Bourgie Hall
Music at the Museum
Claire and Marc Bourgie Pavilion, exterior view. Photo Paul Boisvert
Recitals, chamber music, vocal art, Baroque music, jazz, world music, and more: each year, Bourgie Hall produces over a hundred concerts at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in its exceptional venue.
Bourgie Hall informational brochure:
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.
In addition to offering remarkable concerts at affordable prices, Bourgie Hall organizes lectures, master classes for students, and various activities promoting musical exchange.
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!
The following is a selected list of renowned musicians and ensembles who have performed at Bourgie Hall:
Photo - Julia Marois
Bourgie Hall - Photo Paul Boisvert
Bourgie Hall - Photo Julia Marois
Photo : Julia Marois
Víkingur Ólafsson
Ian Bostridge
Abel Selaocoe
Philippe Jaroussky
Marc-André Hamelin
Marie-Nicole Lemieux
Bruce Liu
Igor Levit
Jean-Guihen Queyras
Charles Richard-Hamelin
Jordi Savall
Andreas Scholl
Philippe Sly
Alexandre Tharaud
Louis Lortie
Les Violons du Roy
Dover Quartet
The Tallis Scholars
Olivier Godin, Artistic Director and
Caroline Louis, Executive Director
From the heart of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Bourgie Hall stands as a beacon of musical life in Quebec and an esteemed concert hall on the international stage. Over the years, it has become a favourite place for concertgoers, artists and music to come together, offering a wealth of shared emotions and new experiences for our loyal and curious audience.
Bourgie Hall’s 16th season continues this tradition of excellence and openness. Driven by our desire to celebrate the full spectrum of musical creation, we provide a platform for top local and international talents while keeping emerging artists, new works and interdisciplinary dialogue at the heart of what we do. Each concert is designed to be a unique experience in which deep listening invites reflection and inspires wonder.
Chamber music, outstanding recitals, early music and vocal repertoire are pillars of Bourgie Hall’s artistic identity, and they once again play a central role in this season’s vivid and wide-ranging programming. Our longstanding collaborations with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and Les Violons du Roy, among others, continue to produce inspiring performances, showcasing the extraordinary talent of these ensembles alongside renowned guests.
Lovers of jazz, contemporary music and new musical experiences will also have plenty of options to choose from. As always, we strive to create dialogue between diverse traditions and aesthetics, extending the same warm welcome to voices from home and from abroad.
Finally, this season features initiatives that resonate closely with the programming of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. We are proud to be part of this Montréal institution: our close collaboration strengthens the bonds between visual arts and music, creating fresh and immersive experiences for both our audiences.
With pride and enthusiasm, we invite you to join us for our 16th season. Bourgie Hall is the place for anyone and everyone in search of music.
Olivier Godin and Caroline Louis - Tam Photography
Isolde Lagacé, General and Artistic Director Emeritus of Arte Musica
Stemming from a musical family, Isolde Lagacé has devoted her life to the promotion and dissemination of classical music, leaving a lasting and profound impact on the Quebec music scene. Having acquired a solid experience as a manager, musician and teacher, she has been General and Artistic Director of Arte Musica for 15 years, from 2007 to 2022. Dynamic and visionary, she was the ideal person to masterfully lead this project for a new concert hall, dreamed and then realized jointly with philanthropist Pierre Bourgie. Under her direction Bourgie Hall has earned an international reputation, becoming one of the most popular venues for concert music in Canada. We also owe her several ambitious projects, including the presentation of the complete sacred cantatas of J.S. Bach, a first in Canada.
Prior to her mandate at Bourgie Hall, Isolde Lagacé was director of the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal from 2000 to 2007 and, previously, director of the concert and publicity department of the Schulich School of Music at McGill University from 1992 to 2000, managing both Pollack and Redpath concert halls. Very involved in the musical community, she was president of the Conseil québécois de la musique in 1997 and 1998, and was a member of numerous committees and boards of directors within several musical organizations. Furthermore, she regularly sits on the juries of various arts councils.
Pierre Bourgie, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts staff as well as the entire team at Bourgie Hall wishes to warmly thank Isolde for her passion and tireless work, and hope that she enjoys a most happy, well-deserved retirement.
Isolde Lagacé - Photo by 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.
Bourgie Hall's history
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.
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.
Inside Bourgie Hall - 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.
Haworth, Peter. Rose window and six stained-glass windows under the rose window (in memory of Henry Birks)
Louis Comfort Tiffany, Angel (detail), 1904-1905, Bourgie Hall, MMFA (formerly Erskine and American Church), after a drawing by Frederick Wilson.
Louis Comfort Tiffany, Faith (detail), 1902, Bourgie Hall, MMFA (formerly Erskine and American Church), after a drawing by Frederick Wilson.
Louis Comfort Tiffany, Angel of Praise (detail), 1902, Bourgie Hall, MMFA (formerly Erskine and American Church), after a drawing by Frederick Wilson.
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! » - Alexandre, a Bourgie Hall member.
The Instrument Collection
An Historical Érard grand piano (1859)
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.
Bourgie Hall’s Erard piano, model No. 5974, made in London in 1859. Photo Maxime Brunet
A pianoforte made in 2020 by Rodney J. Regier
This instrument is based on examples by Viennese makers Conrad Graf and Ignaz Bösendorfer, between the late 1820’s and 1840. The lighter frame, entirely made of wood, strings, and keyboard mechanism produce an articulate sound with a sharp attack.
Bourgie Hall Fortepiano - Tam Photography
Three Steinway & Sons grand pianos
Model D-284 (Hamburg): a 9-foot-long concert grand
Model D (New York): a 9-foot-long concert grand
Model B (New York): a 7-foot-long grand piano for the rehearsal hall
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.
Photo MMFA, Christine Guest
A Flemish harpsichord
Historical copy in the 17th-century Flemish luthier style, build by Keith Hill in 1984.
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.
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.
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.
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
Board of directors
Pierre Bourgie
Carolyne Barnwell
Paula Bourgie
Colin Bourgie
Michelle Courchesne
Philippe Frenière
Paul Lavallée
Yves Théoret
Diane Wilhelmy
The team
Isolde Lagacé
Caroline Louis
Olivier Godin
Trevor Hoy
Marjorie Tapp
Pascale Sandaire
Thomas Chennevière
Florence Geneau
Fred Morellato
Joannie Lajeunesse
William Edery
Roger Jacob
Martin Lapierre
Bourgie Hall
Claire and Marc Bourgie Pavilion
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
1339 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, Quebec H3G 2C6
