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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…

Cheryl L’Hirondelle, nikamon ohci askiy (songs because of the land), 2008. Photo: Red Works. Courtesy of Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

Newswire | Banff Centre Highlights Interdisciplinary Artist Cheryl L’Hirondelle

By Newswire on 12 February 2026 Multimedia, Newswire, West

BANFF, AB, FEBRUARY 5, 2026 – Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is thrilled to present the first career survey devoted to the expansive, multi-decade practice of the interdisciplinary artist and singer/songwriter, Cheryl L’Hirondelle at Banff Centre’s Walter Phillips Gallery. The exhibition, Cheryl L’Hirondelle: where the voice touches (((acts, utterances, transmissions for freedom))), running from February 13 to June 21, 2026, brings together decades of works across performance, video, “net.art” originally sited online, and in sound and installation. Born in Alberta with family ties to Papaschase First Nation and Kikino Métis Settlement, and based in Saskatoon, the artist’s practice is grounded in nēhiyawēwin (Cree language) as the…

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…

RWB Company in T’əl: The Wild Man of the Woods (2024). Photo: Daniel Crump

Review | RWB Tours T’əl, an Indigenous Story by Indigenous Creators

By Kaija Pepper on 12 February 2026 Concert Reviews, Dance, Indigenous, Scena Arts, Vancouver, West

Royal Winnipeg Ballet (RWB) has commissioned three Indigenous story ballets over the decades, each one making, for its time, a newsworthy impact. 1971’s The Ecstasy of Rita Joe, choreographed by Norbert Vesak, was a hard-hitting depiction of racism, while 2014’s Going Home Star—Truth and Reconciliation, by Mark Godden, put the residential school scandal onstage. Then came 2024’s traditional Indigenous tale, T’əl: The Wild Man of the Woods, and, this time, an Indigenous choreographer: Cameron sinkʷə Fraser-Monroe, a member of the Tla’amin Nation of British Columbia’s northern Sunshine Coast. RWB recently presented T’əl (pronounced “tall”) on a seven-stop tour of BC—which I…

The Dover Quartet at the Celebrity Series of Boston. Photo: Robert Torres

Review | The Dover Quartet at LMMC: Classical & Romantic Combined

By Jan Krejcar on 10 February 2026 Classical, Classical Music, Concert Reviews, Montreal, Romantic, Strings

On Feb. 8, the temperature in Montreal plummeted to -16°C and a biting wind lowered it by some magnitudes more. The city was in need of some warmth and sun, and they got it. The Dover Quartet rolled into town to play for the Ladies’ Morning Musical Club and fortuitously gifted the audience in Oscar Peterson Concert Hall one of Joseph Haydn’s (1732-1809) “Sun” quartets–op. 20, no. 4. in D major. Note: there is nothing particularly sunny about the opus 20 quartets. The nickname comes from one of the early editions having a picture of a sun on its cover.…

Photo: Gaetz Photography

Newswire | Canadian Opera Company Appoints Ian Derrer as Next General Director

By Newswire on 10 February 2026 Arts Industry, Classical Music, Employment, Newswire, Opera, Toronto

Toronto, ON—The Canadian Opera Company (COC) announced today that Ian Derrer has been appointed the company’s next General Director, marking an exciting step forward for Canada’s largest opera producer. Derrer will assume the role on July 1, 2026, aligning with the start of the COC’s 2026/2027 season. The appointment follows an extensive national and international search led by the COC Board of Directors’ Search Committee, in collaboration with executive search firm Isaacson Miller. Spanning more than a year, the comprehensive process included broad consultation with stakeholders from across the organization and the wider opera sector. Recruitment also reflected the Board’s…

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…

Newswire | Call for Proposals for the 2028 Azrieli Music Prizes Now Open

By Newswire on 6 February 2026 Canadian Music, Music Competition, Newswire, Toronto, World Music

Toronto, ON, Canada, February 5, 2026 – The Azrieli Music, Arts and Culture Centre (AMACC) has opened its Call for Proposals for the 2028 Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP). Created in 2014 by Dr. Sharon Azrieli CQ for the Azrieli Foundation, the Azrieli Music Prizes celebrate excellence in music composition. From February 4 through May 6, 2026, composers are encouraged to submit proposals for three commissions: the Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music, the Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music, and the Azrieli Commission for International Music. The Prizes are open to composers of all nationalities, genders, faiths and backgrounds, and it is completely free to apply. “With each…

Upcoming Concerts (Ottawa)

By Gianmarco Segato on 5 February 2026 Ottawa

NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE ORCHESTRA The orchestra’s music director designate, John Storgårds, leads a French-tinged program that includes Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune as well as pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet playing Saint-Saëns’s “The Egyptian” Concerto (Feb. 11 & 12). Los Angeles-based Troupe Vertigo fuses elements of cirque acrobatics, classical dance, and contemporary theatre. They appear with NACO from Feb. 19 to 21 in concerts featuring music from Wicked and the Harry Potter films. On March 18 & 19, Jaeden Izik-Dzurko, 2024 winner of the Leeds International Piano Competition and Concours Musical International de Montréal, plays Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 under…

Upcoming Concerts (Toronto)

By Gianmarco Segato on 4 February 2026 Toronto

KOERNER HALL Former Toronto Symphony Orchestra Music Director Peter Oundjian guest-conducts the Royal Conservatory Orchestra on Feb. 6 in Canadian composer Vivian Fung’s Dust Devils and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6. Pianist Eric Guo, grand-prize winner of the conservatory’s Robert W. and G. Ann Corcoran Concerto Competition, plays Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2. As part of Koerner’s ongoing series featuring the world’s greatest orchestras, the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Iván Fischer performs Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 on Feb. 12 (see our interview with Fischer in this issue). On Feb. 20, two prominent RCM alumni take the stage: cellist Luka Coetzee and…