CRITIC’S PICKS | Classical Music Occasions You Completely Want To See This Week: April 14 – 20

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L-R (clockwise): Pianist Yuja Wang (Picture courtesy of the artist); Puerto Rican-American soprano Sophia Burgos (Picture: Kate Lemmon); Klezmer ensemble Schmaltz & Pepper (Picture courtesy of the artists)

It is a record of live shows we’re attending, wishing we might attend, or excited about attending between April 14 and 20, 2025. For extra of what’s occurring round Toronto, go to our calendar right here.

St. Thomas’s Anglican Church: Baroque Music by Candlelight

Monday, April 14, 8 p.m.
383 Huron St., Toronto, Pay-what-you-wish

As we head into Ardour Week, the musicians of St. Thomas have ready Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, one of the crucial lovely settings of the ‘sorrowful mom, standing.’ This hour-long group occasion with St. Thomas’s Choristers, kids’s choir, and visitor musicians (chamber ensemble with soloists Rebecca Genge and Rebecca Claborne) can be an excellent, solemn option to mirror on the drama that has captivated an enormous a part of Western historical past. Savvy music administrators Larry Beckwith and Manuel Piazza are decided to foster this beautiful church, hidden from the bustle of Bloor road, into an actual communal music hub; it’s a worthy trigger to help, particularly when extra alternatives from Handel, Bach, and Telemann are promised. It’s troublesome to narrate to our bodily communities, as we rely so closely on intangible communities — and the act of being there, the core of group constructing, the place we sit and share time and house with others, merely can’t be changed with expertise. Come and expertise this brief and tidy program, and see the true roots of music making — in our communities, with our neighbours, and with our youngsters. Data right here.

Canadian Opera Firm: Completely Klezmerizing

Tuesday, April 15, 5:30 p.m.
Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Free

Schmaltz & Pepper, our personal native virtuosic klezmer group, brings a lot pleasure as a Tuesday workday attracts to an finish. This has been a very exhausting spring — not solely there are turmoils within the psychological world, the snow and sleet that retains returning has been an actual drag. If you’re fortunate sufficient to benefit from the brief work week as we head into Easter, why not have a good time it with a free live performance, the place vibrant, deep human feelings are explored with a wholesome dose of humour within the lovely Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre? And, if you’re going through work whereas others play this weekend — nicely, extra causes to take somewhat break, and be reminded that there’s time for pleasure and wonder, even on a Tuesday night. Data right here.

Toronto Symphony Orchestra: Yuja Wang Performs Tchaikovsky

Wednesday, April 16, 8 p.m., Thursday, April 17, 8 p.m., Saturday, April 19, 8 p.m.
Roy Thomson Corridor, $30+

It was a brilliant let down earlier this 12 months when Wang needed to decline from performing in Toronto with Víkingur Ólafsson for a two-piano program at Koerner. Regardless of a lot jealousy and chauvinistic booing from some really neanderthal classical music ‘followers’ busy speaking down her superb stage presence, inconceivable technical facility, and musical perception, Wang has received over the hearts of worldwide audiences ever since her pre-teen days: she wants no introduction — a family identify, reaching past the small pool of classical followers. Wang is enjoying Tchaikosky, and extra orchestral choices embody Janáček Sinfonietta — an actual banger, the place Janáček captures all the enjoyment that bubbled up on the long-awaited declaration of independence for Czechs (with moments of probably probably the most loud, fullest acoustic symphonic writing) — and Morlock’s My Identify is Amanda Todd, a piece reflecting on tragic, brief lifetime of younger Amanda Todd who turned a pointy focus on cyberbullying. It is a nice program, and the gross sales mirror that there are not any straightforward advance tickets left. However all live shows have final minute tickets out there, as some will inevitably cancel — just like the airways, the place they may oversell, relying on some individuals not making the flight. So get the symphony field workplace in your pace dial, and name in. This live performance is well worth the hype. Data right here.

Esprit Orchestra. Fringe of Your Seat Worldwide Pageant #5: Cosmic Heartbeats

Thursday, April 17, 8 p.m.
Koerner Corridor, $20+

EO has been tremendous busy with the Fringe of Your Seat Worldwide Pageant in the previous few weeks, and we are actually at its remaining live performance: Cosmic Heartbeats. Together with two nice hits: Vivier’s Lonely Baby — a mirrored image on the concept of solitude for orchestra and voice, sung by Puerto Rican-American soprano Sophia Burgos — and Anna Meredith’s Nautilus, a juggernaut with an unimaginable beating coronary heart, comes… thriller! Model new commissions by Nicholas Ma, and James O’Callaghan, and the Canadian premiere of Unsuk Chin’s Alaraph ‘Ritus des Herschlagz’, presents a terrific probability to listen to contemporary works stay. Chin is without doubt one of the most carried out and celebrated up to date composers of our time, and although her works spare no musicians (they are often fiendishly troublesome), the music speaks and evokes — she has an enormous musicians’ fanbase, and a big devoted viewers base. When you haven’t heard her music, this is able to be a improbable probability to expertise it. Benefit from the Good Friday vacation, and are available out! Pre-concert chat will begin at 7:15 p.m. Data right here.

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