Toronto
Eva Yerbabuena
Aga Khan Museum
The 11th annual Duende International Flamenco Festival features international headliners from Spain as well as family and community dance workshops. Performances include Oscuro Brillante with renowned flamenco dancer Eva Yerbabuena (Nov. 20); Cruces which brings together the four voices of flamenco: dance, song, guitar, and percussion (Nov. 21); Flamenco: Made in Canada featuring flamenco artists from diverse cultures (Nov. 22); and Alter Ego, an acclaimed contemporary flamenco creation (Nov. 23).
Ray Chen
Photo: Decca Records
Koerner Hall
Koerner’s piano recital series continues on Nov. 16 with superstar Canadian Jan Lisiecki in a program of preludes by Chopin, Bach, Szymanowski, Messiaen and Górecki. Then, on Nov. 19, star violinist Ray Chen is in recital with pianist Chelsea Wang presenting works by Saint-Saëns, Dvořák and Bach. Armenian-Canadian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian sings children’s songs, lullabies, and prayers from her homeland on Nov. 22. Harpist Loreena McKennitt presents Under A Winter’s Moon, her program of carols and tales that blends Celtic, Indigenous, and Welsh cultures on Dec. 13 and 14. Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero’s Jan. 18 recital explores Eastern European composers who migrated to Los Angeles for work in the film industry, including her own improvisational accompaniment to Charlie Chaplin’s film The Immigrant. On Feb. 4 Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti plays works by Debussy, Chopin, Sarasate, along with new commissions and arrangements of traditional Scottish music.
Joshua Bell
Photo: Shervin Lainez
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Violinist Joshua Bell plays the Canadian premiere of Ukrainian composer Thomas de Hartmann’s rediscovered Violin Concerto in a program that also includes Sibelius’s Finlandia and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7 under conductor Dalia Stasevska (Nov. 13, 15). TSO Music Director Gustavo Gimeno conducts his own arrangement of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet as well as Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 3 (Nov. 20-22). Another ballet suite, this time from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, finds Gimeno on the podium again, along with Russian pianist Denis Kozhukhin playing Grieg’s Piano Concerto (Nov. 27-30). The orchestra’s new year begins with a program of baroque favourites including Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons played and led by Concertmaster Jonathan Crow, joined by principal musicians Sarah Jeffrey (oboe), Heidi Elise Bearcroft (harp), and Rémi Pelletier (viola) from Jan. 8 to 11. Finnish conductor Eva Ollikainen leads Stravinsky’s The Firebird alongside Arvo Pärt’s Symphony No. 1 “Polyphonic” on Jan. 15 and 17. They are joined by Japanese pianist Mao Fujita for Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Canadian pianist Bruce Liu plays Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 under Gimeno on Jan. 22 and 23.
Tafelmusik
The orchestra presents Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos 1-4 from Jan. 29 to Feb. 1. Principal Guest Director Rachel Podger takes centre stage in the fourth concerto, with its virtuosic demands for the violin soloist. Completing the program is Bach’s organ Prelude and Fugue in E-flat, “St. Anne,” in a newly commissioned arrangement for orchestra.
Canadian Opera Company
The COC opens its winter season with Verdi’s Rigoletto in a revival of Christopher Alden’s production set in a Victorian men’s club. The cast is headlined by Quinn Kelsey in the title role, Andrea Carroll as Gilda, Ben Bliss as the Duke, Peixin Chen as Sparafucile, and Zoie Reams as Maddalena. COC Music Director Johannes Debus conducts (Jan. 24-Feb. 14).
(Left) Maeve Palmer, Photo: Sam Gaetz; (Right) Nicole Katerberg
VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert
The company’s season opens on Nov. 16 with the opéra comique, Richard Cœur-de-lion, by André Grétry, starring tenor Colin Ainsworth in the title role. An all-Canadian cast is led by music director and pianist Suzy Smith. Soprano Nicole Katerberg sings Richard’s queen, Marguerite, with tenor Yanik Gosselin as his faithful Squire, Blondel, and soprano Alice Macgregor as Laurette.
Toronto Operetta Theatre
For its holiday presentation, TOT presents Imre Kálmán’s Czardas Princess starring Maeve Palmer as Sylva Varescu, Scott Rumble as Prince Edwin, Patricia Wrigglesworth as Countess Stasi, and Sebastian Belcourt as Feri von Kerekes. Derek Bate conducts (Dec. 30-Jan. 4).
Gryphon Trio
Photo: Bo Huang
Music Toronto
The Gryphon Trio is joined by Norwegian a capella vocal ensemble Nordic Voices in four new creations by Andrew Balfour (Cree), Norbert Palej (Polish/Canadian), Bohdana Frolyak (Ukrainian), and Vancouver-based Jeffrey Ryan whose new commission sets a text by Toronto poet Michael Redhill (Jan. 27)
Tapestry Opera
Premiered by groundbreaking Danish company OPE-N in 2023, Tapestry brings composing team Matilde Böcher’s and Asger Kudahl’s Laughing Out Lonely to Toronto. This solo opera was created using English lyrics based on posts from young people on social media. Countertenor Morten Grove Frandsen embodies a myriad of outsiders who have found an absurd community in the darkest corners of the internet (Jan. 16 & 17)
Ottawa
Thirteen Strings
The orchestra celebrates its 50th anniversary with a special concert featuring one of the great Canadian artists of today, bass-baritone Gerald Finley. He will sing Bach’s Ich habe genung, Derek Holman’s Shakespeare Songs (written for Finley and Thirteen Strings), and excerpts from Handel’s Messiah. The concert, conducted by Matthew Larkin, also features a new work, Fanfare for Strings (Dec. 14)
Pablo Sáinz Villegas
Photo: Recámara Producciones
National Arts Centre Orchestra
The orchestra’s music director designate, John Storgårds, leads Brahms’s Symphony No. 3 and Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto played by debuting soloist, Augustin Hadelich. The program also includes Finnish composer Kalevi Aho’s arrangement for string orchestra of Bach’s final work, the Contrapunctus 13 from The Art of Fugue (Nov. 26 & 27). Spanish guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas makes his debut in a concert which includes a new work for solo guitar and orchestra by Mexican composer Arturo Márquez. The program, led by German conductor Christian Reif, also includes Mozart’s “Prague” symphony as well as two works by Serbian composer Isidora Žebeljan (Jan. 14 & 15). On Jan. 20, three members of Britain’s reigning classical music family, the Kanneh-Masons, make their NACO debut in trio form—pianist Isata, violinist Braimah, and cellist Sheku—playing Beethoven’s Triple Concerto. Another Beethoven work, his “Eroica” symphony, as well as Canadian composer Nicole Lizée’s Zeiss After Dark, are also on the program. Music Director Alexander Shelley conducts.
Meghan Lindsay
Ottawa Chamberfest
Gala Noël: Holiday Kickoff! is inspired by PBS’s A Carnegie Hall Christmas Concert (1991) in a holiday event that also highlights the 40th anniversary of the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank. Current and instrument bank laureates, as well as celebrated alumni, will honour its remarkable contribution to the development of Canada’s finest string players. The musicians are joined by soprano Meghan Lindsay, mezzo-soprano Alex Hetherington and the Caelis Academy Ensemble under Matthew Larkin for the festive program (Nov. 22). On Nov. 29, in collaboration with Collines-en-musique, Chamberfest presents Berlin-based viol consort Phantasm in music by J.S. Bach originally written for keyboard. At La Fab sur Mill in Chelsea, Que.
