Critic’s Picks (Nov. 11 — 17)
Ludwig van Toronto’s weekly Critic’s Picks are a curated list of some of the best concerts happening now through the end of the week. For a look at the full breadth of what’s available in and around Toronto, check out our curated concert listings here.
Monday 11
University of Toronto Faculty of Music | Chamber Music Concert Series: Of War and Peace. 7:30 p.m. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building, University of Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park. $40/$25(sr)/$10(st). U of T students free with valid TCard.
On Remembrance Day, soprano Monica Whicher, pianist Steven Philcox and violinist Marie Bérard, perform a program of remembrance through song, from Handel to Sting. | Details
Tuesday 12
Piano Lunaire | Beaver Moon. 7:30 p.m. Bunker Lane Press, 1001 Bloor St. W. (rear entrance). Donation of $15 suggested.
November is Beaver Moon, and soprano Christina Haldane gives the premiere of song cycle I Never Knew by David Jaeger, set to poetry by David Cameron, with Adam Sherkin at the piano. Sherkin also plays the Canadian premiere of works by Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy. On display are paintings and drawings by Gail Williams. | Details
Wednesday 13
Soundstreams| Two Odysseys: Pimooteewin/Gallabartnit 8 p.m. Daniels Spectrum, 585 Dundas St. E. $35-$77. Repeats Nov. 14, 15, 16, (8 p.m.), 17 (2 p.m.)
Indigenous artists Michael Greyeyes and Cole Alvis join forces to present a double-bill, Pimooteewin and Gállábártnit, two operas in Cree and Sami respectively. Performing are two narrators, actors, dancers, a chamber instrument ensemble, plus vocal soloists among them sopranos Melody Courage, Vania Chan and Jennifer Taverner; tenors Bud Roach and Asitha Tennekoon; and baritones Neil Aronoff and others. | Details
Toronto Symphony Orchestra | Davis Conducts Russian Masters. 8 p.m. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. $41-$154.
Sir Andrew Davis conducts the TSO forces in Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1 in D with violinist Karen Gomyo, and Shostakovich Symphony No. 10 in E. The program also includes a TSO commission/world premiere of unsheltered, a work by Emilie LeBel. | Details
Thursday 14
Women’s Musical Club of Toronto | Jane Archibald, soprano & Liz Upchurch, piano. 1:30 p.m. Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building, University of Toronto, 80 Queen’s Park. $45
Acclaimed Canadian soprano Jane Archibald sings a recital of songs by Purcell, Mozart, Debussy, Schubert, Britten, Quilter, Burns, and Strauss. Liz Upchurch at the piano. | Details
Gallery 345 | Anastasia Rizikov. 7:30 p.m. Gallery 345, 345 Sorauren Ave. $30/$10(st)
A former piano wunderkind who made her debut at the age of seven, Canadian pianist Anastasia Rizikov is now 20 and a mature artist. She plays a recital of Chopin, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, and Balakirev. | Details
Tafelmusik | Lotti Revealed. 8 p.m. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. W. $20-$109. Repeats Nov. 15, 16, (8 p.m.) 17 (3:30 p.m.)
A contemporary of Bach and Handel, Venetian composer Antonio Lotti is largely forgotten. Tafelmusik Orchestra and Chamber Choir under the direction of Ivars Taurins shines the spotlight on the neglected composer with the performance of his Missa Sapientiae. The program also includes works by Zelenka, Bach, Handel, and a world premiere of a piece by James Rolfe. | Details
Friday 15
National Ballet of Canada | Orpheus Alive with Chaconne. $41-$265. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. Five more performances to Nov. 21.
Choreographer Robert Binet brings his own vision to the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, “casting Orpheus as a woman, Eurydice as a man and the audience as gods of the underworld who decide their fate.” Talk about an intriguing twist! This is composer Missy Mazzoli’s first composition for ballet. | Details
Saturday 16
Toronto Symphony Orchestra | Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. 8 p.m. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. $81-$181. Repeats Nov. 17 (George Weston Recital Hall); 20 & 21 (Roy Thomson Hall).
Concertmaster Jonathan Crow leads the TSO forces in Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, and Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, including the beautiful Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts,” set to the most touching text, perfect for American Thanksgiving coming up. Also on the program is Yellowknife composer Carmen Braden’s Songs of the Invisible Summer Stars. | Details
Sunday 17
Royal Conservatory of Music | Daniel Hope & Zurich Chamber Orchestra 3 p.m. Koerner Hall, 273 Bloor St. W. $45-$100.
South African-born, British-Irish violinist Daniel Hope returns to Koerner Hall for the fourth time in a program of Bach: Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor, BWV 104; Bechara El-Khoury: Unfinished Journey, op. 77; Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in D Minor; and Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, leading the Zurich Chamber Orchestra as its Music Director. | Details
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