This is a list of concerts we are attending, wishing we could attend, or thinking about attending between January 12 and 18, 2026. For more of what’s happening around Toronto, visit our calendar here.
Canadian Opera Company: Instrumental Series — Master and Pupil
Wednesday, January 14, Noon
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, free
Out of all chamber ensembles, the string quartet, in my mind, rules supreme — its individual voices morph into and out of one another; a great group creates magic where four disappears to become one, just to unfurl into four, yet again. The COC String quartet, Marie Bérard and Aaron Schwebel (violins), Sheila Jaffé (viola), Guillaume Artus (cello), is taking the lovely stage of the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre for their official debut concert, with two canonic works by Haydn and Beethoven. Come out and hear these players, often hidden under the glitzy stage, down in the pit, and hear them weave beauty with one another — what a great way to pause in the midweek. Info here.
Toronto Symphony Orchestra: The Firebird
Thursday, January 15, 7:30 p.m., Saturday, January 17, 7:30 p.m.
Roy Thomson Hall, $72+
TSO’s second week program for 2026 is full of bangers. Brahms’s first piano concerto needs no introduction — written at age 25, contrary to the famous picture of him in later years with a huge curly beard and sullen, careful expression. Brahms as a young man was full of youthful energy and aspiration. This dashing young man’s first concerto, which also happens to be his first-performed orchestral work, is grand in scale, with plenty of drama and pathos. Mao Fujita, 2019 Tchaikovsky competition Silver Medalist, will take the helm of this majestic work with conductor Eva Ollikainen. Arvo Pärt’s early work, Symphony No.1, may feel quite far from the later Pärt’s compositions that we are familiar with — keep your ears open and see where it all started, leading to the amazing tintinnabuli style that became such a beloved soundscape for the masses. Stravinsky’s Firebird (1919 version), will fill out the hall with golden, poetic beauty after its frenetic, grand expansion — the Berceuse and Finale is a great way to end the evening. Come out for this varied, colourful music and leave with the magic of the firebird in your heart. For Saturday, TSO Chamber Soloists will give a pre-concert performance at 6:15 p.m. of Pärt and Rautavaara’s music — great stuff. Info here.
Royal Conservatory of Music: The Happenstancers — Always Darkest … Dawn Always
Friday, January 16, 8 p.m.
Temerty Theatre, Royal Conservatory of Music, $21+
Always hot on their own heels, the Happenstancers are an ambitious, capable, and imaginative group who’ve been delivering great performances of contemporary music. What is a great performance of contemporary music? There is much caution and resistance about new music, and though it’s baffling at times (after all, we do go mad on food or dance craze and fads, with abandon!), the worry is real — is it going to be weird? But please, drop the expectations, and remind oneself that all music is simply sonic events that evoke and generate reactions. And in this, the Happenstancers excel. Rather than holding up the canons of Beethoven and Brahms for comparison, do remind yourself that contemporary music speaks in different times, mediums, and philosophies, and that the aim of arts often is very simple: to experience. And, to enjoy the possibilities of new sensations — beauty, ugliness, and everything in between. Mixing up from good oldies and current avant-gardes, from Josquin de Prez, to Ana Sokolović, and Kaija Saariaho, this is a great way to open 2026 21C Music at the RCM. Info here.
University of Toronto Faculty of Music: U of T Opera Student Composer Collective: With the Telling Comes the Magic — Five Tales from Antiquity to the Present
Sunday, January 18, 2:30 p.m., and 5 p.m.
Marilyn and Charles Baillie Theatre, Canadian Stage, 26 Berkeley St., $11.30
January is full of new music, and here’s one of the more interesting projects in the midst of many events: one libretto by Michale Albano, and music composed by the young composers collective. Being a student/young composer is a bit like second adolescence — you are still swimming through many things, running into many ideas, learning many concepts and things from the past, and trying to find your own voice, with all that going on. It’s fascinating and exciting, as many things are open to possibilities, and there’s beauty in the process of finding oneself. So, come out and support these young composers, and their community — including hard-working students of the Opera program — and the student instrumental ensemble under the direction of Sandra Horst. Who knows, you may run into tomorrow’s star just by being there. Info here.
Royal Conservatory of Music: Gabriela Montero
Sunday, January 18, 3 p.m.
Koerner Hall, $45+
Gabriela Montero returns to Koerner, with a feisty program of Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, and an improv to Charlie Chaplin’s silent film, The Immigrant. This busy Venezuelan pianist has been thinking about immigration — departures, journeys, the world that changes you, and the realities that may reject and deject you. A fitting theme in the current climate. Come out and enjoy her brilliant playing of the Russian masters — all three experienced migration that deeply impacted their life course — and keep your ears open for the magic of improvisation, with the magic of Chaplin. Info here.
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