Culture of Montreal
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As a
Arts
Place des Arts
A cultural heart of classical art and the venue for many summer festivals, the
Dance and performing arts
Performing at Place des Arts is the city's chief ballet company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. In contemporary dance, Montreal has been a leader, particularly since the 1980s.[citation needed] Internationally recognized avant-garde dance troupes such as La La La Human Steps, O Vertigo, and the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault have toured the world and worked with international popular artists during videos and concerts. The intelligent and seamless integration of multi-disciplinary arts into the choreography of these troupes helped pave the way for the popularity of the Cirque du Soleil,[citation needed] a multimillion-dollar empire based on a mixture of modern circus and performing acts. The Agora de la danse is a studio where contemporary dancers most often perform.
Classical music
The Place des Arts also harbor the headquarters of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (MSO) that performs in its halls regularly. The MSO is one of the top performance troupes in North America, most remembered for the quality performance of the repertoire of Maurice Ravel. Since 2006, the MSO has a new conductor, the American Kent Nagano. Two other popular Montreal orchestras that perform regularly at Places des Arts are the Orchestre Métropolitain conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and I Musici de Montréal, a chamber orchestra founded by Yuli Turovsky and since 2011 conducted by Jean-Marie Zeitouni. I Musici de Montréal are considered among the greatest interpreters of the works of George Frideric Handel. Place des Arts are also the home of the Opéra de Montréal, the most prestigious opera company in Montreal. One Montreal radio station is entirely devoted to classical music.
Music
Given that Montreal is mostly French-speaking, most popular local bands and singers have sung in French. In the past, the most popular local artists succeeded in filling arenas (
Montreal's English-speaking music scene also succeeds in getting attention from popular media around the world. The growing success of the current
The
Every Sunday in Parc Mont-Royal near-downtown Montreal, there is a huge impromptu drumming festival in which hundreds of drummers are invited to jam.
Theatre
Theatre in Montreal is dominated by French-language productions, in part because Montreal has traditionally been a centre for most successful Quebec plays. As a result, the most celebrated and internationally recognized Quebec playwrights have all worked in Montreal at some point, including Michel Tremblay (Les Belles Soeurs, Hosanna), who revolutionized Quebec theatre by writing in the local dialect, joual, and Montreal-adoptee Wajdi Mouawad (Wedding Day at the Cromagnons, Scorched). Most established French-language theatres are found in the Quartier Latin (e.g. Théâtre du Rideau Vert) or near Place des Arts (Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, Théâtre Jean-Duceppe). The city also hosts the Festival TransAmériques, a two-week showcase of international experimental theatre.
In contrast, English theatre struggled but survived with the
Literature
Montréal has a rich yet still relatively young literary history in both French and English literature. A large number of novels have captured the realities of Montreal. While any list will understandably be subjective, a few works are agreed to be important in Canadian and Québécois literature. Written in 1947,
Film
There are plenty of English-language screens in the city, mostly downtown. The largest and most modern are the central Paramount Montreal and the AMC Forum, both located on Ste-Catherine Street. In addition to presenting movies from the majors, the AMC Forum also presents independent movies of repertory cinema. Other cinemas concentrating on repertory movies include the Cinéma du Parc.
Cineastes have, on occasion, chosen Montreal for their movies. See
Museums
Montreal has a vast network of museums, art galleries, and exhibition centres.
Other praised museums are the
The region is also home to a number of science-related museums. Many of them are located in the Olympic Park complex, including the
Linguistic groups
Francophone
Montreal is the cultural centre of Québec, French-speaking Canada, and French-speaking North America as a whole, and an important city in the Francophonie. It is the largest French-speaking city in North America, and the cultural capital of the Quebec province. The city is a hub for French-language television productions, radio, theatre, circuses, performing arts, film, multimedia, and print publishing. The best talents from French Canada and even the French-speaking areas of the United States converge in Montreal and often perceive the city as their cultural capital. Montreal is also the most important stop in the Americas for Francophone artists from Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Some 30 years after the adoption of the
Anglophone
Montreal is also the cultural capital for English Quebec. The
Cultural contribution from other communities
Other cultural communities, be it first-generation immigrants or long-time settlers in Montreal, have greatly contributed to the originality and flavor of Montreal. Many festivals and parades are organized to celebrate the contribution of these communities, such as the Irish Saint Patrick Parade, the Greek Independence Day Parade, [1] or the Festival des Nuits d'Afrique. Montreal's Jewish community has been a leading contributor to Montreal's cultural landscape and is renowned for its level of charitable giving and its plethora of cultural and social service community institutions. Among these are the world-renowned
Religion
Nicknamed la ville aux cent clochers ("the city of a hundred belltowers"), Montreal is renowned for its churches. Indeed, as
Other well-known churches include
The dominant religion in Quebec is Christianity, which is adhered to by roughly 90.2% of the population.[4]
Montreal is the seat of a diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church.[5]
Cuisine
Of note is the regional variation, the
This wide variety of cuisines underlines the fact that Montreal is one of the cities in the world with the highest number of restaurants. Montreal and its culinary landscape was the focus of
.Tourism
Tourism is an important industry in Montreal. The city welcomed 14 million visitors in 2005.[8] Like the province of Quebec, visitors to Montreal come from around the world, most of them from the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Mexico, and Japan.[9] 39,000 jobs in Montreal were generated by the tourism industry in 2005.[9]
Festivals
The plaza on Place des Arts is the home of the most important events during several musical festivals, including the
The city's most popular festival, in terms of attendance, is the
Montreal is also famous as the birthplace of the Infringement Festival, a reaction to the perceived corporatization of the Montreal Fringe Festival. The Infringement has since spread to many other cities in North America and Europe.
Night life
During the period of
The most active parts of Montreal's nightlife are the Downtown and the
See also
- Architecture of Montreal
- List of Montreal music venues
- Montreal International Games Summit
References
- ^ Wingrove, Josh (June 9, 2008). "Vancouver and Montreal among 25 most livable cities". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
- ^ "Montreal: A Perfect Sunday in the Park - Tripadvisor".
- ^ Twain, Mark (1881-12-10). "MARK TWAIN IN MONTREAL". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-02-02.
- ^ "Statistics Canada". 0.statcan.gc.ca. 2005-01-25. Archived from the original on 2011-01-14. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
- ^ "The Diocese". Armenian Church of Canada. 2004. Archived from the original on 2009-02-07. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
- ISBN 978-0-7710-7911-5.
- ^ Stern, Jane; Stern, Michael (March 2006). "Oy! Canada". Gourmet Magazine. Archived from the original on 2010-09-04. Retrieved 2010-09-18.
- ^ Communaute Metropolitaine de Montreal - Statistics
- ^ a b "Québec, Ministère du Tourisme, Le tourisme en chiffre 2006" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-04. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
- ^ Montreal's Guide and Events
- ^ Snow Festival