Orchestre de l’Agora, under the direction of Nicolas Ellis, uses music as a tool for sustainable social change while presenting innovative and daring concerts. Its musicians actively participate in its social actions through music.

Since it was founded in 2013, Orchestre de l’Agora has distinguished itself through a number of initiatives, including a first-place JUNO award for its Viola Borealis CD, featuring violist Marina Thibeault, and the Prix Opus ‘Musical Event of the Year’ award for its Earth Gala 2022, which also raised $255,000 for environmental and humanitarian organizations.

In addition, Orchestre de l’Agora has entered into a partnership with the Montréal Detention Centre in 2021-2022, to present monthly concert-workshops for inmates. Since 2013, the orchestra’s musicians have been offering music lessons and mentoring to hundreds of children from disadvantaged backgrounds, in partnership with Partageons l’Espoir. The orchestra also works closely with Espace Transition, a social innovation project at the heart of the CHU Sainte-Justine that explores the power of art and creation to improve the well-being of young people in difficulty.

Artistic projects have enabled Orchestre de l’Agora to join forces with singer-songwriters such as Jean-Michel Blais and Philippe Brach, as well as established classical musicians, including Andrew Wan (concertmaster, OSM) and Yukari Cousineau (concertmaster, OM). Great Canadian soloists have joined the Orchestra through its past events, including contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux, violinist Kerson Leong and pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin.

As part of its regular collaborations with Opéra de Montréal, Orchestra de l’Agora has had the opportunity to work with talented directors such as Sylvain Scott, François Racine, Aria Umezawa and Isabeau Proulx-Lemire on innovative operatic projects, including L’Enfant et les sortilèges in 2023 and, more recently, Monteverdi’s baroque opera The Coronation of Poppea.

In recent years, Orchestra de l’Agora has presented several high-quality online concerts, including a holiday concert with soprano Karina Gauvin, Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn and the Concert solidaire in support of healthcare workers, broadcast on ICI Radio-Canada Première.

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