For their 2024-25 season, Kindred Spirits Orchestra offers a 9-concert series spread between five concert venues in Toronto and Markham. It’s a season full of popular blockbusters, along with lesser known works and world premieres, in the kind of imaginative blend KSO has become known for.
“I am very excited about the upcoming concert season,” says KSO Music Director Kristian Alexander in a statement. “The programming is versatile and includes masterworks from the 19th and the 20th centuries, along with less frequently performed jewels of the orchestral repertoire. Nineteen pieces will be presented by the KSO for a very first time in a kaleidoscope of music written by composers from Italy, France, Canada, Austria, the USA, Hungary, and the Far East.”
Season Highlights
The Music
Highlights of the season include masterworks from a range of composers, such as:
- Bruckner’s Symphony No. 6,
- Verdi’s Requiem,
- Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7,
- Debussy’s La mer,
- Scriabin’s Poem of ecstasy
- Concertos by Gershwin, Dvořák, and Bartók.
World Premières/Composer-in-Residence
Three new works have been commissioned by the KSO to perform during the season.
Canadian composer Gary Kulesha is KSO’s Composer-in-residence. A Member of the Order of Canada, Gary is a pianist, conductor and educator along with his work as a composer. He began composing in his teens, and his Divertimento for Brass Quintet No. 1, written when he was 17, is still performed regularly. He’s received multiple awards for his work, which is widely presented across Canada, as well as internationally. He was appointed Composer-Advisor to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1995.
He is composing a Concerto for piano trio and string orchestra for the Gryphon Trio, who will perform it at the world première.
Two composers based in Hong Kong are composing a concertante for harp and an overture for KSO to première in 2024-25.
Guest Artists
The lineup of guest artists offers a range of talents for audiences to enjoy.
- Juno-Awards winning Gryphon trio (pianist Jamie Parker, violinist Annalee Patipatanakoon and cellist Roman Borys) will be featured at the 14th annual Markham Contemporary Music Festival, co-presented by the KSO at the Cornell Recital Hall.
- Cellist Winona Zelenka performs Dvořák’s Concerto for cello and orchestra in her début with the orchestra.
- Heng-Han Hou, Principal Violinist of the Regina Symphony Orchestra, performs Bartók’s Concerto for violin and orchestra No. 1.
- Pianist Michael Berkovsky returns to perform Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the KSO.
- Pianist Dmitri Levkovich performs Bartók’s Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 1.
- The Orpheus Choir and the Resound Choir, together with soprano Natalya Gennadi, mezzo-soprano Danielle MacMillan, tenor Marcel D’Entremont and baritone Dion Mazerolle perform Verdi’s Requiem.
- Vanessa Yu, the Grand Prize of the 2023 International Music Festival and Competition performs Saint-Saëns’ Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 5 “Egyptian”.
Venues
The concerts are spread over several venues, including the Flato Markham Theatre (December 2024 and February 2025); Meridian Arts Centre — George Weston Recital Hall (March, May and June 2025); the Cornell Recital Hall for the 14th annual Markham Contemporary Music Festival in March 2025; the end of the season finale at the CBC Glenn Gould Studio (June 2025); the Unionville Millennium Theatre (Canada Day, July 1, 2025).
More information about the season, and subscriptions, available [HERE].
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