Orchestral Grandeur & Elegance

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» September 26 at 8 p.m.
The Orchestre symphonique de Laval and conductor Alain Trudel open their 2012-2013 season with music inspired by European folklores. Pianist Alain Lefèvre joins the OSQ in Ravel’s colourful, jazz-inspired Piano Concerto in G major. Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály studied the folk music of his native country and sought to incorporate the folk tradition in his own original works. Hear his Dances of Galanta, inspired by the town where he grew up. Written in 1889, Anton Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 is on the lighter end of the Romantic spectrum, but its energy and radiance make for a great concert ending. www.osl.qc.ca

» September 26 at 8 p.m.
Conductor Arild Remmereit and violinist Stefan Jackiw join the Orchestre symphonique du Québec in a performance of Bruch’s beloved Violin Concerto. Stravinsky’s Four Norwegian Moods (Quatre impressions norvégiennes), a short work from the composer’s neoclassical period, and Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony of 1885 complete the program. www.osq.org

» September 28 at 7:30 p.m.
Jean-Marie Zeitouni begins his inaugural season as music director of I Musici with a concert centred on childhood. The program includes Ravel’s magical Ma mère L’Oye (Mother Goose), Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, and Klaus Simon’s chamber orchestra version of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, the latter two giving voices to children in their works and featuring soprano Hélène Guilmette. www.imusici.com

» October 4 at 8 p.m.
Beethoven’s monumental Ninth Symphony can be heard in all of its glory at the National Arts Centre. The NAC Orchestra and Pinchas Zuckerman are joined by soprano Joni Henson, mezzo Julie Boulianne, tenor Nicholas Phan, and bass Kevin Deas, along with a mass of Ottawa choruses. Go hear what Beethoven couldn’t! www.nac-cna.ca/orchestra

» October 16 (Quebec City, 8 p.m.), 17 (Montréal, 7:30 p.m.), & 21 (Ottawa, 8 p.m.)
Be sure to catch renowned flutist Emmanuel Pahud with Les Violons du Roy and director Bernard Labadie in a program that honours the Flute King, Frederick the Great of Prussia. Eighteenth century music at its finest!
www.violonsduroy.com

» October 20 at 8 p.m.
An evening of Rachmaninov awaits you in Trois-Rivières. Jacques Lacombe and the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières perform the composer’s Second Symphony and his Piano Concerto No. 3, with pianist Dong-Hyek Lim. www.ostr.ca

» December 7 & 8 at 7:30 p.m.
The Orchestre Métropolitain presents two concerts contrasting works of J.S. Bach with two Romantic heavy hitters: Mahler and Bruckner. Bach and the Romantics juxtaposes Bach’s Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen (Praise God in All Lands) Cantata for Soprano, BWV 51 with Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, both featuring soprano Suzie LeBlanc. The next night features Bruckner’s Sixth Symphony side-by-side with Bach’s Suite No. 2 in b minor for flute and strings, with OM principal flutist Marie-Andrée Benny.
www.orchestremetropolitain.com

Orchestra swap!
»November 18 (Montreal, 2:30 p.m.), 19 (Ottawa, 8 p.m.)
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra and music director Peter Oundjian return to the Maison symphonique, and the National Arts Centre, with a program that puts the chamber element centre stage: Beethoven’s Triple Concerto features concertmaster Jonathan Crow, cellist Shauna Rolston and pianist André Laplante. Also on the program are Shostakovich’s gripping Symphony No. 12 “The Year 1917”, dedicated to the memory of Vladmir Lenin, and Mercure’s Tryptique.
»November 21 (Toronto, 8:30 p.m.), October 7 (Montreal, 2:30 p.m.)
Meanwhile, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal heads to Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall to present Haydn’s Symphony No. 94 “Surprise”, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’s An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise, and Stravinsky’s momentous The Rite of Spring, which caused a riot at its 1913 premiere. Not in Toronto? Catch this program in Montreal!
www.tso.ca, www.nac-cna.ca, www.osm.ca