The Orchestre de l’Agora will present 11 concert-workshops at the Montreal Detention Centre (Bordeaux Prison) over the course of the 2021-2022 season. The Bordeaux prison is the largest of Quebec’s provincial prisons, housing male prisoners sentenced to less than two years’ imprisonment and defendants awaiting trial. The goal of the OA’s concert-workshops (one per month until July 2022) is to use music as a tool for social rehabilitation. Ensembles made up of two to four musicians from the OA have worked with Conductor and Artistic Director Nicolas Ellis to develop programs of about 60 minutes in duration, which they will perform and explain to the inmates. These concert-workshops, which will be held in the prison’s chapel, will foster reflection, discussion, and sharing. So far, the Orchestra has already presented two concert-workshops in the Bordeaux Prison in June and September 2021: the results were conclusive and very moving.

Photo credit: Brenden Friesen

More details about the project