under the stars of the OSM ended with a taste of its next season, highlighting Hungarian walking of Hector Berlioz, one of the orchestral fragments of The damnation of Faust.

The 12th edition of the classic trip takes place until August 17. In addition to his show’s shows, more than sixty free activities were organized in the Spectacles district and around the Place des Arts for the whole family.

In addition, the OSM will stop next week in the parks of Brossard (at Poly-Aréna park), Blainville (at the equestrian park) and Saint-Léonard (at the Wilfrid-Bastian park), for a series of external concerts, once again animated by André Robitaille.

To learn more or consult the full programming, go to the classic trip website.