Kluxen & Leong – Beethoven Violin Concerto
2025-09-14 14:30 - 16:30 (America/Vancouver) | Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton St
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 to “Brahms The Progressive” by orchestrating the latter’s Piano Quartet No.1. Hear this chamber work with fresh ears: in an orchestral setting that will make the most of its energetic Rondo alla Zingarese.

Inside the Victoria Symphony
2025-09-20 12:00 - 15:00 | Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton St
We are proud to host a special event as part of Culture Days 2025! Have you ever wondered how to make a violin sing or what it’s like to play a clarinet? Now’s your chance to find out. Come get Inside the Victoria Symphony—meet the Maestro, join the full orchestra in rehearsal, try an instrument, and get up close and personal!

Culture Days is Canada’s largest public participation campaign for the arts! Celebrate arts, culture, and heritage in your community through free and interactive events. Explore all the event in BC!

REGISTER
Event Schedule:
12:00 pm: Doors open
12:30-1:30 pm: Experience a Victoria Symphony rehearsal
1:30-3:00 pm: Meet the musicians, try an instrument, and enjoy performances by students from the Victoria Conservatory of Music
All Ages Welcome! The event is free for all to attend, but donations are gratefully accepted.

Broadway and Beyond with Jimmie Herrod
2025-09-20 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-09-21 14:30 - 16:30 | Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton St
With “a voice like a beacon of hope” (Seattle Times), vocalist Jimmie Herrod earned the rare “Golden Buzzer” recognition on America’s Got Talent in 2021. With a globe-trotting career as a singer, songwriter, and entertainer, he has also toured with Pink Martini since 2017. Making his VS debut, Herrod joins Principal Pops Conductor Sean O’Loughlin and the orchestra for selections from Wicked, Rent, and Les Mis, along with highlights from Bernstein, Sondheim, and more!

Kluxen – Atwood, Heggie, & Sibelius
2025-09-28 14:30 - 16:30 | Farquhar at UVic, University Farquhar Auditorium, Ring Road, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, Canada
Ten years following the tragic death of his sister, opera star Joshua Hopkins showcases a powerful song cycle that honours her memory and comforts those who are in grief. Co-commissioned by the National Arts Centre Orchestra and Houston Grand Opera, composer Jake Heggie sets poetry by Margaret Atwood in a moving musical work that speaks out against domestic violence. Music of Sibelius (including VS’s own Russell Bajer on English horn for The Swan of Tuonela) balances the program with works of sublime beauty and pastoral comfort.

Mozart & Brahms
2025-10-05 14:30 - 16:30 | Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton St
Triple-threat conductor/pianist/composer Dinuk Wijeratne returns with a program full of folk inspiration and musical variation. Contrasting with Mozart and Brahms, Wijeratne’s own work is described as “a melting pot of tabla-like dance rhythms, funky jazz riffs, and tonal clusters.” In Sri Lankan culture, vannamas are often danced in ritual processions, this one depicting the majesty of the sacred elephant bathing and frolicking in the abode of the gods!

Dvořák Symphony No. 7
2025-10-12 14:30 - 16:30 | Farquhar at UVic, University Farquhar Auditorium, Ring Road, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, Canada
Canadian pianist Angela Cheng returns with a concerto that Mozart lovingly wrote with his student, Barbara Ployer, in mind. Dvořák’s love for his homeland was expressed in his Symphony No. 7. Its London premiere in 1885 brought him great international acclaim. Maestra Naomi Woo returns to share an overture by Emilie Mayer, a pioneering and prolific composer in Germany in the mid-1800s.

What Do YOU Play?
2025-10-18 15:00 - 16:00 | Farquhar at UVic, University Farquhar Auditorium, Ring Road, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, Canada
Some people play soccer, others play video games. For many of us, what we love to play is our musical instruments! Known for his fun and engaging kids concerts, conductor and host Vern Griffiths will lead us on an exploration of different musical instruments, including some that you don’t often find in a symphony. What do YOU play?
Not included in subscription purchase discount. Tickets available to purchase through the UVic Ticket Centre starting Tuesday, July 22, 2025.

VS Presents: Valdés, Goodyear, & VIS
2025-10-19 14:30 - 16:30 | Farquhar at UVic, University Farquhar Auditorium, Ring Road, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, Canada
We welcome some returning guests as VS presents a special concert by the Nanaimo-based Vancouver Island Symphony. Cuban-born Cosette Justo Valdés has won the hearts of musicians and audiences on Vancouver Island. Now in her third season as music director of VIS, she mates the madcap musical high jinks of Rossini alongside the happy spirits and bucolic folksiness of Dvořák. She has also invited pianist Stewart Goodyear—a longtime favourite in Victoria—to enchant with Ravel’s whip-cracking Concerto in G major, a work that evokes jazz-age Paris.

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial in Concert
2025-11-01 19:00 - 21:00 | Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton St
Director Steven Spielberg’s heart-warming masterpiece is one of the brightest stars in motion picture history. Filled with unparalleled magic and imagination, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial follows the moving story of a lost little alien who befriends a 10-year-old boy named Elliott. Experience all the mystery and fun of their unforgettable adventure in the beloved movie that captivated audiences around the world, complete with John Williams’ Academy Award®-winning score performed live by the Victoria Symphony in sync to the film projected on a huge HD screen!
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is a trademark and copyright of Universal Studios. Licensed by Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial in Concert
2025-11-02 14:30 - 16:30 | Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton St
Director Steven Spielberg’s heart-warming masterpiece is one of the brightest stars in motion picture history. Filled with unparalleled magic and imagination, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial follows the moving story of a lost little alien who befriends a 10-year-old boy named Elliott. Experience all the mystery and fun of their unforgettable adventure in the beloved movie that captivated audiences around the world, complete with John Williams’ Academy Award®-winning score performed live by the Victoria Symphony in sync to the film projected on a huge HD screen!
Not included in subscription purchase discount.
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is a trademark and copyright of Universal Studios. Licensed by Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Kluxen & Feng – Strauss Oboe Concerto
2025-11-08 19:30 - 21:30 | Mary Winspear Centre, 2243 Beacon Ave, Sidney, British Columbia, V8L 1W9, Canada
Richard Strauss idolised Mozart – although “modernising” Idomeneo was, perhaps, a step too far! Strauss’s Oboe Concerto is a magical, late-in-life work, played here by VS Principal Michelle Feng. Christian Kluxen also shakes up a three-movement Symphony with a non-Mozartean minuet, and premieres a VS commission from Victoria’s own Anna Höstman.
Not included in subscription purchase discount.

Kluxen & Feng – Strauss Oboe Concerto
2025-11-09 14:30 - 16:30 | Farquhar at UVic, University Farquhar Auditorium, Ring Road, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, Canada
Richard Strauss idolised Mozart – although “modernising” Idomeneo was, perhaps, a step too far! Strauss’s Oboe Concerto is a magical, late-in-life work, played here by VS Principal Michelle Feng. Christian Kluxen also shakes up a three-movement Symphony with a non-Mozartean minuet, and premieres a VS commission from Victoria’s own Anna Höstman.

Kluxen & Tam – Bartók Violin Concerto & Beethoven's Eroica
2025-11-16 14:30 - 16:30 | Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton St
Three heroic works are featured, beginning with Subito con forza, by South Korea’s Unsuk Chin. Her orchestral miniature is “haunted by Beethovenian gestures…amid Chin’s own exquisite orchestral palette – icy shivers of strings, rasping woodwind and ghostly muted trumpets” (The Guardian). In producing his Violin Concerto No. 2, Bartók followed in the footsteps of Beethoven and Brahms with a work that was quickly championed by Yehudi Menuhin—here played by VS Concertmaster Terence Tam. Beethoven’s monumental Eroica Symphony was bigger and longer than anything that preceded it, and it remains a colossus of the musical literature today.

Appalachian Spring
2025-11-23 14:30 - 16:30 | Farquhar at UVic, University Farquhar Auditorium, Ring Road, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, Canada
Known for his ability to bring new audiences to the concert hall, the Calgary-born “disruptor-conductor” Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser leads a journey that touches on the beauty of nature and our need to care for our climate. The poetry of Wendy Jean MacLean is set by BC-based choral composer Nicholas Ryan Kelly in Earth, Beloved, a work that provides an uplifting message.

Christmas Pops with Denzal Sinclaire & Dee Daniels
2025-12-06 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-12-07 14:30 - 16:30 | Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton St
Let the holiday magic begin! Jazz legends Dee Daniels & Denzal Sinclaire join the Victoria Symphony for a dazzling evening of festive favourites, from White Christmas to Silent Night. One unforgettable holiday tradition filled with joy and song!
Join us early and at intermission for a festive Christmas Pops Artisan Market in the Royal Theatre lobby!

PLUS, we’re once again partnering with our friends and media sponsors at CTV, Virgin Radio, and CFAX Santas Anonymous on their Toy Mountain donation drive! We encourage you to bring a new (unwrapped) toy to the Royal Theatre. All donated toys will be distributed to children in need in the Greater Victoria area.

Christmas Pops with Denzal Sinclaire & Dee Daniels (Qualicum Beach)
2025-12-08 15:00 - 17:00 | Qualicum Beach Civic Centre, 747 Jones St, Qualicum Beach, BC, V9K 1S7, Canada
“Making spirits bright” is what our Christmas Pops are all about! Maestro Sean O’Loughlin has loaded his sleigh with Holiday favourites, and welcomes two of Canada’s greatest singers. Denzal Sinclaire wowed VS audiences with his tribute to Nat King Cole. Dee Daniels is blessed with a spellbinding four-octave vocal range, and puts a potent, natural, and unique spin on every song she touches.
Tickets are $45 on sale at The Mulberry Bush Book Store | 130 Second Ave. West, Qualicum Beach | 250-752-9722

Christmas Pops with Denzal Sinclaire & Dee Daniels (Qualicum Beach)
2025-12-08 19:30 - 21:30 | Qualicum Beach Civic Centre, 747 Jones St, Qualicum Beach, BC, V9K 1S7, Canada
“Making spirits bright” is what our Christmas Pops are all about! Maestro Sean O’Loughlin has loaded his sleigh with Holiday favourites, and welcomes two of Canada’s greatest singers. Denzal Sinclaire wowed VS audiences with his tribute to Nat King Cole. Dee Daniels is blessed with a spellbinding four-octave vocal range, and puts a potent, natural, and unique spin on every song she touches.
Tickets are now on sale at The Mulberry Bush Book Store | 130 Second Ave. West, Qualicum Beach | 250-752-9722

Messiah by Candlelight
2025-12-11 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-12-12 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-12-14 14:30 - 16:30 | Christ Church Cathedral, 930 Burdett Ave
“Hallelujah!” In 1741, Handel composed his great oratorio Messiah in just three weeks, and its message continues to reign forever and ever, enthralling audiences annually. Victoria’s magnificent Christ Church Cathedral will be the candlelit setting as the VS, local choirs, and four leading soloists share a story rich in complex emotions and human drama. Lift your spirits once again!

Christmas Pops with the VS (Sidney Matinee)
2025-12-16 15:00 - 17:00 | Mary Winspear Centre, 2243 Beacon Ave, Sidney, British Columbia, V8L 1W9, Canada
Santa Claus isn’t the only one coming to town! Maestro Giuseppe Pietraroia and your Victoria Symphony return to the West Shore for the third annual Christmas Pops with the Victoria Symphony, this year joined by local vocal specialist Mandy Bryant. Bringing you music for “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, from Frozen to The Nutcracker to holiday classics and spirited renditions of favourite carols, join your Victoria Symphony for a festive celebration without having to make the drive downtown!

Christmas Pops with the VS (Sidney Evening)
2025-12-16 19:30 - 21:30 | Mary Winspear Centre, 2243 Beacon Ave, Sidney, British Columbia, V8L 1W9, Canada

Christmas Pops with the VS (West Shore)
2025-12-17 19:30 - 21:30 | Dogwood Auditorium, Royal Roads University, 2005 Sooke Rd, Victoria, V9C 3E9, Canada
Santa Claus isn’t the only one coming to town! Maestro Giuseppe Pietraroia and your Victoria Symphony return to the West Shore for the third annual Christmas Pops with the Victoria Symphony, this year joined by local vocal specialist Mandy Bryant. Bringing you music for “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, from Frozen to The Nutcracker to holiday classics and spirited renditions of favourite carols, join your Victoria Symphony for a festive celebration without having to make the drive downtown!
Royal Roads University uses Robbins Parking on campus. Parking is restricted to designated parking zones, as shown on the campus map. There are multiple ways to pay for parking, including onsite payment at parking meters or through the Honk or Pay by Phone apps. Please visit the parking page on the Royal Roads website for more information.

Elf in Concert
2025-12-20 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-12-21 14:30 - 16:30 | Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton St
Buddy was accidentally transported to the North Pole as a toddler, and raised among Santa’s elves. This holiday season Buddy travels to New York—with a live symphony orchestra! Experience John Debney’s wonderful score as the full film plays on the big screen.
ELF and all related characters and elements © & ™ New Line Productions, Inc. (s25).
Not included in subscription purchase discount.

Elf in Concert – JUST ADDED!
2025-12-21 19:00 - 21:00 | Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton St

New Year's Day Celebration
2026-01-01 14:30 - 16:30 | Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton St
Treat yourself, family, and friends to this musical toast as VS rings in 2026! Overtures, arias, choruses, and dances will thrill while the soprano voice of Claire de Sévigné will sparkle like a fine champagne in this most favourite New Year’s Day tradition – which has sold out two years in a row!

The Planets – Symphony in Space
2026-01-24 19:30 - 21:30 | Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton St
Prepare to blast off as VS brings you music from out of this world. Expect to visit a few of The Planets as depicted by Gustav Holst, Mozart, and Strauss. Enjoy favourite themes by John Williams from Star Wars, recall the drama of Apollo 13, relive Star Trek through the years, and more! From concert classics to inspired film scores, your imagination will take flight.
