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Quebec’s favorite aerospace engineer is the surprise guest at the Festival’s opening concert
Joliette – April 29, 2024 – The Festival de Lanaudière is delighted to announce that Farah Alibay, the fabulously popular aerospace engineer who grew up in Joliette, will headline the Festival’s opening concert next July 6 with the Orchestre de l’Agora and its founding conductor, Nicolas Ellis.
Conductor Nicolas Ellis
In an all-new concert format, Farah will take Lanaudière audiences on an expedition through our solar system, with Gustav Holst’s The Planets as the musical backdrop. In addition to Holst’s work, which inspired John Williams to write the music of the movie Star Wars, the program will be completed by Orion, by Quebec composer Claude Vivier.
Farah Alibay
Farah will explain the characteristics of each of the planets to the audience in Lanaudière, as well as talking about her experience as a young aerospace engineer who worked her way up to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NASA images and photographs from Farah Alibay’s personal archives will be displayed on giant screens in the Amphithéâtre Fernand-Lindsay.
‘Farah Alibay’s impressive personal and professional career is a source of inspiration for everyone who crosses her path. This exceptional collaboration expands the Festival’s circle of activities, with the participation of one of the most remarkable personalities of her generation from Quebec.’
– Renaud Loranger, Artistic Director of the Festival de Lanaudière
New free activities!
The Festival de Lanaudière is delighted to announce more free activities added to the summer program that was unveiled last March. In addition to outdoor evening film screenings, the concert Opéra-Bonbon: l’aventure gourmande d’Hansel et Gretel on July 18 at the Boisé du carrefour culturel in Notre-Dame-des-Prairies, and a tribute to the Festival Mémoire et Racines on July 24 at Place Bourget, the following events will also be offered :
- Musical yoga sessions with Uwe Neumann (sitar) and Yuki Isami (flute), on 6 and 13 July at 8 a.m. at the beach in Saint-Jean-Bosco Park, in Saint-Charles-Borromée.
Presented by the municipality of Saint-Charles-Borromée
- A choral singing workshop for those wishing to let loose, sing and improvise as a choir, on August 3 at 10 a.m., Parc Casavant-Desrochers.
Presented by the municipality of Saint-Charles-Borromée
- The return of Open House Day at the Amphithéâtre Fernand-Lindsay on July 18, 2024, with music discovery activities for the whole family, including the concert La révolte des anciens with Arion Baroque Orchestre.
Presented by Promutuel Assurance, in collaboration with Joliette halte Culturelle
- A free Artists’ Mass at Joliette Cathedral, with the Choir of the Musée d’art de Joliette and three soloists performing Gounod’s Messe solennelle de Sainte-Cécile.
Though admission is free, it is advisable to reserve your place for these crowd-pleasing activities!
Hurry … tickets are going fast!
The Festival de Lanaudière is delighted at the huge demand for its concerts once again this year. In fact, sales have increased by 25% compared to the same date last year, and the inventory of tickets under the roof of the Amphithéâtre is approaching full capacity for certain concerts. We advise you to book your tickets now! For the full program, visit https://lanaudiere.org
Purchase online: https://lanaudiere.org/fr/billetterie/
Purchase by telephone: 1 800 561-4343
THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS: The Festival’s success has been made possible thanks primarily to the confidence of a growing number of partners, who are also desirous to position our Region among the North American leaders in classical music, and to take the Festival to new heights each year.
The Festival de Lanaudière wishes to thank its main partners: Presenting Sponsor Hydro-Québec, in collaboration with La Presse, the Government of Québec, Tourisme Québec, the Government of Canada, the City of Joliette, Desjardins, Yamaha Musique, Ratelle, Promutuel Assurances Lanaudière. Power Corporation of Canada, Canimex Group, Société de la Place des Arts, Fonds de Solidarité FTQ, Fondation Sandra et Alain Bouchard, La Fabrique culturelle, the City of Notre-Dame-des-Prairies and the municipalities of the region, including Saint-Charles
Borromée, as well as its many partners in the cultural, media, hotel and restaurant sectors.
Concerts in Lanaudière churches are presented by Desjardins and concerts in the Hors les murs series are presented by La Fabrique culturelle.
ABOUT FARAH ALIBAY
Farah Alibay is a Quebec aerospace engineer. Born in Montreal (Quebec, Canada), she spent much of her childhood in Joliette (Quebec) and her teenage years in Manchester (UK) working on diverse projects and growing her fascination for space and exploration. These passions led her to pursue a BSc and MSc in Aerospace and Aerothermal Engineering at Cambridge University (Cambridge, UK) before returning to North America to pursue a PhD in Aerospace Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Boston, USA) with a concentration in Systems Engineering.
In 2014, she joined NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) where she was part of the Mars 2020 mission, working on the Perseverance rover, which landed on Mars in February 2021, and the Ingenuity helicopter, which made the first controlled flight to another planet in April 2021. Before joining this team, she worked on several other missions, including the Mars Lander InSight and the Mars Cube One (MarCO) CubeSats. Since 2022, she has been the engineer in charge of flight systems for the SPHEREx telescope, an infrared telescope that will be launched in a few years’ time.
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL DE LANAUDIÈRE
Founded in 1978, today, the Festival de Lanaudière is one of North America’s leading classical music festivals. Located in the heart of nature, the Festival offers a program that combines leading international talent with the best local artists. It takes place at the Amphithéâtre Fernand-Lindsay as well as in churches and agrotourism sites in the Lanaudière Region. The immersive, warm, and friendly experience the Festival offers is a perfect blend of the world’s greatest concert halls and the soothing embrace of nature.
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