March 2025

Dear Music Lover,

What can you expect from Scotia Festival this year?

Fun, inspiration, surprise, joy, friendship, and much more besides!

And guaranteed you can expect that every night we'll bring you a new discovery, or a great new performance of an old favourite—at most concerts, in fact, you'll get both!

Here are just a few things we have in store:

• Toronto Symphony Orchestra concertmaster, Jonathan Crow, will be here for a week, leading three concertos by J.S. Bach in one concert, and joining a group of illustrious colleagues to perform Felix Mendelssohn's beloved string octet.

• Ensemble Made In Canada, a piano quartet of four virtuosi, open our festival with Saint-Saëns, and join other musicians for great chamber music throughout the festival.

• Our fearless resident string quartet—Gwen Hoebig, Mark Lee, Isaac Chalk and Blair Lofgren—will return for their third year, taking on quartets by Mozart and Bartók, and Beethoven's majestic Op. 130 string quartet, with its original finale, the legendary "Grosse Fuge."

• You will meet exciting new faces including Montreal Symphony hornist Florence Rousseau; Québec City Symphony bassoonist Marlène Ngalissamy; and the inventive SHHH!! Ensemble (pianist Edana Higham and percussionist Zac Pulak).

• We welcome the acclaimed Elora Singers with conductor Mark Vuorinen, for three banner events, including Peter-Anthony Togni's moving new choral work, Voice of the Weaver; Arvo Pärt's stunning Passio, (a deeply spiritual setting of the St John Passion); and a special community-led celebration at Millbrook First Nation.

• Another superb crop of 40 Young Artists will be here, to learn from our Guest Artists, and to teach us about the future.

• One of Canada's favourite conductors, Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, returns for our final orchestral gala, with hand-picked music by Stravinsky, Elgar, and Haydn, in the magnificent acoustic of the Joseph Strug Concert Hall.

With all this and much more, you will want to take in as much of the festival as you can. There are significant savings if you purchase a Pick-4, Pick-8 or Full Festival Pass (the last representing a 25% savings). And don't forget to check out our Open Dress Rehearsal Pass and our many free masterclasses.

Many thanks to all who work so hard to put the festival together. I can't wait!

See you soon,

Simon Docking
Managing and Artistic Director
Scotia Festival of Music