Classical music and opera events for the week of May 16 to 21.

This is a list of amazing concerts we are attending, wishing we could attend, or thinking about attending between May 16 – 21, 2022. For more details on what’s happening around Toronto, visit our calendar here.

Canadian Opera Company | The Magic Flute

📅 Tuesday — May 17, 2022, 7:30 p.m. ET (runs through May 21)
📍 LINK
💸 $45+

The COC’s signature production of The Magic Flute continues this week. The opera takes audiences into a fantastical world of whimsical comedy. You can catch our review here. | Details

Pearle Harbour + Buddies in Bad Times Theatre | Distant Early Warning

📅 Tuesday — May 17, 2022, 8 p.m. ET (runs through May 29)
📍 LINK
💸 $10+

Pearle Harbour + Buddies in Bad Times Theatre open their mainstage run of Distant Early Warning. They describe it as: “Not long from now, in the scorched Arctic Circle, a lone and lovesick survivor counts down the days til The Grand Prize Winner — humanity’s last hope — returns.” It sounds dark, but this is theatre about our enduring hope for a better tomorrow. Highly recommended. | Details

Canadian Opera Company | Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata

📅 Wednesday — May 18, 2022, 7:30 p.m. ET (Run through May 20)
📍 LINK
💸 $95+

This is the last week for COC’s La Traviata, so this is your chance if you haven’t seen it yet. At three hours twenty minutes, it’s one of the longest Traviata’s going. It’s worth every second. Read our review here. | Details

Toronto Symphony Orchestra | Gimeno + Hannigan

📅 Thursday — May 19, 2022, 8 p.m. ET (repeats May 21)
📍 LINK
💸 $

Toronto favourite Barbara Hannigan is in town this week for composer Zosha Di Castri’s In the half-light for Soprano and Orchestra. The TSO will also be performing Stravinsky’s The Firebird and Scherzo fantastique, op. 3., and a prelude by Julia Mermelstein, written in celebration of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s 100th season. Gustavo Gimeno conducts. | Details

PODIUM 2022 Choral Festival | National Youth Choir of Canada

📅 Thursday — May 19, 2022, 8 p.m. ET
📍 LINK
💸 $40

The PODIUM 2022 Choral Festival and Conference is the main highlight of the week in Toronto. There are plenty of worthwhile shows going on, but one we’d recommend is the National Youth Choir of Canada with Jean-Sébastien Vallée. They will be premiering two world premiere commissions: Forgive by Shireen Abu-Khader and Music is Vibration by Andrew Balfour. You’ll also hear the winning piece from Choral Canada’s 2022 Competition for Choral Writing. For more details, catch our interview with the amazing folks behind the festival. | Details

Podium 2022 Choral Festival | Dead Of Winter

📅 Saturday — May 21, 2022, 8 p.m. ET
📍 LINK
💸 $40+

Dead of Winter, originally known as Camerata Nova, is a singing group from Winnipeg. They will be presenting a fascinating program of choral works from the Indigenous peoples’ experience. Composers include Andrew Balfour, Eliot Britton, and Cris Dirksen. | Details

Kindred Spirits Orchestra | Love and Turmoil

📅 Saturday — May 21, 2022, 8 p.m. ET
📍 LINK
💸 $15+

The program caught our eye in this concert by the Kindred Spirits Orchestra. Not only is there’s Hindemith rarely performed depiction of the myth of Amor and Psyché, but also Rachmaninoff’s Piano concerto No. 4, Op. 40 with virtuoso pianist Ludmil Angelov. There’s also Prokofiev’s turbulent Symphony No. 6 in E-flat minor, Op. 111. | 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.