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Jean-Philippe Sylvestre with Orchestre Classique de Montréal. Photo: Tam Photography

Review | Polish Gems with Orchestre Classique de Montréal

By Amanda Wong on 17 March 2026 Classical Music, Concert Reviews, Montreal, Orchestral, Piano, Vocal, Winds

On an unassuming night in the seclusion of Montreal’s Salle Pierre-Mercure, Orchestre Classique de Montréal (OCM) welcomed three unique soloists to perform a stylistically diverse program, unified under a theme of Polish music. Under the direction of OCM’s music director Andrei Feher, soprano Karoline Podolak, clarinettist Kornel Wolak (both Polish), and local pianist Jean-Philippe Sylvestre presented pieces by Frédéric Chopin (to no one’s surprise given the theme), Stanisław Moniuszko and Mieczysław Weinberg, as well as more contemporary pieces including works by Wojciech Kilar. The OCM, this time, was just a small group of string-only players. Sylvestre and Wolak kicked off…

Demetrious Sampson Jr. and Alissa Goretsky, Photo: Lynn Lane

Newswire | HGO streams Of Mice and Men

By Newswire on 12 March 2026 Classical Music, Newswire, Opera, Orchestral

WHAT: On Mar. 15, 2026 at 2:30 p.m., Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will share the company’s new production of Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men via its YouTube and Facebook channels. The livestream of the matinee performance at the Wortham Theater Center’s Cullen Theater will provide online audiences with the opportunity to experience the classic opera featuring a cast comprised entirely of rising artists from the company’s Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio program. For audiences who wish to attend Of Mice and Men in person, tickets to both performances—on Friday, Mar. 13 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Mar. 15 at 2:30 p.m.—are…

Newswire | Discover Opéra de Montréal’s 2026–2027 Season

By Newswire on 10 March 2026 Classical Music, Montreal, Newswire, Opera

Montreal, March 10, 2026 – Opéra de Montréal is proud to unveil its 2026–2027 season, an ambitious program bringing together six works, including four coproductions and two world premieres. Opéra de Montréal will also strengthen its collaboration with the Orchestre Métropolitain, which will participate in four productions, highlighting the scale and musical quality of the upcoming season. From grand repertoire to contemporary creations, the season stands out for its intensity and boldness, while reaffirming its commitment to local talent through its strong connection with the Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, a leading residency program for Canadian singers, pianists, and stage directors. Tickets will go…

Newswire | The Opéra de Montréal’s Atelier lyrique Announces Its New Cohort for 2026–2027

By Newswire on 10 March 2026 Arts Industry, Classical Music, Employment, Montreal, Opera

Montreal – February 26th 2026 – The Opéra de Montréal is proud to announce the new 2026–2027 cohort of its Atelier lyrique, following the grand finale of the National Auditions. Three singers, one director and one pianist* are joining this leading training programme, recognized as a springboard to a professional career in opera on the international stage. These national auditions generated considerable interest, with 140 applications received for singers, six for stage direction and nine for piano. The live voice auditions took place in several rounds in Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto and Calgary. Ten finalists were invited to participate in the final round in Montreal before a renowned jury.…

Zita Szemere (Lucia) in Hungarian State Opera's Lucia di Lammermoor. Photo: Attila NAGY / Hungarian State Opera

Review | Zita Szemere Shines in Hungarian State Opera’s Dramatically Confused Lucia di Lammermoor

By Gianmarco Segato on 3 March 2026 Concert Reviews, Opera, Vocal

Hungarian State Opera’s revival of their 2016 production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor by Máté Szabó gives us a new Lucia ascendant who succeeds within a dramatic vacuum. Up until now, soprano Zita Szemere has mostly been known for lyric roles such as Ilia, Norina, and Blonde. Here, she cranks things up a notch on her own vocal terms. She offers a beautifully sung, and convincingly dramatic Lucia, the tragic heroine abused by the men in her life, who only gains agency once she has been driven mad. Would that the production around her could offer a better showcase for…

Toronto Children's Chorus (TCC), Photo: Justin Friesen

Newswire | Toronto Children’s Chorus Tours Asia

By Newswire on 3 March 2026 Choral, Classical Music, Newswire

Toronto, March 2, 2026 – The Toronto Children’s Chorus embarks on its 34th international tour with travel to Hong Kong and Singapore in July 2026 where the Choir, under the leadership of Artistic Director Zimfira Poloz, has been invited to perform at two prestigious choral festivals. 38 TCC choristers (aged 12-17) and TCC artistic leaders will represent Canada through performances, musical and cultural exchange, and collaboration with top youth choirs from around the world. TCC Chamber Choir (TCC’s senior choir) was invited to be a Resident Choral Artist at the World Choir Festival-Hong Kong taking place from July 13-16, 2026.…

A scene from Opéra national de Paris's Carmen. Photo: Benoite Fanton

Review | How to Bludgeon Carmen: Bieito’s Lesson in Four Acts

By Denise Wendel-Poray on 27 February 2026 Concert Reviews, Opera, Vocal

Calixto Bieito’s Carmen at the Opéra Bastille—a production created in 1999 at the Festival de Peralada (Spain) and revived in Paris since 2017—arrives with the reputation of a once-scandalous staging. Yet what unfolds on stage today feels less provocative than crude. The production (seen Feb. 22) is built on a succession of aggressively literal gestures—sexual exhibitionism, staged violence, crudely stylized mob behavior—presented with little variation or psychological progression. Rather than revealing new facets of the characters, these devices reduce them to caricature: Carmen becomes a bundle of mannerisms, Don José a schematic figure of brutality, Escamillo a hollow emblem of…

Newswire | Azrieli Music Prizes: New Jewish Music, Vol. 5, Out February 27

By Newswire on 27 February 2026 Choral, Classical Music, Music Competition, Newswire, Orchestral, Vocal

The Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP), the top music composition competition in Canada, returns with its fifth album for Analekta. Available February 27, 2026, New Jewish Music, Vol. 5 features the world‑premiere recordings of the 2024 Azrieli Music Prize–winning works by Jordan Nobles (Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music), Josef Bardanashvili (Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music), Yair Klartag (Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music), and Juan Trigos (Azrieli Commission for International Music). All four works are performed by members of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and the OSM Chorus, conducted by Andrew Megill. The album will also be available in stereo and Dolby Atmos formats. Opening the album is kanata, an a cappella choral work in which Jordan Nobles uses…

Sean Panikkar (Sergei) & Ambur Braid (Katerina) in Komische Oper Berlin's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Photo: Monika Rittershaus

Review | Ambur Braid Kills It in Komische Oper Berlin’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

By Gianmarco Segato on 25 February 2026 Concert Reviews, Opera, Vocal

Like its material, Komische Oper Berlin’s new production of Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk by director Barrie Kosky is unrelentingly grim. The action takes place in an undefined space with a white rectangle superimposed upon a distressed gray wall. Props are minimal, the principal one being the title character’s bed where all manner of lust, violence and murder takes place. Visual excitement is ignited by the strategic movements of the chorus, and the unrelenting acrobatic demands placed on the principals. The story is told in a remarkably straightforward manner, but it’s the coalescence of all these artistic elements that pushes…

Photo: Bruce Zinger

Newswire | Opera Atelier Announces 2026/27 Season

By Newswire on 25 February 2026 Arts Industry, Classical Music, Newswire, Opera, Toronto

Toronto, ON — Opera Atelier founding Co-Artistic Directors Marshall Pynkoski, C.M. and Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg, C.M., today announce the company’s 2026/27 Season, A Season of Heroes. The season kicks off in the glorious acoustic of Toronto’s Koerner Hall with the company’s fully staged Canadian premiere of Marc Antoine Charpentier’s extraordinary masterpiece, The Descent of Orpheus on October 22-25, 2026. The opera is based on Ovid’s myth of Orpheus, who uses his gift of music to gain entry to the underworld and to return his lover Eurydice to the land of the living. Unlike other performance versions of this myth, Charpentier’s…

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