Orchestre de l’Agora will present the Gala de la Terre on June 12 at 8 p.m. at the Maison Symphonique, featuring Strauss’s Alpine Symphony under the direction of Conductor Nicolas Ellis. Having been awarded the Opus Prize for Musical Event of the Year for its last edition, the Orchestra promises another unique musical evening aimed at raising public awareness on environmental issues & supporting the efforts of local organizations dedicated to the protection of our planet: GREMM, WWF Canada, and Sierra Club Canada.

The evening will begin with a piece by composer Claudie Bertounesque that will blend the orchestra, 75 choristers from the Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal, electro-acoustic elements, and songs of belugas recorded near Tadoussac using hydrophones from the Group for Research and Education on Marine Mammals (GREMM). Innu poet and event ambassador Natasha Kanapé Fontaine will also recite her own poems, specially written for the Gala de la Terre. The Orchestra will welcome Innu soprano Elisabeth St-Gelais, recently named Radio-Canada’s Classical Revelation and winner of the prestigious Prix d’Europe 2023, in Wagner’s beautiful Wesendonck Lieder. Over 100 musicians will take the stage for Strauss’s Alpine Symphony, an iconic work that evokes the beauty of nature and the Alps while addressing universal themes related to the cycle of life and the beauty and fragility of our planet.