The opera was performed for the first time in Canada at the 1961 Montreal Festivals.

Although the Montreal Festival is not a theme event, it does occasionally spotlight companies by country or region within a larger event.

With the preparations for Expo 67 requiring much of the city's financial budget, a decision was made to discontinue the Montreal Festivals after the 1965 festival.

The work was first performed in Canada at the Montreal Festivals in 1953 under conductor Wilfrid Pelletier.

He has participated in the Montreal Festival of the Arab World, delivering lectures and readings of his poems.

The theatre was the main venue for the Montreal Festivals from 1940-1946.

In 1952 he succeeded Madame Athanase David as the President of the Montreal Festivals, a post he held through 1956.

In 1936 she and Wilfrid Pelletier established the Montreal Festivals, of which she later served as President from 1939-1952.

Narrated version: Montreal Festivals, 1949.

However, the Canadian premiere was given that same year at the Montreal Festivals under the baton of Wilfrid Pelletier.