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Newswire | Soundstreams Announces 2026/27 Season

By Newswire on 25 February 2026 Choral, Classical Music, Contemporary, Newswire, Toronto

February 23, 2026 (TORONTO, ON)—Lawrence Cherney, Founding Artistic Director of Soundstreams, has announced the company’s 44th season, kicking off this October with a major celebration of Steve Reich, performed by some of the world’s greatest interpreters of his music. Sir James MacMillan returns to Soundstreams with his new oratorio Angels Unawares, next February. Praise Song for Oceania will feature artists and works connected by the Pacific Ocean, curated by Soundstreams New Voices Mentorship Program winner Jesse Plessis, and next June’s CELLO X 8, presented in collaboration with Luminato and VEMU Estonian Museum Canada, will invite eight virtuoso cellists from Canada…

Listen | Yuma Kagiyama Skates Olympic Free Program to Premiere of Christopher Tin’s Turandot Finale

By Wah Keung Chan on 13 February 2026 Contemporary, Opera, Orchestral

When Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama skated his free program at the 2026 Olympic Men’s Figure Skating Finals, it was to the World premiere of a special condensed version of composer Christopher Tin’s new ending of Puccini’s Turandot. Tin reduced his 18 minute ending to 4:17 and it was recorded over two days at Abbey Road Studios in London, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the English National Opera Chorus, and then added soloists Grammy-winning soprano Christine Goerke and tenor Clay Hilley. Unfortunately, Kagiyama made several mistakes and only placed sixth in the Free Program, which when combined with his second place…

Claude Vivier, Dieter Ammann and Aziza Sadikova

Esprit Orchestra: Heat Efficiency

By Emma Yee on 2 February 2026 Canadian Music, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Contemporary, Toronto

For their March 26 program, Heat Efficiency, Esprit Orchestra offers an international bill of composers, from Canadians Nicholas Ma and Claude Vivier to the Swiss Dieter Ammann and Uzbekistani Aziza Sadikova, whose work will be heard in Toronto for the first time. The concert opens with Nicholas Ma’s Memory of a Breath, his second commission with Esprit after last season’s Hijinks, which marked the composer’s first time working with a professional orchestra. According to Ma, Conductor and Artistic Director Alex Pauk encouraged him to “push [himself] further, trying out things that [he] hadn’t done before” in an effort “to provide…

Photo: Ben Ealovega

Steven Osborne: Trusting His Instincts

By Catherine Kustanczy on 2 February 2026 Classical Music, Contemporary, Piano

Steven Osborne wants to take his audiences on a trip of the musical variety. The Scottish pianist will be in Montreal March 1 for a recital presented by the Ladies Morning Musical Club (LMMC). The program of works by Schubert and Beethoven marks his premiere solo recital with LMMC. “I really like programs where there’s a journey,” he says. “When I have a sense of story, I feel like I’m connecting better to the audience.” Appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for Services to Music in 2022, Osborne has performed on a number of prestigious stages,…

Art of Time Ensemble: The Soldier’s Tale For Today

By Justin Bernard on 2 February 2026 Canadian Music, Contemporary, Interviews, Vocal

Sankofa refers to a mythical bird prevalent in West African culture, usually portrayed with its feet pointing forward and its head leaning backwards. In the Twi language of Ghana, the word itself best translates as “to go back and retrieve what was forgotten”—a symbol that certainly appeals to Black communities reclaiming heritage and knowledge of a time when they were deemed lesser humans. Sankofa, The Soldier’s Tale Retold, the new Leaf Music release by Andrew Burashko and the Art of Time Ensemble, tells the story of a Black man who enlisted in the Canadian army during the First World War.…

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…

SMCQ: 60 Years of Creation

By Guillaume De Pauw on 29 January 2026 Canadian Music, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Contemporary, Montreal, Orchestral

The second half of Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ)’s anniversary season promises to be particularly busy, with five concerts, eight premieres and numerous collaborations with leading orchestras, ensembles and soloists. On the occasion of this 60th season, SMCQ reaffirms its role as a bridge between generations of composers. Artistic Director Simon Bertrand, a 2026 Opus Awards nominee for “Artistic Director of the Year,” offers an overview of the upcoming concerts in the following text. > Intergenerational dialogue is at the heart of this second part of the season. How did you come up with this theme for the…

Andrii Maslov in Paradisum. Photo: Balint Hirling

Review | A Poetic Night at the Circus: Recirquel’s Paradisum

By Kaija Pepper on 27 January 2026 Circus, Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Dance, Vancouver, West

Paradisum is an unusual theatrical experience—a dark and brooding new circus show grounded in contemporary dance, with enough high-flying acts of derring-do to arouse the audience to frequent applause. That at least was the case in Vancouver when Hungary’s Recirquel premiered Bence Vági’s Paradisum in North America as part of the DanceHouse season, presented in partnership with the Cultch. Key to this brooding and also beautiful work is the mysteriously threatening setting—mountains and towers rise imposingly, then collapse and reform, or melt into thin air and reappear in new configurations. Once I became aware of the simplicity of the stagecraft,…

Photo: Ashley Gattey

Review | A Cozy and Unconventional Christmas with Chor Leoni

By Kaitlyn Chan on 22 December 2025 Choral, Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Vancouver, Vocal, West

Dec. 18 marked the opening night of Chor Leoni’s annual Christmas concert. Lit with bright red, blue and magenta hues, the inside of St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church continues to be a magical venue. After attending last year, I was drawn to return, hoping to surround myself with holiday joy. The lights dimmed so that only blue lighting remained as the members of the choir emerged carrying lit candles. The opening song, “Wonder Nouvelet” was the first of five world premieres promised for the night. Chor Leoni’s guest instrumentalists quickly established themselves as the bright shining stars of the event. Almost…

Lebrecht Weekly | Album of the Year 2025

By Norman Lebrecht on 13 December 2025 Choral, Contemporary, Lebrecht Weekly, Vocal

It has been a year of Goldberg Variations – Yunchan Lim, the end of Vikingur Olafsson’s world tour, Mahan Esfahani on harpsichord, a two-guitar version on Warner, a trio version from Evil Penguin, a quiet contemplation recorded in Ely Cathedral. Most of these albums will be talked about for years. But the choice of record of the year is not just about posterity. It’s about an idea that changed our minds. It might be a concept album, like Anna Fedorova’s interweaving of Gershwin with French swing, or a forgotten stage musical like Kurt Weill’s Love Life, or the demarginalization of…

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