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OSQ
The Orchestre Symphonique de Québec (OSQ) has a big winter ahead of it, starting with a performance of works by Smetana, Korngold, Bloch and Dvořák. Conducted by Nodoka Okisawa, the performance will feature cellist Edgar Moreau (Feb. 18). Pianist Michelle Cann, meanwhile, will perform Florence Price’s Piano Concerto, on a program that includes Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony and Kodaly’s Danses de Galanta (Feb. 21). And the National Arts Centre Orchestra will join the OSQ, along with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and pianist Kevin Chen, for a program that spotlights Jacques Hétu’s Symphony No. 5 for choir and orchestra (Feb. 28). www.osq.org/
Les Violons du Roy
Les Violons du Roy will continue a busy month with their rendition of the Fauré and Duruflé Requiems, performed in Montreal (Feb. 14) and Quebec City (Feb. 15). Conductor Bernard Labadie will lead the orchestra and choir, joined by soprano Magali Simard-Galdès and mezzo-soprano Julie Boulianne. They will then take on works by Bach, Telemann, J.J. Fux and Handel, conducted by Nicolas Ellis, and featuring organist Isabelle Demers (Feb. 29, Quebec City; March 1, Montreal). Later in March, the orchestra turns the spotlight onto the natural horn. French-horn player, and expert in the natural horn, Louis-Pierre Bergeron, will perform Mozart’s Horn Quintet, and Beethoven’s Horn Sonata. Mélisande McNabney joins Bergeron on the fortepiano (March 13, Quebec City; March 14, Montreal). www.violonsduroy.com
ARION BAROQUE ORCHESTRA
Arion Baroque Orchestra invites audiences to celebrate Valentine’s Day with an evening of baroque music. Featuring violinist Sophie Gent as a guest artist, the program will include works by Brescianello, Avison, Geminiani, Bond, Platti, and Vivaldi (Feb. 14). In March, conductor and artistic director of Arion, Mathieu Lussier, will lead sopranos Florie Valiquette and Sophie Naubert, alongside Nicholas Scott (tenor), Alexander Dobson (baritone), and the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal. The group will perform Mozart’s Requiem, as well as François Giroust’s Super flumina Babylonis and Messe pour le sacre de Louis XVI (March 8, 9, 10). www.arionbaroque.com
OSM
This February, pianist Louis Lortie returns to the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM) to interpret works by Brahms and Fauré, on a program rounded out by Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. He will be joined by guest conductor Eun Sun Kim, current music director of the San Francisco Opera (Feb. 15, 17). Barbara Hannigan, meanwhile, will also return to the orchestra for a variety of concerts. She will first take the podium as conductor and soprano for Strauss’s Metamorphosen, and Poulenc’s La voix humaine, which will feature staging and projections (Feb 21, 22). Hannigan will then sing Zosha Di Castri’s In the half-light, conducted by Rafael Payare, also featuring Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major, WAB 104 (Feb. 28, 29). Payare leads the orchestra weeks later in a program of Beethoven and Shostakovich (March 6, 7, 10). Conductor and Bach specialist Masaaki Suzuki will join the orchestra, the OSM chorus, and soloists Sherezade Panthaki (soprano), Reginald Mobley (counter-tenor), Werner Güra and Mauro Peter (tenors), and Bernhard Hansky (bass) in performance of Bach’s formidable St John Passion (March 27, 28). www.osm.ca
Festival International Nuits d’Afriques
The Festival International Nuits d’Afriques has an exciting lineup of events this winter. In February, Racines (a musical project created by Laurent Perrault-Jolicoeur and Zal Sissokho) will pair itself with an acoustic cabaret at the legendary Club Balattou (Feb. 15). Roots Daughters, inspired by Rastafari, Jamaican and British sound-system culture, will then present a session, on the invitation of WorldWide Soundsystem (Feb. 17). In March, British-Gambian artist Sona Jobarteh takes the stage. Following an appearance at last year’s outdoor festival, Jobarteh will now perform at Le National, with her kora. Her music combines West-African traditions with a modern sheen and touch of jazz to create something unique—and not to be missed (March 8). www.festivalnuitsdafrique.com
ORCHESTRE MÉTROPOLITAIN
The Orchestre Métropolitain (OM) will present two programs all around the city throughout February and March. First up is A Pact Set in Sand, which features Holst’s Winter Idyll, Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto, and Zemlinsky’s The Mermaid. American conductor JoAnn Falletta will lead the orchestra, joined by violinist Nemanja Radulović and pioneering sand artist Kseniya Simonova (Feb. 21, 23). Italian Dream, meanwhile, will take audiences on a journey through Italy with works by Strauss, Saariaho, and Mozart. Ariane Matiakh conducts, joined by flutist Juliette Hurel, who will play Saariaho’s Aile du songe (March 13, 14, 15, 17). orchestremetropolitain.com
Ladies Morning Musical Club
The Ladies Morning Musical Club (LMMC) welcomes “one of the top young quartets before the public today” to the Montreal stage this February. The Escher String Quartet, founded in New York City in 2005, will be joined by pianist Roman Rabinovich (Feb. 25). In March, string lovers will be pleased yet again, by the performance of the Aris Quartett. Founded in Frankfurt in 2009, the quartet features Anna Katharina Wildermuth, Noémi Zipperling, Caspar Vinzens, and Lucas Sieber. This will be the quartet’s first time performing as part of the LMMC’s programming (March 17). www.lmmc.ca
OSL
The Orchestre Symphonique de Laval (OSL) will honour the great Maria Callas this February, in recognition of her centenary. Conductor Simon Rivard, soprano Kirsten MacKinnon, baritone Alexandre Sylvestre and the Choeur de Laval will join forces with the orchestra for this evening of selections by Verdi and Bellini, including excerpts of La Traviata, Norma, Nabucco, and Aïda (Feb. 28). www.osl.ca
Les Chambristes du Grand Montréal
Les Chambristes du Grand Montréal is a string quartet founded in 2003 by Marie-Anne Rozankovic. The group tours regularly in both North America and in France. This March, they present Du classique au jazz, which includes a wide variety of repertoire, in Saint-Lambert (March 22). https://saint-lambert.tuxedobillet.com/main/les-chambristes-du-grand-montreal
Thirteen Strings
Directed by Kevin Mallon, Ottawa’s Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra looks forward to a romantic evening of string favourites. The group will perform Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro for strings, Op. 47, Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, Verdi’s Symphony for Strings, and Barber’s Adagio at the Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre (Feb 16). Come March, the orchestra will welcome baritone Geoffrey Sirett and violist David Marks for a performance featuring works by Bach and Hindemith, alongside a piece by Mallon himself (March 29). www.thirteenstrings.ca
New Opera Lyra
Ottawa audiences won’t want to miss the world première of The Great Gatsby, a new opera by New Opera Lyra director, Andrew Ager. Featuring tenor Adam Sperry and soprano Carmen Harris, première performances will take place at Southminster United Church (April 19, 20). Ager, Sperry and Harris will tide audiences over until April with a Valentine’s Cabaret this month, featuring love songs from various decades, and in a range of genres (Feb. 16). www.newoperalyra.ca
Music and Beyond
Music and Beyond will welcome L’Harmonie des saisons this March for what is sure to be an exciting performance of Bach’s beloved St John Passion. Led by conductor and harpsichordist Eric Milnes, the performance will feature Philippe Gagné singing the Evangelist, Eric Edlund as Pilate, and William Kraushaar singing Jesus. They will be joined by soprano Denise Torre Ormeño, counter-tenor Nicholas Burns, and tenor Jeffrey Thomson (March 21). www.musicandbeyond.ca
Canadian Opera Company
The Canadian Opera Company wraps up two exciting productions this month. Their run of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen stars Jane Archibald as Vixen, Ema Nikolovska as the Fox, Christopher Purves as Forester, Giles Tomkins as Parson/Badger, Megan Latham as Forester’s wife/Owl, and Carolyn Sproule as Lapák. The production, from the English National Opera, is conducted by Johannes Debus, and directed by Jamie Manton (Feb. 8, 10, 14, 16). Mozart’s Don Giovanni, meanwhile, stars Gordon Binter in the titular role, alongside Anita Hartig and Charlotte Siegel as Donna Elvira; Mané Galoyan as Donna Anna; Paolo Bordogna as Leporello; Ben Bliss singing Don Ottavio; Simone McIntosh as Zerlina; Joel Allison as Masetto; and David Leigh in the role of Il Commendatore (Feb. 7, 9, 15, 17, 24). www.coc.ca
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) welcomes internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, tenor Paul Appleby, and bass-baritone Derek Welton for performances of Stravinksky’s idiosyncratic Pulcinella. Also on the program, conducted by Gustavo Gimeno, are Stravinsky’s Divertimento from Le Baiser de la fée, and a new work by Kelly-Marie Murphy, titled Curiosity, Genius, and the Search for Petula Clark (Feb. 23, 24). Spanish Reflections, meanwhile, will highlight Gimeno’s homeland, featuring works by Manuel de Falla, and Francisco Coll (Feb. 28, 29). The TSO will share their Roy Thomson Hall stage with members of the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec as they honour composer Jacques Hétu with a performance of his final work (March 2). Later in March, pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason will join conductor Ryan Bancroft and the TSO for a performance of works by Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and Anna Clyne’s Within Her Arms (March 22, 23, 24). www.tso.ca
WOMEN’S MUSICAL CLUB OF TORONTO
The Women’s Musical Club of Toronto welcomes Dominic Desautels to the University of Toronto’s Walter Hall this March. The clarinetist will be joined by pianist Jean-Philippe Sylvestre, and bassoonist Zsófia Stefán (March 7). www.wmct.on.ca
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir
Following a busy fall, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir is back with multiple performances this winter and spring. In March, they will present a new adaptation of Winterreise, by Franz Schubert, arranged for choir, baritone and piano by Gregor Meyer. Renowned Canadian baritone Brett Polegato and Juno Award-winning pianist Philip Chiu will join the choir, conducted by Jean-Sébastien Vallée (March 16). www.tmchoir.org
Esprit Orchestra
Following a successful start to 2024 with their concert titled Three, Esprit Orchestra will present Violinissimo II. The concert will open with Max Richter’s The Four Seasons Recomposed, performed by the orchestra and violinist Mark Fewer. Wesley Shen will play Ligeti’s challenging Continuum, for solo harpsichord, before Fewer reunites with the orchestra for Ligeti’s Concerto for Violin & Orchestra (March 28). www.espritorchestra.com
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