The OSM Foundation
The mandate of the OSM Foundation is to guarantee the long-term success of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal by providing it with the means of fulfilling a vision that will ensure its full development.
Rafael Payare et les musicien.nes de l’OSM au Royal Festival Hall (South Bank Center), Londres le 28 octobre 2022 ©AntoineSaito
The Foundation focuses on three main areas: the long-term success of the Orchestra, its international recognition, as well as the maintenance and development of activities in the community.
Under the presidency of Madame Hélène Desmarais, the OSM Foundation was publicly launched on April 2, 2009, at the Bell Centre on the occasion of a benefit event entitled “Meeting of the Century.” That memorable concert, which took place under the direction of Maestro Kent Nagano before an audience of 15,000, was also conceived to underscore the 75th anniversary of the OSM and the centenary of the Montreal Canadiens hockey club.
The goal of the first phase of the major fundraising campaign was to capitalize in perpetuity $60 million in donations in the OSM Foundation – a goal that was achieved!
The OSM Foundation
The Pierre-Béique Fund, dedicated to the long-lasting success of the Orchestra, was launched on March 8, 1998, at a concert under the direction of Zubin Mehta. Established by Messrs. Pierre Brunet and Paul Desmarais and Senator E. Leo Kolber, the fund was named in honor of the man who served as general manager of the OSM from 1937 to 1970. The amounts invested in this fund are capitalized in perpetuity and protected from inflation. Every year, the foundation pays the Orchestra 3.5% of the average market value of the investments of the previous two years.
Those amounts are devoted to the international reach of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, not only by financing its tours but also by enabling the OSM to invite, every year, the world’s most renowned soloists and conductors. Among other things, these sums have contributed to helping the OSM perform as part of the prestigious Salzburg festival (2018) and on a Nunavik Tour (2018), as well as in Europe, in 2019, in Germany, Belgium and France most prestigious concert halls.
The 2019 Tour of the Americas by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal under Maestro Nagano, from September 28 to October 16, was the most recent of many such tours made possible through the support of the Fondation de l’OSM. After six years of absence from Latin American stages, the OSM made a distinctive comeback, touching audiences in eight different major concert halls with their own unique sound. The tour was a huge success for the OSM, confirming its status as one of the major orchestras of North America and a representative of Montreal’s cultural vitality.
Created in 2008, the capitalized outreach fund “Branché sur la communauté” has as its goal the holding of annual activities aimed at making the classical orchestral repertoire accessible to the broader Montreal community. As soon as sufficient investment income from this capital became available, free concerts were presented: one in Montreal North (2014), and another on the Olympic Park Esplanade (2015).
$10M and over
Rio Tinto Alcan
Government of Canada
$5M and over
Anonymous
Chagnon 5 years
SOJECCI
$2M and over
Power Corporation
OSM
Bombardier Foundation
Hydro-Québec
Mécénat Placements Culture
$1M and over
BMO Financial Group
National Bank
Jeunesse-Vie Foundation
Guillevin International
Mr. Colburn
Placements Culture
RBC Royal Bank
Saputo
$500K and over
Godin Family
SNC Lavalin
Bell Canada
Aisenstadt Foundation
Jewish Community Outreach
$100K and over
OSM
Benefit Concert 2007
Michel Taschereau
Imperial Tobacco
Metro
Bank of Montreal
Leo Kolber
Jewish Community Foundation (B & M. Brownstein)
Brown Shoes
G. Drummond Estate
Centre Bell Maestro Capitalize
National Bank Financial
Astral Media
Bell Media
V.E. Lambert Scholarship
Cogeco
Kolber Foundation
Mr. Mel Hoppenheim (Mel’s Studio City)
Rosemary Bell
Benefit Gala
Alvin Segal Family Foundation
Desjardins Financial Group
Aaron Fish
Denise and Guy St-Germain Foundation
J.-Louis Lévesque Foundation
Seamont Foundation
$50K and over
Petro-Canada
Édouard D’Arcy
Montreal Port Authority
Caisse Federation
FTQ Solidarity Fund
George Cédric Metcalf
Omer de Serres
$10K and over
Standard Life
OSM Musicians’ Association
Guy Joron
P.H. Desrosiers
Pierre Béique
David Sela
COPAP
Merck Frosst
Estate of Robert P. Gagnon
$10K and below
Thérèse Gagnon Giasson
Gervine Investment
Patrimonica
Pierre Ducros
Barbara Bronfman
Bernard Amyot
Diners Club
Ed Johnson
Ghislaine Richard
Gérard Owndyk
Guylaine Saucier
James A. Grant
Jean-Paul Marsan
Marcel Côté
Murray Lapin
Norman Steinberg
Réjean Breton
Neysa Sigler
Karigraba Inc 25 bce
Marc F. Beauchamps Walmart
Ann S. Koepfli
Anonymous 2
John De Luca
Phillip O’Brien
United Way of Greater Montreal
Birks Family Foundation
Canadian Club of Montreal (J.-C. Bedos)
Ticket Donation (VP Loblaws)
Hewlett-Packard
Neal Gripp
Suzanne Lévesque
Luc Corbeil
Brock Clarke
Jean Marc Noel
Charles Arthur Dansereau
Louise Bergeron
With the participation of the Government of Canada
and of the government of Quebec
Board of directors
Founder, Chairman of the Board of the Fondation de l’OSM
Hélène Desmarais, C.M., L.L.D
Centre d’entreprises et d’innovation de Montréal
Chief Executive Officer of the OSM
Mélanie La Couture
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Fondation de l’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Secretary
Charles-Étienne Borduas
Norton Rose Fulbright Canada S.E.N.C.R.L., s.r.l./LLP
Treasurer
Edouard D’Arcy
Members
Lucien Bouchard
Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg S.E.N.C.R.L., s.r.l.
Sophie Brunnette, CPA
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Claude Chagnon
Fondation Chagnon
Guy Fréchette
Claude Gilbert
Richard Guay
ESG-UQAM
Maxime Lataille
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Andrew Molson
Groupe conseil RES PUBLICA
Guylaine Saucier, C.M., FCA
David B. Sela
Président, Copap Inc.
Jonathan Tétrault
Sagard Holdings
Nathalie Tremblay, Ph.D, M.B.A.
Gestion Névé Inc.
Investment Committee
President: Richard Guay
Members: Édouard D’Arcy, Mario Delisle, Hélène Desmarais, Maurice Marchon, Sébastien Roy
Audit Committee
President: Guy Fréchette
Members: Édouard D’Arcy, Claude Gilbert, Michel Rioux, Guylaine Saucier
Finance Committee
President: Hélène Desmarais
Members: Mélanie La Couture, Édouard d’Arcy
The Fondation de l’OSM wishes to acknowledge the outstanding contribution of the late Mr. Pierre Brunet (Former president of the Pierre-Béïque Fund) and of the late Mr Jacques Bourgeois (former president of the Investment Committee) to the organisation.
Policies and by-laws (in French only):
Danièle Lavoie, (514) 840-7441
