A busy start to the new season: cultural vitality at Place des Arts

There’s always a hint of excitement surrounding the start of Montreal’s new cultural season, but at the beginning of September, Place des Arts is truly buzzing. On the agenda: the combined talents of Mahler, DiDonato, and Nézet-Séguin; gravity-defying dancers; and couples in cars on the road between Quebec City and Montreal. Enough to fill your calendar well before the first chills of winter arrive!

The majesty of dance

Kicking things off is the Festival Quartiers Danses, staying true to its mission to break down barriers around contemporary dance, taking it out of the theatre and into the community. A festival that puts poetry in motion in the city’s cracks and crevices—as well as in the Cinquième Salle and the Studio-Théâtre des Grands Ballets. This year, Indigenous voices will be heard stronger and louder, and Montreal will engage in a dialogue with Copenhagen and Poland.

Next up is the TEMPÉO Dance and Music Festival, with Montreal band The Brooks opening the proceedings on the Esplanade at Place des Arts. Throughout the festival, expect joyful evenings featuring healthy doses of funk, Eastern pop, country music, Afro-pop, and salsa.

For lovers of the highly refined, a highlight: Jiří Kylián’s Bella Figura, an iconic work of the contemporary repertoire, revived by Les Grands Ballets from September 11 to 20 in Théâtre Maisonneuve. Presented as the finale of a four-part program that also includes works by Glen Tetley, Hélène Blackburn, and Jérémy Galdeano, the work strikes a delicate balance between control and surrender, delivered by performers who sculpt the air with an almost hypnotic intensity. To sum it up, dance isn’t just part of the season, it is its backbone.

Fresh takes on classics… + symphonic thrills!

But a new season at Place des Arts wouldn’t be complete without some great classics, presented with panache! Spectators eager for lyricism will begin with Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust, presented by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal under the direction of Rafael Payare on September 17 and 18, 2025, at the Maison symphonique. It’s not quite an opera but neither is it an oratorio… think of it more as a musical journey to heaven and hell.

Another must: Mahler, Joyce and Yannick, a concert in which conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads the Orchestre Métropolitain into the dizzying depths of Mahler’s repertoire. Mahler, a giant of contrasts, finds in Nézet-Séguin a passionate and generous conductor who certainly knows how to combine the intimate and the monumental that are woven into his work. Add to that the exceptional voice of mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato! September 23 at the Maison Symphonique.

And of course, how could we not mention Mozart and his eternal Don Giovanni? The unrepentant seducer, trapped by his own excesses, continues to fascinate audiences three centuries since he first appeared on stage. Opera lovers won’t want to miss this event, classical grandeur that remains timelessly fresh. From September 27 to October 5 in Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier.

Theatre, unrestrained

While dance takes centre stage, theatre also gets its time in the spotlight.

With Rue Duplessis / Ma petite noirceur, sociologist and radio host Jean-Philippe Pleau has created a stage adaptation of his successful essay about his life as a class defector. Following in the footsteps of Édouard Louis and Didier Eribon, he examines Quebec’s social mobility based on his own trajectory. With no acting experience, he takes to the stage himself: a dizzying challenge for him, and a fascinating one for the audience. The show is being presented in Théâtre Jean-Duceppe from September 3 to October 4, 2025.

More unexpectedly, the play La faune locale offers an offbeat look at alienation at work, populated by strange but familiar characters, exposed in ways that are both humorous and tender. A play that holds up a mirror—sometimes cruel, sometimes amusing—to its audience. In Théâtre Jean-Duceppe, from September 9 to 26, 2025.

And then, you just can’t miss out on the stage adaptation of Ricardo Trogi’s cult film Québec-Montréal. Rewatching this Quebec classic about couples and sex is a bit like hitting the road again with old friends: you remember the conversations, the silences, the little truths that have lost none of their bite. Not a single famous line has been omitted in this new stage version… and that’s a promise!

Perfect for the new season, Catherine Dorion will be offering up her Sciences Po 101 class. And finally, younger viewers can come demonstrate at the Mini-manifestes, part of the Sons et brioches series, giving them an opportunity to protest and get creative.

And that’s not all…

As if all that weren’t enough, Place des Arts is hosting the Prix Gémeaux ceremony, which has been celebrating excellence in local television for 40 years! You can bet that this anniversary will be celebrated in grand style, with the red carpet rolled out for an evening of media glamour. Fans of group sing-a-longs will feel energized with Choir! Choir! Choir!, a vocal happening that transforms the audience into a choir for the evening—this time with Queen songs as the theme! And for music lovers eager for the exotic, the Orchestre National de Jazz, conducted by Jovino Santos Neto, will pay tribute to the unclassifiable Brazilian Hermeto Pascoal and his vibrant, festive sounds, proof that at Place des Arts, music knows no boundaries—September 18 in the Cinquième Salle. Also, in a category all her own, Sarah Millican opens up about a part of her life that will surprise you in her third show, Late Bloomer.

We’re leaving it all up to you—whether you opt for something strictly classical, some theatrical passion, or the vitality of dance, one thing is certain: you’ll be swept away! And the full program promises many more discoveries…