Early Music Vancouver
Summer Festival: BACH & MOZART: In Endless Ascent
Forgotten Harmonies: Schubert and Friends

When & Where 1 August, 2025 at 7.30 pm | Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver

Artists Magali Simard-Galdès, soprano; Simon Poirier, natural horn; Olivier Godin, fortepiano

Reviewer Elizabeth Paterson

An evening of German lied is always a pleasure, especially when it is centred around Franz Peter Schubert. He is the perfect composer for EMV’s theme of Nature which runs through the festival, and the three songs chosen for the programme are quintessentially of the natural world, flowers, water and the seasons. Full review

Silk Strings: A Chinese Baroque Musical Dialogue

When & Where 29 July, 2025 at 7.30 pm | Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver

Directors Christina Hutten and Edward Top
Artists Emma Parkinson, EMV Festival Players & Sound of Dragon Society

Reviewer Elizabeth Paterson

Fiery and spiky with sharp edges and brilliant flashes, Edward Top’s “Farewell Songs”, was full of emotional intensity. Snatches of Chinese folk tunes and an orchestra composed of instruments from both European and Chinese traditions epitomized EMV’s opening concert which brought together East and West, old and new. Full review

Vancouver International Jazz Festival

When & Where Saturday, June 28, 2025 at 1pm | Civic Plaza, North Vancouver

Featured performer Taras Luka - Accordion

Reviewer Alexander M

At North Vancouver's Civic Plaza, Luka presented a fascinating midday set drawing on selections from his recent album  as well as newly written pieces expressly for the North Shore Jazz Series. Luka's musical style is a fusion of contemporary jazz and pan-Latin. Leading a quintet that featured guitar, saxophone, bass and drums, he opened the set with a lyrical piece that established the group’s rhythmic cohesion. Full review

The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Legends: The Paul Simon Songbook

When and Where June 13 & 14, 2025 at 8pm | Orpheum Theatre

Conductor Sean O’Loughlin Featured performers Daniel Berryman & Emily Drennan - vocals, Paul Loren - vocals and guitar Guest Musicians Eric Metzger - drums, Shubh Saran - electric guitar

Reviewer John Anthony Jane

American singer-songwriter Paul Simon seems to have been around for decades - well, in fact, he has! Starting with the release of Simon & Garfunkel’s oddly titled first album "Wednesday Morning, 3am" in 1964, Simon has been pretty prolific, putting out around twenty albums, including five with former musical partner Art Garfunkel. Full review

The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Beethoven’s “Emperor” Piano Concerto

When and Where 23 May 2025, 7pm | Orpheum Theatre

Program Mykhailo Verbytsky’s Ukraine National Anthem; Kelly-Marie Murphy’s Curiosity, Genius, and the Search for Petula Clark; Béla Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta: Andante tranquillo, Allegro, Adagio, Allegro molto; Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 “Emperor”: Allegro, Adagio un poco mosso, Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo

Conductor Otto Tausk Featured performer Behzod Abduraimov - piano

Reviewer Alexander M.

The concert’s main work, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, where the inimitable Uzbekistan pianist Behzod Abduraimov delivered a performance replete with both technical mastery and profound emotion. This program not only celebrated musical brilliance but also underscored the concert’s special dedication to Vancouver’s sister city, Odessa in Ukraine.... Full review

The Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra (VYSO)
95th Anniversary Concert

When and Where Sunday, May 18 at 2pm | The Orpheum

Guest Soloist Joanna G’froerer – flute Host Christopher Gaze Conductors Jonathan Girard, Richard Dorfer, Nadia Petriw & Jin Zhang

Programme Coast Salish Anthem & O Canada, J.M. Pinner’s Downtown Suite for Strings, W. Hofeldt’s The Speckled Hen Overture, H. Somers’ Little Suite for String Orchestra, F. Mendelsohn’s String Symphony No.2, J. Sibelius’ Andante Festival, J. Powell's Theme from How to Train your Dragon, A. Dvorak’s Symphony No.9 (New World) – #4 allegro con fuoco, E. Elgar’s Pomp & Circumstance March, O. Morawetz’s Carnival Overture, O. Gordeli’s Flute Concerto, Bramwell Tovey’s Sky Chase

Reviewer John Anthony Jane

Last Sunday afternoon (May18) was an opportunity of the young musicians of the VYSO, their family members and music lovers in general to celebrate the 95th Anniversary Concert of the VYSO. The VYSO provides four streams that help future musicians advance to professional careers: Debut, Junior, Intermediate and Senior. The first half of the concert was dedicated to the two younger groups, while the second half gave the senior students a chance to shine. Full review

Salish Sea Early Music Festival
Louis XIV: Le Musique de la Chambre

When and Where May 6, 2025 at 7pm | St. Mary's Kerrisdale

Performers: Caroline Nicolas Viola da Gamba William Simms baroque guitar Jeffrey Cohan baroque flute

Program Danican Philidor L'Aisne Air pour la flute, De Visee Prelude and Suite in A Minor, Sainte-Colombe Chaconne, Jacquet de la Guerre Sonate in D Major, Corbetta Praeludio and Ciaconna, Marais Suite in D Major

Reviewer Elizabeth Paterson

"Music of the King’s Chamber". Not so much a literal royal bedchamber or even a room, but rather an Office in charge of the music of the court, music for balls, ballets and banquets as well as playlists for Louis XIV’s private hours, including bedtimes. Players, singers, composers and dancers were all part of it. Many printed volumes of the music and manuscripts still exist of this repertoire, including originals and arrangements in a different key or for another combination of players. Remarkably, there are sometimes hand-written notations in the margins. Salish Sea Early Music Festival's players have riffled through this wealth of material and made a playlist of their own. Full review

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

When and Where May 1, 2025 at 2pm | Orpheum Theatre

Conductor David Bui Host Christopher Gaze Featured performer David Lakirovich

Program Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Overture & Intermezzo, Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty Waltz, Elgar’s Saut d’Amour, Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir d'un lieu cher, Op. 42, Dvorák Songs My Mother Taught Me, Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante defunte, Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony‘

Reviewer John Anthony Jane

The central theme of this matinee concert, the fifth in this season’s Tea & Trumpet Series, is nostalgia. Its selected title comes from Antonín Dvorák’s Songs My Mother Taught Me from a cycle called Gypsy Songs, using poems by Czech poet Adolf Heyduk. Dvorák’s Songs My Mother Taught Me is barely two minutes in duration and is the fourth and most famous of his seven-song cycle, Gypsy Songs, Op. 55. It most certainly highlights the timelessness of music, that has passed through generations. Full review

The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Tea & Trumpet Series: J’dore Paris

When and Where March 6, 2025 at 2pm | Orpheum Theatre

Conductor David Bui Host Christopher Gaze

Program Bizet's L'Arlésienne, Suite No.2: Farandole; Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld Overture; Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune; Saint-Saëns' Samson and Delilah: Danse Bacchanale; Fauré's Pelléas et Mélisande: Sicilienne; Gounod's Faust: Les Nubiennes, valse; Piaf's La Vie en Rose; Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, Medley

Reviewer John Anthony Jane

For this Tea & Trumpets concert, the fourth of the season, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra take the audience on an afternoon excursion to the City of Light. The concert begins in rousing fashion with Georges Bizet's famous Farandole from L'Arlésienne, Suite No.2. The melody is based on an old song from Provence that incorporates the theme of the March of the Kings that is also heard in Suite No.1. Maestro David Bui’s reading is robust and an ideal work to begin a concert. Full review