Montreal Baroque Festival
“Sensations”, the Festival’s 24th edition, reveals a world in which 17th- and 18th- century works speak not only to the ear, but to the complete, sensitive body. On the menu: music to hear, to see, to smell, to touch, to taste! The Festival presents many concerts featuring several leading figures from the Québec and international early music scene!
From June 18 to 21, let yourself be surprised by an edition that celebrates early music as a living, generous, and ever-evolving art form.
Designed to appeal equally to seasoned music lovers and curious newcomers, this new edition presents a rich, accessible, and engaging program. Audiences will hear major works from the Baroque repertoire, discover artists from here and abroad, attend original performances bringing together music, dance, and the culinary arts, and experience the festival in a festive atmosphere, from first light to late evening.
Join in the Montreal Baroque Parade
Thursday, June 18, 2026 at 6:00pm
Join the Festival’s classic parade on Rue Saint-Paul to open this year’s festivities! Bring your instrument(s), your voice, your pots and pans, and your party clothes!
The parade starts at Place Jacques-Cartier, in Old Montreal, at 6pm and goes east along Rue Saint-Paul.
Visit https://montrealbaroque.com/en/2026-edition/montreal-baroque-parade to download the score of the parade music.
J.S. Bach: The Ascension
Thursday, June 18, 2026 at 7:00pm
With dazzling trumpets, brilliant soloists, a powerful choir and luxuriant orchestra, Bach’s jubilant oratorio highlights the ecstatic moment when Christ ascends from earth to the heavens: A euphoric concert illuminating the human spirit!
Artists
Ensemble Caprice
Conductor Matthias Maute
Grand Chœur du Festival
Len Torrie, soprano
Len Torrie is a Montreal-based soprano, singer-songwriter, and performance curator known for their crystalline tone, expressive versatility, and storytelling depth. A sought-after soloist, Len performs regularly with leading early music ensembles including L’Harmonie des Saisons, Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, and Ensemble Caprice.
Len holds a master’s degree in early music vocal performance from McGill University, where they studied under Suzie LeBlanc and Dominique Labelle. Internationally, Len has trained with the Accademia Europea dell’Opera and the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart. They are one-third of the medieval trio COMTESSA, where they sing and play citole and Anglo-Saxon lyre.
Nicholas Burns, countertenor
Possessing “a thrilling voice” (Olyrix) that “caresses the ear with its velvet” (Le Devoir), Canadian countertenor Nicholas Burns is “a major talent on the rise” (Ludwig Van Toronto). A multi-award winner of Carnegie Hall’s New York Oratorio Society Competition, Les Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques, the Vancouver International Music Competition, and Edmonton Opera’s Rumbold Vocal Prize, Burns has performed with leading ensembles on both sides of the Atlantic, including Les Arts Florissants, L’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Vancouver Opera, I Musici, Early Music Vancouver, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Recent and upcoming performances include engagements with Opera Sofia, Ensemble Caprice, the Montréal Bach Festival, and returning appearances with Arion Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, L’Harmonie des saisons, and Tafelmusik. Such sought-after collaborations continue to highlight his versatility across the modern and historically informed spheres.
On the operatic stage, Burns delivers commanding performances across centuries of repertoire. He has portrayed Cesare in Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Bertarido in Rodelinda, Polinesso in Ariodante, and Lichas in Hercules. The Chronicle Journal described his Messiah performance as “a rare and beautiful experience,” praising his “pure vocal tones [that] evoked all the baroque splendor of Handel’s composition.” Equally adept with contemporary works, he premiered the opera L’Orangeraie by French composer Zad Moultaka, a “moving” rendition that “dominated the stage” (La Presse+).
Charles Daniels, tenor
British tenor Charles Daniels is a well-known interpreter of Baroque music, but his narrative gifts have been praised for music from Machault to the contemporary. Born in Salisbury, he was a chorister and Choral Scholar at King’s College Cambridge, then studied under Edward Brooks at the Royal College of Music.
His extensive discography includes Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo with Andrew Parrott, Bach’s Matthäus-Passion with the Bach-Stiftung, Handel’s Messiah, Schütz’ Weihnachtshistorie and Monteverdi’s Vespers with the Gabrieli Consort, Wojciech Kilar’s Missa Pro Pace with the Warsaw Philharmonic, The Beggar’s Opera, much Purcell and Bach, and more intimate discs such as Senfl Tenorlied with Fretwork, Heracleitus with the Bridge Quartet, and Lambert airs with Fred Jacobs.
His concert appearances span the intimate and the grand, from a BBC Radio 3 recital with lutenist Elizabeth Kenny and touring the domestic music of J.S. Bach with the Nederlandse Bach Verenging, to BBC Promenade concerts, Luigi Nono’s Canti di Vita e Amore (Edinburgh Festival), Handel’s Messiah in Vienna with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Britten’s War Requiem (Canterbury, Salisbury) and Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius (Wroclaw, Cardiff, Warsaw).
Alasdair Campbell, baritone
Toronto-born baritone Alasdair Campbell’s musical life began quite young when he joined the Choir at St James Anglican Cathedral. Having a licentiate in voice at McGill, Alasdair also holds a B.Sc. (Chemistry) from Carleton University. Alasdair has been a chorister with the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, the Ottawa Bach Choir, Temps Fort, and Ensemble ArtChorale.
Alasdair portrayed the Vicar in Britten’s Albert Herring at McGill in fall 2018 and Papageno in spring 2019, a role he reprised with Allegra Chamber Music. In fall 2019 he performed as baritone soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Durham Community Choir and in Haydn’s Paukenmesse with the Stewart Hall Singers. In spring 2021 he interpreted Belfiore in Verdi’s Un Giorno di Regno at McGill. In fall 2021 he portrayed Halim with Chants Libres in the world premiere of Zad Moultaka’s L’Orangeraie.
Other roles include Il Conte Robinson in Cimarosa’s Il Matrimonio Segreto with OperOttawa, George Wilson in the premiere of Andrew Ager’s The Great Gatsby in 2024 and the villainous Adolf in Dvořák’s Jakobîn with Opera by Request. He also created Role 3 in the musical-poetic work Songs of the Drowning in October 2025 with Chants Libres in Montreal and sang Achille in Giulio Cesare with OperOttawa in November.
Repertoire
J.S. Bach: The Ascension Oratorio and the Orchestral Overture no 3.
Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours
400, St. Paul Street East
To purchase your tickets, visit: https://montrealbaroque.com/en/2026-edition/js-bach-ascension
Melancholia – Dowland 400th
Friday, June 19, 2026 at 7:00pm
Celebrating John Dowland, on the 400th anniversary of his death: a concert of his iconic Lachrimae or Seaven Teares pays homage to the master of melancholy who touches our souls with sadness and joy.
Artists
Janelle Lucyk, soprano
Nicholas Burns, countertenor
Charles Daniels, tenor
William Kraushaar, bass
Les Voix humaines, viol consort
L’Harmonie des saisons
Jadran Duncumb, luth
Olivier Fortin, virginal
Repertoire
Madrigals, lute songs and instrumental works by John Dowland
Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours
400, St. Paul Street East
To purchase your tickets, visit: https://montrealbaroque.com/en/2026-edition/melancholia-dowland-400th
The Piper in the Pantry
Saturday, June 20, 2026 at 7:00pm
An evening of folk music with Canada’s fabulous master of flutes both old and new, from here and there! Join the party for a festive evening of ballads, beautiful or bawdy, where a generous flow of fine whisky raises the spirits!
Artists
Chris Norman, flute
Skye Consort
Marché Bonsecours – Salle Ville-Marie
350, St. Paul Street East, Montreal
To purchase your tickets, visit: https://montrealbaroque.com/en/2026-edition/piper-pantry
Triumph of the Senses
Sunday, June 21, 2026 at 8:00pm
Paris 1732: the Five Senses meet on stage to celebrate their triumph with songs, dances and music by the great Jean-Joseph Mouret. A premiere in Montreal, the Bande Montreal Baroque and Les Jardins chorégraphiques present the most beautiful selections from Mouret’s opera-ballet.
Artists
Andréanne Brisson-Paquin, soprano
Anne-Marie Beaudette, soprano
Philippe Gagné, tenor
Olivier Bergeron, baritone
La Bande Montréal Baroque
Conductor Olivier Brault
Les Jardins chorégraphiques
Direction Stéphanie Brochard and Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière
Édifice Wilder – Espace Orange
1435 Bleury Street, Montreal
To purchase your tickets, visit: https://montrealbaroque.com/en/2026-edition/triumph-senses
For the full list of Montreal Baroque Festival events, visit: www.montrealbaroque.com