Rafael Payare and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra return to the Festival – this time with Shostakovich’s imposing Tenth Symphony, whose evocative power paints a vivid picture of its creator, an artist constrained and silenced by a dictatorial regime (Stalinist Russia) with which he maintained complex and inextricable ties throughout his life. In the first part, Alisa Weilerstein performs Gabriela Ortiz's concerto, written for her and premiered last season by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

^{Deeply moved by the recent earthquake that struck Venezuela, Rafael Payare and the OSM wish to pay tribute to the victims and express their solidarity with the Venezuelan community here in Quebec. They have therefore chosen to add Mediodía en el Llano by Venezuelan composer Antonio Estévez to the program of the July 18 concert. A minute of silence will follow the performance, in memory of the victims.}