Browsing: Canadian Music

In September 2022, City Opera Vancouver broke new ground with the world première of Chinatown. The commission remains one of the only operas in existence to be sung in Hoisan, a Chinese dialect, and the first opera to be written about one of Canada’s many Chinatown districts. Now, one year later, Chinatown is set to reach a wider audience with the release of its original cast recording, on Halifax-based record label Leaf Music. Chinatown is the fourth commission by City Opera Vancouver in its 17-year history. The company is committed to the creation of purposeful works that showcase Canadian themes…

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This section is an advertising supplement. To announce here, contact [email protected]. Etiquette Maureen Batt and Erin Bardua, soprano; Lucy Hayes Davis, mezzo-soprano; Tara Scott, piano; Brad Reid, clarinet  Leaf Music, September 2023 Etiquette by composer Monica Pearce, with libretto by John Terauds, offers a glimpse of 1920s icons by diving into the lives of Dorothy Parker, Emily Post, and Nancy Astor. Inspired by Parker’s sharp critique of Post’s “Etiquette” from 1927, the opera offers a window into their era. Commissioned by Essential Opera in 2013, this première recording blends traditional themes, echoing the timeless practice of revisiting history to shed…

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Inuktitut Elisapie Bonsound, September 2023 Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd, Going to California by Led Zeppelin, Wild Horses by the Rolling Stones, The Unforgiven by Metallica, I Want to Break Free by Queen, Heart of Glass by Blondie, Born to Be Alive by Patrick Hernandez. These are just some of the classics reinterpreted in Inuktitut by Quebec native artist Elisapie on her new album, produced by Joe Grass. The 10 chosen hits, translated and adapted into Elisapie’s mother tongue, evoke emotionally-charged moments from her youth in her community of Salluit, Nunavik. The result is a highly personalized artistic…

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Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM) Led by conductor Rafael Payare, the OSM celebrates the orchestra’s 90th anniversary this season, along with the 10th anniversary of the Grand Orgue Pierre-Béique. The orchestra will start the year with an electric performance of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (Sept. 12-14). Payare and OSM concertmaster Andrew Wan will later take the stage to interpret Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Webern’s Passacaglia, and Mozart’s “Haffner’’ Symphony (Oct. 25, 26). Come November, Christoph Eschenbach will conduct Alban Berg’s Concerto “To the Memory of an Angel” and Beethoven’s Symphony No.7 (Nov. 8, 9). The orchestra will get in the…

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Jeunesses Musicales Canada Jeunesses Musicales Canada is back with another action-packed season of programming for a wide variety of ages. The holiday season kicks off the concerts this year with Bal de L’Halloween. Children can enjoy a costume party and magnificent ball full of witches, animals, and unique creatures, all while dancing to traditional Halloween music (Oct. 22, 29). Soon after Halloween, young ones and their families can return for the Christmas show, Un Monde pour Noël. This show, a co-production with the Ensemble Alkemia, follows the journey of a mischievous little girl in search of her presents. Along her…

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Toronto Symphony Orchestra  The Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s 2023-24 season has something for everyone, with their Masterworks series, Pops concerts, special events, and youth programming. To start off the season, conductor Gustavo Gimeno will lead the orchestra in performances of Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F, with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, programmed alongside Lili Boulanger’s D’un matin de printemps, and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (Sept. 20, 21). Seong-Jin Cho will then join the orchestra at the piano in a performance of works by Ravel (Sept. 28-30). Trevor Wilson, the TSO’s RBC Resident Conductor,will take the podium for a program of English favourites,…

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Claire Gignac, artistic and general director of La Nef, says that its repertoire is defined by “a mosaic of musical colours,” the result “of all sorts of artists, disciplines, types of music, repertoires and resonances coming together.” The 2023-24 season will offer four engaging concerts reflecting this range of musical approaches. To open the new season Oct. 18 at Centre St-Jax, the show Tant que vivray will feature Vincent Lauzer on recorder and Sylvain Bergeron on lute. Dedicated to baroque music, the concert will present an instrumental repertoire from France, Spain and England from the 16th and 17th centuries. Soprano…

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Angela Hewitt, Piano  Sought after as both a soloist and collaborator in recital and chamber performances, Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt will appear in Stresa, Italy, for a solo recital of works by Bach and Schumann (Sept. 5). Shortly after, she can be heard in Kempten, Germany, performing Bach’s Goldberg Variations, with Christian Bakanic (accordion), Petrit Çeku (guitar), Christian Wendt (bass) and Benjamin Schmid (violin) (Sept. 19). The rest of her season has yet to be announced. www.angelahewitt.com Philippe Sly, Bass-Baritone Bass-baritone Philippe Sly will spend the first half of his 2023-24 season performing on home-soil in Quebec (Nov. 1), Halifax…

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If Guelph is the ignition switch for jazz in Southern Ontario, the Off Festival de Jazz de Montréal (OFJM) is its counterpart for the Montreal region. Both events have long histories, the OFJM stretching back to Y2K, when local musicians banded together to call out the city’s mammoth jazz festival for its cavalier attitude toward them. Off Festival On Again Having outgrown that original purpose, the event has carved its own niche over time, now casting itself as a promoter of local talent, of which the city has no short supply. In its upcoming 24th edition, running from Oct. 5…

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