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Bronwyn Thies-Thompson, Tim Brady, Sarah Albu, and Marie-Annick Béliveau. MARS: Sign of Life premieres December 3–5, 2026 at Centaur Theatre, Photo courtesy of Bradyworks.

Newswire | Bradyworks announces MARS: Sign of Life

By Newswire on 10 June 2026 Classical, Montreal, Newswire, Opera

Montreal, June 9, 2026 – Bradyworks is pleased to announce the premiere of the chamber opera MARS: Signs of Life. Featuring music by composer Tim Brady and a libretto by Alexis Diamond, this new production will bring together soloists Bronwyn Thies-Thompson, Sarah Albu, and Marie-Annick Béliveau on stage. Performances will take place on December 3, 4, and 5, 2026 at the Centaur Theatre. MARS: Signs of Life is the 3rd opera in the ambitious tetralogy of chamber operas by composer Tim Brady, entitled “HOPE (and the dark matter of history)”. Following on the success of Backstage at Carnegie Hall (2022) and INFORMATION (2024), MARS continues to explore fundamental issues…

Leland Ko, third-prize winner of the 2026 Queen Elisabeth Cello Competition, Photo courtesy of the Queen Elisabeth Competition.

Newswire | Canadian Leland Ko wins third at Queen Elisabeth

By Newswire on 1 June 2026 Arts Industry, Classical, Classical Music, Strings

Belgium – The First Prize – Queen Mathilde Prize includes a cash award of €25.000 and numerous concert engagements in Belgium and abroad. Thanks to the Pau Casals Foundation, Ettore Pagano will also receive the Goffriller “Casals” cello on loan for a period of four years. Prize List QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL GRAND PRIZE First Prize – Queen Mathilde Prize €25,000 Ettore Pagano PRIZE OF THE BELGIAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Second Prize, awarded by the Belgian Science Policy €20,000 Tae-Yeon Kim COUNT DE LAUNOIT PRIZE Third Prize €17,000 Leland Ko PRIZE OF THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE BELGIAN COMMUNITIES Fourth Prize,…

La Scena Musicale’s Summer Festival Picks

By La Scena Musicale Team on 1 June 2026 Canadian Music, Classical, Classical Music, Musique populaire

Alberta and British Columbia by Hal Kowalewski Banff Centre Summer Arts Festival The Banff Centre Summer Arts Festival, in Banff, Alta., is one of the largest off-season events in Western Canada, featuring exhibitions, film screenings, the Literary Cabaret writers’ series, and more. The organization concludes the summer with the Banff International String Quartet Festival. Additional events include the Art of Piano series, the return of the outdoor “In a Landscape” concert, a visit from renowned violinist James Ehnes, and the presentation of Tapestry Opera’s Torrent of Light, focused on the ethics of AI. www.banffcentre.ca/summer-arts-fest ChamberFest West Entering its fifth year,…

Photo: Bo Huang

Mark Fewer: New Bach Recording Showcases Canadian Luthiers

By Heather Weinreb on 1 June 2026 Classical, Classical Music, Violin

Canadian violinist Mark Fewer not only plays the violin—he plays a lot of them. His album—J.S. Bach: Violin Sonatas and Partitas, to be released by Leaf Music in August—is recorded on six different violins, each made by a leading Canadian luthier. The album is an “homage to Canadian makers. …I thought, what better way to pay tribute to these great makers than to challenge yourself to record the greatest challenge of the repertoire to begin with—which is this repertoire of unaccompanied Bach,” says Fewer. A passion for lutherie has marked the performer’s career. When he founded the Sweetwater Music Festival…

Photo: Curtis Perry

Alexander Shelley: Saying Goodbye to NACO

By Emma Yee on 1 June 2026 Classical, Classical Music, Orchestral, Ottawa

Eleven years ago, in 2015, Alexander Shelley was named the youngest-ever music director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO). He recalls the great anticipation he felt at the prospect of working with “such a classy group of musicians, such a great group of individual talents, and such a sophisticated orchestra. I knew I’d have this double-sided challenge of maintaining the qualities they had developed from years prior, and also exploring new territory.” When Shelley began his tenure, the orchestra was starting to plan for Canada 150, which, the maestro says, created a challenge “to interrogate the question of national…

The Girl Who Cried Pearls. Photo: National Film Board of Canada

Music and Film | The Girl Who Cried Pearls: Where Music and Animation Meet

By Flora Marie Angerer on 1 June 2026 Classical, Classical Music, Film, Montreal

In animated film, where every image and sound is deliberately constructed, music plays a central narrative and aesthetic role, shaping atmosphere, rhythm and emotional perception while reinforcing immersion in the film’s fictional world. Music can operate in different ways within animated film, from recurring musical themes linked to characters and emotions in How to Train Your Dragon to the song-driven storytelling of Disney’s Frozen. Films like The Red Turtle rely on music to shape atmosphere and perception despite minimal dialogue, while Pixar’s Soul places music itself at the centre of the narrative. Particularly fascinating in its use of music is…

Pianist Bruce Liu

Newswire | Club musical de Québec Unveiling the 2026-2027 season

By Newswire on 18 March 2026 Chamber Music, Classical, Classical Music, Newswire, Orchestral, Quebec City

Québec City, March 17, 2026 – A concert suspends time… just long enough for borders to disappear, for globetrotting performers to make a stop in Québec, for the pace of life to slow, and for audiences and musicians to share a moment together. This is your chance to appreciate the outstanding artistic personalities and the wealth of repertoire that the Club musical de Québec is proud to present for its 135th season. One of the jewels in the city’s crown, the Club offers outstanding musical experiences that bring people together in events that are worthy of the world’s greatest cities…

The Dover Quartet at the Celebrity Series of Boston. Photo: Robert Torres

Review | The Dover Quartet at LMMC: Classical & Romantic Combined

By Jan Krejcar on 10 February 2026 Classical, Classical Music, Concert Reviews, Montreal, Romantic, Strings

On Feb. 8, the temperature in Montreal plummeted to -16°C and a biting wind lowered it by some magnitudes more. The city was in need of some warmth and sun, and they got it. The Dover Quartet rolled into town to play for the Ladies’ Morning Musical Club and fortuitously gifted the audience in Oscar Peterson Concert Hall one of Joseph Haydn’s (1732-1809) “Sun” quartets–op. 20, no. 4. in D major. Note: there is nothing particularly sunny about the opus 20 quartets. The nickname comes from one of the early editions having a picture of a sun on its cover.…

Kerry-Anne Kutz, Julie Leblanc, Monique Fauteux and Catherine Léveillé of Quatuor Musaïque

Festival de la Voix: Montreal’s Celebration of the Voice

By Kaitlyn Chan on 2 February 2026 Baroque and Early, Canadian Music, Classical, Contemporary, Interviews, Montreal, Vocal, Vocal Jazz

Vox Aeterna was founded in 2008 to foster the vocal arts scene in and around Montreal, encouraging the growth of vocal concerts and educational opportunities. Four years later, the charitable organization created Festival de la Voix with these same principles in mind. The multi-week festival introduces audiences to professional vocalists from various backgrounds, cultures and musical styles. Discovering Beautiful Voices Artistic Director Kerry-Anne Kutz’s well-trained ear makes her an excellent judge of talent. “The first thing that I think about—no matter what the genre—is the beauty of the voice,” she says about programming. From established artists such as soprano Myriam…

Katarzyna Musiał. Photo: Agnieszka Stalkoper

Report | Festival Stella Musica: Celebrating a Decade of Women’s Voices

By Adrian Rodriguez on 7 November 2025 Classical, Contemporary, Jazz, Montreal, Piano, Vocal

Since its founding, the Stella Musica Festival has been dedicated to celebrating the achievements of women in music and the arts, weaving connections between styles, cultures, and eras. For its 10th edition, under the artistic direction of pianist Katarzyna Musiał, the Festival offered an intimate evening where virtuosity, discovery, and shared emotion came together. On Oct. 26, the warm acoustics of Montreal’s Salle Claude-Léveillée created the perfect setting for a program that moved fluidly from classical repertoire to jazz, contemporary works, and world-music influences. The small room was packed, with the audience only a few meters from the performers, able…

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