CULTURE OF MONTREAL
As a North American city, Montreal shares many of the cultural features characteristic of the other metropolis on the continent, including representations in all traditional manifestation of high culture, a long-lasting tradition of jazz and rock music, and tentative experimentation in visual arts, theater, music, and dance.
Yet, being at the confluence of the French and the English traditions, Montreal has developed a unique and distinguished cultural face in the world. Another distinctive characteristic of Montreal culture life is to be found in the animation of its downtown, particularly during summer, prompted by cultural and social events, or festivals.
A cultural heart of classical art and the venue for many summer festivals, the Place des Arts is a complex of different concert and theatre halls surrounding a large open-spaced square in the downtown. The Place des Arts harbours the headquarters of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, which performs in its halls regularly. The OSM is one of the world's foremost orchestras, most remembered for the quality of its performance of the repertoire of Maurice Ravel under conductor Charles Dutoit. Since 2006, the OSM has a new conductor, the American Kent Nagano.
L'orchestre métropolitain and the chamber orchestra I Musici de Montréal are two other well-regarded Montreal orchestras. Also performing home at Place des Arts is the Opéra de Montréal and the city’s chief ballet company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. In contemporary dance, Montreal has been active, particularly since the 80s. Internationally recognized avant-garde dance troupes such as La La La Human Steps, O Vertigo, and the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault have toured the world and worked with international popular artists on videos and concerts. The intelligent integration of multi-discipline arts in choreography of these troops has paved the way to the success of the Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil.
Montreal is the cultural centre of Quebec, and of French-speaking North America as a whole. The city is Canada's centre for French language television productions, radio, theatre, film, multimedia and print publishing. The Quartier Latin is a neighbourhood crowded with cafés animated by this literary and musical activity. The local English-speaking artistic community nevertheless contributes dynamically to the culture of Montreal, and intense collaborations exist between all Montreal communities. The result is a dynamic musical scene, ignited by the presence of numerous musical festivals, that melts different musical styles and traditions.
English theatre struggled but survived with the Centaur Theatre. Ethnic theatre, by the 70s, began to be a force with the Black Theatre Workshop, the Yiddish Theatre established at the Saidye Bronfman Centre and the Teesri Duniya Theatre. In the late 90s, Montreal started becoming a veritable hotspot for low-budget independent English theatre with companies such as MainLine Theatre, Gravy Bath Theatre, Sa Booge, Persephone, Pumpkin Productions, and Tableau D'Hôte Theatre warming up the once lackluster scene.
 FESTIVALS OF MONTREAL
The plaza on Place des Arts is the home of the most important events during several musical festivals, including the Montreal International Jazz Festival and Montreal Francofolies, a festival of French-speaking song artists. During the seven-to-ten days that last each of the two festivals, shows are held in a wide variety of venues, from relatively small clubs to the large halls of Place des Arts. Some of the outdoor shows are held on cordoned-off streets while others are on terraced parks. The most popular festival, in terms of attendance, is the Just For Laughs Festival. A comedy festival held in both languages, it features comedians, humourists, and stand-ups from all over the world.
The Montreal Fireworks Festival also attracts a lot of attention. On the evenings of competition, tens of thousands of people watch the fireworks for free on their roofs or from locations nearby the competition. Other festivals in Montreal include Pop Montreal, The Fringe festival and Nujaz. Annual family-oriented events promoting health and cycling are also organized in the streets of Montreal. Parades are also popular in downtown Montreal.
The city is increasingly becoming known for its mainstream rave festivals such as the Black and Blue Festival attracting thousands of ravers to the city every Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, as well as the Bal en Blanc held every Easter Sunday, also attracting over 15,000 attendees every year.
NIGHT LIFE OF MONTREAL
During the period of Prohibition in the United States, Montreal became well-known as one of North America's "sin cities" with unparalleled nightlife, a reputation it still holds today. In part, its bustling nightlife is attributed to its relatively late "last call" (3 a.m.), and its many restaurants and after hours clubs that stay open well on into the morning. The large university population, the drinking age of 18, and the excellent public transportation system (a network of night buses, some with service every 15 minutes, replaces the metro between 1:00 and 5:00 a.m.) combine with other aspects of the Montreal culture to make the city's night life unique.
CRESCENT
Crescent Street is "party central" for Montreal's tourist population, lying at the edge of the Concordia University campus. Throughout the summer, it features street fairs and festivals.
The Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix unofficially starts off Montreal's non-stop festival season in the summer. Crescent Street also features many clubs and bars. The clientele of Crescent nightclubs and bars are mostly students, tourists and in general a younger crowd looking for exhilaration and excitement. Most venues will play Top 40 music. The nearest subway stops are Peel and Guy-Concordia.
THE MAIN
Boulevard Saint-Laurent (Saint Laurent Boulevard, known locally as "The Main" or "Saint Lawrence Boulevard") is one of the best places to find nightlife, with many bars and nightclubs and a wide range of restaurants. Saint-Laurent street night spots are often less mainstream than those on Crescent street, with a great variety: from Top 40 and urban music to electronica and techno, from underground and alternative rock to live bands. South of Prince Arthur Street, toward Sherbrooke Street, one is likely to encounter a "posher" clientele. From Prince Arthur Street north (to Avenue Mont-Royal and beyond), one should expect to rub shoulders with an "edgier" crowd. The nearest subway stops are Saint-Laurent and Sherbrooke.
SAINE CATHERINE STREET WEST
Another highly notable nightlife area is Sainte-Catherine Street West between Mackay St. and Peel St. where many nightclubs, bars, restaurants, movie theatres, shopping, and strip clubs are located.
SHOPPING IN MONTREAL
Saint Catherine Street and the downtown area once boasted Montreal's four prominent department stores: Eaton's, Morgan's, Ogilvy's, and Simpson's. Today, only Ogilvy's remains. However, the area remains a shopping destination, with many major retailers having large stores along the streets of downtown, including Holt Renfrew, Hudson's Bay Company, Les Ailes de la Mode, Levi's, Benetton, Zara, Crabtree & Evelyn, Chapters, Gap, American Eagle Outfitters, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Louis Vuitton, Tommy Hilfiger, Max Azria, Club Monaco, La Maison Simons, Archambault, fcuk, Harry Rosen Inc., La Senza, Future Shop, HMV, lululemon athletica, Parasuco and Roots.
H&M is still trying to find a proper location for it flagship store downtown. Additionally, many of Montreal's most prominent shopping complexes, including the Faubourg Sainte-Catherine, the Centre Eaton, les Cours Mont-Royal (a high fashion shopping mall), the Complexe Desjardins, the Complexe Les Ailes, Place Dupuis, Place Alexis-Nihon, Westmount Square, and Place Montreal Trust all make their home along this street.
MONTREAL CUISINE
Perhaps no single contribution from the allophone communities is more perceived than in Montreal's culinary fabric. Italian, Greek, Portuguese and Jewish communities have contributed to the making up of Montreal's delicatessens and other restaurants. Jewish culinary contributions extended to two of the world-renowned smoked meat sandwiches and Montreal style bagels. Lebanese falafels and Japanese sushi have become appreciated cuisines. This wide variety of cuisines certainly participates to the fact that Montreal is one of the cities with the most restaurants in the world.
Due to all of the above, Montreal and its culinary landscape was the focus of Gourmet magazines March 2006 issue. Since its existence, the magazine has focused its attention on one city in an issue only five other times. Those issues focused on Paris, Rome, San Francisco, New York and London.
From Wikipedia
 MONTREAL HOTELS & ACCOMMODATION
MONTREAL TOURS, ACTIVITIES AND TRAVEL
HOME •
CANADA •
DISCOVER CANADA •
Quebec •
Montreal •
Culture of Montreal
|
Looking for something specific?
|
DISCOVER CANADA
CANADA TOURS & TRAVEL
