Unionville Millennium Theatre, Main St. & Fred Varley Dr., Unionville, ON
Celebrate the birth of our glorious nation with an unforgettable concert under the stars. The Kindred Spirits Orchestra presents musical favourites from the classics to Broadway and beyond.
Michael Berec | conductor
Composed early on in his orchestral writing career, Schumann’s eloquently playful Overture, Scherzo and Finale is a light and gracefully succinct sinfonietta. Pianist Christina Petrowska-Quilico brings discipline and skill to Chinese contemporary composer Tan Dun’s New York Philharmonic commissioned score: Piano Concerto “The Fire.” Started in his early forties, Anton Bruckner periodically revised his Symphony No. 1 throughout is entire life, producing a sonorous and commanding work, akin to the composer’s mature style.
Kristian Alexander | conductor
Christina Petrowska Quilico | pianist
Michael Berec | host
Kindred Spirits Orchestra returns to CBC Glenn Gould Studio for an evening of musical grace and beauty. Composed early on in his orchestral writing career, Schumann’s eloquently playful Overture, Scherzo and Finale is a light and gracefully succinct sinfonietta. Pianist Christina Petrowska-Quilico brings discipline and skill to Chinese contemporary composer Tan Dun’s New York Philharmonic commissioned score: Piano Concerto “The Fire.” Started in his early forties, Anton Bruckner periodically revised his Symphony No. 1 throughout is entire life, producing a sonorous and commanding work, akin to the composer’s mature style.
Bartosz Żurakowski | conductor
Christina Petrowska Quilico | pianist
Michael Berec | host
A highlight to Markham’s 2021 Contemporary Music Festival, the Kindred Spirits Orchestra presents three uniquely orchestrated compositions from three unique European masters of twentieth century music. Deeply touched by his fellow composer’s death, and scored for tubular bell and string orchestra, Arvo Pärt’s Canticum in Memoriam Benjamin Britten is a mournful and meditative elegy. Commissioned by the Polish Radio for the Composers Forum in 1980, Concerto for harpsichord and string orchestra by Henryk Górecki is a relentless raging tempest in musical form. Dmitri Shostakovich’s most extraordinarily scored symphony is his Fourteenth. Written for two voices, string orchestra and percussion, this work is a profound ode to the power of suffering and death.
Kristian Alexander | conductor
Antonia de Wolfe | pianist
Stephanie DeCiantis | soprano
John Holland | bass-baritone
Michael Berec | host
Maestro Kristian Alexander leads the KSO through an imaginative journey of musical colour, technique and passion. Rimsky-Korsakov brings Spanish flare and expert instrumentation to his dazzling masterpiece of orchestration, Cappricio Espagnol. A champion of the works of Chopin, international award winning Spanish Bulgarian pianist, Ludmil Angelov joins the orchestra for a stellar performance of the eloquent and richly ornamented Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor by Chopin. Composed at the turn of the century, Russian composer Scriabin’s Symphony No. 2 is a lush and brooding work surely to evoke the profoundest sentiment.
Kristian Alexander | conductor
Ludmil Angelov | pianist
Michael Berec | host
Fervorous melodies of the Roma people captivate through violin pyrotechnics in Pablo de Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen. Prokofiev reconstructed by memory his Piano Concert No. 2, adding ten years of musical maturity and sophisticated compositional skill in this brilliant and evocative work. In 1829, Mendelssohn made his first trip to London for the première of his own Symphony No. 1, which he played five years earlier at his sister’s birthday party.
Kristian Alexander | conductor
J J Jun Li Bui | pianist
Clare Pellerin | violinist
Michael Berec | host
St. Maurice & St. Verena Cultural Centre, 3300 Highway 7 East, Markham, ON
Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1: a perfect virtuosic balance of romantic passion, tradition and form. Composed at the turn of the century, Russian composer Scriabin’s Symphony No. 2 is a lush and brooding work surely to evoke the profoundest sentiment.
Kristian Alexander | conductor
Amahl Arulanandam | cellist
Michael Berec | host
A joyous livestream holiday concert for the Toronto District School Board, featuring The Nutcracker Suite, Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24, Leroy Anderson's Sleigh Ride, Winter from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, and other works. Alexander Gangurean, solo violin; Paolo Busato, conductor.
St. Maurice & St. Verena Cultural Centre, 3300 Highway 7 East, Markham, ON
Under the direction of Maestro Kristian Alexander, the Kindred Spirits Orchestra performs a night of unforgettable evocative music. Rachmaninoff weaves the rhythm and melodies of folk-inspired tunes in his vibrant and scintillating Caprice bohémien. Influenced by mysticism and transcendence, acclaimed pianist Gregory Vandikas masterfully tackles Scriabin’s introspective Concerto for piano in the “bright blue” key of F-sharp. Rounding out the program is Wagner’s classical, youthful and solely completed symphony: Symphony in C major.
Kristian Alexander | conductor
Gregory Vandikas | pianist
Michael Berec | host
Honoured to be featured in pre-recorded solo violin performances of "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" and Tchaikovsky's "Trepak" from the Nutcracker at the request of York University President Rhonda L. Lenton.
St. Maurice & St. Verena Cultural Centre, 3300 Highway 7 East, Markham, ON
Join the Kindred Spirits Orchestra in celebrating the opening concert of the season featuring artists and works at the Markham Contemporary Music Festival. Start the evening off in style with an opening night gala followed by music that conveys the deepest of emotions. Canadian composer Erik Kreem combines his Estonian roots with rural Ontario landscape in his rhythmically whirling Waltz. Multi-talented violinist Sarah Davidson-Gurney ignites the concert hall with passion and innovation, performing the world premiere of Werner Chan’s Violin Concerto. Arguably the most famous symphony ever written, Beethoven’s expressive and turbulent Symphony No. 5 will have fate knocking at your door from the very first four notes.
Kristian Alexander | conductor
Sarah Davidson-Gurney | violinist
Werner Chan | composer
Erik Kreem | composer
Elli Kozak | host
Filming and recording a concert program for children K-6 for educational use. Featuring excerpts from works of Beethoven, Sibelius, Rossini, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, and more.
Filming and recording solo violin for York University's 2020 Convocation Video, to be premiered on YouTube (unlisted) for all Fall graduands. Classical favourites from Händel to Elgar filmed on location at York University.
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The Grenadier Quartet (virtually) presents works by emerging composers at the Canadian Music Centre. With guest speaker Alice Ho and resident composer Saman Shahi. Directed by Kemi Lo, Matthew Fava, and Marie Anton.
Internationally renwoned Maestro James Liu leads the Kindred Spirits Orchestra in an evening of exhilarating music at the Glenn Gould Studio. Often described as the composer’s masterpiece, the Symphonic Variations by César Franck is a dramatic improvisational-like work of thematic metamorphosis for solo piano and orchestra. Dedicated and first performed by his son on his nineteenth birthday, Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 is a joyful work filled with youthful vitality and the romance of the prior century. The idea of fate, “a fatal force that prevents our strivings for happiness from succeeding,” continues to haunt Tchaikovsky in his dark and brooding Symphony No. 5.
James Liu | conductor Sheng Cai | pianist
Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, 10268 Yonge St, Richmond Hill
Often described as the composer’s masterpiece, the Symphonic Variations by César Franck is a dramatic improvisational-like work of thematic metamorphosis for solo piano and orchestra. Dedicated and first performed by his son on his nineteenth birthday, Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 is a joyful work filled with youthful vitality and the romance of the prior century. The idea of fate, “a fatal force that prevents our strivings for happiness from succeeding,” continues to haunt Tchaikovsky in his dark and brooding Symphony No. 5.
Kristian Alexander | music director Sheng Cai | pianist Michael Berec | host
CineConcerts is inviting fans back to the Wizarding World for an evening of music and magic in HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN™ IN CONCERT. Relive the magic of Harry Potter™ soaring across the big screen in high-definition and experience the music of a live symphony orchestra performing John Williams’ unforgettable score. Get ready to encounter a Dementor™, ride the Knight Bus™ and discover just who Sirius Black™ really is.
https://www.budweisergardens.com/events/detail/harry-potter-and-the-prisoner-of-azkaban-in-concert
Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, 10268 Yonge St, Richmond Hill
Tchaikovsky’s evocative Cappriccio Italien is a musical travelogue painting the landscape of the composer’s journey to Rome. Pianist Dong Xu returns to the limelight to perform a stunning rare work for the left hand alone: Piano Concerto No. 4 by Sergei Prokofiev. From seemingly inconsequential playful musical quotes to deeply profound phrases, Shostakovich’s ultimate Symphony No. 15 embodies a range of musical emotion analogous to the composer and his life.
Kristian Alexander | conductor Dong Xu | pianist Michael Berec | host
Showplace Performance Centre, 290 George Street North, Peterborough
Conductor: Michael Newnham Guest Artist: Luba Goy, Narrator
Come along with the PSO as we break out into the jazzy theatre music of Bernstein’s West Side Story, Ellington’s The River and Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. Comic superstar Luba Goy brings her style and wit to the evening.
Meet the Maestro Pre-Concert Talk @ 6:40pm