Any kind of music with spiritual inspiration finds its place here. One of the highlights is the gala concert on Friday, 17 October, which will see the debut of the Great Mass by Gilles Vigneault. The festival commissioned this work from one of the Canadian cultural world’s most influential and beloved creators. A many-facted poet, Vigneault worked with the composer Bruno Fecteau, co-author of the music.

This concert will be repeated on Sunday the 19. Between 23 October and 2 November, another 9 concerts will be held, although exact dates for the performances are not yet available. One of the most prominent will be “The Path To Paradise”, a concert-show in which the Choir of the Theatre of Early Music, directed by countertenor Daniel Taylor, and the Coleman & Lemieux dance company, offer a programme that is a musical pilgrimage, with masterpieces by Tallis and Palestrina and works by Britten, Barber and Bryar. Another major concert will be a performance of Verdi’s Réquiem by the Chœur de Quebec.

Also worth mentioning are Les Sacqueboutiers de Toulouse and Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, which will serve up a programme of polychoral music from St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice. La Nef, a musical production company, will present Cordes sur ciel, a programme that combines Renaissance and baroque music for plucked string instruments, with works by Palestrina, Thomas Robinson and La Grange, as well as Spanish dances and variations.

There will also be a place for jazz and improvisation at this festival: Canadian pianist Lorraine Desmarais and the chamber group Caprice Ensemble will perform a concert entitled Sacred Follia. The other concerts will be performed by a men’s quartet of Corsican polyphony, Barbara Fortuna; Bande de hautbois Quebec City and the Catherine Potter Trio, which specializes in classical music from India and performs with flute, keyboards and vocals. For more information visit: www.festivalmusiquesacree.ca