The Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra offers a slate of six concerts for their 2024/25 season. CBSO will be led by Martin MacDonald, who returns for a third season as Music Director and Conductor.
Each concert features a crowd-pleasing mix of well known repertoire along with works by contemporary Canadian composers, and a lineup of guest artists that showcase the city’s depth of classical music talent.
Here’s a look at the season in brief.
Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra 2024/25 Season At A Glance
There’s a pre-concert chat to talk about repertoire and artist before each performance. Note that an asterisk * next to a name indicates a Canadian composer.
Ode to Joy | Saturday October 5, 2024
CBSO marks the 200th anniversary of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with a program dedicated to the Ode to Joy.
Guest artists include: soprano Rachel Krehm, mezzo-soprano Danielle MacMillan, tenor Daevyd Pepper, and bass-baritone Alex Halliday as soloists, along with performances by the Pax Christi Chorale and Voices Chamber Choir, conducted by Elaine Choi and Ron Cheung, respectively.
Program
- Joel Toews* Fanfare and March (2024) World premiere
- Matthew Emery* Hymn of Praise (2015)
- Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Choral
Affairs Of The Heart | Saturday November 16, 2024
Violinist Tanya Charles Iveniuk joins conductor Martin MacDonald and the CBSO for a program of music that highlights emotions, culminating in Tchaikovsky’s haunting Symphony No. 6.
With an Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School, and B.Mus. in Performance from the University of Toronto, award-winning guest violinist Tanya Charles Iveniuk has performed across North America and the Caribbean. She is also a sessional instructor at the University of Toronto.
Program
- Jocelyn Morlock:* My Name is Amanda Todd (2015)
- Marjan Mozetich:* Affairs of the Heart (1997)
- Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B minor Pathetique
Classically Christmas | December, 14, 2024
The winner of the North York Music Festival Concerto Competition will be the soloist for this celebration of the Christmas holidays.
The repertoire draws on favourites that pay musical tribute to the season, along with Prokofiev’s Lieutenant Kije Suite. It was the composer’s first venture into composing music for film, a Russian literary adaptation of a satirical story.
Program
- Coleridge-Taylor: Christmas Overture
- Rimsky-Korsakov: Selections from The Snow Maiden
- Prokofiev: Lieutenant Kije: Suite
- Tchaikovsky: Selections from Nutcracker
Ryan Huang, age 12, performs Liszt’s Piano Concert No. 1 with the Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra in October 2022:
Spanish Nights | February 8, 2025
Conductor Martin MacDonald and the CBSO heat up a mid-winter’s evening with the rhythms and music of Spain, and inspired by Spain.
Program
- Chabrier: Espana
- Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol
- de Falla: Selections from The Three-Cornered Hat
- Elizabeth Raum:* “Flamenco Dance” from Carmen, The Passion (2010)
- Bizet: Selections from Carmen
- Marquez: Danzon No. 2
Appalachian Spring | Saturday April 19, 2025
This special matinee concert celebrates the arrival of spring. Copland’s iconic Appalachian Spring is at the heart of a program that is about storytelling and evoking a sense of place with music.
Program
- Brahms: Variations on a Theme of Joseph Haydn
- Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin Suite
- Alexina Louie*: Music for a Celebration (1990)
- Mascagni: “Intermezzo” from Cavalleria Rusticana
- Copland: Appalachian Spring (1945)
Pictures At An Exhibition | Saturday May 24, 2025
Martin MacDonald leads the orchestra in a vibrant season finale of memorable works. French horn player Samir Abd-Elmessih, Principal Horn of the CSBO as well as Orchestra Toronto, and a former member of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, is the soloist for Gliere’s Horn Concerto.
Program
- Verdi: Overture to La Forza del Destino
- Ian Cusson:* Tableau Vivant (2018)
- Gliere: Horn Concerto
- Mussorgsky-Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition
Find out more, and subscribe to their 2024/25 season, [HERE]
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