Isolde Lagacé: Prix Opus Hommage

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On Feb. 4, 2024, Isolde Lagacé, the former Managing and Artistic Director of Montreal’s Bourgie Hall, is to receive the Prix Hommage during the Conseil québécois de la musique’s annual Opus Awards gala.

Acknowledged as a cultural hub in Quebec’s cultural landscape, that venue could not have been a more appropriate place for the CQM to salute Lagacé’s contribution to the cause of music during her 12-year tenure there. Until her retirement over a year ago, she proved her mettle as a tireless worker and highly experienced arts manager.

In November 2022, as she was stepping down, we gleaned in the press release of the CQM the following statement from its head Françoise Henri: “Isolde Lagacé is a woman of exceptional character. Poised with vision and daringness, she is a builder, ready to embrace all challenges. In so doing, she single-handedly created an outlet for the music unlike any other in the province.”

A year later, on Dec. 14, 2023, Lagacé responded to the announcement of the Prix Hommage by saying: “I am very much honoured to receive it. My admiration and respect for all performers remains undiminished, and I will continue supporting the cause of presenting music throughout the province. It has been a real privilege for me to work in a stimulating, creative and performance-driven environment like this one, and every moment of it was pure joy to me!”

Previous to her hiring, Lagacé was driven by the idea of opening a performance space dedicated to chamber music. She was all the more motivated to pursue that goal back then due to the building of another hall, this one for its symphony orchestra, the MSO.

Lagacé still has fond memories of the times leading up to Bourgie’s inauguration, when the former Erskine and American Church was being renovated pre-2010, and receiving so much support from the hall’s namesake, businessman and arts philanthropist Pierre Bourgie.

“You had to be fearless in a way,” Lagacé recalls. “It was taking a leap of faith, if you will. Both Pierre and I were intent on creating a broad musical outreach, not only in the classics, but jazz and world music, with a view of including concerts linked to the museum’s special exhibits. Yet, we realized that we could not just present a series of only two concerts, so we bumped up the number from the 30 I had first envisioned to the 50-some we wound up with in that first season.” For the record, the exact number was 53, and from there on in the floodgates were open, the number of events increasing rapidly.

“As you build on your successes,” says Lagacé,” audiences keep asking for more, like wanting to hear one artist or the other perform again. That is also true for the performers, many of whom were eager to return to our stage.”

Isolde Lagacé’s knowledge of the musical community stems from her life experiences as concert hall manager, first at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal from 1992 to 2000, and from then on to 2007 for McGill University’s Pollack and Redpath halls. But none of this would have been possible were it not for her own family. Both her parents were organists and harpsichordists. As keyboardists, it was normal for them to hold rehearsals at home, which enabled Isolde to see them work with other professionals. From her teen years onward, she built a network of contacts within the community, and extended her outreach with the help of her husband, Douglas McNabney, a McGill teacher, chamber music specialist and artistic director of the Domaine Forget from Y2K to 2004.

Lagacé’s sense of kinship to artists rests not only on her career as arts manager or her own musical background, but on her will to attend concerts regularly and satisfy her cultural needs. This habit has been so much of her way of life over the years that she will continue to do so, even as a retiree.

“Going to concerts and meeting artists has been the story of my life,” Lagacé says. “As true as that is, I don’t feel so inclined anymore to catch everything. I am confident that my successors, Caroline Louis and Olivier Godin, will keep things on course; they will ensure the future, for sure. Mind you, it is not so much a question for them to follow in my footsteps, but to act in accordance to the vision that has guided this undertaking since its inception. In England, you have Wigmore Hall, a venue comparable in size to ours, and whose history spans over a century. Ours is but a decade old, but I wonder what will it be like 50 years from now!”

Since her departure, Isolde Lagacé has settled in the Charlevoix region north of Quebec City. As she entertains her passion for photography and a love of the area’s landscapes, she also makes a point of returning to the city to visit museums and attend cultural outings of one kind or the other.

Translation by Marc Chénard