The Canadian Opera Company’s popular Free Concert Series makes a returns for the 2025/26 season on September 17, 2025. The series includes 70 performances, and includes a range of art forms from music performance to dance and more.
“The Free Concert Series is proud to present an exciting slate of programming for audiences season after season,” says Meaghan Froh Metcalf, Manager, Free Concert Series, in a statement.
The Series runs from September until May, 2026, and takes place in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre of the Four Seasons Centre for the Arts, and take place at noon.
Highlights of The Season
“We’re committed to offering an inviting and approachable avenue for audiences to access the transformative power of the arts, whether people are entering the opera house for the first time or their hundredth. Each season, we hear from our audiences that they value the Free Concert Series as a place to take a break, revive their spirits, or just pique their curiosity. We love it when people let us know that we helped get them outside their comfort zone and discover something that they hadn’t experienced before,” Metcalf continues.
The season opens on September 17 with Meet the Ensemble Studio, part of their Vocal Series. Each of the members of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio will perform their favourite arias.
Some of the other highlights include:
- Innu soprano Elisabeth St-Gelais and pianist Louise Pelletier perform to commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30;
- Opera Atelier offers staged excerpts from their upcoming production of Mozart’s Magic Flute on October 2;
- “A thoughtfully curated hour of opera arias, duets, and irreverent genre-adjacent selections” from innovative (and irreverent) Opera Revue on October 14;
- You can meet the artists of Fall for Dance North 2025 Festival Season on October 15;
- Experience the artistry of violinist Justin Saulnier, winner of the Schulich School of Music’s Golden Violin Award, as well as this year’s Michael Measures first prize winner, in recital with pianist Gaspard Tanguay-Labrosse on November 5;
- Mozart and Ravel performed by Quator Agate as part of their North American tour on November 18;
- PRIMORDIAL, an exploration of darkness through music for solo cello and spoken word, including works by Ana Sokolović, György Kurtág, Kaija Saariaho, Pascal Dusapin, and others, by cellist Peter Eom on December 10;
- And much more, including two Adaptive Concerts as part of the COC’s continued partnership with Xenia Concerts. They aim to present performances in a relaxed environment that support neurodivergent and disabled attendees of all ages.
On March 18, the series celebrates the 25th anniversary of The Brothers Grimm by Dean Burry a children’s opera first commissioned by the COC in 2001. After more than 600 performances around the world, the one-act opera returns for a free lunch hour performance.
Featured artists include baritone Luca Pisaroni, tenor Owen McCausland, and a special reunion performance by Alain Coulombe and Michael Colvin — both of whom graduated from the Ensemble Studio over 25 years ago.
Both emerging and experienced talent are showcased in the series.
- Find a full calendar of events [HERE].
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