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Newswire | 13th Edition Of 21C Music Line-Up Announced

By Newswire on 11 November 2025 Canadian Music, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Contemporary, Jazz, Newswire, Piano, Toronto

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…

The World of Kurtág Miniatures: Brigitte Poulin and the Játékok

By Viktor Lazarov on 10 November 2025 Contemporary, Montreal, Piano

In the 1980s, Montreal pianist Brigitte Poulin discovered the works of György Kurtág. As a 20-year-old student at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Poulin attended the contemporary music festival organized by Claudio Abbado in the Austrian capital, where a new Kurtág commission was being premiered. “Since then, his music has been a part of my life,” she says. As borders gradually opened, Poulin travelled to Budapest to hear Kurtág’s works. Some years later, she performed his chamber music in Italy. This fall, Poulin is releasing an album under the Leaf Music label dedicated to a collection…

Francis Perron: A Caring and Demanding Approach to Collaborative Piano

By Emma Yee on 10 November 2025 Classical Music, Montreal, Piano

Pianist and vocal coach Francis Perron is a fixture in Montreal’s music scene. He has given recitals with singers such as Christian Immler, François Le Roux and Nathalie Paulin, works with companies like Opéra de Montréal, the Canadian Opera Company, Chants Libres, and Wien Kammeroper. He developed Université de Montréal’s collaborative piano program. Since early in his career, Perron has been devoted to both opera and art song, and wants “to give [his students] as many tools as possible” to be successful in both. Perron started playing for singers as a teenager and, thinking back to that time when he…

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…

Sir András Schiff at Koerner Hall (2023). Photo: Royal Conservatory/Koerner Hall; Lisa Sakulensky

Review | András Schiff Offers Wit and Profound Wisdom at Koerner Hall

By David Fanning on 4 November 2025 Classical Music, Concert Reviews, Piano, Toronto

Sir András Schiff doesn’t make things easy for his audiences. And yet his Toronto recital was sold out, even with well over 100 additional seats on the platform. For some years now he does not advertise his programs in advance. But three things are virtually guaranteed: that he will include a generous helping of Bach, the composer whose music first brought him fame in the mid-1970s; that he will not include anything by a living composer and most likely nothing composed during his own lifetime; and that he will offer pianism and musical understanding of the highest order. On Nov.…

Contestant Élisabeth Pion

Review | Honens Finals: The Quintets and the Concerti

By Viktor Lazarov on 28 October 2025 Music Competition, Orchestral, Piano, Strings, West

Disclosure: this article was published without the author’s knowledge of final results. Finals I: October 23, 2025 The first finals round of the Honens International Piano Competition featured all three finalists performing Franck, Brahms, and Dvořák piano quintets with the Isidore String Quartet. The New York City-based ensemble are recipients of a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant and winners of the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022. A seemingly promising match of youth, talent, and ambition with each competing pianist. Yet this pairing conceals a more complicated reality: the Isidore Quartet contributes to each candidate’s evaluation in their final…

Photo: Johan Persson/Courtesy of Canada’s National Ballet School

Report | My Week in Canada’s National Ballet School Musicians’ Mentoring Program

By Andrea Rush on 27 October 2025 Dance, Piano, Toronto

George Balanchine described dance as visual music. “See the music, hear the dance” was his motto. The interconnectedness between sight and sound is not easy for instrumental musicians—pianists, orchestral musicians and their conductor—to convey. Mastering this skillset is remarkably complex and worthwhile, as the result is truly magical. Each year the National Ballet School of Canada (NBS) hosts a Musicians’ Mentoring Program in Toronto during the last week of September and the first week of October. This week-long intensive is a program designed for pianists who seek training to accompany dance classes of different levels. The syllabus includes improvisation, selection…

Newswire | Élisabeth Pion Announced as Gold Laureate of 2025 Honens International Piano Competition

By Newswire on 25 October 2025 Classical Music, Music Competition, Newswire, Piano, West

Calgary, AB, Oct. 24, 2025— Canadian pianist Élisabeth Pion (age 29) has been named Gold Laureate of the 2025 Honens International Piano Competition, following the Final rounds which included an English-language interview by Canadian arts journalist Katherine Duncan, and two intensive rounds of recitals: a performance of the César Franck Piano Quintet in F minor Op. 14 with the Isidore String Quartet, and of the Sergei Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major Op. 26 with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Elias Grandy. As Gold Laureate, Pion receives $100,000 (CAD) as well as a comprehensive, three-year Artist Development Program valued at an additional…

Artistic Director Jon Kimura Parker

Opinion | Honens Finals: No Gladiators in the Arena

By Viktor Lazarov on 24 October 2025 Classical Music, Music Competition, Piano, West

This year’s jury of the Honens International Piano Competition has made an interesting choice of finalists. “Interesting” being an unflattering epithet. Carter Johnson—one of the favourites to win the Gold Laureate—is a fair and expected choice given the mastery and maturity he has shown in all stages. Yet the selection of both Élisabeth Pion and Anastasia Vorotnaya comes as a surprise to most. Here’s a finer look at the reasons why. If you read my previous reviews, you will know that I ranked two semi-finalists above everyone else: Sandro Nebieridze and Chaeyoung Park. Nebieridze had shown more personality than…

Newswire | Honens Announces Finalists of the 2025 Honens International Piano Competition

By Newswire on 21 October 2025 Classical Music, Music Competition, Newswire, Piano, West

Calgary, AB, October 20, 2025— Honens announced tonight the three Finalists vying for the top prize at the 2025 Honens International Piano Competition, following two rounds of Semifinals from October 16 to 20, during which 10 distinguished Semifinalists participated in solo and chamber recitals at the Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall, Rozsa Centre. The three Finalists are Carter Johnson (29); Élisabeth Pion (29); and Anastasia Vorotnaya (30). They will compete for the title of 2025 Honens Gold Laureate, winning one of the world’s largest prizes of its kind—$100,000 CAD and a comprehensive, three-year artistic development and career accelerator program. The members of the…

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