Quebec City solidarity concert aims to break down 'imaginary walls' in wake of mosque shooting

It started with aFacebook postcalling for artiststo come together in the wake of a deadly mosque shooting inQuebec City, but little did Byron Mikaloff know that his idea would snowball into something much bigger.

Thepost was widely shared, artists volunteered their time, local businesses contributed moneyand a prominent concert hall allowed them to use their stage for free.

On Sunday night, over 1,000peoplepacked the Capitole de Qubec theatre in a show of solidarity.

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"There's too many fences, there's too many imaginary walls, it's a bridge-building celebration," said Mikaloff in an interview with CBC's All in a Weekend.

The show, entitled "Ensemble," or "Together" in English, features a lineup of almost 100 performers from all over the world.

Artists including Karim Ouellet, Bobby Bazini and The Lost Fingers (Mikaloff's group)will share the stage with musicians from countries such as China, Vietnam and Tunisia.

Originally from British Columbia,Mikaloffmoved to Quebec City in 1994, settling in Sainte-Foy, where the mosque shooting took place on Jan. 29.

After the attack,Mikaloffsaid he went to the mosque andwas left with one question:"What can I do?"

"It hit me right in the centre of the heart," he said.

"I got very emotional."

Now sold out, over 1,200 tickets were made available for free earlier this week. Mikaloff said some people waited in line the day before they were released.

A 17-foot-high screen isalso outside of the theater and is live streamingthe concert to those who could not get tickets.

Mikaloff said he and other organizers have been working long days, some more than 16 hours, for the last month to put it all together.

But he said the work has already begun to pay off. "The whole city has really come together," he said.

• Full coverage of the Quebec City mosque attack