In a time of darkness, beauty can still emerge. In the landscape of mid-century politics, war and oppression, Strauss and Shostakovich were both victims of circumstance. In the twilight of his years, Strauss reflected on our walk through life towards death, and beyond. Shostakovich’s Tenth mirrors the terror he experienced under Stalin’s rule, but ultimately his triumph...

VS launches the season with an energetic overture and a monumental concerto. Since his First Prize win at the International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition in 2010, Kerson Leong has been described as “not just one of Canada’s greatest violinists but one of the greatest violinists, period” (Toronto Star). The musical modernist Arnold Schoenberg paid tribute...

A festive Danish curtain-raiser by Friedrich Kuhlau (Beethoven’s contemporary and a composer central to Denmark’s musical identity) sets the tone for a season that celebrates place and belonging in a time when national songs resonate more than ever. Berlioz, another nineteenth-century visionary who expanded the orchestra’s expressive range, turns that brightness inward with Les Nuits d’été,...