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Browsing: Classical Music

Newswire | An Exciting World Premiere at the Centre of Canadian Opera Company’s 2026-2027 Season

By Newswire on 18 February 2026 Classical Music, Newswire, Opera, Toronto

Toronto – The Canadian Opera Company’s newly unveiled 2026/2027 season will feature a bold Canadian world premiere, two new-to-Toronto productions on its mainstage at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, as well as an additional new work from Opera 5, the COC’s Company-in-Residence, to be performed at the Canadian Opera Company Theatre. The season’s full lineup includes: La Traviata, Verdi’s timeless tale of love and heartbreak; Così fan tutte, Mozart’s comic test of fidelity and desire; two new productions: The Turn of the Screw, Britten’s operatic adaptation of the chilling novella, and Richard Strauss’ tragicomedy Ariadne aux Naxos; Donizetti’s ever-charming The Elixir of Love; and the highly anticipated world premiere of Empire of…

Budapest Festival Orchestra performing Mahler 3. Photo: Budapest Festival Orchestra/Róbert Zentai

Review | Budapest Festival Orchestra & Iván Fischer’s Triumphant Mahler 3 in Toronto

By David Fanning on 17 February 2026 Classical Music, Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Toronto, Vocal

Mahler’s longest, most philosophically ambitious, and second most lavishly scored symphony, in a less than full-sized hall, could so easily have proved too much of a good thing. Not a bit of it. Among several special—if not unique—features, the Budapest Festival Orchestra is known for its quality of listening: listening to each other and listening to the music. Accordingly, under Iván Fischer’s economical, yet never less than whole-hearted direction, they never pushed sonic thrills across the physical pain barrier or into mere vulgarity. Textures were transparent, the balance against orchestral and vocal solos optimally discreet. The notion that Mahler expanded…

A scene from National Theatre’s Das Rheingold. Photo: Petr Neubert

Review | Misogyny Unveiled in New National Theatre Das Rheingold in Prague

By Gianmarco Segato on 17 February 2026 Concert Reviews, Opera, Vocal

With director Sláva Daubnerová’s production of Wagner’s Das Rheingold (seen Feb. 15), Prague’s National Theatre embarks on a new Ring Cycle between now and 2028. The last time the company presented the Ring was in 2005, in a version from Germany’s Deutsche Oper am Rhein with Canadian soprano Frances Ginzer as Brünnhilde. For any company, a new staging of Wagner’s tetralogy is a huge undertaking and upon first evidence, things are off to a provocative, if visually overladen start. Daubnerová, along with set designers Boris Kudlička and Kateřina Hubená (also on costumes) and costume designer Dorota Karolczak have created a…

Newswire | BISQFest Announces 2026 Lineup

By Newswire on 17 February 2026 Arts Industry, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Newswire, Strings, West

BANFF, AB, FEBRUARY 13, 2026 — Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is thrilled to announce the full lineup for the Banff International String Quartet Festival (BISQFest) 2026, taking place September 3–6, 2026, in Banff, Alberta. Occurring in the years between the triennial Banff International String Quartet Competition (BISQC), BISQFest has immersed chamber music lovers in a long weekend of intimate performances and picturesque mountain views on Banff Centre campus since 2017. Much like the world-renowned Competition, which named Cincinnati’s Poiesis Quartet as their reigning winners in 2025, the 2026 edition of BISQFest champions the best in chamber music by celebrating cherished contemporary performers,…

Listen | Yuma Kagiyama Skates Olympic Free Program to Premiere of Christopher Tin’s Turandot Finale

By Wah Keung Chan on 13 February 2026 Contemporary, Opera, Orchestral

When Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama skated his free program at the 2026 Olympic Men’s Figure Skating Finals, it was to the World premiere of a special condensed version of composer Christopher Tin’s new ending of Puccini’s Turandot. Tin reduced his 18 minute ending to 4:17 and it was recorded over two days at Abbey Road Studios in London, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the English National Opera Chorus, and then added soloists Grammy-winning soprano Christine Goerke and tenor Clay Hilley. Unfortunately, Kagiyama made several mistakes and only placed sixth in the Free Program, which when combined with his second place…

Jonathan Woody with Tafelmusik. Photo: Dahlia Katz

Newswire | Tafelmusik Unveils its 2026/27 Season

By Newswire on 13 February 2026 Baroque and Early, Classical Music, Newswire, Toronto

Toronto, Ontario (February 11, 2026) —Tafelmusik today announced its 2026/27 concert season, a boldly curated year that balances iconic masterworks with rediscovered voices, interdisciplinary storytelling, and vibrant new perspectives, performed on period instruments with the ensemble’s signature energy, precision, and expressive depth. Subscription packages are now available at tafelmusik.org. New this season, Tafelmusik welcomes audiences into a year shaped by joy, reflection, and surprise. Acclaimed British violinist Rachel Podger has extended her tenure as Principal Guest Director for an additional three years, through to the end of its landmark 50th anniversary season. In 2026/27, Podger leads two major programs, Bach’s…

Júlia Pusker. Photo: Szilvia Csibi - Müpa

Lebrecht Weekly | Leó Weiner: Violin concerto (Naxos)

By Norman Lebrecht on 13 February 2026 Lebrecht Weekly, Orchestral, Strings, Violin

Leó Weiner was the lost soul of Hungarian music. A professor at the Franz Liszt Academy from 1908, alongside Bartok and Kodaly, he shared his colleagues’ fascination with folk music but not their modernism. Weiner’s world belonged to Brahms and Liszt, his orchestration to the 1890s. His first violin concerto is a delight – Bruch without the big tune but with an entwinement of soloist and orchestra and much letting down of hair in the gypsy dances. This is thought to be its first complete performance and none of its 25 minutes outstays its welcome. Júlia Pusker is the unflashy…

Newswire | Barbara Hannigan and Others Announced as GGPAAF Laureates

By Newswire on 12 February 2026 Arts Industry, Classical Music, Newswire, Ottawa

OTTAWA, February 12, 2026 – At a moment when many are reflecting on Canadian identity, the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Foundation (GGPAAF) is delighted to celebrate the people who help tell our stories, in Canada and around the world. Today, we announce the 2026 recipients of Canada’s highest distinction in the performing arts. These awards are a national celebration of artistic excellence and collective pride. Since their inception in 1992, the GGPAA have recognized and elevated the artists and volunteers who give voice to our shared experiences across generations, regions, languages, cultures and traditions. The laureates of the 2026…

Newswire | Vancouver Opera Announces 2026—2027 Season

By Newswire on 12 February 2026 Classical Music, Newswire, Opera, West

FEBRUARY 6, 2026, VANCOUVER, B.C. / Traditional territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations – Vancouver Opera announces an audience-inspired 2026–2027 season featuring three iconic works by Puccini, Rossini, and Verdi, with season tickets now on sale. Opening with the white-hot intensity of Tosca in October 2026, followed by Rossini’s effervescent comedy The Barber of Seville in February 2027, the season concludes in grand style with Verdi’s beloved La Traviata in April/May 2027. “Our 67th season invites audiences to confront power, delight in comedy, and open themselves to vulnerability with timeless classics that are adored by opera audiences everywhere,” said Tom Wright, Vancouver Opera General Director. “We are bringing…

Ludovic Tézier (Renato) & Anna Netrebko (Amelia) in Paris Opera's Un ballo in maschera. Photo: Franck Ferville

Review | Paris Opera Ballo: Netrebko & Tézier in a Dramatic Void

By Denise Wendel-Poray on 10 February 2026 Concert Reviews, Opera, Vocal

With the Paris Opera’s 2026 season now in full swing—and offering several genuinely striking productions, Eugene Onegin directed by Ralph Fiennes among them — this Un ballo in maschera (seen Feb. 8) feels thoroughly routine, save for the presence of Anna Netrebko and Ludovic Tézier. Verdi’s Ballo occupies an intriguing middle position in his output. Written in 1859, it belongs neither to the early “galley years” nor to the fully mature period of Don Carlo or Otello. It is a transitional work in which political drama, psychological shading, and melodic brilliance coexist somewhat uneasily—a piece that can support, and even…