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Old Montreal's Gothic Revival masterpiece of a church, the Notre-Dame Basilica, has long been a destination for locals and tourists. Outside the church, most days with warm-enough weather see skilled buskers with crowds gathering, but people are also queuing up for a long-running attraction inside the church: The AURA experience, created by the Montreal-based production company Moment Factory.
First created to mark the 375th anniversary of Montreal, the critically acclaimed show of music and light has already been performed over 1,300 times between 2017 and 2020 with—according to the organizers—more than 650,000 spectators from 137 countries.
Thing is, in all that time, spectators are not allowed to film the 45-minute experience, so we asked nicely and went in with cameras blazing:
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The current version of AURA that's not playing is updated: There are three new scenes projected onto inner architecture of the structure, as well as new music played by the church's Casavant organ that was inaugurated in 1891, playing its 7,000 pipes live during the show. It comes from Pierre Grandmaison, titular organist of the Basilica, and the pieces were composed by Marc Bell and Gabriel Thibaudeau of TROUBLEMAKERS.
A small history lesson while you're here: Built between 1824 and 1829, the Notre-Dame Basilica was the first Gothic Revival church in Canada, was promoted to a Minor Basilica in 1982 and became a National Historic Site of Canada in 1989. According to its organizers' statistics, nearly 1 million visitors (pre-pandemic) go to see its impressive sanctuary, its polychromatic gilded vaulted ceiling, and the sound of its organ.
AURA returned from a pandemic hiatus on August 13, 2021, and is now being presented on Fridays at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. and on Saturdays at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Depending on demand, more performances may be added to the schedule. Tickets can be purchased online here, ranging from $32 for adults and $21 for students to $27 for seniors and $18 for children.