About
Our mission
The Allegra Foundation exists to support two outstanding programs: Allegra Chamber Music and Bach Before Bedtime. Allegra Chamber Music provides an enriched musical experience by performing traditional chamber music repertoires with unique musical arrangements, as well as seldom heard and contemporary works, free of charge to the public.
Our Vision
To nurture a lifelong appreciation of chamber music through citywide outreach to unite Montreal's finest chamber musicians with a vibrant, diverse, and multi-generational audience.
Dorothy Fieldman Fraiberg
Artistic Director
Allegra Chamber music was founded in 1980 by artistic director and pianist Dorothy Fieldman Fraiberg as a grassroots, non-profit organization. The philosophy that music fulfills a basic need in all remains at the heart of Allegra's mission to make great chamber music accessible to all Montrealers. For musicians, there is nothing better than offering the music they love because, ultimately, sharing is what chamber music is all about.
Dorothy is passionate about introducing chamber music to children, and is committed to nurturing the audience of the future. In 2008, she created Bach Before Bedtime (BBB), a magical experience that introduces children to chamber music, giving them access to outstanding musicians and performances through creative, interactive programming.
SIMON ALDRICH
Artistic Advisor
Simon’s love of chamber music stems from that line of communication drawn between every musician and each member of the audience, a unique and wonderful quality that chamber music possesses more than any other genre of classical music. Composers wrote some of their best chamber music for friends.
Indeed, chamber music is often referred to as “the music of friends” and for Simon, convincing chamber performances are like musical conversations between friends, where ideas flow freely back and forth in a place where imaginations meet. If, for the Allegra audience, a compelling chamber performance is like listening in on an intimate conversation or song, there is no greater joy on the part of the musician than being a part of that communion.
LEADERSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION
Artistic Director: Dorothy Fieldman Fraiberg
Artistic Advisor: Simon Aldrich
Administration: Kathryn Sharaput
Board of Directors: Anna Birnie-Lefcovitch (chairperson), Morris Goodman, Barbara Maldoff, Jill Martis, Donna Muller, Judie Jokinen, Stephanie Riddell, Samira Sakhia, Sally Yaffe
BBB Committee: Anna Birnie-Lefcovitch (chair), Jacqueline Hopmeyer, Gabi Opas, Kathryn Stephenson
Photography by Riccardo Cellere