Bradley Thachuk, conductor
Mark Fewer, leader & violin
Vivaldi | The Four Seasons
Kevin Lau | Le Petit Prince: Concert Suite No. 2 (WORLD PREMIERE)
Respighi | The Pines of Rome
Canadian violinist Mark Fewer leads the NSO strings in Vivaldi’s beloved depiction of pastoral Italy through the calm and fury of the passing seasons.
Bradley Thachuk, conductor
Michelle Colton, percussion
Glinka | Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila
Kevin Lau | The Stars Are Not Aligned
World Premiere
Rimsky-Korsakov | Scheherazade
Tales of fortune and fate are brought to life through steel, skins, and strings in this reimagining of Masterworks 2!
Bradley Thachuk, conductor
Marie-Josée Lord, soprano
Stephanie Tritchew, mezzo-soprano
Matthew Dalen, tenor
Christopher Dunham, baritone
Chorus Niagara, Robert Cooper, artistic director
Roydon Tse | Vicious Cycle
Wagner | Tristan und Isolde: Prelude and “Liebestod”
Beethoven | Symphony No.9, “Choral”
The NSO concludes the 2021/2022 season with Beethoven’s 9th Symphony: a triumphant response to the challenging times at hand.
Bradley Thachuk, conductor
Mozart | Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
Schubert | Symphony No. 5
Mozart | Symphony No. 29
The Niagara Symphony Orchestra presents Summer Under the Pavilion – an outdoor concert experience for the whole family! Featuring familiar favourites from Mozart and Schubert. Beverages and light snacks available for purchase, free on-site parking. Held at The Pavilion at St. George Orthodox Church.
Bradley Thachuk, conductor
Jerod Tate | Shakamaxon (Moccasin Dance)
Holst | St. Paul Suite
Elgar | Serenade
Britten | Simple Symphony
Vaughan Williams | Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Purcell | Suite for Strings
Enjoy a summer serenade by the NSO strings! The Niagara Symphony Orchestra presents Summer Under the Pavilion – an outdoor concert experience for the whole family! Beverages and light snacks available for purchase, free on-site parking. Held at The Pavilion at St. George Orthodox Church.
Denis Mastromonaco, conductor
The Niagara Symphony Orchestra presents Summer Under the Pavilion – an outdoor concert experience for the whole family! Featuring guest conductor Denis Mastromonaco. Beverages and light snacks available for purchase, free on-site parking. Held at The Pavilion at St. George Orthodox Church.
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.
A young farmhand longs for his destiny as twin suns set on the horizon. A shark stalks its prey. A young wizard gazes upon Hogwarts for the first time. These classic cinematic moments are brought to life by the incomparable music of John Williams. The NSO performs these selections and many more in this celebration of music at the movies!
A young farmhand longs for his destiny as twin suns set on the horizon. A shark stalks its prey. A young wizard gazes upon Hogwarts for the first time. These classic cinematic moments are brought to life by the incomparable music of John Williams. The NSO performs these selections and many more in this celebration of music at the movies!
Capturing the hearts of Canadians everywhere, the Tragically Hip have written some of the greatest Canadian rock anthems of all time. Tragically Hip ‘evangelists’, the Strictly Hip, reverently recreate the music of Canada’s most popular rock band, spreading the good word of “The Hip” everywhere they go. Experience hits like Ahead by a Century, Bobcaygeon, and At the Hundredth Meridian and more with The Strictly Hip backed by the full power of the NSO!
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.
A trip around the world in one December night? Must be Santa – or the NSO and special guests Sultans of String! Enjoy this festive holiday concert featuring seasonal favourites, global music-inspired classics, and original music by 3-time JUNO Award nominated Sultans of String with special guests, the Laura Secord Secondary School Choir.
A trip around the world in one December night? Must be Santa – or the NSO and special guests Sultans of String! Enjoy this festive holiday concert featuring seasonal favourites, global music-inspired classics, and original music by 3-time JUNO Award nominated Sultans of String with special guests, the Laura Secord Secondary School Choir.
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.
A swingin’ time with the NSO! Join NSO Principal clarinettist Zoltan Kalman and Maestro Jeffrey Pollock for a Big Band bash, featuring classic hits from greats like Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Glenn Miller, and more.
A swingin’ time with the NSO! Join NSO Principal clarinettist Zoltan Kalman and Maestro Jeffrey Pollock for a Big Band bash, featuring classic hits from greats like Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Glenn Miller, and more.
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.
From “In the Air Tonight” to “Against All Odds”, and “Turn It On Again” to “Invisible Touch”, Phil Collins has been responsible for some of the most cherished musical moments of the 70’s to the present day. His songs from the legendary band, Genesis and his solo work have been a consistent soundtrack to our lives and will be presented in a way they’ve never been heard before - reimagined for full orchestra with an all-star band.
From “In the Air Tonight” to “Against All Odds”, and “Turn It On Again” to “Invisible Touch”, Phil Collins has been responsible for some of the most cherished musical moments of the 70’s to the present day. His songs from the legendary band, Genesis and his solo work have been a consistent soundtrack to our lives and will be presented in a way they’ve never been heard before - reimagined for full orchestra with an all-star band.
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.
Welcome to Bubbly, Tea and Symphony. If you’ve never experienced afternoon tea start now – it will become one of your new favourite things. Tickets are $125 per person and […]
Commissioned to celebrate Canada’s 150th Anniversary by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Symphony Nova Scotia, Dinuk Wijeratne’s fanfare, Yatra, is a fitting way to open the NSO’s Diamond Anniversary Season. Sheng Cai, a Canadian pianist with a growing international reputation, brings his dynamic force to Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, popular with audiences and pianists alike; numerous films including David Lean’s romantic drama Brief Encounter utilize the music in its soundtrack. Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World,” has become a universal favourite! Known for its famous English Horn solo in the second movement, astronaut Neil Armstrong even took a tape recording along during Apollo 11’s mission in 1969.
Sultans of String, Alyssa Delbaere-Sawchuk, Marc Meriläinen (Nadjiwan), Shannon Thunderbird, Don Ross, Leela Gilday, The North Sound, and a multimedia extravaganza featuring Northern Cree Powwow Group, Dr. Duke Redbird, Inuit singers, and more!
Award-winning First Nations, Métis, and Inuit artists perform with JUNO Award nominees Sultans of String, in a musical multimedia event unlike any other! From Métis fiddling to an East Coast Kitchen Party, to the drumming of the Pacific Northwest, experience the beauty and diversity of music from Turtle Island/Canada.
Sultans of String, Alyssa Delbaere-Sawchuk, Marc Meriläinen (Nadjiwan), Shannon Thunderbird, Don Ross, Leela Gilday, The North Sound, and a multimedia extravaganza featuring Northern Cree Powwow Group, Dr. Duke Redbird, Inuit singers, and more!
Award-winning First Nations, Métis, and Inuit artists perform with JUNO Award nominees Sultans of String, in a musical multimedia event unlike any other! From Métis fiddling to an East Coast Kitchen Party, to the drumming of the Pacific Northwest, experience the beauty and diversity of music from Turtle Island/Canada.
Partridge Hall will be alive with the sound of music as the NSO welcomes Charlotte Knight, Jay Dref, and Nathan Keoughan to sing the classics of Rodgers and Hammerstein. After highly distinguished careers with other collaborators, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II teamed up in July 1942 for their first collaboration: a musical adaptation of Green Grow the Lilacs. That musical would eventually become Rodgers & Hammerstein’s iconic Oklahoma!. A milestone in the development of the American musical, it also marked the beginning of the most successful partnership in Broadway musical history, and was followed by Carousel, South Pacific, The King And I, Cinderella, and The Sound of Music, all contributing songs to the Great American Songbook.
In Ishii’s Mono-Prism, the NSO is joined by the mesmerizing and heart-pounding taiko drum ensemble Nagata Shachu, their function being to disturb heaven and earth with their powerful sound and dynamism, and to awaken the sprits. Don Juan is an orchestral favourite due to the numerous technical and musical demands on each instrument. When Richard Strauss needed some local color for his opera Der Rosenkavalier (The Cavalier of the Rose), he turned to the waltz it as shorthand for the elegance and grace of a bygone era. Ravel’s Bolero, known for its orchestral crescendo and featured soloists throughout the entire orchestra, could be his most famous composition, made even more famous by the ice dancing pair Torvill and Dean at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics.
Guest Artist Sponsor:
DR. AND MRS. W.N. TYTANECK
Celebrate the holidays with the familiar sounds of the most enchanting season! The NSO’s festive concert tradition returns with holly and mistletoe, sweet sugar plums, vocalists Kaylee Harwood and Sayer Roberts, and the Laura Secord Secondary School Choir. New this year: ‘The Snowman” is coming to town. Created by Raymond Briggs, ‘The Snowman” is one of the world’s most popular and iconic picture books. Nominated for an Oscar and winner of a BAFTA TV award, the animated version of “The Snowman” includes the iconic song “Walking in the Air,” written by composer Howard Blake. Enjoy “The Snowman” and its heartwarming soundtrack played live by the NSO as part of the NSO's holiday concert. Regardless of where you’re from, come home for the holidays with the NSO!
Celebrate the holidays with the familiar sounds of the most enchanting season! The NSO’s festive concert tradition returns with holly and mistletoe, sweet sugar plums, vocalists Kaylee Harwood and Sayer Roberts, and the Laura Secord Secondary School Choir. New this year: ‘The Snowman” is coming to town. Created by Raymond Briggs, ‘The Snowman” is one of the world’s most popular and iconic picture books. Nominated for an Oscar and winner of a BAFTA TV award, the animated version of “The Snowman” includes the iconic song “Walking in the Air,” written by composer Howard Blake. Enjoy “The Snowman” and its heartwarming soundtrack played live by the NSO as part of the NSO's holiday concert. Regardless of where you’re from, come home for the holidays with the NSO!
Erhuist Snow Bai brings her expressive and dynamic performance to the NSO stage with an instrument that is rarely seen. Ho’s Earthbeat is inspired by the traditions of Canada’s First Nations community, bringing one closer to the Earth’s “heartbeat.” Jiang’s River Memory is a work inspired by the Niagara Falls, contemplating on the transformation of human identity as part of the immigration and diaspora experience. Beloved composer Lau’s Between the Earth and Forever, is a poetic evocation of the space between our home and the universe, the familiar and the unknown, the earthly and the transcendent, the preciousness of nature and the abyss of environmental disaster. Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 is the last of his symphonies and possibly his finest and most moving.
Let the NSO put you in the mood for Valentine's Day. Enjoy a glass of wine, hors d'oeuvres, and the musical stylings of jazz pianist, Doug Mundy prior to the Soulful concert. A long time Niagara resident, Mundy is one of the most in demand musicians in the Niagara Region. He has recently completed a tour of New Zealand working with a collection of the country's finest jazz musicians.
Come celebrate 50 years of R&B, Motown, Funk, Disco, and Pop by some of the finest African American recording artists and performers like Smokey Robinson, Outkast, Stevie Wonder, Pharrell Williams, Isaac Hayes, and Seal. Featuring three-time Juno Award nominee and long-time member of the iconic Canadian a cappella group, The Nylons, Gavin Hope is a natural born performer. With his lightning speed comedic timing, skills on the dance floor, and truly exceptional, velvety, emotional voice, Hope is always a fan favourite!
Let the NSO put you in the mood for Valentine's Day. Enjoy a glass of wine, hors d'oeuvres, and the musical stylings of jazz pianist, Doug Mundy prior to the Soulful concert. A long time Niagara resident, Mundy is one of the most in demand musicians in the Niagara Region. He has recently completed a tour of New Zealand working with a collection of the country's finest jazz musicians.
Come celebrate 50 years of R&B, Motown, Funk, Disco, and Pop by some of the finest African American recording artists and performers like Smokey Robinson, Outkast, Stevie Wonder, Pharrell Williams, Isaac Hayes, and Seal. Featuring three-time Juno Award nominee and long-time member of the iconic Canadian a cappella group, The Nylons, Gavin Hope is a natural born performer. With his lightning speed comedic timing, skills on the dance floor, and truly exceptional, velvety, emotional voice, Hope is always a fan favourite!
Commissioned by the NSO in 2018, Kevin Lau’s Postcards From A Blue Planet highlights unique habitats with a variety of musical styles and genres. This multi-sensory, audio and visual performance introduces you to wind instruments: flute, alto flute, piccolo, clarinet, saxophone, and bassoon.
Commissioned by the NSO in 2018, Kevin Lau’s Postcards From A Blue Planet highlights unique habitats with a variety of musical styles and genres. This multi-sensory, audio and visual performance introduces you to wind instruments: flute, alto flute, piccolo, clarinet, saxophone, and bassoon.
Who doesn’t love Beethoven? Two young talents bring twice the energy to two piano concertos! Piano Concerto No. 4 is a favorite of concert audiences and considered by many to be one of the pinnacles of the piano concerto repertoire. Piano Concerto No. 5 is known as the Emperor Concerto although it has no association with any emperor. It’s military aspects and symbolism characterize its heroic style. The Coriolan Overture represents Coriolanus’ resolve and war-like tendencies as he is about to invade Rome. The Egmont Overture, one of the last works of Beethoven’s “middle period,” is powerful and expressive and has become as famous a composition as the Coriolan Overture.
CHELSEA AHN is the
DR. and MRS. W.N. TYTANECK Guest Artist
Rock out to the greatest classic rock songs of all time! The music of Queen, The Who, Foreigner, Led Zeppelin, and many more performed by an all-star band, backed by the full power of NSO!
Niagara native Jocelyn Fralick, Turkish-Canadian Beste Kalender, the BPC, and the LSSSC join the NSO for a rousing finale to the NSO’s Diamond Anniversary Season. Voted the fifth-greatest symphony of all time in a survey of conductors carried out by the BBC Music Magazine, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 is known as the Resurrection Symphony. One of his most popular and successful works, it was also his first major composition that established his lifelong view of the beauty of the afterlife, and resurrection. In this large work, Mahler further developed the creative “sound of the distance,” his goal to compose a “world of its own,” aspects of which were already seen in Mahler’s First Symphony.
The Medusa myth profoundly influenced the musical shape that Dark Angels would assume. Its pages bear the scars of Medusa's transformation, and the bitter metaphors associated with her suffering. The Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, composed by Edvard Grieg in 1868, was the only concerto Grieg completed. It is one of his most popular works and is among the most popular of the genre. Grieg, being only 24 years old at the time of the composition, had taken inspiration from Robert Schumann’s only concerto, also being in A minor. Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony demonstrates how convincingly he could create a large–scale symphonic work of complete technical assurance and structural equilibrium, yet wholly his own in expression.
George Gershwin wrote primarily for the Broadway musical theatre, but important as well are his orchestral and piano compositions in which he blended the techniques and forms of classical music with the stylistic nuances and techniques of popular music and jazz.
Join the Niagara Symphony Orchestra for a pre-concert Wine and Jazz before the Queen Symphony event on Saturday, November 23.
Symphonic Dances from West Side Story is an orchestral suite in nine movements adapted from parts of Bernstein’s landmark musical, West Side Story.
The Queen Symphony pays tribute to the timeless songs of the iconic rock band Queen, including Who Wants to Live Forever and Bohemian Rhapsody. The music is distinctly symphonic, building on musical fragments and adding brand new material.
Symphonic Dances from West Side Story is an orchestral suite in nine movements adapted from parts of Bernstein’s landmark musical, West Side Story.
The Queen Symphony pays tribute to the timeless songs of the iconic rock band Queen, including Who Wants to Live Forever and Bohemian Rhapsody. The music is distinctly symphonic, building on musical fragments and adding brand new material.
The NSO’s festive concert tradition returns with holly and mistletoe, and sweet sugar plums. Regardless of where you’re from, come home for the holidays with the NSO and celebrate with familiar sounds of the most enchanting season. Stars of the Stratford Festival for many seasons, Jennifer Rider-Shaw played The Lady of the Lake in Monty Python’s Spamalot and Robert Markus most recently played Mark in RENT during the 2023 season.
The NSO’s festive concert tradition returns with holly and mistletoe, and sweet sugar plums. Regardless of where you’re from, come home for the holidays with the NSO and celebrate with familiar sounds of the most enchanting season. Stars of the Stratford Festival for many seasons, Jennifer Rider-Shaw played The Lady of the Lake in Monty Python’s Spamalot and Robert Markus most recently played Mark in RENT during the 2023 season.
The overture to one of the greatest operas ever written begins with a solemn three-chord sequence from the brass, associated with the Priests of the Temple of Wisdom. We are thrilled that Eric Guo will be playing Chopin’s Piano Concerto No 1, the piece that won him the first prize at the 2nd International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments. Eric is a laureate of the Fifth Canadian Chopin Piano Competition and was named one of CBC’s 30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30 in 2019. Symphony No. 41 is the last of a set of three that Mozart composed in rapid succession. It is argued that Mozart composed the three symphonies as a unified work; Symphony No. 41, as the final work, has no introduction (unlike No. 39) but has a grand finale.
The Four Seasons Reimagined is a complete re-composition and reinterpretation of Vivaldi’s violin concertos, emphasising Richter’s grounding in postmodern and minimalist music. Each tango of The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires is a unique blending of the syncopations of the dance. Originally conceived as separate compositions, Piazzolla established the practice of performing them as one suite. Drawing from her rich Mexican-American background, Maureen Conlon-Gutierrez has garnered acclaim with audiences across the U.S., Latin America and Europe. One of the world’s most sought after bandoneonists, Hector Del Curto has performed with many renowned artists across many musical genres and appeared with the world’s leading orchestras.
Classical Mystery Tour is more than just a rock concert. Enjoy two dozen Beatles tunes sung, played, and performed exactly as they were written. From early Beatles music on through the solo years, Classical Mystery Tour is the best of The Beatles like you’ve never heard them.
Classical Mystery Tour is more than just a rock concert. Enjoy two dozen Beatles tunes sung, played, and performed exactly as they were written. From early Beatles music on through the solo years, Classical Mystery Tour is the best of The Beatles like you’ve never heard them.
Fidelio is the only opera by German composer Ludwig van Beethoven. Beethoven struggled to produce an appropriate overture for Fidelio, and ultimately went through four versions. This somewhat lighter overture seems to work best of the four as a start to the opera. Appalachian Spring depicts the day of a wedding celebration at a Pennsylvania farmhouse in the early 20th Century. It opens at dawn and concludes as serenely as it began, ending the day with the same chords with which dawn was evoked. A lover of nature, Beethoven spent a great deal of time on walks in the country. He said that the Sixth Symphony is "more the expression of feeling than painting.” It is one of Beethoven's few works containing explicitly programmatic content.
Fidelio is the only opera by German composer Ludwig van Beethoven. Beethoven struggled to produce an appropriate overture for Fidelio, and ultimately went through four versions. This somewhat lighter overture seems to work best of the four as a start to the opera. Appalachian Spring depicts the day of a wedding celebration at a Pennsylvania farmhouse in the early 20th Century. It opens at dawn and concludes as serenely as it began, ending the day with the same chords with which dawn was evoked. A lover of nature, Beethoven spent a great deal of time on walks in the country. He said that the Sixth Symphony is "more the expression of feeling than painting.” It is one of Beethoven's few works containing explicitly programmatic content.
Celebrate Broadway’s biggest songs from Broadway’s biggest blockbusters featuring Broadway’s biggest stars! Spend an evening with songs from Wicked, The Phantom of the Opera, Annie, Jersey Boys, The Sound of Music, Chicago, CATS, The Lion King, and A Chorus Line.
Celebrate Broadway’s biggest songs from Broadway’s biggest blockbusters featuring Broadway’s biggest stars! Spend an evening with songs from Wicked, The Phantom of the Opera, Annie, Jersey Boys, The Sound of Music, Chicago, CATS, The Lion King, and A Chorus Line.
Samson et Dalilah’s exotic and suggestive Bacchanale, the opera’s best-known excerpt, is a showpiece in which Dalilah leads a wild and provocative dance to taunt Samson. While steeped in tradition, the Tabla lends itself to innovation, and has shown its cultural versatility as an increasingly sought-after instrument in contemporary Western contexts such as Pop, Film Music, and World Music Fusion. Symphonie fantastique is widely recognized for its innovative use of a recurring theme throughout all movements. The symphony won Berlioz a reputation as one of the most progressive composers of the era. A native of Mont-Joli, Gabriel Dionne’s training as an orchestral musician led him to be part of several professional ensembles. Seduced by the exoticism and richness of North Indian music, led him to study tabla.
