38TH EDITION OF QUÉBEC CITY SUMMER FESTIVAL GENERATES MASS APPEAL, MASS TURNOUT

A particularly well-rounded line-up of artists and events combined with exceptionally clement weather to produce a hugely successful 38th edition of the Québec City Summer Festival. While the official results of a survey by the SOM recherches et sondages polling firm are not yet in, the organizers are, however, already estimating this year’s turn-out to be over 900 000 festival-goers – a record in the event’s more than 30 years of existence. These figures bolster the opinion that the major shift in direction given to the Festival beginning in 2003 has today produced positive repercussions and that the Festival has skilfully managed to meet popular demand.

According to Ms. Josée Hallé, chair of the Festival’s board of directors, and Mr. Daniel Gélinas, the Festival’s Director General, by stepping up investment in the content of the 2005 edition’s schedule of events, the Festival was able to achieve its target results in terms of attendance levels and operating revenue. Instrumental to this success was the appearance of big name acts, including the rock group ZZ Top, which alone attracted the largest crowd ever to gather on the Plains of Abraham for a Festival event.

More generally speaking, the Vieux Québec (Old City) sector extending from the Grande Allée to Rue Saint-Jean became a great big outdoor magnet for of several thousand music- and street entertainment-lovers, at the same time generating substantial positive cultural, economic and tourism-related impacts for the greater Québec City area.

With figures currently showing sales of 110 000 Hydro-Québec passes, there is good reason to believe that badges were purchased in greater numbers than in previous years.

Festival High Points

A round-up of the performers most appreciated by the public this year necessarily includes, for the Scène Bell stage – not only the Texas rock veterans ZZ Top, but also such groups as Simple Plan, Billy Talent and Les 3 Accords, a youthful Quebec musical phenomenon whose electrifying performances laid waste to the Plains of Abraham. Likewise, Starmania Symphonique and Isabelle Boulay genuinely triumphed on stage before throngs of eager listeners.

On several occasions, the Scène Molson Dry stage attracted huge crowds for such concert dates as Corneille, Richard Desjardins, Rachid Taha and Porcupine Tree, not to mention the evening of July 10, when Mes Aïeux, Plume Latraverse and other fellow Quebec musicians had fans clamouring for them by the thousands.

At Place Metro, the energetic flamenco nuevo group Ojos de Brujo kicked off a series of musical discoveries from around the world that included the likes of Lila Downs, Bénabar, Gnawa Diffusion and Calexico, who quickly garnered the public’s favour. The series also showcased Désert Rebelle, a totally original project and meeting of multicultural minds, of a kind that only the Québec City Summer Festival knows how to stage. Better known among world audiences, Lhasa de Sela was greeted with the warmest of welcomes on the occasion of her Quebec City show, which was recorded for future broadcasting by the international French television network TV5.

Year 2005 will certainly go down as a milestone in terms of the elaborate street theatre productions, including, notably, Théâtre Sans Fil and its giant puppets, as well as Xarxa Teatre and its pyrotechnical extravaganza. Incontestably, the Valencia, Spain-based company left their spectators entirely and literally bedazzled by their July 14 performance on Rue Saint-Jean and again by their Saturday, July 16 appearance on the Plains of Abraham. It’s a sure bet that the magic and excitement generated by these artists will serve as an inspiration for future editions of the Festival.

A generous array of family-oriented shows and activities was on tap at Place de Famille McDonald’s, including, notably, the Acrobates et funambules (acrobats and tightrope walkers) creation workshops, offered by the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec. Their popularity was such that hundreds of youngsters flocked to these events every day.

The Terrasse Loto-Québec, set out along a section of the Grande Allée reserved for pedestrians between Cours du Général de Montcalm and Rue D’Artigny, became the hub of late-night entertainment, thanks in large part to Action Promotion Grande Allée. For its part, Place Molson Dry had visitors up and dancing to the sound of guest musical groups.

The Têtes d’Affiche Capitale-Nationale indoor venue series, made possible through the support of the Government of Québec, featured two sold-out performances of the show headlining as “Le Consort Contemporain de Québec invite Pierre Lapointe” at the Grand Théâtre de Québec, as well as the electronica triple-header showcasing Tiga, Thomas van Party and Eve-n at L’Impérial de Québec – also a sold-out event. Moreover, ticket sales for most of the other shows and concerts in this series were in line with targets. Kudos are in store for performer-in-residence Jérôme Minière, while OSQ deserves a round of applause for the concerts it gave flanking Quebec stars Diane Dufresne, Richard Desjardins and others, which all proved to be big hits with music-lovers.

Québec City Summer Festival Flexes Its National and International Drawing Power

For another year running, the Québec City Summer Festival attracted more than 50 media representatives from some of the world’s best known outlets. North American correspondents were on the ground throughout the Festival, with English-speaking Canada and the United States accounting for a dozen of the entire delegation. Mexican radio Horizonte 108 and New York City-based Travel Talk Radio Show were also on hand. As well, the Festival was covered by reporters from the Los Angeles Daily News and the periodicals Out and About, El Diario (New York), and AAA Magazine.

Europe’s media were also out in full force, France being most prominent among the group with journalists representing Platine, Rolling Stone, L’Humanité, Afrique Magazine. In addition, French networks Canal + and France4 and Radio France Internationale (RFI) conducted and broadcast several radio interviews live. Belgium had its man on location, operating on behalf of Muziek Radio, while representatives of Great Britain rounded out the delegation of reporters hailing from the other side of the pond.

Acknowledgements

The Québec City Summer Festival would like once again to express its sincere gratitude to Bell, official presenter of the event, Molson Dry, co-presenter, as well as its public and private partners, without whose assistance this grand festival of music and street and circus entertainment could not have grown to such amazing proportions.

Finally, we would like to give our fullest thanks to the general public, whose faithful attendance year in and year out, coupled with the contributions of this year’s performers and the entire Festival team, has been such a powerful incentive to us in our efforts to make a success of this major musical and cultural happening.

Source: Jean-Érick Dorval

Press relations – Québec City: Paulette Dufour
Communications Paulette Dufour
Tel.: (418) 523-4540 # 242
Cell: (418) 576-3585
pdufour@infofestival.com

Relations Press relations – Montréal: Diane Jeannotte
Diane Jeannotte Communications
Tel.: (514) 284-2860, ext. 2
Cell.: (514) 772-8019
djeannotte@direction.qc.ca

July 25, 2005   Posted in: Canada