This is a list of concerts we are attending, wishing we could attend, or thinking about attending between Sept. 18 and Sept. 24, 2023. For more of what’s happening around Toronto, visit our calendar here.

Toronto Symphony Orchestra/Jean-Yves Thibaudet/Gustavo Gimeno

Wednesday Sept. 20 and Thursday Sept. 21 at 8 p.m. Roy Thomson Hall. $51+

The TSO season starts with a 20th-century program comprising Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, Gershwin’s Concerto in F (Jean-Yves Thibaudet, pianist) and Lili Boulanger’s D’un matin de printemps. Gustavo Gimeno conducts. Info here.

Tafelmusik/Beethoven/Bruno Weil

Thursday Sept. 22 and Friday Sept. 23 at 8 p.m., Sunday Sept 24 at 3 p.m. Koerner Hall. $48+

Tafelmusik revisits its Beethoven collaboration with Bruno Weil as the German conductor leads the not-necessarily-so-baroque orchestra through the Fourth and Fifth Symphonies. Info here.

In Time/TMC/Compagnie de la Citadelle

Friday Sept. 22 and Saturday Sept. 23 at 7:30 p.m. in Jeanne Lamon Hall. $25+

Jean-Sébastien Vallée conducts the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers and the Compagnie de la Citadelle in a music-dance collaboration featuring Handel’s Dixit Dominus, Bach’s Cantata No. 4 and Caroline Shaw’s To the Hands. Choreography by Laurence Lemieux focuses on the resilience of women. Check out our preview here. Info here.

St. James Cathedral/David Briggs

Friday Sept. 22 at 7:30 p.m. St. James Cathedral. $28

David Briggs — organist emeritus of Gloucester Cathedral and artist in residence at the Cathedral of St John the Divine — returns to Toronto to give an inaugural recital on the new console of the organ of his old haunt, St. James Cathedral. On the program are popular transcriptions (among then, Wagner’s Liebestod, Ravel’s La Valse and Debussy’s Claire de lune) followed by an improvised symphony in four movements. Info here.

Toronto Symphony Orchestra/Open House

Saturday Sept. 23 10 a.m-2 p.m. at Roy Thomson Hall. Free.

The orchestra offers a free family-friendly open house in Roy Thomson Hall. “Design an instrument, create your own sheet music, colour in our TSO colouring sheets, meet a musician…” Then at 2 p.m. hear a concert (reservations required) of varied short pieces and excerpts starting with Wagner’s The Ride of the Valkyries. Gustavo Gimeno conducts. Info here.

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Arthur Kaptainis

Arthur Kaptainis has been the classical music critic of the Montreal Gazette since 1986 and wrote for the National Post 2010-2016. His articles have appeared in Classical Voice North America and La Scena Musicale as well as Ludwig Van. Arthur holds an MA in musicology from the University of Toronto.

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