Kluxen – Mahler Symphony No. 5 (Sold Out)
2026-05-10 14:30 - 16:30 (America/Vancouver) | Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton St
Mahler’s Fifth Symphony is undoubtedly his most famous work, and it contains echoes of some of the greatest highs and lows of his life. After surviving a near fatal haemorrhage in 1901, he composed the Symphony over the following two summers, during which time he met, became engaged to, and married the Austrian composer, author, editor, and socialite, Alma Schindler. Its serene fourth movement, the Adagietto, is a love letter–Mahler’s declaration to his new bride saying, “I am no longer alone, because now, I have you.”

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
Concert duration: Approx. 75 minutes without intermission
Pre-Concert Chat: Please join us at 1:40 pm in the west lobby for a pre-concert chat featuring Music Director Christian Kluxen and VS CEO Matthew White.

Parameswaran & Liu – Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 1
2026-10-25 14:30 - 16:30
Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 1 evokes the frost-bright landscapes of winter, with its sweeping melodies and crisp orchestral colours revealing a youthful work of striking imagination. Rising Canadian pianist Sophia Liu dazzles in Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1, a brilliant showcase of fire, finesse, and fearless virtuosity. Vivian Fung’s Parade opens the concert with the vibrant rhythms and colours of San Francisco’s Lunar New Year celebrations. Vinay Parameswaran, one of the most versatile young conductors on the podium today, leads a program that moves from celebration to triumph in a blaze of orchestral colour.

Huynh & Valcheff – Beethoven Symphony No. 1 & Copland's Tender Land Suite
2026-11-22 14:30 - 16:30
“The promise of living with hope and thanksgiving / Is born of our loving our friends and our labor.” So sing the closing lines of Copland’s The Tender Land, whose open harmonies celebrate community and gratitude. Dynamic conductor Norman Huynh leads a program grounded in musical friendship: VS Principal Percussion Jacob Valcheff joins as soloist in a vibrant new concerto by Canadian composer Samuel Kerr, commissioned with support from the Hugh Davidson Fund at the Victoria Foundation. Beethoven’s youthful First Symphony closes with exuberant optimism and elegant humour—music born of curiosity, confidence, and connection.

Baigent & Crozman – Mozart's Jupiter & Walton's Cello Concerto
2027-02-28 14:30 - 16:30
The program opens with Marcus Goddard’s Antarctica: Life Emerging, an immersive orchestral work and film tracing the fragility of life on one of the planet’s most extreme environments. The afternoon then turns inward with William Walton’s lyrical Cello Concerto, premiered by Gregor Piatigorsky and brought vividly to life by Canadian cellist Cameron Crozman. After intermission, Maurice Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante défunte opens the second half, its translucent orchestration and nostalgic grace offering a moment of poised reflection. The program concludes with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s radiant Symphony No. 41, Jupiter, a jubilant finale to the Classical era.

Cohn & Pion – Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade
2027-03-14 14:30 - 16:30
VS transforms the Royal Theatre into a gallery of musical paintings under guest conductor Maurice Cohn. Jocelyn Morlock’s Oiseaux bleus et sauvages (Wild Blue Birds) captures the exuberance of wild birds in flight; pianist Élisabeth Pion, Radio- Canada’s 2024–25 Classical Revelation, brings vivid colour to Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain. Finally, Rimsky- Korsakov’s Scheherazade unfolds its timeless tales of adventure and imagination—a symphonic storytelling masterpiece.

Tzigane, Boutin-Bourque, & Gunter – Schubert Symphony No. 9
2027-04-11 14:30 - 16:30
Canadian composer Jacques Hétu’s Légendes weaves three Québec folk tales into devilishly clever orchestral storytelling, rich in colour and dramatic flair. Richard Strauss’s Concertino for Clarinet and Bassoon offers a rare and playful spotlight for two wind soloists, and provides a special opportunity to feature Victoria Symphony’s own principal players, David Boutin-Bourque (Principal Clarinet) and Jennifer Gunter (Principal Bassoon), in a work full of wit, lyricism, and elegant dialogue. Schubert’s monumental Ninth Symphony crowns the program: a vast, life-affirming journey often likened to a four volume novel that leaves you yearning for more. Guest conductor Eugene Tzigane unites these works through a shared fascination with storytelling, character, and symphonic scale.

Kluxen & Parker – Mozart & Sibelius
2027-04-25 14:30 - 16:30
Internationally acclaimed pianist Jon “Jackie” Kimura Parker—one of Canada’s most beloved and dynamic artists—brings elegance, wit, and sparkle to Mozart’s radiant Jenamy (also known as Jeunehomme) Concerto. Lithuanian composer Raminta Šerkšnytė’s Midsummer Song glows with the serenity and timelessness of the solstice, while Sibelius’s Third Symphony, a masterpiece of restraint and clarity, closes the program with balance, poise, and quiet revolution. Music that finds grandeur not in excess, but in refinement.

Kluxen – Shostakovich Leningrad Symphony
2027-05-09 14:30 - 16:30
Shostakovich’s monumental Seventh Symphony was composed in 1942 during the brutal Nazi siege of Leningrad, as the composer refused evacuation and wrote from the besieged city. Its historic performance by the starving musicians of Leningrad, broadcast across the city, became a symbol of defiance against totalitarianism. Later smuggled to New York, the work caused a sensation under Toscanini. Scored for a very large orchestra, this multi-layered symphony questions whether Shostakovich’s dedication refers to the city besieged by the Nazis or the one he reportedly said “Stalin destroyed and Hitler simply finished off.” What remains clear is its powerful portrayal of fascism and the triumph of the human spirit.
