Montreal celebrates with style

To mark Montreal’s 375th and Canada’s 150th anniversaries, three of Montreal’s great orchestras – the Orchestre Métropolitain, the McGill Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal – joined forces for the first time on the same stage at the foot of the iconic Mount Royal. This historic moment was celebrated in spectacular fashion with more than 400 musicians on stage and a set design featuring a 240 pipe organ. Twenty projectors – running under WATCHOUT multi-display software – lit the pipes in a series of evocative designs, inspired by both the Montreal skyline and Mount Royal.

Normal, the Montreal-based video and scenography specialists, were responsible for both content creation and staging at the performance. In their eye-catching WATCHOUT show, they chose to explore the seasons of Montreal through the theme of light. Visually, the inspiration came from contemporary art, various textures, and screen printing techniques to create a unique atmosphere that responds intuitively to music.