This is a list of concerts we are attending, wishing we could attend, or thinking about attending between December 8 and 14, 2025. For more of what’s happening around Toronto, visit our calendar here.
St. Michael’s Schola Cantorum and Consort: Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day: Advent Carols
Monday, Dec 8, 7:30 p.m.
St. Basil’s Church, 50 St. Joseph St. Donations accepted
This lovely group draws from the community of University of Toronto and beyond — including parishioners, friends and family — and this is their second performance of the year celebrating Advent. Drawing from great Baroque repertoire, St. Mike’s SC and C always present interesting programs, and the dedication and high calibre of musicians is always a joy. Get yourself centred in this lovely oasis of calm, St. Basil’s, in the midst of downtown, and let your mind be at ease; find peace with gentle, joyful music-making on this Monday evening. With open access and free-will donation, it is open to anyone and everyone. Who knows, perhaps this will inspire you to audition for the choir for 2026, as arts making and human connections are so integral to all of us, to keep us human. Info here.
Canadian Opera Company: Instrumental Series: Primordial
Tuesday, Dec 10, Noon
Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Free
In the midst of the saturation of holiday music of all kinds, here’s a great selection of solo cello works presented by Peter Eom. Eom’s focus on contemporary cello repertoire is impressive — you may have seen him with The Happenstancers, a fast-rising chamber group with hyper-focus on truly great contemporary music, premiering and performing works of 17 living composers. Or perhaps you’ve seen him with the Rolston String Quartet. This particular program includes great repertoire seldom heard and recorded, including works by Ana Sokolović, György Kurtág, Kaija Saariaho, Pascal Dusapin, Peter Eötvös and Paul Desenne, structured with John Cage’s all three parts of 4’33”. If you are familiar with the names, no other words are needed; if you never heard them before, this may be the best chance you will have in a long while to experience such beautiful, if strange at first, music in person. Carve that lunch break out, come to the beautiful Four Seasons Centre, and get your ears and eyes open to this amazing music. Info here.
St. Michael’s Choir School: REJOICE! Jubilee Celebration — 60 Years at Massey Hall — Annual Christmas Concert
Friday, December 12, 7 p.m.,Saturday, December 13, 7 p.m.
Massey Hall, 178 Victoria ST., $48.20+
The annual Christmas celebration with youngsters of St. Michael’s Choir School returns to Massey for the 60th time — auguri! SMCS’s choral program is intense — young singers from grade 3-12 receive daily choral practice, music theory, and weekly private lessons on piano and additional instruments. As part of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, these hard working students are admitted based on vocal audition, and many of them have gone on to become pillars of community and professional music-making in our city since 1937. Come out to Massey, and experience a high calibre performance from the stage fully packed to the brim, and be soaked with joy that comes through the community. After all, the young generation’s boundless energy and fearlessness is one of the most amazing resources we have, as a group, and such a vibe is so infectious. Info here.
Elmer Iseler Singers: Handel’s Messiah
Friday, December 12, 7:30 p.m.
Yorkminster Park Baptist Church (Toronto), 1585 Yonge St., $55+
If you haven’t made it to a Messiah performance yet, here’s another good one. Elmer Isler, under the baton of Lydia Adams, is joined by the Amadeus Choir and the Viva Chamber Singers to present a lovely rendition of the Messiah. Featuring an amazing roster of Ontario talents — Leslie Fagan, Nicole Percifield, Colin Ainsworth and Doug MacNaughton — the traditional excellence of the EIS is a great way to experience Handel’s masterful creation. This just might be the most popular classical work of all times, rivalling Beethoven’s 5th, and Pachelbel’s Canon. After all, who has not heard the Hallelujah chorus? It’s almost inescapable. Bring your friends and families, and fill your Friday evening with this timeless work, meticulously prepared and presented in the lovely space of the Yorkminster Park. Info here.
Toronto Children’s Chorus: Songs of the Season: Nostalgic Movie Moments
Sunday, Dec 14, 2 p.m.
Roy Thomson Hall, $56.30+
This powerhouse of children’s music programs in Toronto brings many — oh, so many! — young musicians to Roy Thomson Hall, filling our hearts with the holiday movie favourites this year. Let it Go from Frozen, Carol of the Bells from Home Alone, You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and My Favourite Things from The Sound of Music — the selections that are dear and close to our hearts are the best when they’re shared. With nearly 300 singers from age 4 to 18, TCC’s excellence has been celebrated locally and internationally — they often tour to faraway lands, to NYC, to Singapore, to Australia — the list is nearly impossible to keep up with. They will also be joining the touring Budapest Festival Orchestra for Mahler 3 at Koerner Hall, Feb 12, 2026 — amazing. How lucky are we, to have such a beautifully supported music program in the city, and how fun it is, to bring everyone, of all ages, to experience, and be inspired by such displays of dedication, excellence, and musical joy! Come on down, and join the fun. The love of being together, and love of making music in person, is a true joy; my fingers are crossed that after such a concert, many will contemplate joining music-making themselves in 2026. There’ll be carolling in the lobby starting at 1:15 p.m., to get you hum along with the spirit of the holiday. Info here.
TO Live: The Tallis Scholars
Sunday, Dec 14, 3 p.m.
Meridian Arts Centre — George Weston Recital Hall, 5040 Yonge St., $40+
Continuing the tradition of excellent singing over five decades, the Tallis Scholars are returning to Toronto with brilliant selections of Renaissance music. Focusing on the magic of mother and child, the program will feature works by Byrd, Tallis, Britten, John Taverner, John Nesbett, and Matthew Martin’s brand new composition. There’s something special about the human voice, and this collective is truly masterful in blending their voices in that magical Renaissance harmony, a colour and shape before the diatonic system took over the Western music — and which most people have had a hard time getting away from ever since. Come for the extraordinary colours and timbres of Renaissance magic along with the contemporary music of our own time (they are amazingly very similar at times despite the time gap!) be awed by the beauty of the voices, no other distractions here. Read our Interview with Tallis Scholars founder and director Peter Phillips here. Info here.
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