Halifax music presenter Cecilia Concerts celebrates its 35th season with 13 mainstage concerts scheduled for its 2023-2024 season.
The new season will open on Sept 16 with Ukrainian pianist Illia Ovcharenko, who has won over 20 international piano competitions and has performed twice at Carnegie Hall this year alone.
In October, Cecilia Concerts will present a trio of concerts, including Constantinople (Oct 1), showcasing the traditional music of the Mi’kmaq, the Tuvan throat singing technique of Khöömei, and the sounds of Persian classical music featuring the ney flute. Other concerts during the month include award-winning pianist Louise Bessette (Oct 14) and South Korean cellist Sung-Won Yang performing with Grammy-nominated Italian pianist Enrico Pace (Oct 28).
November will bring another trio of concerts, including the multiple Grammy Award-winning Kronos Quartet (Nov 5) as part of its Five Decades tour, classical guitarist JIJI and violinist Danbi Um (Nov 18), and previously announced award-winning Ukrainian quartet, DakhaBrakha (Nov 26).
December will see bass-baritone Philippe Sly, and pianist Michael McMahon bring Franz Schubert’s 1827 song cycle Winterreise (Dec 9) to the Joseph Strug Concert Hall.
Cecilia Concerts kicks off the new year with the return of violinist Artem Diaz Kolesov Fominyx (Jan 13) alongside pianist Evelyn Lee.
In February, Cecilia Concerts presents a unique fusion of percussion and cello as musician-in-residence, cellist and composer Paul Wiancko is joined by percussionist Ian David Rosenbaum (Feb 10). Then, violinist Hao Zhou and opera conductor and pianist Greg Ritchey (Feb 17) will immerse audiences in the world of opera.
March opens with Juno award-winning violist Marina Thibeault and prize-winning pianist Janelle Fung (Mar 2) joining forces for an exploration of classical and contemporary sounds. This is followed by Metropolitan Opera star tenor Lawrence Brownlee (Mar 16), performing a selection of operatic arias and a culturally-rooted program featuring a series of works from African American composers with texts drawn from Black authors and poets of the Harlem Renaissance.
In April, pianists Eric Lu and Charles Richard-Hamelin (Apr 6) join forces for a two-piano/four-hand concert featuring the music of Mozart, Chopin and Rachmaninov.
Cecilia Concerts’ 35th anniversary season comes to a close in May, featuring the compositions of its 2023-2024 composer-in-residence Ian Cusson (May 11) performed by Innu soprano Elisabeth St-Gelais and Sri Lankan tenor Asitha Tennekoon.
Visit ceciliaconcerts.ca for tickets and information.