Things to do in Montréal: May 12 to 18

We’ve been celebrating Montréal’s 375th anniversary since January, but this week marks the city’s official birthday party and kick-off of springtime activities! We’re also celebrating Mother’s Day in style, the 50th anniversary of Expo 67, a new Cirque du Soleil show and more.

On May 17, it’s official: the city of Montréal is 375 years old! Watch the 375th anniversary ceremonies starting at 8 a.m. outside city hall – listen for the bells of Oratoire Saint-Joseph on the other side of the city to ring at 8:45 a.m. – followed by a multi-faith mass at Notre-Dame Basilica, a ceremony at Place d’Armes, and later that night the premier of multimedia show Montréal Avudo in the Old Port at 8 p.m. and the illumination of the Jacques-Cartier Bridge at 9:45 p.m. accompanied by the Orchestre Métropolitain, plus a massive Bonne Fête Montréal concert at the Bell Centre. Another major 375th project: La Grand Tournée weekend events, presented by innovative circus company Cirque Éloize, begins May 12 and runs throughout the summer and in every neighbourhood, from group picnics in the park and green alleyway tours to circus shows and cinema under the stars. Visit the Parc des Rapides in the LaSalle neighbourhood for the Rhythm of the Rapids historical performance on May 12-13. And take a tour of Canadian warship HMCS Montréal, stationed in the Old Port later this week.

Show your mom how much you care this Sunday by making her Mother’s Day a joyful and extravagant one. Numerous restaurants offer special Sunday brunch menus, including the Ritz-Carlton, Restaurant Tandem, Restaurant Helena, Les Cavistes, Chez Alexandre and Industria Brasserie Italienne and more brunch favourites Tapas 24, Mercuri, Nolana and Madre. Or try different brunches from around the world or dine at new Montréal restaurants. See the city sights and eat well too on Montréal’s best food tours and relax with a cup of tea at Montréal’s tea houses. Give mom the gift of a luxurious spa day at an internationally renowned spa. If you’re coming to the city with kids, check out the many fun things to do for families in Montréal, including the incredible likenesses of celebrities at the Musée Grévin wax museum (free for moms on May 14!) and Chagall: Colour and Music at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, with free tea and cookies on Mother’s Day plus hands-on kids workshop Chagall’s Little Box. Or spend Sunday afternoon in Mount-Royal Park with a violin and piano concert at 3 p.m. in the Mount Royal Chalet.

Take a walk through the Botanical Garden‘s blooming grounds and tropical greenhouse and follow avian experts through the Biodôme during Bird Fest at the Montréal Space for Life. Meanwhile, downtown’s Place des Festivals is awash in colour at the music-making 21 Swings installation and Maëstro interactive digital orchestra and water fountains, part of this year’s Digital Spring art-meets-tech creations, as well as Québec-style “Kitchen parties” May 12-14. Two more signs of spring: the return of Montréal’s food trucks and street food and 18 shades of gay ball floating above Sainte-Catherine Street in the Village – this year instead of their original pink hue, they’re a rainbow of colours! Walk up Saint-Laurent to see bright building-sized murals, pop by Place Riopelle in Old Montréal to step aboard the future of public transit at the Place au Transport Expo May 15-16, or take a walk off the beaten path to discover welcoming and wonderful quirky spots in Montréal. Find out more about free things to do this Spring in Montréal, from art galleries to outdoor activities.

Montréal celebrates the 50th anniversary of Expo 67 with entertaining and history-rich exhibitions: see colourful outfits and products created by Québec designers at the McCord Museum’s Fashioning Expo 67; photographs tell the tale in The Sixties in Montréal: Archives de Montréal at City Hall; marvel (and maybe laugh a little) at the technological innovations of EXPO 67: A World of Dreams at the Stewart Museum and Écho 67 at the nearby Buckminster Fuller designed Biosphère; baby boomer youth culture is a blast in Explosion 67 – Youth and Their World at the Centre d’histoire de Montréal, and it’s all about  ’60s artistic expression in the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts’s Révolution: “You say you want a revolution” and the Musée d’art contemporain’s In Search of Expo 67. Photography exhibition Aime comme Montréal celebrates the city’s diversity in an installation at Place des arts. Old Montréal landmark Notre-Dame Basilica, one of the city’s most stunning churches, lights up with beautiful high-tech spectacle Aura, while the surrounding streets are illuminated by the historic tableaux projections of Cité Memoire.

Prepare to be stunned by the incredible acrobats, dancers, parkour experts and motor bike athletes of Cirque du Soleil’s VOLTA, under the big top in the Old Port of Montréal. A visual and musical spectacle, Russian performance artist Slava Polunin’s Slava’s Snowshow wows at Theâtre St-Denis to May 14. At Centaur Theatre see Clybourne Park, a neighbourhood drama tracing racial tensions in Chicago, and hilarious and heartwarming Bed Breakfast; The Segal Centre presents true family story How to Disappear Completely and hit musical Million Dollar Quartet, the true rock ‘n’ roll story of Sam Phillips, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley (moving over to Place des Arts May 17-21 for an extended run); and Aboriginal Spring of Art THREE presents Productions Ondinnok’s dance/theatre performance El buen vestir-Tlakentli May 10-12 at Monument-National. As part of Montréal’s winter-spring dance program: Flamenco Fascination takes us on a colourful, energetic journey inspired by the gypsy passion of Andalusia, at Place des Arts May 16; vibrant, emotional dance and music merge in a show by virtuoso Spanish guitarist José Vega and his Flamenco Company May 17 at Place des Arts; see Dominque Porte’s Conte de faits, family-friendly short danced tales inspired by the poetry of Jacques Prévert and drawings of René Magritte at Agora de la danse May 12-13; and on May 13, NYC dancer-choreographer Heather Cornell and musician Antonio Vilchez present Making Music Dance with African and South American rhythms, a free event at St. Jax church, followed by collaborative event  Heartbeats, bringing musicians and dancers from Montréal, NYC and Peru together. Also on May 13, House of Laureen Drag Cabaret hosts a wild and wacky fundraiser for the Festival St-Ambroise Fringe de Montréal.

Along with the wonderful exhibition CHAGALL: COLOUR AND MUSIC at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, see deeply moving work by foremost Mexican artist Teresa Margolles and Québec artist Emanuel Licha’s Now Have a Look at This Machine documentary installation at the Musée d’art contemporain and Mexican artist Gilberto Esparza’s biotechnical art exhibition Plantas autofotosintéticas at Galerie de l’UQAM. British artist Ed Atkins poses questions on human bodies, digital creation and reality in video exhibition Modern Piano Music at DHC-ART. Never Apart‘s Spring Exhibition features Two-Spirit Sur-Thrivance and the Art of Interrupting Narratives. Pointe-à-Callière archaeology and history museum presents the fascinating Amazonia: The Shaman and the Mind of the Forest. The Cinémathèque québécoise’s Fête du cinéma screens restored masterpiece Thirty Years of Motion Pictures with piano accompaniment as well as new films by Sébastien Laudenbach and Philippe Falardeau, Frailty in tribute to Bill Paxton, and more May 12-13, all for $10. Travel through virtual worlds in Felix Paul Studios Virtual Reality Garden at the Phi Centre. Get immersed in new space-exploration double feature KYMA – Power of Waves and Edge of Darkness at the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium, or in electroacoustic A/V performance Électro-Acrylique and the high-tech 360° visuals of Orbits at the Satosphere surround-sound dome to May 13, followed by audiovisual wonders / IS //// IS ////// and Plateaux May 16-19.

On Friday, discover the world’s finest young pianists at the Concours musical international de Montréal in a major gala concert May 12 at Place des Arts, or see Irish singer-songwriter Gavin James at Cabaret Lion D’or, pop-rock artist Perfume Genius at Théâtre Fairmount, heady indie musician Nick Hakim at Bar Le Ritz P.D.B. or dance to house music by Ben Vedren, Ohm Hourani, Nicolas Kehl and Owly. The eclectic and multidisciplinary Festival Accès Asie coincides with Canada’s Asian Heritage Month – this week featuring musical performance Les préoccupations et les attentes on May 12, the opening of Serendipity art exhibition at the MAI and Indian music concert La magie du Mohan-Veenaon on May 13, and the Golestan (“flower garden”) concert of Syrian and Turkish music on May 18. Meanwhile, Distortion Psych Fest gets heavy with PyPy, We Are Wolves, Co/ntry and many more bands May 12-14 at Église S-E-J du Mile-End and l’Escogriffe bar, plus Le Marché psychédélique printanier afternoon psych-themed market on March 13. On May 13, Bernard Labadie conducts Les Violons du Roy, La Chapelle de Québec and outstanding soloists in Purcell’s King Arthur at Maison symphonique. Saturday also brings German electronic artist Boris Brejcha to Théâtre Fairmount, singer-songwriter Laura Marling to Théâtre Corona, and celebrated German electronic producer Paul Van Dyk to New City Gas.

On Sunday, the Orchestre Métropolitain continues its Bruckner cycle with Symphony No. 1, accompanied by harpist Valérie Milot at Maison symphonique, CJ Ramone (of The Ramones!) plays Foufounes Electriques and experimental music collective Wrekmeister Harmonies plays Bar Le Ritz P.D.B. Opéra de Montréal, Place des Arts et Le Sac à Dos present Humanitudes – Opéra de rue and a performance by singer Marie-Josée Lord at Cinquième Salle on May 15. If you’re into Russian and Norwegian pagan metal, then you’re into Arkona and Sirenia at L’Astral on Tuesday night – Swedish metal guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen also happens to be in town that night at Théâtre Corona. On Wednesday, singer-songwriter Lewis Watson comes to L’Astral.

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