We end the month of July and start the month of August on the right foot with these few cultural suggestions.

As a summer tradition, the Orchester Métropolitain and its conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin will welcome the general public of all ages to hear a major free concert at the foot of Mount Royal next Wednesday, August 2, at 8 p.m. Actress Katherine Levac will host the concert. On the program for the evening: Antonin Dvořák, Arturo Márquez, Jean Coulthard and Quebec composer André Mathieu. Mathieu’s Romantic Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra will be highlighted by virtuoso pianist Alain Lefèvre.

The Festival des arts de Saint-Sauveur opened on Wednesday evening with the creation of the show by choreographer Guillaume Côté and theater man Robert Lepage, Hamlet premiere draft, a dance version of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. Several other proposals in music, dance and performing arts will be on view by August 6. Paid shows in the marquee, but also free outdoor activities.

After the winter course, the summer course, here is now, and as an appetizer, the inflatable games! Three structures have indeed been added to the entrance to the Cavalia sound and light experience in Laval, including an inflatable game that stretches over no less than a kilometer, which will take a good ten minutes and a number of jumps to achieve. An original idea to attract the little ones, and even the older ones. Unfortunately, it is not given, but it pleases. $15 for the Boing course! Boing!, $32 for the Boing! combo Boing! Illumi ($22 for Illumi only).

Until July 30, the 17th Festival Haïti en Folie offers a very varied program that can delight the five senses. One of the highlights is the presentation of the film Freda, selected for Cannes in 2021, by Gessica Généus. Following the screening at Théâtre Outremont, a discussion between the festival president, Fabienne Colas, and the main actress of the film, Néhémie Bastien, will take place. Performances by Wesli, Admiral T and Emeline Michel are also planned. On July 29 and 30, at Parc La Fontaine, the culinary fair will allow you to taste many typical dishes, from 12 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Big names in Quebec music are offering outdoor concerts in Quebec this summer. Tuesdays and Thursdays, at 8 p.m., Roland-Beaudin Park turns into a performance hall until August 17. Laurence Jalbert will go on stage this Thursday. Among the other artists who will perform in the coming weeks, Andréanne A. Malette (August 3), Louis-Jean Cormier (August 15) and Frédérick De Grandpré (August 17).

Before going to officially celebrate its quarter century in France next November, the musical spectacle Notre-Dame de Paris will be back at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts, from August 2 to 12. Since its creation in 1998, the show by Luc Plamondon and Richard Cocciante, directed by Gilles Maheu, based on the work of Victor Hugo, has been acclaimed by 15 million spectators in 20 countries, and performed in 9 different languages .