Figaro at Opera da Camera
Montreal’s newest addition to the opera scene is Opera da Camera, headed by co-artistic directors Meagan Zantingh, Benjamin Kwong, and Kathrin Welte. (Zantingh and Welte are also mezzo-sopranos who perform with the company and Kwong is music director.) Following a series of concerts and Quebec tours since its inception last year, Opera da Camera will present its first full-length opera, The Marriage of Figaro, at the Rialto Theatre on Feb. 22, 23, 24. www.operadacamera.ca SG
Toronto
Ben Heppner at the COC
At the Four Seasons Centre, you can catch the tail end of the COC winter season of La clemenza di Tito (Feb. 16, 19, 22) and Tristan und Isolde (Feb. 17, 20, 23). Ben Heppner returns to the COC in an opera last staged by the Company a quarter of a century ago! www.coc.ca JS
Young piano talents
A hot ticket is the recital by the prodigiously talented 22-year-old Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov at Koerner Hall on April 14, 3 pm. Winner of the Rubinstein, Chopin (Warsaw) and Tchaikovsky (Moscow) Competitions, Trifonov plays Scriabin, Liszt and Rachmaninoff. The equally talented Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki gives a recital there on Mar. 3 of Chopin Etudes Op. 10 and 25, a program he has recently recorded in this very same hall for Deutsche Grammophon. www.rcmusic.ca JS
A Toronto Symphony
New music fans will be interested in the TSO’s A Toronto Symphony (Mar. 9 Roy Thomson Hall), a new work by composer Tod Machover billed as a “unique collaboration with you, the citizens of Toronto.” More details, and to participate in the project, visit www.toronto.media.mit.edu JS
Brueggergosman and the TSO
Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman sings the iconic American piece, Knoxville: Summer of 1915, with the TSO and conductor James Gaffigan. Ravel’s Suite from Mother Goose and Stravinsky’s Fire Bird complete the program. Two performances April 11 and 13 at Roy Thomson Hall. www.tso.ca JS
Mozart Requiem
Tafelmusik presents the Mozart Requiem with soprano Nathalie Paulin, mezzo Laura Pudwell, tenor Lawrence Wiliford, and baritone Nathaniel Watson, under the direction of Ivars Taurins for four performances in Koerner Hall (Feb. 21 - 24). www.tafelmusik.org JS
U of T does Britten
For voices of tomorrow, be sure to hear Britten’s Turn of the Screw, presented by the University of Toronto Faculty of Music for four performances (Mar.14 -17) at the MacMillan Theatre. www.rcmusic.ca JS
