Region - my/maSCENA

Browsing: Region

Newswire | Vancouver Folk Music Festival Announces 2026 Artists

By Newswire on 9 April 2026 Folk, Newswire, Popular Music, Vancouver, West

APRIL 9, 2026, VANCOUVER, B.C./ / Traditional territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations – The 49th Annual Vancouver Folk Music Festival returns to ʔəy̓alməxʷ Jericho Beach Park on July 17 to 19. The 2026 Festival welcomes 35 incredible artists and groups from across Canada, North America, and around the world. “This year’s artists are an incredible collection of unique acts of diverse cultures, styles and genres that promise many interesting mashups on our collaborative stages,” says Vancouver Folk Music Festival Artistic Director Fiona Black. “Get ready for Vancouver’s most passionately curated festival that is all about spreading love and positive musical vibes.” Adds Black,…

L-R: Christian Sanders; Andriana Chuchman. Photo: Chia Messina; Suzanna Rigden. Photo: Brent Calis Photography

Newswire | Pacific Opera Victoria Presents Orpheus & Eurydice

By Newswire on 8 April 2026 Dance, Newswire, Opera, Vocal, West

Victoria, BC – Opening on April 22 at Victoria’s Royal Theatre, Pacific Opera Victoria, in partnership with Ballet Victoria, presents Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orpheus & Eurydice, a timeless retelling of one of mythology’s most haunting romances for four performances April 22, 24, and 28, at 7:30 pm, and April 26 at 2:30 pm. Based on the famous Greek myth of the musician Orpheus who conquers the spirits of hell using the power of music to bring his love back from the underworld, this production will take Victoria opera lovers into the world of French baroque music and dance. With music that is both ethereal and…

Newswire | Mécénat Musica Program Announces $125 Million of Permanent Capital for Québec Culture

By Newswire on 7 April 2026 Arts Industry, Montreal, Philanthropy, Quebec City

Montréal, March 30th, 2026 – The Mécénat Musica program announced today that it has reached $125,000,000 of permanent capital for Québec cultural organizations, plus $30,000,000 of distributions of investment income to 90 Québec cultural organizations since 2015. More than 800 large donations from individuals and families have created $125,000,000 of permanent capital, which will now generate $6,000,000 in revenue annually (5%) for Québec culture to ensure autonomy and financial security, both now and for generations to come. In celebration of these milestones, we invite you to join us at: Maison Symphonique, Sunday May 17th, 2026, at 15h00 for Beatles a capella! These Quebec cultural organizations employ…

Photo: Olga Shirokova

Elisabeth Boudreault: A Return to Puccini at Opéra de Québec

By Justin Bernard on 6 April 2026 Opera, Quebec City, Vocal

Opéra de Québec’s upcoming production of Puccini’s La bohème comes at just the right time in Elisabeth Boudreault’s career. A native of the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region, now based in London, England, these days the Quebec soprano is spending more time on this side of the Atlantic. With her Opéra de Québec debut as Musetta, she reconnects with a composer she particularly admires and who has brought her luck in the past. “I fell in love with opera when I heard Puccini,” says Boudreault. “When I started singing at age 14, I didn’t want to hear anything else! My teacher tried to…

Choral Calendar (April 2026)

By Marie-Claire Fafard-Blais on 4 April 2026 Choral, Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto

Montréal GERMAN WALTZES AND LATIN PSALMS April 11 at 7:30 p.m. – Maison symphonique For the 10th edition of Opus concerts, Chœur Métropolitain presents Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Brahms’s Liebeslieder-Walzer and Neue Liebeslieder. Pianists Pierre McLean and Louise Pelletier will accompany the choir. www.orchestremetropolitain.com ARCHES: ARMENIA April 26 at 4 p.m. ; May 1, 2 and 9 at 7 p.m. – Various venues in Montreal Vocal ensemble Les Rugissants continues its Arches series exploring the history, music and architecture of important communities in Montreal. This series of concerts looks at the culture of Armenia with choral works by Sharafyan, Mansourian…

Sabina Sandvoss (cello) and Davin Mar (viola), winners of the 2026 Michael Measures Prize. Photos: courtesy of NYO Canada.

Newswire | Sabina Sandvoss and Davin Mar win Measures Prize

By Newswire on 3 April 2026 Arts Industry, Classical Music, Newswire, Toronto

TORONTO, ONTARIO – March 30, 2026 – The National Youth Orchestra of Canada (NYO Canada) is thrilled to announce the winners of the prestigious 2026 Canada Council for the Arts Michael Measures Prizes. Awarded to only two recipients each year, these prizes recognize and support the finest young classical musicians in Canada aged 16 to 24, celebrating their extraordinary artistry and dedication. Together, their awards mark two historic firsts: Sabina Sandvoss is the first female cellist to win First Prize, and Davin Mar the first violist to receive the honour. 2026 Canada Council for the Arts Michael Measures Prize Winners:…

Left: Denise Torre; Right: Dorothéa Ventura & Vincent Lauzer. Photo: Brenden Friesen

Les Idées heureuses: Chaconnes and the Taste of Chocolate

By Benjamin Goron on 3 April 2026 Baroque and Early, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Montreal, World Music

With Chaconne et chocolat : délectations espagnoles, Les Idées heureuses continues a musical adventure it began a few years ago. Its theme: the fascinating chaconne. Having explored France, Germany, Italy and England, this new program invites audiences on a trip to Spain with a few detours to South America, cradle of many artistic influences that have nourished this musical form. The heart of the project is the richness and diversity of the chaconne. “The chaconne as a dance and an instrumental form is rather a chameleon: you can enter into all sorts of emotions, choose any genre, discover music that’s very…

Winona Zelenka and Marie Bérard. Photo: Chung Ling Lo

Arkel Chamber Concerts: A Program Engineered Around Enescu

By Adrian Rodriguez on 3 April 2026 Chamber Music, Classical Music, Toronto

“I wore myself out trying to work a piece of music divided into four segments of such length that each of them was likely at any moment to break.” When George Enescu described his Octet in C major, Op. 7 in these terms, he framed it less as a chamber work than as an engineering feat. On May 31, Arkel Chamber Concerts places this challenge at the centre of its program, Grand Romance, at Toronto’s Trinity St. Paul’s Centre, taking on a work that demands both precision and collective imagination. For 13 years, the Toronto-based series has built its identity…

Left to right: Anoushka Shankar. Photo: Jag Gundu; Earl Lee. Photo: Lim Hak Hyun; Karen Cargill. Photo: Nadine Boyd

Upcoming Concerts

By La Scena Musicale Team on 3 April 2026 Classical Music, Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto

Toronto Koerner Hall Georgian-born violinist Lisa Batiashvili appears in recital on April 26 with pianist and countryman Giorgi Gigashvili, presenting works by Beethoven, Franck and Bartók as well as a new piece by Ioseb Bardanashvili. On May 1, Korean-Canadian cellist and conductor Earl Lee, music director of the Ann Arbor Symphony, leads the Royal Conservatory Orchestra. The ensemble of students from the undergraduate and graduate programs of The Glenn Gould School play Samy Moussa’s Elysium, Mahler’s “Titan” symphony and are joined by violinist Sabina Sandvoss, winner of The Robert W. and G. Ann Corcoran Concerto Competition, for Bloch’s Schelomo. Two…

Russell Thomas: Taking the Werther Challenge

By Catherine Kustanczy on 3 April 2026 Interviews, Opera, Toronto, Vocal

Russell Thomas is many singers at once—and he aims to excel at them all. The Miami-born tenor, celebrated for his interpretations of Italian repertoire and, more recently, German works, is preparing to make his role debut in Toronto this spring as Werther in Jules Massenet’s popular opera of the same name, with the Canadian Opera Company (COC). Hailing the French opera’s “immense emotional impact,” Thomas says the work is a supreme marriage of music and text. “From the very beginning, when Werther walks in and sees the house and looks at the children playing, a whole world is being painted,…