Domaine Forget de Charlevoix has unveiled the 45th edition of its International Festival, which will take place from June 24 to August 19.

For his first year as artistic director, conductor and bassist Mathieu Lussier has created a program that unites both music lovers and the general public, “under the sign of openness and discovery”.

The festival will kick off on June 24 with the special concert Le voyageur: Les Violons du Roy pay tribute to Gilles Vigneault. “This program will make the poet’s words and music vibrate under the direction of Mélanie Léonard, with actors Marie-Thérèse Fortin and Normand Chouinard, in orchestrations by François Vallière”, summarizes the press release.

This will be followed by the One Thousand and One Nights concert by the Orchester symphonique de Québec (July 15) conducted by Kensho Watanabe, with the prodigious Canadian violinist Kerson Leong as guest soloist.

In addition, a full weekend is dedicated to the Orchester Métropolitain and its conductor, Yannick Nézet-Séguin. They moved into residence at the Domaine Forget as part of the orchestra conducting course and offered two major concerts in quick succession. The first (July 22) features cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras. The second (July 23) marks the first meeting between Maestro Nézet-Séguin and pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin.