It is a listing of concert events we’re attending, wishing we may attend, or desirous about attending between January 12 and 18, 2026. For extra of what’s taking place round Toronto, go to our calendar here.
Canadian Opera Firm: Instrumental Sequence — Grasp and Pupil
Wednesday, January 14, Midday
4 Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, free
Out of all chamber ensembles, the string quartet, in my thoughts, guidelines supreme — its particular person voices morph into and out of each other; an ideal group creates magic the place 4 disappears to grow to be one, simply to unfurl into 4, but once more. The COC String quartet, Marie Bérard and Aaron Schwebel (violins), Sheila Jaffé (viola), Guillaume Artus (cello), is taking the stunning stage of the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre for his or her official debut live performance, with two canonic works by Haydn and Beethoven. Come out and listen to these gamers, typically hidden below the glitzy stage, down within the pit, and listen to them weave magnificence with each other — what an effective way to pause within the midweek. Information here.
Toronto Symphony Orchestra: The Firebird
Thursday, January 15, 7:30 p.m., Saturday, January 17, 7:30 p.m.
Roy Thomson Corridor, $72+
TSO’s second week program for 2026 is stuffed with bangers. Brahms’s first piano concerto wants no introduction — written at age 25, opposite to the well-known image of him in later years with an enormous curly beard and sullen, cautious expression. Brahms as a younger man was filled with youthful vitality and aspiration. This dashing younger man’s first concerto, which additionally occurs to be his first-performed orchestral work, is grand in scale, with loads of drama and pathos. Mao Fujita, 2019 Tchaikovsky competitors Silver Medalist, will take the helm of this majestic work with conductor Eva Ollikainen. Arvo Pärt’s early work, Symphony No.1, might really feel fairly removed from the later Pärt’s compositions that we’re acquainted with — preserve your ears open and see the place it began, resulting in the wonderful tintinnabuli type that grew to become such a beloved soundscape for the plenty. Stravinsky’s Firebird (1919 model), will fill out the corridor with golden, poetic magnificence after its frenetic, grand enlargement — the Berceuse and Finale is an effective way to finish the night. Come out for this diversified, vibrant music and go away with the magic of the firebird in your coronary heart. For Saturday, TSO Chamber Soloists will give a pre-concert efficiency at 6:15 p.m. of Pärt and Rautavaara’s music — nice stuff. Information here.
Royal Conservatory of Music: The Happenstancers — At all times Darkest … Daybreak At all times
Friday, January 16, 8 p.m.
Temerty Theatre, Royal Conservatory of Music, $21+
At all times scorching on their very own heels, the Happenstancers are an bold, succesful, and imaginative group who’ve been delivering nice performances of up to date music. What is a good efficiency of up to date music? There may be a lot warning and resistance about new music, and although it’s baffling at instances (in spite of everything, we do go mad on meals or dance craze and fads, with abandon!), the fear is actual — is it going to be bizarre? However please, drop the expectations, and remind oneself that every one music is solely sonic occasions that evoke and generate reactions. And on this, the Happenstancers excel. Moderately than holding up the canons of Beethoven and Brahms for comparability, do remind your self that up to date music speaks in numerous instances, mediums, and philosophies, and that the purpose of arts typically could be very easy: to expertise. And, to benefit from the prospects of latest sensations — magnificence, ugliness, and every little thing in between. Mixing up from good oldies and present avant-gardes, from Josquin de Prez, to Ana Sokolović, and Kaija Saariaho, it is a nice method to open 2026 21C Music on the RCM. Information here.
College of Toronto College of Music: U of T Opera Scholar Composer Collective: With the Telling Comes the Magic — 5 Tales from Antiquity to the Current
Sunday, January 18, 2:30 p.m., and 5 p.m.
Marilyn and Charles Baillie Theatre, Canadian Stage, 26 Berkeley St., $11.30
January is stuffed with new music, and right here’s one of many extra fascinating tasks within the midst of many occasions: one libretto by Michale Albano, and music composed by the younger composers collective. Being a scholar/younger composer is a bit like second adolescence — you might be nonetheless swimming via many issues, operating into many concepts, studying many ideas and issues from the previous, and looking for your individual voice, with all that occurring. It’s fascinating and thrilling, as many issues are open to prospects, and there’s magnificence within the technique of discovering oneself. So, come out and help these younger composers, and their group — together with hard-working college students of the Opera program — and the scholar instrumental ensemble below the course of Sandra Horst. Who is aware of, it’s possible you’ll run into tomorrow’s star simply by being there. Information here.
Royal Conservatory of Music: Gabriela Montero
Sunday, January 18, 3 p.m.
Koerner Corridor, $45+
Gabriela Montero returns to Koerner, with a feisty program of Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, and an improv to Charlie Chaplin’s silent movie, The Immigrant. This busy Venezuelan pianist has been desirous about immigration — departures, journeys, the world that adjustments you, and the realities which will reject and deject you. A becoming theme within the present local weather. Come out and revel in her sensible enjoying of the Russian masters — all three skilled migration that deeply impacted their life course — and preserve your ears open for the magic of improvisation, with the magic of Chaplin. Information here.
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