Festival: opera arias in the street and live

UPDATE DAY

Since the start of the Opera Festival, singers and singers have offered short performances, free of charge, in places that have marked the history of opera in the Old Capital. A very nice and pleasant way to discover opera and new voices, while taking a walk in the Upper Town of Quebec.

New for its 11th edition, the Festival d'Opéra de Québec has set up a free circuit with five stations that allow you to discover places related to lyrical art and to attend short performances where you can hear famous tunes. .

Presented until Thursday, with a day off on Sunday, the pedestrian circuit takes place, depending on the station, from noon to 4 p.m.

At station number 1 , in front of the Ursulines convent, at 18, rue Donnacona, Chantal Parent slips into the skin of the soprano Emma Albani.

A Quebec singer who made her vocal cords vibrate in a place that was nicknamed, in 1889, the Academy of Music. This place, which was located on Saint-Louis Street, was considered one of the most beautiful halls in North America. It was destroyed in a fire in 1900.

Second station, the Capitole de Québec, which presented opera from its beginnings in 1903. It was at the time, in capacity, the largest hall in North America.

Souvenirs de Raoul Jobin

Mezzo-soprano Zita Bombardier-Touret offers an excerpt from the opera Carmen at the Capitole de Québec station.

The mezzo-soprano Zita Bombardier-Touret offers Love is a rebellious bird from the opera Carmen, by George Bizet, in front of passers-by and tourists strolling in the street Saint-Jean and people seated at Il Teatro.

Across the street, in front of the Palais Montcalm, the sopranos Émilie Baillargeon and Stéphanie Lavoie sing the famous Flower Duet from the opera Lakmé by French composer Léo Delibes, signature piece of the Quebec Opera Festival. 

Sopranos Émilie Baillargeon and Stéphanie Lavoie sing the famous Duo des fleurs from the opera Lakmé by French composer Léo Delibes.

They say that Quebec tenor Raoul Jobin sang there when the Palais Montcalm opened in 1933. The main hall, which has been renovated, now bears his name.

At station number 4, at the Grand Théâtre de Québec, mezzo-soprano Élizabeth Veilleux replaced baritone Dominic Veilleux on Friday, with the aria of Siebel from Faust and that of Do you know the country from the opera Mignon.

The Grand Théâtre was, from 1971 , the venue of the Société lyrique d'Aubigny, which presented operas, and then that of the Opéra de Québec, from May 1985.  

A place that has welcomed, over the years, Joseph Rouleau, Colette Boki, Robert Savoie, Lyne Fortin, Hélène Fortin and baritone Jean-François Lapointe, general and artistic director of the Opera Festival and the Opéra de Québec.

Dominic Veilleux will return to his position for the last four days of the Festival.

La “Castafiore”

Soprano Jessica Latouche and pianist Bruce Gaulin revisit the famous excerpt from “Castafiore” with the Air des bijoux de Faust, at the Maison de l'Opéra on rue Taché.

At the Maison de l'Opéra, at 1220 rue Taché, the last station, soprano Jessica Latouche, accompanied by pianist Bruce Gaulin, sings Air des bijoux by Faust, the famous aria of the soprano “Bianca Castafiore” in Tintin, as well as the aria As before in the dark night from the opera The Pearl Fishers, de Bizet.

All performances take place outdoors. They are offered, in a loop, every 15 minutes, approximately from noon to 2:15 p.m. (station 1), from 12:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. (station 2), from 1 p.m. 1:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. (station 4), and from 2 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. (station 5).