Calgary Classical

What happens when love makes it difficult to see clearly?

On Saturday, Sept. 26, Early Music Voices welcomes Italian ensemble Concerto di Margherita for Il Gioco Della Cieca, a programme of music from the late Renaissance and early Baroque exploring love, desire, illusion and the many ways we can be misled by what we see.

At the heart of Concerto di Margherita’s music is a practice that feels both unusual and wonderfully intimate: the musicians sing while accompanying themselves. Five voices meet five instruments — theorbo, viola da gamba, baroque guitar, baroque harp and lute — creating a vibrant, ever-changing sound in which the singers and instrumentalists are one and the same.

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Love’s Blind Game :: Calgary Classical What happens when love makes it difficult to see clearly? On Saturday, Sept. 26, Early Music Voices welcomes Italian ensemble Concerto di...

What can music written more than 300 years ago say about life today?

Quite a lot.

Long before recordings, streaming and modern concert halls, music was woven into everyday life. It accompanied celebrations and religious ceremonies, entertained royal courts and theatres, gave rhythm to dancing and, at times, reflected the realities of war and death.

Led by music director Jeongmin Park, St. Giles Orchestra’s Sept. 19 concert, Feeding the Musical Soul, brings together four composers from the Baroque and Classical eras: Henry Purcell, Antonio Vivaldi, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The programme spans more than a century and travels across England, Italy and Austria, but its real journey is more universal — exploring change, communication, conflict, suffering and the search for peace.

Read full story through https://www.calgaryclassical.ca/feature/148-From-Dance-to-Eternity-A-Human-Journey-Through-Music

Welcome Back to the Classical Music Season – Calgary’s 2026–27 Classical Music Guide

After a summer of outdoor concerts, festivals and well-deserved breaks, Calgary’s concert halls are once again coming alive. And if the 2026–27 season is any indication, there has never been a better time to explore the city’s classical music scene.

From monumental symphonies and beloved choral masterpieces to intimate early-music performances, world premieres, young Canadian talent and music that crosses traditional boundaries, Calgary offers an impressive variety of ways to experience classical music this season.

Whether you have been attending concerts for decades or are simply looking for something new to put on your calendar, here are some of the highlights to watch for.

Luminous Voices : A Season of New and Timeless Music
Let's begin with voices.

Calgary’s professional chamber choir, Luminous Voices, opens its 2026–27 season on October 18 with Chrysanthemum, a collaboration with cellist and multidisciplinary artist India G*iley and composer Peter-Anthony Togni. The program features the world premiere of Togni’s new work, written specifically for G*iley and Luminous Voices, alongside a remount of his Sea Dreams.

The choir continues the season in February with Resonance, joining forces with the Vancouver Chamber Choir for a program that brings together two of Canada’s professional chamber choirs.

But the season’s major event comes in March, when Luminous Voices presents J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.

Performed with Rosa Barocca, Cantaré Children’s Choir and an outstanding cast of Canadian soloists, the March 26 performance marks 300 years since Bach’s monumental work was first performed in Leipzig in 1727. With double choir, double orchestra and soloists, it promises to be one of the major choral events of Calgary’s season.

Early Music Voices : A Window Into the Past
If Bach’s music leaves you wanting to explore even further back in musical history, Early Music Voices offers a very different—and wonderfully intimate—concert experience.

Led by Artistic Director Julie Harris, Early Music Voices presents music from the medieval, Renaissance and Baroque eras through performances by local and visiting artists. Its concerts are a reminder that early music is anything but a museum piece: these works can sound remarkably immediate when performed on period instruments and in intimate spaces.

The organization’s 2026–27 season is continuing to take shape, with tickets and additional details being released through the season.

One announced highlight is String Theory Music Collective with violinist Julia Wedman, taking place May 2 at Christ Church Elbow Park, with soprano Elizabeth Fast also featured.

Read the full story: https://www.calgaryclassical.ca/feature/147-Welcome-Back-to-the-Classical-Music-Season

Early Music Voices Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra Calgary Opera Calgary Civic Symphony Calgary Bach Society Rocky Mountain Symphony Orchestra

Join St. Giles Orchestra for an evening of music spanning centuries — from the intricate sounds of the Baroque to one of Mozart’s most profound masterpieces.

Purcell · Chacony in G minor
Vivaldi · Concerto for Two Violins & Cello
Biber · Battalia à 10
Mozart · Requiem (arr. for string orchestra)

Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026 | 7 PM
St. Giles Presbyterian Church

Come feed your musical soul with beautiful, dramatic and deeply moving music performed live by St. Giles Orchestra.

More info through link in bio.

St. Giles Orchestra

Astralis Quartet is a string quartet based in Calgary, comprised of three colleagues from the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra , plus the Co-Artistic Director of the Kensington Sinfonia , with John Lowry and Eric Auerbach, violins; Alexander Beggs, viola; and Andrea Case, cello. The quartet shares a passion for performing chamber music by living composers, and is excited to present both classical and modern works for Alberta audiences.

Crisantemi is their final performance of the season, taking place at 3 PM on Sunday, June 7 at the wonderfully resonant St. Stephen’s Anglican Church, at 1121 14 Ave SW in Calgary.

The program opens with Franz Schubert’s Quartet No. 10 in Eb major. Composed when Schubert was just 16 years old, this piece was originally written to be played at home with his father and brothers. Fittingly nicknamed the "Household" Quartet, it captures a charming, youthful spirit.

Giacomo Puccini’s Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums) was composed by Puccini in 1890 at age 32. He was deeply moved by the death of King Amadeo I of Spain (who was also an Italian prince), and composed the work all in one night. White chrysanthemums are used in Italy for funerals and graves, and this piece sings as a haunting lament. Puccini later incorporated themes from Crisantemi into his opera Manon Lescaut.

Astralis Quartet will also present another world premiere of esteemed Canadian composer Allan Gordon Bell, whose string quartets they have been recording. The latest in the series, Phenomena (2026), is an encounter with the music inherent in five elemental states of being. With five short movements and four even shorter solo commentaries, the piece distills the outsight (Jane Goodall) and in-scape (G.M. Hopkins) that such an encounter evokes. The composer will be present on Sunday and will speak about Phenomena.

Join Astralis Quartet for this uniquely curated and meticulously prepared program of old and new chamber music at the beautiful St Stephen's Anglican Church, with a reception to follow.

There’s something magical about watching a young artist step into the spotlight - especially when the music they perform demands the skill and maturity of a seasoned professional. Calgary Civic Symphony’s 49th season finale, Rising Stars, does exactly that, celebrating four of Calgary’s finest young classical musicians.

Since 1987, the Rotary Calgary Concerto Competition has served as a springboard for many of Canada’s leading classical musicians. Alumni include internationally acclaimed pianist Jan Lisiecki, cellists Luka Coetzee and Isabella Perron, and Arnold Choi, Principal Cellist of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra.

Each year, four winners are selected to perform as soloists with the Calgary Civic Symphony in this signature concert - a rare and inspiring opportunity for young artists to take the stage with a full symphony orchestra.

Read full story: https://www.calgaryclassical.ca/feature/143-Bright-Futures

Rotary Calgary Concerto Competition 45th Annual Rotary Calgary Concerto Competition

There are moments in music where boundaries feel less like lines and more like meeting places. Cyan Tones, presented by the G*i Lan Ensemble this Asian Heritage Month, is built entirely in that space — where East and West, tradition and experimentation, and film and contemporary composition meet.

Taking place on Friday, May 15, this special concert brings together Alberta’s leading Chinese instrumentalists alongside Calgary’s original string orchestra Kensington Sinfonia for a one-night program that blends new Canadian composition, traditional repertoire, and iconic film music.

At the heart of the evening is a world premiere by oboist and erhuist Jace Eagle Bear, alongside selections from the score of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon — music that has long resonated across cultures for its sweeping emotional language and evocative musical storytelling.

The title Cyan Tones draws from the Chinese word qing (青), a colour that exists between blue and green — neither fully one nor the other, but something living in-between. In the same way, qing yin (青音), or “cyan sound or tone,” becomes a metaphor for the concert itself: a sonic world that resists categorization.

The program features works by living Canadian and Chinese composers including Jace Eagle Bear, Tse Taishun, Li Bochan, and Andrew Staniland, alongside traditional pieces reimagined for an ensemble that bridges Chinese instruments such as erhu and p**a with Western strings.

It is not simply fusion — it is conversation.

Read full story: https://www.calgaryclassical.ca/feature/140-Cyan-Tones

Some songs stay with you forever.

Pop Goes the World celebrates 20 years of Cum Vino Cantus with a vibrant collection of favourite works from across the ensemble’s history — the music that helped define the journey.

An evening of music, community, and celebration awaits, followed by a reception with snacks and drinks.

Celebrate the milestone and experience the music that keeps the world popping with life.

Pop Goes the World | Cum Vino Cantus
Saturday, May 23, 2026 | 2:30 p.m.
Bethany Chapel of Calgary

More info & tickets: https://www.calgaryclassical.ca/event/1487-Pop-Goes-the-World

For audiences drawn to music that crosses cultures and centuries, Montréal-based ensemble Constantinople offers something distinctive. Blending historical traditions with contemporary interpretation, the group has built an international reputation for connecting musical worlds that don’t often share the same stage.

On Sunday, May 3, Constantinople returns to Calgary with Traversées, presented by Early Music Voices . The program invites listeners into a rich cross-cultural landscape, moving from medieval Spain and Italy to Persian music of the 16th and 17th centuries, alongside original works inspired by 13th-century Persian poetry.

At the centre of the ensemble is founder and artistic director Kiya Tabassian, a composer and virtuoso of the setar. Tabassian is known for his ability to bridge traditions — drawing from Persian classical music while engaging deeply with early and Mediterranean repertoires. His work often feels less like a fusion and more like a conversation across time.

Read full story through https://www.calgaryclassical.ca/feature/139-Music-Without-Borders