YELLOWKNIFE - The trucks are on the move, the stage is being set and the prayers to the ice-crossing gods have been answered: the Montreal Symphony Orchestra's debut performance in Yellowknife is ready to go.

Kent Nagano conducts the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. The stage is nearly set for the internationally- renowned, 91-piece orchestra to play in Yellowknife on Monday, April 16. - photo courtesy of Kasskara

"We're in the final stages here," said Northern Arts and Cultural Centre executive director Ben Nind of the Monday performance at St. Patrick high school.

"The community is ready to go for this."

On Tuesday, he said only 27 tickets out of an initial 850 were still available, a major feat in a city known for "last-minute" ticket-buying habits.

"I think the community has been really supportive," he said of the event, which was first announced along with the rest of the NACC season in September.

This support comes not just in the form of tickets sold, he said, but from the small army of sponsors and hard-working volunteers that will make the massive show happen.

"This is, we think, the largest single event that the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre has done," Nind said.

One major boon for NACC was the participation of RTL Robinson Enterprises, which covered a major expense: transporting equipment from Edmonton during the last days of the ice bridge.

"It's our goal to continue our involvement with community programs," said RTL president Tim Gzer.

"It will get there," he said of two trailer-loads of equipment making their way to Yellowknife via truck on Wednesday. However, he said decisions on how to get the equipment back to Edmonton would be up to NACC.

According to the NWT Department of Transportation website, the Fort Providence ice crossing is set to close today at 1:30 p.m.

While assembling nearly 100 musicians and support staff, more than 60 on-site volunteers and 850 music fans is no small feat, getting them and their equipment to Yellowknife is something else entirely.

MSO media representative Isabelle Huiban said this translates into boxes, lots of boxes. Seventy one-metre-cubed boxes, in fact, filled with instruments, podiums and sheet music, all travelling by plane.

"Image that," she said. "Two boxes just for the music sheets."

Nind said the show was not all that is happening when the MSO comes to town. The group is also holding a series of workshops and community outreach initiatives.

There is a pre-show discussion with MSO representatives at St. Pat's Betty Stevens Theatre, open to 60 people at 7 p.m., and moderated by Maureen Crotty, a member of Classics on Stage Yellowknife (COSY).

Conductors and composers from the MSO are also slated to work with COSY and Sir John Franklin's music program, respectively, while a select number of students from both high schools will get a chance to sit in on Monday's pre-show rehearsal.

"We're giving people access to (the symphony's) passion and their joy of performing music," Nind said.

The Montreal Symphony Orchestra performs at 8 p.m. at St. Patrick high school Monday. Attendees are warned to come early, as it's going to take a while to seat everyone.