Masterworks

Stravinsky’s early work with the Ballets Russe in Paris launched the composer to international stardom. The first of these works, The Firebird, is paired with Stravinsky’s own childhood hero Tchaikovsky, whose thrilling Fourth Symphony depicts his struggle with Fate. Niagara’s own Juliet Dunn joins the NSO in the Canadian premiere of Timothy Adams’ Harriet: A Journey to Freedom, a co-commission honouring the life of Harriet Tubman and the local history of the Underground Railroad. 

Canadian soprano Claire de Sévigné returns to Niagara to muse on the hazy melancholy of childhood in Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer 1915. Mahler’s enchanting Fourth Symphony closes the programme with a child’s serene vision of heaven.

The lineage of German Romanticism can be traced from Weber to one of its undisputed masters, Brahms. The Brahms symphonic cycle continues in Niagara with the cheerful and moving Second Symphony. Visionary pianist Sara Davis Buechner brings her thoughtful artistry to Jared Miller’s Shattered Night – the Canadian composer’s personal emotional response to the eightieth anniversary of Kristallnacht.

Rising star Québécoise conductor Dina Gilbert presents two contrasting visions of Eastern Europe. Dvorak’s optimistic Eighth Symphony pays loving tribute to the landscapes and folk tunes of Bohemia. Peteris Vasks’ mournful Concerto for Viola, performed by Canadian violist, and Radio-Canada classical ‘Revelation’, Marina Thibeault, meditates and monologues on the times we are living in.

Everyone deserves a second chance! Rachmaninoff made the most of his, following the disastrous premiere of his first symphony with his beloved Symphony No. 2, which has been quoted in pop ballads and jazz tunes. TorQ Percussion Quartet bring the other-worldly imaginings of Dinuk Wijeratne’s Invisible Cities to life through bold and invigorating percussive colours.

The NSO concludes the 2022-23 season with Stravinsky’s (in)famous Rite of Spring, which cemented his position as one of the most influential musical figures of the 20th century. Niagara Falls native, Jarred Dunn returns home as featured soloist on Mozart’s intimate and reflective Piano Concerto No. 24. Chickasaw composer Jerod Tate’s Chokfi’ portrays the titular trickster-rabbit from legend through tribal hymns and orchestral colours.