Orchestras: Ontario

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Toronto Symphony Orchestra 

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s 2023-24 season has something for everyone, with their Masterworks series, Pops concerts, special events, and youth programming. To start off the season, conductor Gustavo Gimeno will lead the orchestra in performances of Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F, with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, programmed alongside Lili Boulanger’s D’un matin de printemps, and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (Sept. 20, 21). Seong-Jin Cho will then join the orchestra at the piano in a performance of works by Ravel (Sept. 28-30). Trevor Wilson, the TSO’s RBC Resident Conductor,will take the podium for a program of English favourites, in a night of Vaughan Williams, Elgar, and Copland, featuring clarinetist Eric Abramovitz (Oct. 14, 15). James Ehnes, TSO 2023-24 Spotlight Artist, will interpret Barber’s Violin Concerto, conducted by Gimeno, alongside Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, and Revueltas’s Sensemayá (Oct. 18, 19, 21). In honour of György Ligeti’s 100th anniversary, concertmaster Jonathan Crow will perform the composer’s complex Violin Concerto (Oct. 25, 28, 29). www.tso.ca

Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra

The Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra returns to celebrate its 45th anniversary season, aptly titled The Sound of Beauty. Come September, Maestro Bruno Weil will join the orchestra for an evening of Beethoven, featuring his famous Fourth and Fifth Symphonies (Sept. 22-24). Emmanuel Resche-Caserta, concertmaster of Les Arts Florissants, will then take audiences on a journey through works by Lully, Corelli, Bembo, Jacquet de la Guerre, and Couperin (Oct. 13-15). Choral director and founder Ivars Taurins will then conduct Choral Kaleidoscope, a program built around Bach’s infamous “Jesu, meine Freude” (Nov. 17-19). The orchestra and choir will then join forces for a sure-to-be fierce run of Messiah performances (Dec. 14-16), with the return of their beloved singalong event (Dec. 17). Come the new year, guest director and violinist Lina Tur Bonet will lead the orchestra for a night of pieces in the stylus fantasticus (fantastic style) (Feb. 2-4). Canadian violinist Aisslinn Nosky will then direct a program of works by Telemann, Vivaldi, Fasch, and Locatelli (Feb. 23-25). The highlight of the orchestra’s 45th season is sure to be the première of a new work by instrumentalist, composer, and multidisciplinary artist Alison Mackay. With narration by singer and composer Jonathan Woody, and direction by Tafelmusik violinist Julia Wedman, the work will be coupled with selections by Lully, Purcell, Handel, Platti, Bach and Vivaldi (March 22-24). www.tafelmusik.org

National Arts Centre Orchestra 

The National Arts Centre Orchestra will hit the ground running this September, as they open their 2023-24 season with a performance of works by Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann, and Johannes Brahms. Conducted by Alexander Shelley, pianists Liz Upchurch and Emanuel Ax, and mezzo-soprano Alex Hetherington will join the orchestra for the occasion (Sept. 13). Soprano Midori Marsh, cellist Nicolas Altstaedt, and pianist Darren Creech will take the stage later that week for more works by Brahms and the Schumanns, all part of the orchestra’s festival, Focus: Clara, Robert, Johannes (Sept. 14). The festival will then continue with a performance by violinist/violist James Ehnes and pianist Stewart Goodyear, who will interpret Clara’s Piano Trio in G minor, Robert’s Piano Quartet in E-flat major, and Brahms’s String Sextet No. 1, respectively (Sept. 17). Ehnes, Upchurch, and Hetherington will perform again later in the month (Sept. 20), as will Isata Kanneh-Mason and Altstaedt (Sept. 21). In October, vocalist Katie Scarlett Swaney and conductor Jack Everly will treat audiences to an evening of Broadway favourites (Oct. 5-7), and Roderick Cox will lead the orchestra, with pianist Louis Lortie, as they play works by Coleridge-Taylor, Mozart, Fauré, and Beethoven (Oct. 25, 26). Traditional Finnish Yoik singer Niilas Holmber will be conducted by John Storgårds as the orchestra takes on Roope Mäenpää’s “Luovus,” Rautavaara’s Cantus Arcticus, and Sibelius’s Symphony No. 3 (Nov. 2, 3). Los Angeles-based circus group Troupe Vertigo will then shake things up at Southam Hall with a circus/dance/theatre event to the music of Chabrier, Gershwin, and Bizet (Jan. 25-27, 2024). www.nac-cna.ca

Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra

The Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra will present six concert series in their 63rd season. With their Masterworks, Pops, Hilldale, Chamber Series, Voices, Northern Lights, and Family programs, there is sure to be something for all patrons. The TBSO’s opening-night concert, Music for a Celebration, will feature the orchestra’s own Thomas Cosbey, who will play Barber’s Violin Concerto, alongside works by Jessie Montgomery, Canadian Alexina Louie, Honneger, and Poulenc (Oct. 13). The debut concert of the orchestra’s chamber music series will highlight the sounds of Latin American classical music, with pieces by Morlock, Santos, D’Rivera, Evangelista, and Ginastera (Nov. 3). In November, the orchestra will pay tribute to Canadian folk and popular musician Gordon Lightfoot in an orchestral rendering of his most memorable songs (Dec. 1). As part of their Pops series, the orchestra will be joined by the Quartetto Gelato to perform showpieces, romantic ballads, and classic jazz tunes (Jan. 20, 2024). The Thunder Bay chorus will then join the orchestra for a program of works by Bach, Purcell, and Vivaldi, along with contemporary works by Vivian Fung, and the violins of Christopher Stork and Kimberly Durflinger (Feb. 9). Flamenco band “Flamenco Caravan” will share the stage with the orchestra for a performance that combines flamenco, classical, jazz, Latin, and folk music styles (March 1). www.tbso.ca

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