The Nuit is still young!

One look at the program will be enough to convince you that this year’s edition is especially zany, crazy and free-spirited, the perfectly magical kickoff for all other "Nuits Blanches" that follow, in cities the world over. This Saturday, February 27, High Lighters can discover the city by night, plunging into 180 activities—most of them free—spread indoors and outdoors over three quartiers and one pole (sector). Feel like dancing, clambering onstage, singing, swimming, laughing? Ready for stories, an artistically re-imagined Montreal underground and a night of endless surprises?

We’re pleased to announce that, for a 2nd straight year, thanks to the special participation of the STM, the Metro will remain open all night long! Next, step right up to board our famed free shuttle service—once again provided in collaboration with the STM—serving six routes with a total of 65 stops, including an express route to link up all the quartiers. Every 10 minutes from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m., High Lighters can board the shuttles to make their way to any activity in its respective sector: the Quartier Vieux Montréal et Quays of the Old Port (Old Montreal and the Old Port), the Quartier des spectacles et Centre-Ville (Quartier des Spectacles and Downtown) and the former Quartier Plateau Mont Royal, now considerably expanded and renamed the Quartier Plateau Mont Royal et Mile-End. The Pôle Maisonneuve sector will be accessible by metro.

Once again this year, the night unfolds in the city’s basements with the return of Art Souterrain, featuring 104 projects spread over 10 zones, bringing a new artistic identity to the underground halls you walk through everyday. Four kilometres of underground corridors between Complexe Les Ailes and Place des Arts will be transformed into living art galleries with a diverse array of photos, videos, installations and performances.

Every year, the Nuit blanche and the BMO Bank of Montreal Celebration of Light—unveiling its program next Tuesday, February 9—find a new way to prolong the pleasure. This year, we’ve expanded the site with a transformed Place des Festivals—and its new Espace L’Oréal—offering activities perfectly matched to Montrealers’ joie de vivre: dance, creative escapades, visual and aural experiences… Nevertheless, the Celebration of Light site in Place Jacques-Cartier in Old Montreal and on the Quays of the Old Port remains the absolute epicenter, meeting and starting point for every nocturnal joyride worthy of the event!

Especially for the Nuit blanche, Calling All Nighthawks! sets loose its costumed characters and fire-eaters at 7:30 p.m., presented by Hydro Québec as part of the Quays of the Old Port Events. Next, at 8 p.m., it’s Pleins feux sur la Nuit blanche, an eye-popping full-colour pyrotechnics display, part of the BMO Fireworks series! Immediately afterwards, as part of the BMO Shows and to anchor the Nuit blanche with a fun-loving musical spectacle, les Denis Drolet rock the site with Chants de Plume, their tribute to this icon of Quebec song, served up, of course, with a shot of absurdist energy! Buckle up for one wild party!   »»»

40 dazzling performances to come!

We all know—especially here in Quebec—that summer is THE season of festivals. Until now, summer heat seemed an essential ingredient for staging a major event. For ten years, the MONTREAL HIGH LIGHTS Festival has fought against this received wisdom with such vigour that we take note of a strange annual wave of “global warming,” particularly during the last ten days of February…

In order to spotlight this state of affairs, this year’s Festival program welcomes a major new addition: the Caliente! series—a recurrent new series sure to become one of the Festival’s trademarks—dedicated to hot’n’spicy rhythms, and this year including artists with a distinct Portuguese accent.   »»»

Welcome, Portugal!

Prepare your palates for the largest delegation ever welcomed by the festival !

This fabulous country, with its incredibly fertile terrain and a wide agricultural and viticultural diversity, holds an abundance of treasures of which its inhabitants can be justly proud.

The complex and divine perfumes of the land, between vineyards and the sea, are the legacy of the reckless navigators who were the first to bring back the spices that would transform the cuisine of the entire world.

 

And while the name ‘Portugal’ may conjure up images of sunshine and pretty painted fishing boats, the Festival and its Finest Tables can’t wait to reveal the true country, and the closely-guarded secrets of our 39 Portuguese guest chefs and vintners, the largest delegation ever welcomed by the Festival!

As a major player in the renewal of Lisbon gastronomy, Fausto Airoldi, president of the SAQ Wine and Dine Experience presented by Air France, is heading to Montreal with a dynamic delegation of 20 chefs and 18 wine producers, united beneath the banner Portugal’s Finest Wines.

 These most appealing ambassadors have worked in some of the finest maisons on five continents. Lively, creative, competitive, their talents testify to the modernity and renewed vigour of Portuguese gastronomy and viticulture.

This year’s featured city is American: New Orleans. After all, the Big Easy shares a passion for fish, seafood and shellfish with Portugal, and is likewise a place we happen to love! While most everyone is familiar with the city’s French Quarter, its jazzy atmosphere and wildly festive spirit, few are aware of the entire array of Spanish, creole, cajun and French influences in its gastronomy. Six chefs are heading here to reveal the culinary delights of the legendary Crescent City.

The Eastern Townships, our featured Quebec region, showcases its wine and food products at Marché Jean-Talon; meanwhile, four of its finest chefs will showcase their creativity and the bounty of this region they believe in so passionately.

And the epicurean delights continue with the gastronomically exquisite Honorary President’s Dinners in the Ferreira Café; the Portuguese Convivial, a blowout of an evening; Presenting: Quebec Chefs and Cheeses, a competition showcasing our local chefs and cheeses; and the Festival Lunch Menus, where the cuisine of the world is served at one prix fixe.

High Lights fans are also invited to a number of large-scale food and wine events in Complexe Desjardins:The Festival of Québec Cheeses at the outset of the Festival, where Quebec master cheesemakers gather along with representatives of the Portugal’s Finest Wines; and finally the Crossroads of Flavour, a genuine gourmet village showcasing the best products Quebec has to offer.

The Festival is yours, enjoy it!