Tafelmusik at the McMichael: CHAMBER 3 — The days are long and the nights short, and we welcome the summer solstice with musical follies. We look beyond the courtly music of the baroque to the dance music and songs that were popular in the cafés, taverns, and country fairs. Our midsummer celebration takes us from the British Isles to northern Europe—and from France to New France, featuring music that migrated across the Atlantic and remain part of the Québecois folk tradition today.

Exhibition co-curator Anne-Marie Bouchard will lead a journey down the St Lawrence River and surrounding landscapes as seen through the eyes of legendary Quebec Impressionist artists including James Wilson Morrice, Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté, Maurice Cullen, Clarence Gagnon, William Brymner, Ozias Leduc, Henrietta Mabel May, and others. Bouchard will explore these works in the social context of a rapidly changing society, as rural life in Quebec gave way to modernity.