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Français (French)
Welcome to the November/December/January 2026 issue of La Scena Musicale, which features our annual special on higher education.
In this issue, we also shine a light on early and baroque music, as we have done in previous years.
The cover of our French edition features the sensational Polish countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński, who will be in recital at Festival International Bach Montréal in late November. The Tallis Scholars grace our English cover. One of the founding ensembles of the early music movement, the choir will visit Montreal and Toronto this December with a program of seasonal music based on a Marian theme.
Other early music and baroque highlights include a primer on the Messiah aria “But who may abide,” and previews of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Messiah and Les Idées heureuses’ culinary-themed, Louis XIV concert.
On the higher education front, we check in with collaborative vocal music pianist Francis Perron and Jacob Caines, founder of the ClassicalQueer database of queer artists. We also include our annual roundup of the latest news from Canadian university music programs.
Our La Scena: Art of Living series continues with the second instalment of Cityscapes, featuring the city of Toronto; a word search puzzle with a baroque composer theme; Music and Fashion with soprano Elisabeth St-Gelais, and our latest La Scena a tavola recipe shared by collaborative pianist Nadia Boucher.
Given their growing popularity within the realm of classical music, we launch two new regular columns: Justin Bernard on film music and Emma Yee on musical theatre.
A holiday-themed choral calendar and reviews of the latest recordings creates a festive mood for the season.
National Calendar
We continue to present our national events calendar, with concert listings from your local region. Due to space limitations, listings are in summary form. Readers are invited to consult our online calendar at www.mySCENA.org to obtain more extensive listings sorted by region across Canada, including a search tool. More than 600 concerts are added every month, making our calendar of events Canada’s most comprehensive classical music calendar!
SUBSCRIPTION AND DONATION DRIVE
La Scena Musicale has evolved with changing habits in media consumption, while also maintaining its core mission: to make music and the arts more widely accessible to all. Our print magazine will continue to provide quality curated articles and interviews in both English and French, while our website focuses on news, reviews and events.
As we look forward to the 2025-26 season, we aim to expand both our print and digital content. We have many talented writers and wish to give space to their voices. Frequent price increases of magazine paper, however, are a cause for concern. Consider supporting the magazine through a donation, a bequest in your will and/or by joining our fundraising committee by contacting us at [email protected].
Another way to support the magazine is through the LSM Boutique at mySCENA.org, where greeting cards and tickets to our partners’ events are available for purchase.
In 2026, as part of our 30th anniversary celebrations, we’re excited to launch book magazines on Puccini, Mahler and Handel’s Messiah. In the next few weeks, we will be initiating a crowdfunding campaign for the Puccini book magazine.
To ensure receiving all of our annual issues purchase a La Scena Musicale subscription. Subscriptions also make ideal gifts for loved ones including the student, parent and/or artist in your life.
La Scena Musicale maintains a vigorous presence on social media (Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn). Our website is updated daily with new and interesting content—visit www.myscena.org.
Wishing you and yours a warm and music-filled holiday season!
PDF version (Download)
Contents
- 6 Editorial
- 8 Industry News
- 10 Esprit Orchestra
- 12 Brigitte Poulin
- 12 Ali Kian Yazdanfar
- 14 Music and Film
- 16 Musical Theatre: Louise Pitre
- 17 Musical Theatre Calendar
- 18 Orchestre philharmonique du Québec
- 29 Jazz
- 30 New Directors
- 32 Winter Festivals
- 41 New Releases
- 48 Gift Ideas
- 49 CD Reviews
- 50 National Calendar
- Early and Baroque Music
- 20 Messiah Aria Primer
- 22 The Tallis Scholars
- 26 Jakub Józef Orliński
- 28 Les Idées heureuses
- Higher Education
- 34 Higher Education Guide
- 36 Higher Education News
- 38 Francis Perron
- 40 University of Alberta
- 40 Jacob Caines
- Choir
- 42 The Welcome Choir
- 42 Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal
- 43 Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Messiah
- 43 Choral Calendar
- Art of Living
- 44 Cityscapes: Toronto
- 46 Music and Fashion: Elisabeth St-Gelais
- 47 La Scena a tavola: Nadia Boucher
- 55 Word Search
This page is also available in / Cette page est également disponible en:
Français (French)
