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Summer Festival
Survival Guide
Festivalmania DANIELLE
DUBOIS
FRANÇOISE MICHAUD HAS BEEN ATTENDING
THE FESTIVAL DE LANAUDIÈRE IN JOLIETTE
FOR OVER 10 YEARS. THE EXCITEMENT IN HER
VOICE AS SHESPEAKS OF THE UPCOMING SUM-
MER IS UNMISTAKABLE. “Every month of July, the
festival is my priority,” explains Michaud. A
worker in Montreal’s downtown district,
Michaud sometimes takes advantage of the
festival bus which, for $18, drives festivalgoers
to Joliette and back. Michaud concedes
that for many, it’s a social experience.
“People arrange to meet after work and over
time, people on the bus begin to recognize
each other.”
The social aspect is also an integral part of
the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, shares
Anneline Lubbe, an habituée and now volunteer
of the Festival. “Since lining up is such a
big part of the festival, you can’t help but interact
with people. You start to read the book you
brought along but soon you’re talking to
someone,” says Lubbe who adds that she
often recognizes fellow festival-goers during
the year, in the bus or at Symphony concerts.
In the line-ups and after the concerts,
music is the most common topic of conversation.
“You exchange your experience of a
particular piece you were very involved in,”
explains Lubbe. Sometimes wrapped around
an entire block, line-ups often attract the
attention of people driving by. “’What’s going
on?’ they’ll ask, and someone in line will
answer ‘The world’s greatest preacher is in
town. Come and listen’”. This kind of friendly
atmosphere facilitates interactions between
music-lovers. “I’ve met many interesting people
here. There was one family I got to know,
with two sons in high school doing wind
instruments, both at the conservatory. They
still come to the festival, only now they bring
their girlfriends!”
More than the atmosphere, it is the sheer
depth of the programming and the quality of the
musicians that has people coming back. “There
are world-class musicians performing here.
Organizers also aim at opening up our ears by
presenting not only a classical repertoire, but by
featuring works by Canadian composers,”
remarks Lubbe who says that many people discovered
chamber music by attending the festival.
Michaud also values the exposure to new
repertoire and the music scene’s up-andcoming
stars. She has fond memories of
Cecilia Bartoli’s performance at the festival,
just as she does of her son’s profound astonishment
at hearing Messiaen’s Turangalila
Symphony. “It was for him absolutely revolutionary,”
recalls Michaud. She also lauds the
exhaustive scope of the organizer’s vision.
Whether it is by bringing hundreds of musicians
on stage to perform Mahler’s 8 th
Symphony or by projecting images onto a big
screen while music is being played, they
know how to strike the imaginative chords of
festival-goers.
Summer festivals are in many ways an
indulgence of the senses. Beautiful surroundings,
like those found in Lanaudière, are a big
draw for people making the trek out from the
city. While some of the concerts are held in
local churches, those seeking an open-air
experience happily bring along lawn chairs
and blankets and find a comfortable spot in
the amphitheatre where they will spend a few
relaxing hours. “I have a friend who goes off
to the side and smokes his pipe. It’s not
uncommon to see people enjoying a glass of
white wine as they listen to the concert,” says
Michaud. “The acoustics are exceptional.
Here we can listen to the Orchestre
Symphonique de Montréal better than anywhere
else in Québec,” says Michaud.
On days when Michaud travels to the festival
by car, she sometimes stays overnight in a
small hotel and dines at one of the area’s fine
restaurants. “Fine dining abounds in this area,
as do local products. The ratio quality-price is
also better than in Montreal.”
Although Ottawa has its share of tourist
attractions, running from one church to the
next where concerts are held hardly leaves
serious festival-goers with any time to visit the
national capital’s hot spots. With hundreds of
concerts presented over the course of the
festival, selecting which ones to attend is
almost an art. “I like to attend two a day,
sometimes three, very rarely four,” says Lubbe
who marvels at those who attend more than
43 concerts in the two-week period between
the end of July and the beginning of August.
For Lubbe, who is intent on completing her
volunteer work before the concerts begin,
the selection process is not all that complex
of a task. “I’m terribly fond of string quartets
so that’s what I look for first. What’s remarkable
is that after you’ve made your selection,
and turn up at the concerts, you find that you
meet the same people at the six or seven
concerts you selected. There are always others
on the same wavelength as you.”
Having music they love performed at their
doorstep is no doubt what has transformed
both Michaud and Lubbe into avid concertgoers.
“My dream would be to attend all the
concerts of the festival,” says Michaud, who
like Lubbe, has made festival concerts one of
the central foci of her summer. And why not?
The sun and music in store in the next
months is sure to delight serious and casual
festival-goers alike. p
24 Summer 2005