FIMAV 42 | 17 May Schedule

SUNDAY | 11 a.m.

CINEMA PROGRAM 2 : 5 films by Pierre Hébert

Salle les-frères-Lemaire | Carré 150 | 10$

This program highlights over sixty years of work by Pierre Hébert, focusing on his practice of direct scratch-on-ﬁlm animation. It underscores the importance of this major avant-garde ﬁlmmaker whose radical and formally inventive approach has expanded the possibilities of experimental cinema.

SUNDAY | 1 p.m.

FANFARE POURPOUR

Scène Pierre-Bruneau | Place Ste-Victoire | free

This legendary 21-piece ensemble has ties in the Victoriaville region, making it a great way to diversify FIMAV programming with their joyous, infectious music in the public space. And, while their music is indeed popular, it is so in the very best, and we think experimental, sense. As a Pourpour member stated recently, “perhaps it’s time to rethink what musique actuelle is!”

SUNDAY | 3 p.m.

QUEEN MAB 40 ans plus tard

Cabaret Guy-Aubert | Carré 150 | $25

Legendary in the lore of Canadian creative music, this duo celebrates 40 years of exceptional collaboration. Lori Freedman’s rich timbral investigation and unique phraseology intertwine delightfully with Marilyn Lerner’s rhythmic sense and uncanny note-choices. Queen Mab is both living history and new every time.

SUNDAY | 5 p.m.

SARAH PAGÉ & NO HAY BANDA Voda

Centre des Congrès | Hôtel le Victorin | $25

Voda (“water” in Russian) is Quebecoise composer Sarah Pagé’s studio recording from 2023, radically expanding her instrumental vocabulary rooted in her experimental harp and electronics playing to suitably, and beautifully, liquid ends. At FIMAV, Pagé will premiere Voda in a live version with the award-winning Montreal contemporary chamber ensemble, No Hay Banda.

SUNDAY | 6 p.m.

INFORMAL CONCERT IN THE Q.G.

Quartier général FIMAV | Carré 150 | free

Limited capacity; first come first served.
Festival passeports do not guarantee access.

Visit the brand-new FIMAV Quartier général –– the Festival Hub –– in the Studio Monique-Bourgeois, Carré 150! There, between afternoon and evening concerts, festival artists will have the time and space to play informal concerts of freely improvised music. Grab a drink, grab a sandwich, and hear FIMAV artists up close in first-time musical encounters, all for free!

SUNDAY | 8 p.m.

أحمد [AHMED] Play Monk

Salle les-frères-Lemaire | Carré 150 | 10$

أحمد [Ahmed] has made some of the most thrilling music of the last decade, powerfully propulsive group improvisations animating the music and activating the philosophy of an unsung master, Ahmed Abdul-Malik. On their new record, Play Monk –– and at FIMAV –– they turn to material by Abdul-Malik’s one-time employer, the incomparable Thelonious Monk.

SUNDAY | 10 a.m.

ERIC CHENAUX

Cabaret Guy-Aubert | Carré 150 | $30

Through the uncanny combination of his vocal falsetto – evoking even Betty Carter or Jeanne Lee – and his kaleidoscopic guitar playing, Eric Chenaux’s songs are drenched in emotion while remaining resolutely experimental. Here he re-joins a kindred colleague from his days based in Toronto, the incomparable singer and multi-instrumentalist, Ryan Driver.

Artistic Vision 2026

“At FIMAV 42 you can hear world-class artists from Quebec, Canada, and abroad in formal settings with which long-time festival audiences will be familiar. Darius Jones, Pat Thomas, Rafael Toral, Amirtha Kidambi, and Eric Chenaux, for example, have never played FIMAV before. With our additional series of free informal concerts and satellite event, audiences will have different kinds of access to many of them as well. This edition will be ‘up close and personal’ and we think it will be more festive because of it!”

-Scott Thomson, Artistic Director