The activities of the Orchestre de l’Agora, like those of all cultural organizations in Quebec, have been greatly disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. The most ambitious project of the Orchestra’s 2019-2020 Season, the Gala de la terre, was scheduled for today, April 22, and has unfortunately been cancelled. However, thanks to the initiative of philanthropist Bita Cattelan and the generous donations of many corporate and private patrons, the Orchestre de l’Agora is proud to announce that it will donate $138,000 to the three environmental beneficiary organizations of Gala de la terre: Jour de la terre, the Sierra Club Canada Foundation and Nature Conservancy of Canada.

The funds raised by these three organizations will support the implementation of important projects to protect the fragile ecosystem of the St-Lawrence Gulf and Estuary. The projects are described in these videos: Sierra Club Canada Foundation / Jour de la terre / Nature Conservancy of Canada.

The benefit concert of Gala de la terre was to take place with guest soloists Andrew Wan, Yukari Cousineau and Rose Naggar-Tremblay. This concert was part of a global ecological & cultural campaign, the Beethoven Pastoral Project, and was also supposed to be broadcasted live on ICI Musique 100.7 FM. Andrew Wan and Nicolas Ellis decided to prepare an excerpt from Beethoven’s Spring Sonata in honour of the Gala de la terre, and to mark both the 250th anniversary of the composer and the 50th anniversary of Earth Day (above link)!

For more information about the Gala de la terre 2020: galadelaterre.com
For more information on the Orchestre de l’Agora: orchestreagora.com

The Orchestra once again thanks all the private and corporate patrons of the Gala de la terre 2020 for their great generosity, despite the cancellation of the event.