For Montrealers looking to trade city streets for open air, one of Quebec’s most striking concert settings is just a short drive away.
About an hour northeast of Montreal in the Lanaudière region, the Amphithéâtre Fernand-Lindsay in Joliette sits within a forested landscape, with a covered stage and seating for thousands under the evening sky. It is here, on July 4, that the Gala de la Terre will open the Festival de Lanaudière, pairing large scale orchestral music with a setting that feels inseparable from nature itself.
Led by conductor Nicolas Ellis, the Orchestre de l’Agora will bring together more than 100 musicians and singers for an ambitious outdoor performance centred on humanity’s relationship with nature. The venue plays a quiet but important role in that idea, offering a rare chance to hear symphonic music while surrounded by the environment it seeks to evoke.
This year’s program moves between intensity and colour. Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring anchors the evening with its raw, rhythmic power, while Quebec composer Claude Champagne’s Symphonie gaspésienne offers a more grounded, regional reflection. Adding a different texture is Ravel’s Shéhérazade, performed by French soprano Julie Fuchs, known for her expressive delivery and luminous tone.
The concert also makes space for voices less often heard on major classical stages. Chorus Nunavik, by Canadian composer Katia Makdissi-Warren, draws on Inuit throat singing traditions and will be performed by Lydia Etok and Nina Segalowitz, bringing a distinct and contemporary Indigenous presence to the program.
But the Gala de la Terre is designed to resonate beyond the music. Five dollars from every ticket sold will go toward the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s “Le Saint Laurent” project, which focuses on protecting and restoring land along the St. Lawrence River. Since launching in 2020, the event has raised more than 500,000 dollars for environmental and humanitarian causes.
That combination of artistic ambition and social purpose has helped the Gala carve out a unique place in Quebec’s summer festival season. It is not just a concert, but an invitation to listen, to reflect, and to consider the landscapes that shape life in this province.
For audiences in Montreal, it is also an easy, scenic getaway, close enough for an evening trip and far enough to feel like a true escape.
The Gala de la Terre takes place Saturday, July 4 at 7:30 p.m. at the Amphithéâtre Fernand-Lindsay in Joliette.
