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There's something uniquely Quebecois about the kind of entertainment referred to as a spectacle. It's more than just a performance, usually involving some kind of multimedia projection, light show, and, if outdoors, fireworks. It's no wonder, then, that the ultimate spectacle, Cirque du Soleil, was founded in Montréal in the ’80s. And it's also hardly surprising that North America's largest French-speaking metropolis should be the continent's capital of French theater.
Montréal is the home of nearly a dozen professional companies and several important theater schools, but there's also a lively English-language theater scene and one of the few remaining Yiddish theaters in North America.
In 2012, the city completed the Quartier des Spectacles, a 70-acre theater district in Downtown with stages for outdoor performances and nearly 80 venues for dance, music, theater, and art.
For a city its size, Montréal offers a remarkable number of opportunities for fans of classical music to get their fill, from operas and symphonies to string quartets.
As for dance, there are several modern dance companies of note, including Montréal Danse and Québec's premier ballet company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens.
Montréal's beloved OSM, under the direction of internationally acclaimed conductor and musical director Rafael Payare, plays programs that include masterful renditions of the classics, with contemporary works thrown into the mix. The orchestra's home, the Maison Symphonique de Montréal, is part of the Place des Arts complex.
Arguably the best chamber orchestra in Canada, I Musici performs at several venues around town, including the Salle Bourgie at the Musée des Beaux-Arts and the Place des Arts' Nouvelle Salle.
The Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal may lie in the shadow of the Met, but its talented conductor and artistic director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, continues to draw the spotlight. He's in high demand across the world; in addition to his role here, he's the musical director at the Philadelphia Orchestra and New York City's Metropolitan Opera, and honorary conductor at the Rotterdam Philharmonic. His charismatic approach has brought in the crowds since 2000 and produced highly acclaimed performances. Most shows take place at Place des Arts or the Maison Symphonique de Montréal.
Built in 1912, this exquisite former cinema and vaudeville theater in Little Burgundy has proudly preserved its small stage for the maneuvering of scenery, the artists' lodges under the stage, and the orchestra pit in the foreground. It is the only vintage movie theater in Montréal whose exterior façade and interior have remained almost unchanged. Known as the Corona Theatre until 2023, the Beanfield serves as a concert venue for emerging artists like Milk & Bone, Bobby Bazini, Tom Odell, Kamelot, and Brazilian comedian Rodrigo Marques.
