Critic’s Picks (December 9 – 15)
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.
Note: December is Holiday season, and with it comes a huge number of noteworthy musical events, many more than can be included in Critic’s Picks. For more recommendations, go to the Ludwig Guide To Holiday Concerts.
Monday 9
Against the Grain Theatre | Figaro’s Wedding. 8 p.m. Enoch Turner Schoolhouse, 106 Trinity St. 12 performances continue to Dec. 20. $35-$90.
AtG’s adaptation of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro continues this week. It’s “modernized, translated into English and re-staged as one of Toronto’s millennial weddings…with the audience attending as wedding guests.” Bruno Roy (Figaro), Miriam Khalil (Countess), Ally Smither (Susanna), Phillip Addis (Alberto/Count), Lauren Eberwein (Cherubino), Jacques Arsenault (Basilio/Curzio), Maria Soulis (Marcellina), and Gregory Finney (Bartolo/Antonio). | Details
Tuesday 10
Tafelmusik | O Come, Shepherds. 8 p.m. George Weston Recital Hall, Meridian Arts Centre, 5040 Yonge St. $20-$94.
Tafelmusik’s Holiday program continues this week. Joining them is the Vesuvius Ensemble, with Tommaso Sollazzo playing the zampogna, the Italian bagpipes played traditionally by shepherds. Program includes holiday works by Manfredini, dell’Abaco, plus traditional folk music from Southern Italy. | Details
Toronto Symphony Orchestra | TSO Holiday Pops. 8 p.m. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. $58-$135. Repeats Dec. 11 and 12 (Lucas Waldin conducts Dec. 12 performance)
TSO’s Pops Maestro Steven Reineke conducts a program of Holiday favourites featuring soprano Measha Brueggergosman, with choral forces supplied by the Etobicoke School of the Arts Holiday Chorus. No program details available at press time. | Details
Soundstreams | Electric Messiah. 8 p.m. The Drake Underground, 1150 Queen St. W. $25-$44. Repeats Dec. 11 and 12.
Want to experience an unconventional Messiah? Give Soundstreams a try. “Electric Messiah is a reimagining of Handel’s masterpiece for today’s Toronto, complete with four soloists, band, turntables, and hypnotic dance, performing a feast of musical styles.” Lindsay McIntyre, soprano; Chloe Charles, alto; Jonathan MacArthur, tenor; and Andrew Adridge, bass. | Details
Thursday 12
National Ballet of Canada | The Nutcracker. 7 p.m. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. Twenty-six performances to Jan. 4. $45-$185. Start times vary, consult website for details.
National’s annual Holiday Extravaganza is back, and it’s as popular as ever based on ticket sales. The beloved score is by Tchaikovsky, and the choreography is by the National’s former Artistic Director James Kudelka. | Details
Friday 13
Elmer Iseler Singers | Glorious Sounds of Handel: Messiah. 7:30 p.m. Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, 1585 Yonge St. $35-$55.
Lydia Adams leads the Elmer Iseler Singers, the Amadeus Choir, and the four soloists (soprano Leslie Fagan, countertenor Daniel Cabena, tenor Michael Colvin, and baritone Alexander Dobson) in Handel’s Messiah. | Details
Nathaniel Dett Chorale | An Indigo Christmas: Great Joy II — Around the World. 7:30 p.m. All Saints Kingsway Anglican Church, 2850 Bloor St. W. $30/$25(sr)/$15(st).
An Indigo Christmas is an annual tradition for The Nathaniel Dett Chorale. This concert features new gospel arrangements of an assortment of carols and holiday tunes from France, Canada, England, Ireland, Italy, and Germany. | Details
Toronto Consort | Schütz’s Christmas Story. 8 p.m. Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. W. $20-$77. Repeats Dec. 14 (8 p.m.) and 15 (3:30 p.m.).
The Toronto Consort brings the Nativity Story to life as imagined by 17th century German composer Heinrich Schütz. Tenor Charles Daniels returns to take on the lead role in this production as the Evangelist. Artistic Director David Fallis, entering his 40th year with The Toronto Consort, returns to conduct the ensemble. | Details
Saturday 14
Toronto International Ballet Theatre | The Nutcracker. 2 p.m. Meridian Hall (formerly Sony Centre) 1 Front St. E. $63-$147. Repeats 7 p.m.
Calling all Nutcracker fans — In additional to the National Ballet of Canada’s Nutcreacker, you get to experience the presentation by Toronto International Ballet Theatre (Artistic Director Tatiana Stepanova) with guest artists Anastasia Stashkevich and Vyacheslav Lopatin, principal dancers of the Bolshoi Ballet. | Details
Mississauga Symphony Orchestra | Highlights from Messiah. 8 p.m. Hammerson Hall, Living Arts Centre, 4141 Living Arts Drive, Mississauga. $25-$50.
Mississauga Symphony Orchestra presents highlights from Handel’s Messiah, with a quartet of soloists (Angela Yoo, soprano; Lillian Brooks, mezzo; Zachary Rioux, tenor; and Christopher Dunham, baritone) and the Mississauga Festival Chamber Choir. | Details
Sunday 15
Toronto Children’s Chorus | A Chorus Christmas: Celestial Celebrations. 2 p.m. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St. $37.50-$47.50.
This is TCC’s annual tradition, where more than 400 choristers, plus the TCC’s Alumni Choir and the Toronto Youth Choir, return to Roy Thomson Hall for an afternoon of festive favourites from around the globe. Musicians from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra; and the Alumni Choir will be caroling in the lobby before the show. | Details
Pax Christi Chorale | A Baroque Celebration. 3 p.m. St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, 73 Simcoe St. $50/$45(sr)/$25(< 30).
For the Holiday Season, Pax Christi Chorale is performing a program of choral works by Baroque composers — Magnificat, Francesco Durante (1684-1755); Gloria, Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741); and Magnificat, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). Soloists are sopranos Megan Miceli & Elizabeth Polese, mezzo Georgia Burashko, tenor Daevyd Pepper, and baritone Bradley Christensen, joined by the Toronto Mozart Players. | Details
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