This is a list of concerts we are attending, wishing we could attend, or thinking about attending between Nov. 13 and Nov. 19, 2023. For more of what’s happening around Toronto, visit our calendar here.

Toronto Symphony Orchestra/Illia Ovcharenko/Oksana Lyniv

Thursday Nov. 16 and Saturday Nov. 18 at 8 p.m. Roy Thomson Hall. $42+

Oksana Lyniv, the first woman to conduct an opera at the Bayreuth Festival, leads Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 in a program also including Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 as played by her fellow Ukrainian, the Honens Competition winner Illia Ovcharenko. Also heard is Maria’s City, a tribute to the besieged city of Mariupol by the contemporary Ukrainian composer Zoltan Almashi. Info here.

WMCT/Tesla Quartet

Thursday Nov. 16 at 1.30 p.m. Walter Hall. $50, students free

The 2016 second-prize winners in Banff play Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 59 No. 3 and selections from Dvořák’s Cypresses. Less familiar are the String Quartet No. 3 of Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-69) and a new piece by Kevin Lau, the latter commissioned by the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto. Info here.

TO Live/New York Philharmonic String Quartet

Thursday Nov. 16 at 8 p.m. George Weston Recital Hall. $80+

Four New York Philharmonic principals visit with a program of two standards (Mozart’s “Dissonance” and Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden”) and one novelty (Joel Thompson’s In Response to the Madness). “Furious, unrelenting” is the expressive marking at the opening of this piece. Info here.

Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra/Roy Thomson Hall

Friday Nov. 17 at 8 p.m. Roy Thomson Hall. $90+

The 98-year-old Yerevan-based orchestra is in the midst of a tour dedicated to the 120th anniversary of Khachaturian and the 150th anniversary of Rachmaninoff. Sergey Khachatryan is the soloist in the Violin Concerto of the former; Eduard Topchjan conducts the Symphony No. 2 of the latter. Also heard are selections from Khachaturian’s ballet Spartacus. Info here.

Hart House Orchestra/Mahler 3

Sunday Nov. 19 at 3 p.m. Great Hall, Hart House. Free

You read that right: Mahler’s massive Third Symphony as performed by the Hart House Orchestra, a group comprising U of T students, alumni, faculty and staff. Vocals courtesy of mezzo-soprano Mila Ionkova, the Hart House Singers and Young Voices Toronto. Henry Janzen conducts. Info here.

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Arthur Kaptainis

Arthur Kaptainis was classical music critic of the Montreal Gazette from 1986 to 2022 and wrote for the National Post from 2010 to 2016. His articles appear in Classical Voice North America and Gramophone as well as Ludwig Van. Arthur holds an MA in musicology from the University of Toronto. He is president of the Music Critics Association of North America.

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