programme

Morcheeba
Vanessa Paradis
Alpha Blondy
with her magnificent acoustic recital. Musical direction and
arrangements will be handled by our friend Albin de la Simone,
who also performs to open the evening.
Omara Portuondo, Cuba’s most celebrated female singer, stars in
our opening concert, while our closing concert spotlights The Man
I Love, the first show created and performed by Natalie Choquette
and Florence K, a mother-daughter duo you simply cannot afford
to miss!
L’Astral belongs to
the ladies during the festival
Mario Pelchat
L’Astral also belongs to the ladies for these 11 days in February:
from Lizz Wright to Emilie Simon, with shows from Ladies of
the Canyon, NEeMA and Emilie-Claire Barlow. Also at L’Astral,
we’ll be favoured with a solo concert premiere from Béatrice
Bonifassi, who wowed us in performance with DJ Champion and
Beast; a tribute to La Bolduc, presented by Espace Musique
to mark the 70th anniversary of the passing of this pioneer
of Québécois chanson; and a concert premiere cooked up by
Random Recipe, the freshest new group on the Montreal scene.
Needless to say, we’re bringing back the Caliente! series, an
immediate hit from the moment it was launched last year! Along
with spicy performances by Bïa, La Nuit brésilienne and Hindi
Zahra, we’ll also present two mighty evenings of reggae roots
with The Wailers, celebrating the indomitable spirit of their
leader Bob Marley, and the Montreal return of Africa’s greatest
reggae ambassador, Alpha Blondy.
But wait—I haven’t even mentioned the Festival Mondial du
Cirque de Demain de Paris, presented at the TOHU, I Musici and
itsRomantique Dvorák, and return performances by Stéphane
Côté, Alex Nevsky and Yves Lambert!
And in the interests of paying tribute to womankind from a
different angle, let me close with a very special mention of Mario
Pelchat, the archetypal “Ladies’ Man”, who has chosen to present
the premiere of his all-new show here with us at the MONTREAL
HIGH LIGHTS Festival.
Yes, when we unwrap this 12th edition, we’ll all feel like we’re
celebrating a second Christmas in February!
Omara Portuondo
les arts financière sun life
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