Esprit Orchestra (Photo courtesy of Esprit Orchestra)

Esprit Orchestra, Toronto’s new music specialists, have unveiled their 2024/25 season, an ambitious series that includes a new international festival. As usual, new music fans can look forward to Canadian and world premieres, along with guests both new and familiar.

“Esprit’s 24/25 Edge of Your Seat Season, launching with two Prelude Concerts, expands the breadth of our activity yet again after 42 years of concertizing. We include a new Edge of Your Seat International Festival bringing fantastic visiting composers and their music to listeners’ ears and minds. We also have excellent soloists joining us who’ve been making big waves on the global music scene,” says conductor and Music Director Alex Pauk.

Subscriptions for the season go on sale on September 23, 2024, and a rebranding, with a new website, is in the works. Here’s a look at the lineup for this season.

Esprit Orchestra: 2024/25 Season

Two concerts act as Preludes to the inaugural Edge of Your Seat International Festival that kicks off in the spring of 2025.

f(x)= (November 27, 2024 at Koerner Hall)

Gabriella Smith (USA) f(x)=sin2x-1/x (2019) Canadian Premiere
Bent Sørensen (DNK) It is pain flowing down slowly on a white wall (2010) North American Premiere
Maki Ishii (JPN) Fu-Shi (“Shape of the Wind”) (1989)

Guest artist: Michael Bridge

“We’ve discovered an exciting new composer this season, Gabriella Smith, whose music opens the season with flare,” says Esprit’s Music Director Alex Pauk.

American composer Gabriela Smith conveys the essence of a mathematical formula, f(x)=sin2x-1/x, in the form of sound. Guest artist accordionist Michael Bridge, who brings the instrument into the classical world, performs a gorgeous concerto by Bent Sorensen. Maki Ishii’s work creates a rich and massive sound-space continuum with a cross-cultural fabric made up of elements from both East and West.

Runner (February 23, 2025 at Koerner Hall)

Steve Reich (USA) Runner (2016) Canadian Premiere
Hans Abrahamsen (DNK) Double Concerto (2011)
Alex Pauk (CAN) Harp Concerto (2005)
Henryk Gorecki (POL) Harpsichord Concerto (1980)

Guest artists include Mark Fewer on violin, Kevin Ahfat on piano, Erica Goodman on harp, and Wesley Shen on harpsichord in a concert that focuses on the talents of soloists, including artists within the orchestra. Steve Reich’s Runner was written for a large ensemble, and receives its Canadian premiere. To accompany it, the program adds three concertos that spotlight different instruments, including conductor/music director Alex Pauk’s own Harp Concerto.

Esprit Orchestra Conductor & Music Director Alex Pauk (Photo courtesy of Esprit Orchestra)

Edge of Your Seat International Festival | March 4 to April 17, 2025

Chasing Vito (March 4, 2025, Koerner Hall)

Keiko Abe (JPN) The Wave (2000)
Caroline Shaw (USA) Entr’acte (2011)
Vito Žuraj (SVN) Anemoi (2024) North American Premiere, commissioned by the Berliner Philharmoniker & Esprit Orchestra

Guest artist: noted percussionist Ryan Scott performs on the marimba.
Visiting Guest Composer: Vito Žuraj

“Esprit’s reputation as a unique new music orchestra continues to grow internationally and has lead to co-commissioning projects with important orchestras worldwide. An example is a co-commission with the Berlin Philharmonic for a work from Vito Žuraj. Esprit will give the North American Premiere of this work for gigantic orchestra to open our Edge of Your Seat Festival,” Pauk says.

Icefire, Do-Re-Mi & Caring For The Earth (March 27, 2025, Koerner Hall)

Lisa Streich (SWE) ISHJÄRTA (2024) North American Premiere
Peter Eötvös (HUN) Violin Concerto #2 “DoReMi” (2011-12) Canadian Premiere
Andrew Norman (USA) Sustain (2018)

Guest artist violinist Akiko Suwanai (1999 Tchaikovsky Competition winner) joins the Orchestra in performing works by Visiting Guest Composers Andrew Norman and Lisa Streich, along with Peter Eötvös Concerto.

“Not only will Vito attend as our guest from Slovenia,” Pauk adds, “but we’ll have Lisa Streich from Sweden, a composer having whole festivals devoted to her music abroad. Los Angeles composer Andrew Norman, whose music we’ve thrilled audiences with in the past, will also be one of our guests. Akiko Suwanai, a superb Japanese violinist, will perform the DoReMi Concerto (2nd Violin Concerto) of the late Peter Eotvos, one of the greatest composer/conductors of the past few decades.”

Intimate Concerts at Trinity St. Paul’s Centre

Trinity St. Paul’s is an intimate setting for diverse concerts that include world premieres, and works by emerging Canadian composers Roydon Tse, Julia Mermelstein, and Quinn Jacobs. A stellar lineup of guest soloists bring the music to life. After the show, audience members can stay and mingle during a reception.

Carrot Revolution (April 2, 2025, Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre)

Gabriella Smith (USA) Carrot Revolution (2015)
Keiko Abe (JPN) Michi (1979)
Mark Duggan (CAN) Maracatu Imaginário (2017) previous Esprit commission
Julia Mermelstein (CAN) Floral Reef (2024)
Roydon Tse (CAN) Stepwise (2023) World Premiere & Esprit Orchestra Commission
Ivan Trevino (MEX) Wildlings (2014)
John Rea (CAN) Objets perçus (1992)

Guest artists: percussionists Ryan Scott and Michael Murphy, along with vocalist Aline Morales

Imaginary Pancake (April 6, 2025, Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre)

Quinn Jacobs (CAN) New Work (2025) World Premiere & Esprit Orchestra Commission
Bernhard Lang (AUT) D/W 24 ‘Loops for Al Jourgensen’ (2013)
Gabriella Smith (USA) Imaginary Pancake (2020)
Chris Paul Harman (CAN) Partita #2 for Solo Violin (2019)

Guest artists: keyboardist Wesley Shen plays piano, with Mark Fewer (violin), and Wallace Halladay (saxophone)

Cosmic Heartbeats (April 17, 2025, Koerner Hall)

Nicholas Ma (CAN) Hijinks (2024) World Premiere & Esprit Orchestra Commission
James O’Callaghan (CAN) New Work (2025) World Premiere & Esprit Orchestra Commission
Claude Vivier (CAN) Lonely Child (1980)
Unsuk Chin (KOR) Alaraph ‘Ritus des Herschlagz’ (2023)

Guest artist: Soprano Sophia Burgos

“We’re pleased to reprise Lonely Child by my late friend Claude Vivier whose music I have championed throughout Esprit’s history. The singer for this performance, the American Sophie Burgos, has gained high international acclaim and has become a current leading interpreter of Vivier’s music for voice,” Pauk says.

“Through all of this we remain committed to our Canadian artists with a concert featuring three concerti all of which feature impressive local soloists. We’ll present five Esprit-commissioned World Premieres in the Edge of Your Seat International Festival, one being the first commission for Nicholas Ma, a young composer whose career we’ll be helping to launch — something we’ve done for young composers from the very beginning of Esprit’s history.”

Find more details and subscriptions (with individual tickets on sale at a later date) [HERE].

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Anya Wassenberg

Anya Wassenberg is a Toronto City Editor at Ludwig Van. She is an experienced freelance writer, blogger and writing instructor.