Press release - Québec City's Summer Festival - from 8 to 18 July 2010

After an intense musical tour of 80 shows, the jury for the 22nd Miroir Awards - made up of Daniel Bravo (President), Erwan Cassez (Coordinator), Paulette Dufour, Marième Ndiaye, Stephane Gonzalez and Paul Gadbois, revealed the winners today.

“Seldom have we seen such harmony among performers, the public and their festival! Even before the numbers on sales and attendance, which promise to be exceptional this year, are in, we will remember this 43rd Festival d’été de Québec for all the smiling faces, the gestures of generosity, the many appreciative comments and the obvious pleasure of just being there,” affirmed the Chair of the Board for the Festival d’été de Québec, Marie-France Poulin.

This year, the Festival d’été de Québec is presenting another extreme event. The troupe Xarxa Teatre, from Valencia, masters of pyrotechnics who combine music, street arts and theatre, give a unique, bold, breathtaking performance at 9:30 pm on July 16 and 17 at the Cartier-Brébeuf Historic Site of Canada (Park Cartier-Brébeuf).This event is an Arts de la rue Loto-Québec presentation.

For his outstanding contribution to Québec’s living heritage, the Festival d’été de Québec awarded the 2010 Prix Miroir Tribute to Gilles Vigneault today.

The Festival d’été de Québec will be awarding its 22nd Prix Miroir, sponsored by Sodec, on July 19. The Jury - presided by Daniel Bravo and made up of Erwan Cassez, Paulette Dufour, Marième Ndiaye, Stéphane Gonzalez and Paul Gadbois – will name the winners of the Prix Miroir awards for French Language Song, World Music and Folklore, Best Canadian Artist, Urban and Contemporary Music and the Jury’s Pick. The public will vote for the winner of the Prix Miroir for the Most Popular Show.

In a show of solidarity with Haïti, the 43rd edition of the Festival d’été de Québec has promoted two different initiatives that, together, collected $25,000 for concrete projects that will be carried out in the coming year in this Francophone nation devastated by an earthquake just six months ago.

En collaboration avec le Festival d’été de Québec, le Hilton Québec vous offre en exclusivité une soirée VIP au Festival. Procurez-vous le Forfait AVANT-SCÈNE et vivez une soirée exceptionnelle avec Rush, Black Eyed Peas, Billy Talent ou encore Rammstein !

The Festival d’été de Québec has reached a major milestone in its development. All 150,000 flashing Hydro-Québec passes for this 43rd edition have been sold out, barely two days after the Festival opened.

Generosity is the byword as the 43rd Festival d’été de Québec kicks off today on the Plains of Abraham Bell Stage. Generosity in terms of tonight’s lineup of course, as more than 15 top Francophone stars and emerging talent share the spotlight in Les chansons d’abord, but also and above all for the donations that festivalgoers will be asked to make for Haiti as they leave the concert.

Starting Friday, July 2, festivalgoers and fans of new technologies can upload the new Festival d’été de Québec iPhone Application presented by Bell!

The 43rd Festival d’été de Québec will be getting underway in just a few days. From July 8 to 18, more than 1 million festivalgoers will converge on the event’s sites around Quebec City. To get ready for the busy days ahead, festival management, city representatives and representatives from the Réseau de transport de la Capitale detailed the control and safety measures they have planned to make this event a success once again this year.

Wherever you are, you can connect with the Festival d’été de Québec.  The website www.infofestival.com is the best place to go for information on the program schedule, to learn more about the artists and go to their websites, to see a video clip or excerpt from their show!  This is also where you’ll find the latest news and info on pass sales, access to Festival sites, scheduling changes and much more.

What makes Quebec City so special and so colourful during the Festival d’été de Québec? The street performers! Every evening, from July 8 to 18, they’ll be taking rue Saint-Jean by storm from 6 to 10:30 p.m.. This year, look for the many talented local performers, but also watch for guest artists from the Netherlands and France, all wonderfully wacky, zany and fascinating!

New for 2010! Every evening from 5: 30 to 9: 30, Place de la famille le Lait will be all lit up like a country fair to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the École de cirque de Québec.

High emotion, French and pop song, rock, hip-hop, jazz, blues, classical music and naturally, plenty of world music? that’s what the 43rd Festival d’été de Québec has lined up this year. Something for music lovers of all stripes!

Quebec City, May 6, 2010 – Loco Locass will be launching the July 14 show on the Plains of Abraham. The Québec rap band accepted the invitation from Gilles Vigneault to open the show on the Bell Stage.  It’s official? Batlam, Chafiik and Biz will be the first to play that evening.

Quebec City, May 4,2010 – Always attuned to the concerns and satisfaction of its fans, the Festival d’été de Québec has distributed 15,000 Hydro-Québec passes to Metro supermarkets in the greater Quebec City area. These passes will be on sale as of 8 a.m. Thursday, May 6. The Festival has also confirmed that there will be at least 5,000 passes available at Festival sites from opening day, Thursday, July 8.

Thousands of people bought their Hydro-Québec Festival passes today. Patience was in order as the Festival’s website was bombarded by scalpers as soon as it opened at 10 o’clock this morning. Over 7 million orders came in the first hour, clogging the servers, but luckily, this was a situation that the Festival team was able to handle.

Quebec City, April 28, 2010 - Over 50,000 Hydro-Québec passes out of the 60,000 on sale this morning in the 38 Greater Quebec City Area Metro supermarkets were snapped up in just a few hours.

Advance sales of Hydro-Québec passes for the 43rd edition of the Festival d’été de Québec start tomorrow morning. There will be 60,000 passes at the special $40 early bird rate - taxes included, plus service fees – on sale at Metro supermarkets in the greater Quebec City area.

“This year, we’ll be cutting loose at the Festival d’été de Québec, dancing non-stop, rocking around the clock and singing in French!” In these enthusiastic terms, the new Program Director, Dominique Goulet, revealed the culmination of her efforts and the names of more than 70 artists slated for the 43rd edition of the Festival d’été de Québec.

Rush – Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart – is without question one of the most inventive and compelling groups in rock history, equally famed for both its virtuoso musicianship and provocative songwriting. Announced today, The Time Machine Tour is an evening with Rush, where they will perform their classics, give a taste of the future – and for the first time ever – feature the Moving Pictures album live in its entirety.

The Festival d’été de Québec is pleased to announce that the legendary Canadian rock band, RUSH, will be coming to the Festival for the first time. The three band members, bassist, keyboardist and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart, will play on the Scène Bell on the Plains of Abraham on July 15.

The Quebec City Summer Festival was named 2009 Regional Tourist Event of the Year at last night’s Grands Prix du tourisme québécois Regional Awards Gala.

The first 60,000 badges for the Quebec City Summer Festival will go on sale on April 28 in greater Quebec City area Metro supermarkets. Offered at a special early-bird price, these badges were snapped up in less than 30 hours last year, so Festival fans are advised to hurry again this year!

L’Orchestre symphonique de Québec et le Festival d’été de Québec sont fiers de recevoir le prix Opus, CONCERT DE L’ANNÉE - QUÉBEC, pour le concert « Plácido Domingo à Québec » donné sur les plaines d’Abraham le 17 juillet dernier et présenté devant une des plus grandes foules pour un concert classique extérieur à Québec, soit près de 100 000 personnes.

Quebec City, Wednesday, November 25, 2009 — Because they take the future of French song to heart, the organizers of the FrancoFolies de Montréal and the Quebec City Summer Festival have come to an agreement. These two music events can now continue to grow without interfering with each other and above all, continue to promote international French song in Québec.

New Richmond, November 17, 2009 -  The mayor of New Richmond, Nicole Appleby, was pleased and proud to join Daniel Gélinas, general manager of the Quebec City Summer Festival in announcing today that the first Quebec City Summer Festival to be held outside the city will take place in New Richmond, next July 22 to 25. The mayor of Quebec City, Régis Labeaume, who was unable to attend the press conference, participated by video.

Quebec City, October 6, 2009 – More than 1,224,000 people attended the Quebec City Summer Festival this year. That tops 2007, the year when the Festival reached the one million mark for the first time. The year of the 400th anniversary of Quebec City was exceptional with its 1,700,000 visitors. A study of attendance conducted this summer by the firm SOM also reveals that the Festival draws more and more tourists every year. In 2009, 40% of the clientele came from outside the greater Quebec City area. And the Festival is so popular that 25% of the local adult population took part. The satisfaction rate remains high, at 97%.