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Browsing: Chamber Music

Koerner Hall (left) and the Royal Conservatory of Music (right). Photos courtesy of the Royal Conservatory of Music

Newswire | The Royal Conservatory previews the 18th concert season

By Newswire on 10 February 2026 Chamber Music, Classical Music, Newswire, Toronto

Toronto, ON – February 11, 2026 – Alexander Brose, Michael and Sonja Koerner President & CEO of The Royal Conservatory of Music, Executive Director of Performing Arts Mervon Mehta, and Dean of The Glenn Gould School James Anagnoson, today revealed programming details of some of the classical and jazz concerts for the 2025-26 season at Koerner Hall. The full season of more than 80 concerts, including pop, world music, and student concerts, will be released in June. Said Alexander Brose: “The Royal Conservatory’s 2026-27 season celebrates the remarkable range and vitality of today’s musical landscape, bringing together legendary artists, distinctive voices, and exceptional rising stars. A highlight…

Photo courtesy of VSO

Newswire | VSO Announces First European Tour

By Newswire on 4 February 2026 Arts Industry, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Newswire, Orchestral, West

Vancouver, BC — The Grammy and Juno-award winning Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO) is embarking on its first-ever European tour in April 2026 with an exclusive invitation as the Orchestra-in-Residence at the prestigious Salzburg Easter Festival. Under the leadership of Maestro Otto Tausk, the tour represents a rare and extraordinary opportunity to elevate the VSO’s international profile among the world’s great orchestras and affirm Canada’s place as a nation of music and culture. Performing at the renowned Großes Festspielhaus in Salzburg during the Easter Festival will mark a milestone in the VSO’s 107-year history. The European tour will take place from…

Claude Vivier, Dieter Ammann and Aziza Sadikova

Esprit Orchestra: Heat Efficiency

By Emma Yee on 2 February 2026 Canadian Music, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Contemporary, Toronto

For their March 26 program, Heat Efficiency, Esprit Orchestra offers an international bill of composers, from Canadians Nicholas Ma and Claude Vivier to the Swiss Dieter Ammann and Uzbekistani Aziza Sadikova, whose work will be heard in Toronto for the first time. The concert opens with Nicholas Ma’s Memory of a Breath, his second commission with Esprit after last season’s Hijinks, which marked the composer’s first time working with a professional orchestra. According to Ma, Conductor and Artistic Director Alex Pauk encouraged him to “push [himself] further, trying out things that [he] hadn’t done before” in an effort “to provide…

Soundstreams: Offering a Way In

By Catherine Kustanczy on 2 February 2026 Canadian Music, Chamber Music, Choral, Classical Music, Musical Theatre, Opera, Toronto

Soundstreams founding Artistic Director Lawrence Cherney admits the ensemble’s current season has its share of “big themes,” but he’s equally excited about the music by which they’ve been inspired. The Toronto-based company is presenting a series of ambitious spring concerts that mix big ideas and deep musicality. Soundstreams was founded in 1982 with a mandate “to strengthen public engagement with new Canadian music and music theatre/opera through commissioning, developing, producing, and disseminating that music.” Throughout its history, the organization has introduced audiences to a variety of new voices, showcasing Canadian composers and performers within innovative and often inspiring contexts. Much…

Thirteen Strings. Photo: Anastasia Krachkovskaya

Thirteen Strings: 50 Years in the Community

By Kaitlyn Chan on 2 February 2026 Canadian Music, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Interviews, Ottawa, Strings

Founded in 1976 by conductor Brian Law and string players from the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra celebrates 50 years of music-making this year. The 13 string players, accompanied by highly-acclaimed guests, present an innovative anniversary season, featuring new commissions and collaborations with friends of the orchestra. A proud member of the Ottawa community, Thirteen Strings keeps its local impact—and plans to build even stronger connections—the focus of its 2025-26 anniversary season. Last season, the orchestra moved to a more democratic leadership model with a committee of principal players, some board members, and Executive and Artistic Director…

Photo: Hilary Gauld/One for the Wall (left) and Tam Photography (right)

Andrei Feher: Leadership that Listens

By Heather Weinreb on 2 February 2026 Arts Industry, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Interviews, Montreal, Orchestral

Andrei Feher knows something about the importance of cultural accessibility. The conductor, now musical director of Orchestre Classique de Montréal (OCM), spent the first 13 years of his life in the provincial city of Satu Mare, Romania. Despite its modest size, his hometown boasted a vibrant cultural scene. “There was a theatre company, a symphonic orchestra, and the city has about 100,000 inhabitants,” he says. “Especially in Europe, we often see that no matter the size of the city, there is something very central—whether it’s theatre, opera, or orchestra. Something that truly sits at the heart of the city.” With…

Élisabeth Pion Photo: Jeremy Fokkens/Courtesy of Honens International Piano Competition

Élisabeth Pion: Capturing Honens Gold

By Viktor Lazarov on 2 February 2026 Chamber Music, Classical Music, Music Competition, Piano, West

Twenty-nine-year-old pianist Élisabeth Pion, a Quebec native, won the coveted Gold Laureate prize at the 2025 Honens International Piano Competition in Calgary last October. Occurring every three to four years, the elite competition offers a lofty $100,000 cash prize and a three-year Artist Development Program valued at $500,000 for the lucky winner. Honens occupies a special place among the world’s “track and field” keyboard events. It searches for the elusive and undefinable “complete artist,” a term that applies only to the rarest of contestants, while dividing jury, critics and public alike on notions of taste, values, and esthetics. Pion demonstrated…

New Releases (February 2026)

By La Scena Musicale on 2 February 2026 Chamber Music, Classical Music

Little Red Riding Hood with Beethoven Genevieve Micheletti (Violin), Diane Lane (Violin), Liza Scriggins (Viola), Andrea Case (Cello), Julie Freedman Smith (Narrator) Release: January 9, 2026 Leaf Music Distribution, SM2026 Little Red Riding Hood with Beethoven pairs a classic fairytale with Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 95 “Serioso,” bringing storytelling and string quartet together in a vivid musical retelling. Narrated and sung by Julie Freedman Smith, the story is woven directly into the score, as drama, humour, and surprise unfold scene by scene. Adapted and directed by violist Liza Scriggins, this recording invites listeners of all…

Glass Marcano conducts the Orchestre Métropolitain. Photo: Denis Germain

Glass Marcano: From the Fruit Stand to the Podium

By Adrian Rodriguez on 2 February 2026 Arts Industry, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Orchestral

This is one of those beautiful yet improbable stories ignited by El Sistema: the story of Glass Marcano. In less than a week, the charismatic conductor went from struggling to make ends meet in Venezuela to winning prizes at La Maestra, the prestigious French competition for female conductors. Since then, she has emerged as one of the most compelling young conductors of her generation on the European scene. We met in November 2025 following a concert she conducted with Orchestre Métropolitain in Montreal. We are both dissidents who had left the country to build a life elsewhere. A hug, a…

Esther Hwang (left) and the Musicians of the VSO (right, Photo: Cristian Markos)

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra: Facing the Music

By Hal Kowalewski on 2 February 2026 Arts Industry, Chamber Music, Employment, Orchestral, West

From late 2025 through the start of 2026, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO) has been embroiled in turbulence. On Sept. 12, musicians stood outside the historic Orpheum Theatre distributing flyers calling for a new contract and competitive pay, noting that musician compensation “lags behind comparable symphonies” across Canada, despite the VSO’s $53 million endowment fund. At 5 p.m., Sept. 25, the musicians of the VSO walked out of the Orpheum, initiating the strike. That evening’s performance—as well as performances throughout the week—were cancelled. On Sept. 26, the VSO released a statement that they were “disappointed on the impact this will have…