History
Founding Artistic Director Boris Brott was an internationally renowned, pioneering Canadian conductor who was a member of the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario, and the Order of Quebec. In 1988, then-Mayor of Hamilton Robert Morrow asked Boris to organize some musical events in the summer for a group of international delegates visiting the City. Brott Music has grown from a 10-day event (then called Boris Brott Summer Music Festival) to one of Hamilton/Halton regions’ most respected year-round cultural cornerstones.
Memorable moments in its three-decade history include a performance for Pope John Paul II and 800,000 at World Youth Day in Toronto in 2002; a Junos performance in 2015 and a popup concert launching Arkells new album High Noon in 2014 that CBC’s Adam Carter called “One of the coolest musical performances I have ever seen.”
World class soloists and other personalities have made appearances on the Festival stage: James Ehnes, Anton Kuerti, Jan Lisiecki, Pinchas Zukerman, Lara St. John, Marc Garneau, the Hon. Lincoln Alexander, Karen Kain, Rex Harrington, former Prime Minister Kim Campbell, Mordecai Richler and Michael Ondaatje to name only a few.
Since 1999, Brott Education Concerts have impacted over 270,000 students (pre-K to gr. 8) by introducing them to the sounds and experience of a live orchestral performance. These productions are often themed with social issues such as bullying, tolerance and racism. Programs such as Music & The Inuit Spirit, Music &The Underground Railroad and Beethoven & The Bully garnered Brott a National Child Day award.
Our Mission
The 36-year-old Brott Music Festival was founded in 1987 by Boris Brott and is one of our anchor arts organizations in Hamilton, ON and is the largest orchestral music festival in Canada.
Brott Music presents classical, opera, jazz, Broadway, chamber, rock, pops, and education concerts of the highest calibre in the Golden Horseshoe. It is a fully incorporated, not for profit charitable organization with a dedicated Board of Directors, staff, and volunteer contingent.
Brott Music’s mission is to ensure that its music-making will enthrall every age, gender, and ethnicity; to impart a love of music from all our musicians to all of our audiences, to imbue those listeners with the desire and motivation to be better and more productive members of their communities and to enrich our community’s cultural tapestry.
Vision
Brott Music believes that music should be celebrated alongside other art forms to enhance our audience’s experience. You will find our orchestra performing alongside painters and Prime Ministers; ballet dancers and blues bands; authors, acrobats, astronauts and Arkells!
Brott Music’s artistic vision reaches far beyond being a music festival. The goal to ensure our music and mission are diverse and inclusive of people of all ages, financial means and cultural backgrounds including Indigenous artists and audiences. BMF increases accessibility to the arts through dynamic programming and affordable price structures in a variety of spaces.
