This is a list of concerts we are attending, wishing we could attend, or thinking about attending between Oct. 16 and Oct. 23, 2023. For more of what’s happening around Toronto, visit our calendar here.
Toronto Symphony Orchestra/James Ehnes/Gustavo Gimeno
Thursday Oct. 19 at 8 p.m. and Saturday Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. Roy Thomson Hall. $35+
James Ehnes applies his Grammy-winning chops to Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto. Other selections on this mostly-North American program led by Gustavo Gimeno are by José White Lafitte, Karen Sunabacka and Silvestre Revueltas (Sensemayá). Also heard are Barber’s Adagio and Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. Info here.
Canadian Opera Company/Fidelio
Wednesday Oct. 18 at 7:30 p.m. and Friday Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m. Four Seasons Centre. $55+
Two performances remain of this San Francisco production that transports Beethoven’s opera to a modern prison. Johannes Debus conducts. Read our review here. Info here.
Canadian Opera Company/La Bohème
Thursday Oct. 19 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday Oct. 21 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday Oct. 22 at 2:30 p.m. Four Seasons Centre. Standing room $12 (day of performance).
Jordan de Sousa conducts this revival of a 2013 COC production of the Puccini favourite. Tenor Pene Pati and soprano Amina Edris are Rodolfo and Mimí on Thursday and Saturday. Kang Wang and Jonelle Sills are heard in the Sunday matinée. The performances are sold out or almost. Try standing room. Read our review here. Info here.
Sinfonia Toronto/Elisso Gogibedaschwili/Beethoven 5
Saturday Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. George Weston Recital Hall. $52, seniors $40, students $20.
The opening of Sinfonia Toronto’s 25th anniversary season includes what is billed as the Canadian premiere of the Violin Concerto No. 2 by the Georgian composer Otar Taktakishvili (1924-89) with the Austrian violinist Elisso Gogibedaschwili as soloist. The closer is Beethoven’s Fifth in a version for strings. Nurhan Arman conducts; read our interview with him here. Info here.
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