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Montreal
Bourgie Hall
Bourgie Hall’s 2024-25 season promises a wide range of chamber and solo musical performances, spanning numerous genres, centuries and musical styles. Perhaps most notably, Bourgie Hall will kick off a multi-year project: the performance of all of Franz Schubert’s lieder. This inaugural year of the project will see concerts by singer and pianist Rachel Fenlon (Oct.4); Magalie Simard-Galdès and Bourgie Hall’s co-artistic director, pianist Olivier Godin (Nov. 2); baritone Benjamin Appl and pianist Eric Lu (Feb. 13); tenor Ian Bostridge and pianist Julius Drake (Feb. 26); and Harriet Burns, Julien Van Mellaerts, and Ian Tindale (June 1) in recital. Beyond all things Schubert, Bourgie Hall’s season will include several performances by Artist-in-Residence pianist Louis Lortie (Oct.16 and 17; Feb. 4; March 19, 20); chamber concerts by the Castialian String Quartet (Nov. 13) and cellist Steven Isserlis (Feb. 11, 12); and recitals by pianists including Louise Bessette (Oct. 12), Clare Hammond (Nov. 15), Imogen Cooper (Jan. 30), Francine Kay (Feb. 25), and Elisabeth Brauss (March 12). The season will also include a number of guitar recitals, concerts presented by Trio Fibonacci and Constantinople, and much more. www.mbam.qc.ca/en/bourgie-hall
Pentaèdre
One of Montreal’s most exciting chamber music ensembles, Pentaèdre will continue to present wind repertoire in creative ways this season. Their season will open with a concert curated by flutist Ariane Brisson who, alongside cellist Cameron Crozman, pianist Megan Milatz, and mezzo-soprano Rose Naggar-Tremblay, will present a program of works by Crumb, Saariaho, Ravel, and Debussy (Oct. 5). They will continue the season in downtown Montreal’s Crew Collective & Cafe, where hostess Katherine Verebely and composer Maxime McKinley will join forces with Pentaèdre for a Roaring-20s-themed evening of Schoenberg, Nielsen, Ropartz, Ibert, Hindemith, and McKinley (Nov. 23). Then, in February, the ensemble will present one of the earliest known works for wind quintet, by Giuseppe Maria Cambini, Pilss’ Sérénade, Taffanel’s Quintette and a new work by Ferdinand Chupin (Feb. 22). They will then join forces with pianist Sandra Murray to pay homage to the tradition of the Concours de Paris (March 15) and to highlight the talents of oboist Flavie Lacoste (winner of the 2023 Pentaèdre-Youkali Competition). The season will close with a combination of jazz and classical music favourites, including Reinhard Gutschy’s arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, which will feature pianist Philip Chiu (May 9). www.pentaedre.com
Les Idées heureuses
Les Idées heureuses continues their 38th season with the fourth edition of their popular Chaconne and Chocolate series, this time transporting audiences to England. The music of Purcell, Boyce, and Handel will be interpreted by four singers, and six instrumentalists, led by Dorothéa Ventura (Oct. 6). Jean-François Daignault will then lead the ensemble in an evening of lesser-known and popular French-Canadian works, juxtaposed with Medieval and Renaissance repertoire (Nov. 12). In the new year, they will present a concert of dance music from New France (Jan. 16), followed by the third iteration of their Christoph Graupner project, through which they are performing his complete Good Friday cantatas. This concert, conducted by Geneviève Soly, is a collaboration with Salle Bourgie (April 18). www.ideesheureuses.ca
LMMC Concerts
The Ladies’ Morning Musical Club (LMMC) opens their season with the Calidore String Quartet, who will be making their fourth LMMC appearance (Sept. 8). They will then welcome Boston-born pianist George Li, a graduate of both Harvard University and the New England Conservatory (Sept. 29). Violinist Blake Pouliot and pianist Henry Kramer will join forces for Pouliot’s second concert with the LMMC (Oct. 20). Award-winning pianist Benjamin Grosvenor will make his LMMC debut with a program of concert repertoire yet-to-be-announced (Nov. 10). The first half of the season will close with cellist Victor Julien-Laferrière and pianist Théo Fouchenneret (Dec. 1). Quebec’s own soprano Karina Gauvin will ring in the new year for the LMMC, alongside long-time collaborator pianist Michael McMahon (Jan. 26). While the first half of the season celebrates solo repertoire, the second half turns to chamber music: with the Goldmund Quartett (Feb. 23), the Fauré Quartett (March 16), the Leonkoro Quartet (April 6), and Trio Wanderer (April 27). www.lmmc.ca
Toronto
Women’s Musical Club of Toronto (WMCT)
The Women’s Musical Club of Toronto (WMCT) will present Toronto audiences with five chamber music concerts as part of their 2024-25 season. Clarinetist James Campbell and pianist Angela Park will join soprano Leslie Fagan for a program including Schubert’s Shepherd on the Rock, and Glick’s Images at Nightfall, Georgian Bay (Oct. 3). Not long after, violinist Julian Rachlin, violist Sarah McElravy, cellist Karen Ouzounian, and pianist Sheng Cai will perform Brahms’s Piano Quartet No. 2 in addition to Bach’s Goldberg Variations, arranged for string trio (Nov. 14). Come springtime, the Marmen Quartet will present works by Haydn, Bartók, Salina Fisher, and Debussy (March 13). Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio graduates Frances Armstrong (piano) and Midori Marsh (soprano) will perform a recital on the theme of sisterhood, highlighting the works of Malibran and Viardot as well as Lili and Nadia Boulanger. Marsh was the 2024 recipient of the WMCT Career Development Award (April 3). Tenor Asitha Tennekoon will close off the WMCT’s season alongside pianist Steven Philcox. The pair will interpret works by Vaughan Williams and Ian Cusson, as well as première a new work, commissioned by the WMCT (May 8). www.wmct.on.ca
RCM Koerner Hall
Midori Marsh, Photo by Gaetz Photography
Koerner Hall is indisputably one of Toronto’s most sought-after musical venues, attracting orchestras, chamber groups, and soloists from around the world. Among the season’s chamber music highlights will be recitals by pianists Emanuel Ax (Oct. 6), Benjamin Grosvenor (Nov. 8), Bruce Liu (Jan. 19), Louis Lortie (Feb. 9), Schaghajegh Nosrati (March 23), harpsichordist David Louie (Nov.3), violinist Kavakos (Nov. 9), soprano Measha Brueggergosman-Lee (Jan. 24), concerts by the Viano Quartet (Nov. 17) with guitarist Miloš AKA MILOŠ), soprano Barbara Hannigan and pianist Bertrand Chamayou (Nov. 28), sibling duo cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason (Dec. 11), and the Royal Conservatory of Music’s own ARC Ensemble (April 6). www.rcmusic.com
Western Canada
Vancouver Recital Society
The 45th season of high-quality concert presentation at the Vancouver Recital Society opens with homegrown talent: soprano and pianist Rachel Fenlon, now based in Berlin, will present Schubert’s Winterreise (Sept. 8). Pianist Tamara Stefanovich, who will play works by Bach, Messaien, and Rameau is sure to be an October highlight (Oct. 20). Born in Djibouti and raised in France, guitarist Raphaël Feuillâtre will make his Vancouver debut with the VRS in the fall (Nov. 24). Ringing in the new year will be world-renowned guitarist MILOŠ, who previously made his debut with the organization in 2013 (Jan. 26). For something completely different, the Norwegian 10-piece all-female brass ensemble tenThing will present a concert including works ranging from Copland, Price, and Chaminade, to Bernstein and Holiday (Feb. 23). Swedish violinist Johan Dalene will be joined by pianist Sahun Sam Hong for a springtime performance featuring works by Schumann, Rautavaara, and Ravel. This will be the 2022 Gramophone’s Young Artist of the Year Award-winners Canadian debut (March 23). Nearing the end of the season, Yo-Yo Ma will come to town for a one-night-only event featuring musical samplings and personal reflections from the groundbreaking cellist (May 9). www.vanrecital.com
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