The 30th Festival International de Jazz de Montréal: a more than positive overview

The Festival International de Jazz de Montréal offered, yet again, the best the world has to offer in jazz and its related musical genres. Music legend Stevie Wonder had the honour of launching the 30th edition, performing at the brand new Place des Festivals before a sea of delighted fans. Guitarist Ben Harper fired up the same stage 12 days later for the Festival's closing concert.

Despite the economic downturn, Festival fans flocked to this special edition in tremendous numbers. We reached our goal in ticket sales, with $5.1 million moving at the box office (in addition to the Montreal Guitar Show doubling its previous sales), increased sales of tourist packages and enjoyed record sales at the Galerie du Festival, souvenir boutiques, CD tents and food and beverage kiosks. Only beer sales were affected by the inclement weather. Lastly, the newly relaunched Festival website was a great success: An 80% increase in web traffic was recorded during the event.   

Alain Simard, President and Founder of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal
Alain Simard highlights some of the moments that marked the Festival’s 30th anniversary.

André Ménard, artistic director of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal
André Ménard sums up the 30th edition of the Festival and shares a few of his favourite shows.

Jacques-André Dupont, Vice-President – Associate, Marketing and Business Development of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal
Jacques-André Dupont takes stock of the Blues Camp and of the Montreal Guitar Show.