This is a list of concerts we are attending, wishing we could attend, or thinking about attending between August 5 and 10, 2025. For more of what’s happening around Toronto, visit our calendar here.
Harbourfront Centre: Summer Music in the Garden: The String’s The Thing: Mark Fewer
Thursday, August 7, 7p.m.
Toronto Music Garden, 479 Queens Quay West, Free
The ever-versatile Mark Fewer, and friends Nathan Hiltz (guitar) and Joseph Phillips (bass) bring a nice mixed bag to the summer lakeside, including Bach, Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Nathan Hiltz, Joao Gilberto and more. Fewer’s wide musical interests mean there’s always something for everyone. A great way to chill into the summer weekend. Info here.
Dwayne Gretzky and Choir! Choir! Choir!
Thursday, August 7, 6:30 p.m.
Budweiser Stage, $46+
Choir! Choir! Choir!’s putting up a great early summer concert/sing-along at the Budweiser Stage this Thursday. With special guests, Dwayne Gretzky — the party band well-versed in the hits of 70s/80s/90s — and the Superdogs (yes, the CNE family favourite pups and humans), this event promises much relaxed fun, including amusing and lovely dog stunts and skills, and loads of summer favourite singalongs. As the major emphasis of Choir! Choir! Choir! is to make singing accessible to everyone, this could be that perfect activity to pack up your family and friends, and enjoy the simpler joy of life — of being together. Clap. Sing. Dance. Sway. What summer and all-age families and chosen-families are for. Info here.
Festival of the Sound: Pictures From the East
Friday, August 8, 1:30 p.m.
Charles W. Stockey Centre for the Performing Arts, 2 Bay St., Perry Sound, $ 22.34+
For the country cottage-bound, the Festival of Sound, founded in 1979, is a great way to sneak some music into long summer days. This week, a great group of pianists will descend on the Charles W. Stockey Centre: Janina Fialkowska (Wednesday, August 6), Kevin Chen (Thursday, August 7), and Carter Johnson and Meagan Milatz (Friday, August 8). Johnson, this year’s Stockey Young Artist Award winner, was one of the finalists at the 2025 Van Cliburn competition, and his unusual programming — including fierce Prokofiev selections, Shostakovich preludes, Hindemith Sonata No. 3, and Ravel’s Left Hand Concerto — was truly impressive. This particular concert is a great way to see this upcoming star close in lovely Perry Sound. Meagan Milatz, 2024 Prix Opus “Discovery of the Year” winner, will share the stage with Johnson, in this program of Robert and Clara Schumann, Schubert, and Tishchenko. Info here.
Music Around the Corner: Celebrating Classics and Bold Beginnings
Saturday, August 9 at Glad Day Lit, 23 Lisgar St.
Sunday, August 10, Youthful Vengeance, 1110 Dundas St W.
$30, $18 student ticket available
Young musicians Emma Meinrenken, Diane Kim, Lynn Sue-A-Quan and Matthew Christakos bring quality chamber music to our neighbourhoods’ notable local businesses. Since 2023, they’ve performed in lovely shops such as Blood Brothers Brewing and the Coffee Boutique, and for this weekend, they will take seats at the Glad Day Lit and Youthful Vengeance, presenting two Canadian works by Kalen Smith and Pari Bharami, and a firm favourite, Shostakovich Quartet no. 8. Concise, informal, yet fiercely musical, this would be a lovely break to punctuate the long, relaxing summer weekend. Info here.
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