About Bourgie Hall

Recitals, chamber music, vocal art, Baroque music, jazz, world music, family shows, and more: each year, Bourgie Hall produces over a hundred concerts at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in its exceptional venue.

Inaugurated in September 2011, Bourgie Hall offers top-rate artistic programming and welcomes on its stage Canadian and international artists in equal numbers. Whether they are just starting out or already critically acclaimed, these musicians are chosen to perform in Bourgie Hall on the basis of their immense talent. The public can’t go wrong: audiences know that they can count on the quality of concerts “approved by Bourgie Hall!”

In addition to offering remarkable concerts at affordable prices, Bourgie Hall organizes music workshops for families and amateur musicians. These friendly encounters enable participants to develop their musical gifts in a convivial environment.

Bourgie Hall’s programming also brings out astonishing connections between music and art collections. To be discovered at the concerts or during events in the Museum’s exhibition rooms!

MMFA's Bourgie Pavilion by Bernard Fougère

Credit

Photo: Bernard Fougère

Aerial view of MMFA's Sculpture Garden and Sherbrooke Street

Credit

Photo MMFA, Denis Farley.

Message from Isolde Lagacé,
General and Artistic Director

Photo : Étienne Bergeron

During this time of confinement, we recognize that art, and in particular music, play an irreplaceable role in the fulfillment of human beings and are a cornerstone of society which cannot be done without.

Dear Friends,

On March 12, we closed Bourgie Hall following the extraordinary measures implemented by the government to counter COVID-19. It is with great sorrow that we have had to cancel the 33 concerts scheduled until the end of the season. We were also preparing to launch our 10th season with panache. The brochures had been printed - and are now in storage - and we had organized a wonderful celebration with our public to share our many favourite picks from the upcoming season. We are eager to present them to you, but the dates and conditions for reopening concert halls in Quebec remain unknown.

These confinement measures will have major impacts on society as a whole, and we hope that the entire cultural sector will recover from this crisis. During this time of confinement, we recognize that art, and in particular music, play an irreplaceable role in the fulfillment of human beings and are a cornerstone of society which cannot be done without. It is for these reasons that we hope to be able to reopen our doors in the near future.

We are working closely with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, other stakeholders in the cultural sector, and the public authorities to make the best possible decisions for artists, employees, and the public, in circumstances where the health of all is paramount.

In these difficult times for everyone, the Bourgie Hall team and the members of its board of directors hope that you are in good health and that we will have the pleasure of seeing you again very soon.

The Hall

Perfectly suited to the performance of chamber music, recitals, and concerts by other ensembles such as string orchestras, Bourgie Hall offers music lovers experiences that musically echo the great diversity of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’ collections.

Bourgie Hall envelops you; one might say it possesses something undefinable, a combination of simplicity, beauty, and transcendence. It is unique!

Credit

Photo : Bernard Fougère

Credit

Photo : Bernard Fougère

In September 2007, the Montreal businessman Pierre Bourgie created Arte Musica, a foundation in residence at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Its mission was to develop Bourgie Hall within the very heart of the museum. Mr. Bourgie entrusted Madame Isolde Lagacé, who is highly regarded for her vast knowledge and experience of cultural environments, with the general and artistic direction of the new foundation.

Erskine and American Church before becoming the Bourgie Hall

The restoration and reconversion into a concert hall of the nave of former Erskine and American Church, designated in 1998 as a “historical site of national interest,” gave way to a vast site for the study and restoration of an exceptional series of stained glass windows adorning the building, and now part of the Museum’s collections.

balcony and stained glass windows by Marc Cramer

Photo © Marc Cramer

Among the 81 windows of the stained-glass type that were restored, there were 20 Tiffany windows commissioned at the turn of the 20th century by the American Presbyterian Church (subsequently reinstalled in the Erskine and American Church between 1937 and 1938). They form the most important collection of their kind in Canada and one of the rare series of religious windows by Tiffany to survive in North America.

During reconversion work, the complex labour of turning the magnificent 462-seat concert hall into an acoustical space of the highest standards in today’s ultra specialized venues began. The cherry wood conch considerably aided the hall’s sound quality, among other features.

The hall was named in honour of the Bourgie family.

Bourgie Hall's Tiffany stained glass windows

Credit

Photo © Marc Cramer

Bourgie Hall's interior and stained glass windows by Marc Cramer

Photo © Marc Cramer

Bourgie Hall is a marvel of extraordinary acoustics and closeness with the performing artists. As for the choice of concerts, they are relevant without exception!

screenshot of MMFA's video of the installation of the Tiffany stained glass in the Bourgie Hall

Salle Bourgie : Installation des vitraux Tiffany

Since Bourgie Hall opened in 2011, hundreds of local and international musicians have graced its stage. The following is a selected list of individual performers and ensembles who marked Bourgie Hall’s initial seasons:

Ian Bostridge

Tenor

Angèle Dubeau

Violinist

Philippe Jaroussky

Countertenor

André Laplante

Pianist

Marie-Nicole Lemieux

Contralto

Louis Lortie

Pianist

Kent Nagano

Conductor

Jean-Guihen Queyras

Cellist

Charles Richard-Hamelin

Pianist

Jordi Savall

Gambist

Andreas Scholl

Countertenor

Philippe Sly

Bass-baritone

Alexandre Tharaud

Pianist

Danish String Quartet

Les Violons du Roy

London Haydn Quartet

Trinity Wall Street Choir and Orchestra

The Tallis Scholars

The Instrument Collection

Two Steinway & Sons (New York) grand pianos

Model D: a 9-foot-long concert grand
Model B: a 7-foot-long grand piano for the rehearsal hall

Steinway & Sons piano from Bourgie Hall’s collection

An Historical Érard grand piano

Built in London in 1859, this instrument is entirely representative of the Romantic piano as it was known by Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, Schubert, and other performers of that period. The instrument was restored between 2009 and 2011 by Claude Thompson.

An Italian harpsichord

Historical copy of a 17th-century Italian-style instrument with a short octave and large range built by Rodney Myrvaagnes in 1975.

Italian Harpsichord from Bourgie Hall’s collection Photo MMFA, Christine Guest

A Flemish harpsichord

Historical copy in the 17th-century Flemish luthier style, build by Keith Hill in 1984.

Flemish Harpsichord from Bourgie Hall’s collection

A clavicytherium

This instrument is the Montreal harpsichord builder Yves Beaupré’s Opus 100. It was designed in 2002 after a model by Albertus Delin dated 1768 and preserved at the Historical Museum of The Hague. Its particularity is the vertical (upright) position of its case and its single set of strings.

Clavicytherium from Bourgie Hall’s collection

A small chamber organ (Opus 1)

This organ was built in 1958 by Hellmuth Wolff, transformed into a positive organ in 1998. It has a single, 51-key keyboard and 5 register stops.

Small chamber organ from Bourgie Hall’s collection

A large chamber organ (Opus 2)

Built in Montreal by Hellmuth Wolff for the organists Bernard and Mireille Lagacé, this instrument was subjected to a full restoration in 2011 by Wolff himself and François Désautels in conformity with the requirements of Bourgie Hall. It has 12 stops spread over 2 keyboards and 1 pedal board.

Large chamber organ from Bourgie Hall’s collection

Awards and Distinctions

Bourgie Hall has been recognized at several Conseil québécois de la musique Opus Award galas:

Opus Award in 2016–2017
Best Specialized Presenter of the Year

Opus Award in 2015–2016
Best Concert of the Year: Classical, Romantic, Postromantic and Impressionist Music
Dang Thai Son—Inauguration of the Érard piano on February 10, 2016

Opus Award in 2011–2012 (Bourgie Hall’s opening season)
Best Specialized Presenter of the Year
Best Concert of the Year: Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Classical Music
Inaugural Concert at Bourgie Hall on September 28, 2011