Things to do in Montréal: November 20 to 26

The snow has yet to fall, but Santa’s already coming to town for Montréal’s legendary Santa Claus Parade this week, along with new documentary films from around the world, gripping opera, theatre and dance, artisanal and craft fairs, and all kinds of live music from local indie-rock and jazz to electro-pop and Bach.

Santa in the city

Spend some family time with Santa and a whole lot of other people as the 65th Edition of the Santa Claus Parade official starts the holiday season in Montréal on Saturday, November 21. Starting at 11 a.m. on Sainte-Catherine Street, between Du Fort and Saint-Urbain, cheer on 20 spectacular floats and a host of singers, dancers, street performers, polar bears and, of course, Santa! There’s more Santa to see at Parc Jean-Drapeau too: drink hot chocolate and see all the handmade Santa figurines at the Stewart Museum or cheer on the hundreds of runners dressed as Santa Claus for the Santa Montreal 5 km race, starting at 10 a.m. on November 21. Toys old and new delight at Mister Rabbit’s Circus at the McCord Museum. The Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium at the Space for Life lights up the season in a different way with aurōrae, a 360° immersive film of the Northern Lights in the Northwest Territories set to music by DJ Champion. Sports fans can take the family to see P.K. Subban and the Montréal Canadiens play the Islanders on November 22 at the Bell Centre. And fill up on homemade food on Restaurant Day, November 21, an international food carnival of pop-up restaurants.

Film for all

Watch and learn more about the wide world at the 18th annual Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) to November 22, screenings hundreds of features and shorts, on personal and global subjects ranging from war and refugees to environmental issues and government reform, plus talks by directors, actors and film industry members, special events and more. Sommets du cinéma d’animation celebrates new and classic animation films for both kids and adults, November 25 to 29. Art and cultural hub the Phi Centre continues its film series with Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s Me and Earl and the Dying Girl on November 23,Sebastian Schipper’s crime-thriller Victoria on November 24, Québécois director Guy Édoin’s Ville-Marie on November 25, and Joshua Oppenheimer’s documentary The Look of Silence on the 1965 Indonesia genocide on November 26. And Québec cinema masterpieces return to the screen at the Éléphant Classiq festival, to November 22.

Dramatic tension

Get your seasonal dose of melodrama at the Opéra de Montréal’s production of Richard Strauss’s Elektra, an emotional tale of vengeance, adultery and murder, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and starring Lise Lindstrom and Nicola Beller Carbone, November 21 to 28 at Place des Arts. In the Wings Promotions presents pinball-wizard rock-opera The Who’s Tommy: In Concert with a live rock band at the Rialto Hall to November 21. Tumit (meaning “tracks” in Inuktitut), a northern Indigenous play about generational cycles, runs to November 21 at Mainline Theatre, followed by Mainline’s SOLOS Festival of one-person shows, November 25 to 28. Butcher unravels a war crimes mystery at Centaur Theatre, to November 29. Montréal dancer-choreographer José Navas performs his powerful solo work, Rites, an audacious version of the Rite of Spring, at Place des Arts to November 28. And Tangente stages The Paradise, a duet exploring concepts of paradise through dance, to November 22 at Monument National.

Art craft

Shop for uniquely Montréal items at artisanal and craft fairs this week, including the Old Wig Xmas Edition vintage sale, Concordia University’s design department’s Loud + Clear, Souk@SAT designer craft fair, and the Marché Casse-Noisette, also known as the Nutcracker Market, at downtown’s Palais des congrès – watch for even more indie markets and traditional holiday shopping in the coming weeks! In the galleries, see American painter Dana Schutz, Québécois artist Patrick Bernatchez and French multimedia artist Camille Henrot at the Musée d’art contemporain, work by designer and artist Rad Hourani at Arsenal, Imagine Brazil, a major exhibition of contemporary Brazilian art DHC/ART, the new video, photography and sculpture of Sylvia Safdie’s Body-Transforming-Gesture at Gallery Joyce Yahouda, high-tech exhibition Identity Control on biometric data at Eastern Bloc, and the Art in Construction benefit cocktail to support Habitat for Humanity, on November 25 at ReStore.

M for Montréal

Hang with local music fans and hear a totally up-to-the-minute range of rock, pop, hip hop and electro at music festival M for Montréal, continuing until November 21 with dozens of bands playing multiple venus. On Friday night alone see: hip hop dudes Loud Lary Ajust and Eman Vlooper at Métropolis, eclectic electro-pop producer Foxtrott at the Phi Centre, pop-jazz party bands Misteur Valaire with Busty and the Bass and Karim Ouellet at Club Soda, The OBGMs at Le Divan Orange, The Posterz at La Vitrola, Montréal legends The Dears at Théâtre Fairmount, and more. On Saturday it’s: electro-pop star Grimes at Métropolis, Chocolat and Duchess Says with Country and Organ Mood at Club Soda, Newfoundland folk-rock fun with Hey Rosetta! at Théâtre Corona Virgin Mobile, RJD2 at Théâtre Fairmount, and more. For all the details and tickets, see M for Montréal.

Even more live music

Along with M for Montréal taking over the city’s indie-rock venues this weekend, witness jazz guitar greatness as the John Abercrombie Organ Trio at Upstairs Jazz on Friday night, followed on Saturday night by bandleader, composer and clarinetist Oran Etkin’s homage to the King of Swing Benny Goodman. For even more jazz, go to the House of Jazz for the Taurey Butler Jazz Trio followed by the Dawn Tyler Watson Jazz Project on Friday evening. Also on November 20, Latin Grammy winning Venezuelan pop duo Chino Nacho comes to Olympia, American singer-songwriter-pianist Vanessa Carlton brings her whimsy to Lion D’Or, and world music festival Mundial Montréal holds free shows at the Phi Centre and Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur. On Saturday, jazz musician Normand Guilbeault plays traditional Native music with blues inflections in his project Kawandak, at L’Astral and EDM producers Vicetone and Pierce Fulton get everyone dancing at New City Gas. Or opt for 250-member-strong Choeur philharmonique du Nouveau Monde singing Mozart’s Requiem at Notre-Dame Basilica. The Montréal Bach Festival, November 22 to December 5, begins with the Akamus – Akademie Fur Alte Musik Berlin opening concert at Maison Symphonique at Place des Arts, followed by shows by pianist Yulianna Avdeeva on November 26, Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal and Ensemble Caprice on November 27, and much more. RB-pop hitmaker The Weeknd has fans swaying at the Bell Centre on November 24. On November 25, Osheaga presents Toronto musician Afie Jurvanen’s Bahamas at Théâtre Corona Virgin Mobile, while Los Angeles rockers HEALTH play Bar Le Ritz PDB, mysterious electronic musician and DJ Slow Magic plays Théâtre Fairmount, Jon and Roy get their folk-rock-reggae groove on at Petit Campus, and American post-hardcore band Our Last Night is at La Tulipe. And on Thursday night, experience the emotional overload of Mexican pop-rock group Camila at Olympia and the sweet sounds of Québécoise singer-songwriter Ingrid St-Pierre at La Tulipe.