Classical music and opera events for the week of November 8 – 14

This is a list of amazing concerts we are attending, wishing we could attend, or thinking about attending between November 8–14, 2021. For more details on what’s happening from our trusted partners, visit our calendar here.

Music Toronto | Stephen Hough (in-person)

📅 Tuesday — November 9, 2021, 8 p.m. ET
📍 LINK
💸 $53

Thanks to Music Toronto, pianist Stephen Hough is in Toronto tonight at the Jane Mallet Theatre. He’ll be playing a program with some fascinating repertoire from Alan Rawsthorne, Schumann, and Chopin. He will also play some of his one works. Partita was commissioned by the Naumburg Foundation for Albert Cano Smit. After writing some rather serious piano sonatas, he took a different approach — something a little more fun. This is a must for piano lovers. | Details

Toronto Symphony Orchestra | A Welcome Return: Gimeno & Your TSO (in-person & online)

📅 Wednesday — November 10, 2021, 8 p.m. ET (repeats Nov. 11 and 13)
📍 LINK
💸 $53

Gustavo Gimeno’s in-person début as Music Director at the TSO is here. Thanks to COVID, it was slightly anti-climactic, but the TSO is ready to pick up where they left off. The TSO opens with Anthony Barfield’s “Invictus” — a fanfare written amid the social turmoil going on in the US over the last while. There’s also Schubert’s laidback Fifth Symphony. It repeats over three days, so pick your best date. (P.S. Gustavo Gimeno was our guest on our last episode of our Critical Mass). The Nov. 10 performance is also available as a PWYC livestream.| Details

The National Ballet of Canada | Angels’ Atlas & Serenade (in-person)

📅 Thursday — November 11, 2021, 7:30 p.m. ET (repeats through Nov. 21)
📍 LINK
💸 $20+

Canadian dance legend Crystal Pite choreographed Angels’ Atlas for The National Ballet last year to a rave review from our own Paula Citron. Now’s your chance to see it again, in person. The piece will be paired with George Balanchine’s Serenade. This is one of many ballets he set to his favourite composer Tchaikovsky’s music (Serenade for Strings, Op. 48). If you like contemporary ballet, this is a not-to-be-missed. | Details

Sinfonia Toronto | Beethoven & Mozart (online and in-person)

📅 Friday — November 12, 2021, 8 p.m. ET
📍 LINK
💸 $44 (in-person) / $15 (online)

Over the past year and a half, Sinfonia Toronto has cemented its place as Toronto’s premier city chamber orchestra. With the most orchestras ground to a halt, they maintained their commitment to their audience by shifting seamlessly online. Tonight, you can see them perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Canadian-based soloist Jarred Dunn. Also in the bill is Mozart’s String Quartet No. 23 in F Major, K. 590, adapted for chamber orchestra by Sinfonia Toronto’s very own baton, Nurhan Arman. This concert is both online and in-person, so if you’re not ready for in-person shows just yet, they’ve got you covered | Details

Canadian Opera Company | Espiral by OKAN (online)

📅 Saturday — November 13, 2021, 7:30 p.m. ET (runs through May 12, 2022)
📍 LINK
💸 Free!

It’s not very often you hear Afro-Cuban roots and jazz ensemble OKAN programmed at one of the world’s premier opera companies, but there it is. After checking them out online, we loved what we heard. You’ll hear them perform Espiral, their latest release that explores the dualities of contemporary and traditional, city and country, exile and rebirth, secular and sacred. This is a free online event running May 12, 2022. | Details

The Elora Singers | Bach & Handel: Music For Advent & Christmas (in-person & online)

📅 Saturday — November 13, 2021, 7:30 p.m. ET (Repeats Dec. 4, online)
📍 LINK
💸 $30

A Christmas concert already? We don’t judge. The Elora Singers present Bach’s Advent Cantatas and the Christmas excerpts from Handel’s Messiah, with chamber orchestra and soloists from the choir’s ranks. This concert is in Kitchener, so if you can’t attend, it’s online from Dec. 4 – Jan. 7. | Details

Trio Arkel | Fantasia (online)

📅 Sunday — November 14, 2021 (runs through Nov. 28)
📍 LINK
💸 $20

After Toronto’s Trio Arkel spicy concert last week with their arrangement of Schubert Fantasia, they are giving chamber music lovers the chance to hear it online. Starting today, it will run through Nov. 28. | Details

Royal Conservatory | Charles Settle (in-person)

📅 Sunday — November 14, 2021, 4 p.m. ET
📍 LINK
💸 $25

There aren’t many percussion forward concerts out there, so this is a special treat. TSO’s principal percussionist Charles Settle joins TSO pals Jeffrey Beecher and Andrew McCandless for an intimate program of rarely heard works. There’s a piece on the bill by the young American composer, Andy Akiho — one of the freshest young contemporary music composers out there. | Details

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Michael Vincent

Michael Vincent is the Editor-in-chief Ludwig Van and CEO of Museland Media. He publishes regularly and writes occasionally. A specialist in digital media for over 15 years, he has worked as a senior editor and is a former freelance classical music critic for the Toronto Star. Michael holds a Doctorate in Music from the University of Toronto.