This is a list of concerts we are attending, wishing we could attend, or thinking about attending between June 16 and 22, 2025. For more of what’s happening around Toronto, visit our calendar here.
Tafelmusk Baroque Summer Institute: Opening Night
June 16, 8 p.m.
Jeanne Lamon Hall, Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, Free with ticket reservation
The annual bustle of TBSI returns to the city! Drawing both young, and experienced musicians around the world, the institute focuses on exploring baroque performance practice, and their showcase concerts are full of good music and good fun. Come out, and reserve your tickets asap, as these events often run full house. If the opening concert tickles your fancy, there are numerous offerings from TBSI in the next two weeks, including a chance to audit the courses, and other free offerings (details here). It’s always good to experience such enthusiasm in person. Info here.
Opera 5: Toronto Opera Festival: Elegies — A Song Cycle by William Finn
Tuesday, June 17, 7:30 p.m., Friday, June 20, 7:30: p.m.
Factory Theatre, 125 Bathurst St., $24+
Elegies by Finn is a tiny production involving 5 singers and a piano, but it packs a punch. A remembrance piece drawing from the losses of 9/11, Finn’s songs are still made to celebrate, as “life has infinite joys.” This is one of the three events for Opera 5’s Toronto Opera Festival 2025, and here’s your chance to explore this built from scratch, young opera company’s view on what operatic experience could be. Sometimes it is easy to typecast an artform into an archetype, and it’s always a good thing to take a different perspective. The word on the street is that the opening last Sunday was quite lovely — so get out there and sink into this tidy 70-min performance. Info here.
Bound for Banff Benefit Concert
Thursday, June 19, Noon
St. Andrew’s United Church, Pay-what-you-can, $40 suggested at door
Three early-stage career singers — Maeve Palmer, Hillary Tufford, and Christian Matta — will be heading to the world renowned Banff Centre for the “Interplay” summer program this year. With pianist Helen Becqué, they’ve organized a fundraising noon concert at the beautiful St. Andrew’s. Focusing on the operatic favourites — arias, duets, and trios, this is a great event to hear these upcoming young singers closely in person, and share their enthusiasm and artistic flair; no artist can exist without their community, and being there is essential in creating a close-knitted community that keeps arts alive in our world. Do come out and enjoy this lovely break of eternal favourites. Details and more info in our Preview here.
The Happenstancers: The Two Deaths of Ophelia
Thursday, June 19, 7:30 p.m.
918 Bathurst Centre for Culture, Arts, Media and Education, $33.28, free for students
Ah, poor phelia. The happenstances will construct the eternal tragic heroine through brand new works by Ryan Chase and Luis Ramirez, along with the music of Linda Catlin Smith, Shawn Jaeger, Ann Southam, Wolfgang Rihm, Oliver Knussen, Charles Wuorinen, Krzysztof Penderecki, Claude Vivier, Thomas Adès, and recitations from Virgina Woolf’s selected letters. Planned in two separate storytellings, back-to-back, this clever programming is full of rich music, rarely performed live, and the cast of musicians, all familiar faces in Toronto’s chamber music scene, promises much richness. Come and sink into the tragic poignancy that surrounds this gentle lady. Reader our Preview here. Info here.
Kindred Spirits Orchestra/Orpheus Choir/Resound Choir: Verdi’s Requiem
Saturday, June 21, 8 p.m.
George Weston Hall, Meridian Arts Centre, $25+
This amazing work — Verdi’s finest, personally — illustrates everything from eternal love, to the agony of hellfire and loss. It is quite something to experience in person. There are many recordings and broadcasts available; however, to hear the collective breath of the choir and the orchestra, in this life-to-death progression, is a quite a poignant human experience. Additionally, the community music making, including civic orchestras and local choirs, is integral in sustaining arts within our community. Come out and support these three ensembles, all in pursuit of artistic excellence in this great work. Info here.
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