The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) is excited to announce its 2025/26 concert season—an array of extraordinary musical experiences featuring works and artists from across the globe. For what promises to be a year of unprecedented international attention on Toronto during the World Cup, Music Director Gustavo Gimeno has crafted a season that broadens cross-border creative connections. This diversity of programming is reflected in the TSO’s wide-ranging concert series—showcasing orchestral gems, new creative voices, widely played hits of the past and present, entertaining entry points for young audiences, and sweeping cinematic soundscapes—designed to appeal and speak to everyone. Highlights include the return of megastar pianist Lang…
Browsing: World Music
Toronto, ON, Canada, 10 February 2025 – The Azrieli Music, Arts and Culture Centre (AMACC) has opened its international call to composers for the (AMP). For its sixth biennial cycle, AMP is seeking scores and proposals for choir and orchestra with optional soloists. The 2026 call is open from 7 February through 2 May 2025. Created in 2014 by Sharon Azrieli CQ for the Azrieli Foundation, AMP celebrates excellence in music composition by offering the largest prize package of its kind in Canada, making it one of the most substantial composition competitions in the world. “We are looking for composers who exhibit the most…
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The FILMharmonique Orchestra, under the baton of Co-Artistic Director Francis Choinière, will bridge Eastern and Western musical traditions on Jan. 30 with Butterfly Lovers, a concert that aims to capture the richness and vibrancy of both musical styles. At the heart of the diverse program is the world première of Christian Thomas’s Concerto for Pipa and Orchestra “Dragon.” A true amalgamation of both cultures, as Thomas has created a Western-style orchestral concerto for the traditional Chinese pipa, a pear-shaped plucked string instrument similar to the lute. More importantly, Thomas’s concerto was written for and dedicated to Liu Fang, a Chinese-Canadian…
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Dankoroba Djely Tapa, singer-songwriter Disques Nuits d’Afrique, 2024 With her new single Dankoroba (Influente/Woman of Influence), singer-songwriter Djely Tapa gives us a taste of her next album announced for this fall. This opus is part of the development of the musical project of this Montrealer of Malian origin, Radio-Canada revelation and 2020 Juno prize winner of best World Music album for her first record Barokan. Resolutely Afro-futurist, the single reflects this artist’s sustained effort to spark a revival of West African Mandinka music. The mix between traditional and modern (in particular, African blues and electronic experiments) allows her to bring…
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Continuum Didem Bașar, kanun and composer; I Musici de Montréal, Jean-François Rivest, conductor; Patrick Graham, percussion Centre des musiciens du monde, 2024 Montreal kanun (Turkish zither) virtuoso Didem Başar and the chamber orchestra I Musici de Montréal, conducted by Jean-François Rivest with the versatile percussionist Patrick Graham, have just completed a curious musical exploration. The album Continuum, produced by the Centre des musiciens du monde, includes compositions for kanun and string orchestra as well as arrangements of traditional pieces that sum up this artist’s journey between her native Turkey and her adopted city of Montreal, where she found the context…
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Place des Arts This fall, Place des Arts’s programming includes a Dance of Sands concert presented by Lebanese artist Aleph and his orchestra on Oct. 21 at Théâtre Maisonneuve. On the menu: a refined blend of jazz, flamenco and oriental music. On Nov. 22, Greek singer Nikos Vertis presents a selection of hits and songs from his latest album at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier. Next year kicks off with a Chinese New Year’s gala on Jan. 12 at Théâtre Maisonneuve, with Feng Hua Xue Yue 2025, directed by Singaporean lyric coloratura soprano Han Yong, accompanied by China-ASEAN host Chen Mingzhen. The celebrations…
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Co-hosted by Canada Choral and l’Alliance chorale du Québec, the Podium 2024 Choral Conference and Festival took place in Montreal from May 16 to 19. This year’s theme was “Open voices, open minds.” Bringing together dozens of choirs from across Canada and beyond, the festival featured seven major indoor concerts and a series of free concerts, which took place across downtown Montreal. The festival opened with the Cultural Landscapes concert, featuring Toronto-based ensembles Babεl and Concreamus, as well as Coroncoro Vocal Ensamble from Bogotá, Colombia. The high-calibre performances delighted the audience. Coroncoro should be singled out, having delivered a flawless…