Toronto, ON, November 11, 2025 – This season the 21C Music series, now in its 13th edition, includes five concerts in late January and an additional one in May 2026. The series features music composed mostly during the 21st century, which often crosses boundaries and genres. With this newly-minted music, audiences have an opportunity to experience fresh new sounds and ideas from the greatest musical minds of today and experience works by Canadian as well as international composers, and musicians who are mining new musical territories, breaking down barriers, and introducing us to new virtuosic music creations.
In total, the Festival will include more than 7 premieres: 2 world (Alison Yun-Fei Jiang’s Shan Shui [山水] and Christopher Mayo’s Concerto for Saxophone), 2 world premieres of new arrangements (Mille Regretz by Nicolas Gombert and Missa de Mille Regretz: Agnus Dei by Cristóbal de Morales), 1 Canadian (Katharine Petkovski’s Above), 2 Ontario (selections from The Twelve Chinese Zodiac Animals by Vincent Ho and Osvaldo Golijov’s Tintype), and several pieces performed by Brad Mehldau with Kirill Gerstein. Works by 5 Canadian composers will be featured (Katharine Petkovski’s Above, excerpts from Ana Sokolović’s Dawn Always Begins in the Bones, selections from The Twelve Chinese Zodiac Animals by Vincent Ho, Alison Yun-Fei Jiang’s Shan Shui (山水), and Christopher Mayo’s Concerto for Saxophone) and more than 9 Canadian artists and ensembles (violist Barry Shiffman, pianist Tony Yike Yang, flutist Dora Wong, guzheng player Cynthia Qin, conductor Brian Current, The Happenstancers, Glenn Gould School New Music Ensemble, musicians from The Glenn Gould School and The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists, and more) will participate in the Festival.
Mervon Mehta, Executive Director of Performing Arts at The Royal Conservatory, said: “The RCM’s commitment to new composers, new artists, and new sounds remains steadfast. From world premieres which obliterate musical boundaries to beloved artists enlarging their own palettes, we bring voracious Toronto audiences music that will “stretch their ears,” as Charles Ives famously said over a century ago. We are particularly thrilled to be presenting so many current students and recent graduates on four of the six evenings. We invite you to take a risk with us and to jump in with both feet!”
Brad Cherwin, Artistic Director of The Happenstancers
The Happenstancers: Always Darkest … Dawn Always
Performed by “Toronto’s best young chamber musicians” (Bachtrack), this unique program charts a course across a single night, framing the emotional apotheosis within Arnold Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night, and its depiction of the tension between and reconciliation of two lovers. This program on January 16 juxtaposes three settings of Josquin de Prez’s Renaissance song Mille Regretz (1000 Regrets) with contemporary chamber works and reimagining each work as a time and corresponding emotional state over the course of the night, concluding with dawn and the lovers’ renewal.
Gabriela Montero Photo: Anders Brogaard
Gabriela Montero
Gabriela Montero’s concert on January 18, which is also part of Piano Recitals series, will be an exploration of the westward migration of Eastern European composers to Los Angeles for work in the film industry in the early 20th century, coupled with the delight and buoyancy of the pianist’s classical improvisations for which she is famous, this time accompanying Charlie Chaplin’s film The Immigrant. The first half will include works by Russian composers who all journeyed to Hollywood – Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, and Stravinsky. Montero’s visionary interpretations and unique compositional gifts have garnered her critical acclaim and a devoted following on the world stage. Celebrated for her exceptional musicality and ability to improvise, Montero is a frequent recitalist and chamber musician, having performed at such distinguished venues as Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Vienna Konzerthaus, Sydney Opera House, and the National Concert Hall in Taipei. “Montero’s playing had everything: crackling rhythmic brio, subtle shadings, steely power … soulful lyricism … unsentimental expressivity,” said The New York Times.
Series generously supported by Michael Foulkes & Linda Brennan and an anonymous donor
Concert generously supported by an anonymous donor
With generous additional support provided from The Michael and Sonja Koerner Fund for Classical Programming
Tony Yike Yang
Tony Yike Yang and Friends Celebrate Chinese New Year
Hailed by CBC Music as one of Canada’s finest young musicians, pianist Tony Yike Yang first rose to international acclaim at the age of 16 after becoming the youngest-ever laureate in the history of the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, winning the 5th prize in 2015. The alumnus of the RCM’s Taylor Academy has also performed for dozens of royalty, dignitaries, and ambassadors such as HRH Camilla, the Queen Consort of the United Kingdom, HRH Queen Mathilde of Belgium, former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, former Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah, and Polish President Andrzej Duda, among others. The program on January 23 includes the Ontario premieres of selections from Vincent Ho’s The Twelve Chinese Zodiac Animals, Book 2: Preludes and Fugues, works by Scriabin and Kapustin, as well as traditional Chinese songs with Dora Wong on bamboo flute and Cynthia Qin on guzheng.
Brian Current
21C Afterhours: GGS New Music Ensemble
On January 24, the GGS New Music Ensemble presents a late-night journey into bold new sound worlds, curated and conducted by Brian Current. The Broken Mirrors of Time brings together a powerful trio of works that reflect the evolving face of contemporary music. Alison Yun-Fei Jiang unveils a brand-new piano concerto, Shan Shui (山水), commissioned by The Glenn Gould School with support from The Canada Council for the Arts and Christopher Mayo’s Concerto for Saxophone, commissioned in partnership with the Riot Ensemble, UK, receives its world premiere with explosive energy. Anchoring the program is The Broken Mirrors of Time by acclaimed South African composer Andile Khumalo – a work of haunted elegance and layered resonance.
Barry Shiffman
New Worlds: Music of Golijov
Associate Dean of The Glenn Gould School and Director of The Taylor Academy, Barry Shiffman leads a concert of works by celebrated Argentine-American composer Osvaldo Golijov, “a musical alchemist (who) conjures up new worlds” according to The New York Times on January 25. Among other works, the program includes Tintype, a new work co-commissioned by 21C Music for viola and string quintet.
Commission of Tintype generously supported by Judith Gelber
With generous additional support provided from The Michael and Sonja Koerner Fund for Classical Programming
Brad Mehldau
Photo: Sofie Knijff
Brad Mehldau with Kirill Gerstein
Classical music and jazz collide on May 8 as two of today’s most prolific and compelling pianists join forces to create a unique program featuring jazz exploration, classical romanticism, and pop allure. Brad Mehldau, the Grammy Award–winning American pianist and composer, has long been celebrated for his ability to bridge musical worlds. Since the early 1990s, he has shaped modern jazz through his deeply expressive playing, which combines spontaneous invention with a fascination for musical structure. His performances are both intimate and unpredictable – a meeting of intellect and emotion, form and freedom. Kirill Gerstein, a pianist equally at home in classical and jazz idioms, is known for his dynamic artistry and wide-ranging curiosity. Born in the former Soviet Union and trained in the USA, Gerstein brings a rare versatility to his performances. His repertoire spans from Bach and Liszt to contemporary composers and new commissions, reflecting his passion for connecting diverse musical voices. Their collaboration grew from a shared fascination with the space between composition and improvisation. As Gerstein recalls: “I felt an immediate, visceral pull to his musical language … Our friendship has deepened, as have our shared explorations of the porous border between written and improvised music.” Mehldau shares: “He is a virtuoso with an astoundingly large and varied repertoire, but he is much more than that … Kirill and I have been exploring ways to combine written music and improvisation, and the program we put together will reflect that.”
Find 21C music at www.rcmusic.com/performance/21c-music.
