October in Toronto: two Mozart-and-Verdi nights at the COC, Reich at 90, and Jan Lisiecki
Every month we go through dozens of season pages so you don't have to, and this October was a hard one to narrow down. Here's what caught our eye.
The Canadian Opera Company runs two productions side by side all month: La Traviata, with Kathryn Lewek's COC debut as Violetta, and Atom Egoyan's Così fan tutte, reset in a private-school science lab. The TSO opens the month marking Manuel de Falla's 150th with El amor brujo and Petrushka, then welcomes Angela Hewitt for Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto (Oct 8–10) and Jan Lisiecki for Grieg (Oct 22–25).
Chamber and new music are just as busy. Soundstreams celebrates Steve Reich's 90th with Music for 18 Musicians on October 6, Pablo Ferrández opens Music Toronto's season with solo Bach, Britten and Cassadó on the 8th, and Opera Atelier sends Orpheus to the underworld in Charpentier's Descent of Orpheus at Koerner Hall on the 22nd. Tafelmusik closes the month with a Baroque Fiesta of Spanish and Italian music.
🌟 Top Highlight 🌟
Jan Lisiecki Plays Grieg
Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki returns with Grieg's Piano Concerto, rich in passion and Nordic lyricism. Brahms's Second Symphony, with its pastoral wa…
📍 Roy Thomson Hall
🎭 Toronto Symphony Orchestra
🎼 Best First Classical Concert 🎼
La Traviata
La Traviata returns to the COC mainstage in a co-production with Houston Grand Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago. Soprano Kathryn Lewek makes her COC d…
📍 Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
🎭 Canadian Opera Company
🚀 For the Adventurous 🚀
Vieux Farka Touré
Vieux Farka Touré, known for his electrifying live shows and virtuosic guitar work, blends Malian blues, rock, and soul. He will be joined by Melat Me…
📍 Koerner Hall
🎭 Royal Conservatory of Music
✨ Can't Miss ✨
Petrushka & Passions of Spain
The TSO marks the 150th anniversary of Manuel de Falla's birth with El amor brujo, featuring flamenco singer María Toledo, paired with José González G…
📍 Roy Thomson Hall
🎭 Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Pablo Ferrández, cello
Tchaikovsky Prize-winning Spanish cellist Pablo Ferrández opens Music Toronto's season with his Canadian solo recital debut. Marking the 150th anniver…
📍 Jane Mallett Theatre
🎭 Music Toronto
The Descent of Orpheus
Charpentier's miniature masterpiece follows the poet Orpheus on his journey to hell and back to rescue Eurydice, unfolding with the splendour of the c…
📍 Koerner Hall
🎭 Opera Atelier
