In a pandemic altered world, opera hits the streets of Montreal’s underprivileged neighbourhoods

Dominic Veilleux and Agnes Menard sing Opera in an NDG alleyway.

The leaves drift lazily off the trees and fall around the opera singers. When their song ends, the handful of parents standing near the jungle gym in Georges St Pierre park break into huge smiles. They begin to clap loudly.

“You sing well together. I should have recorded that,” says one father.

The opera singers, Dominic Veilleux, a bass baritone and Agnes Menard, a soprano, are among 1,200 classically trained musicians who’ve been giving free concerts in neighbourhoods across Quebec as part of Mecenat Musica’s mini concerts santé series. 

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Me Mom and Morgentaler reunion thanks to John Jordan’s newfound Zen

Me, Mom, and Margentaler

Montreal’s most beloved band of the 1990s will be reuniting for the first time since 2007 for this year’s online edition of NDG’s MTL vs Racism concert. Grateful fans have John Jordan to thank. 

These days Jordan may be better known to NDGers as the neighbourhood’s infamous alley cat gallery curator, but he’s also the Ska pop band’s saxophonist.  

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NDG’s Empanada Lady delivers the flavours of Argentina to your doorstep.

Dolores Lopez Barcala

Her husband, Lucio, jokes that she’s the empanada lady. “I like it,” says Dolores López Barcala. “It’s better than Dolores, which means pain in Spanish. When I was a kid that wasn’t so funny.” 

The nickname seems to suit the sparkly-eyed mother of two from Argentina, whose empanada delivery service is giving NDGers a taste of Latin American culture.  

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