123rd Season
Five Extraordinary Chamber Music Concerts in 2020/2021
November 12, 2020
Michael Bridge & Friends
March 4, 2021 | Joyce El-Khoury, soprano 
April 1, 2021 | Eric Lu, piano 
May 6, 2021 | Marmen Quartet
Viano String Quartet
June 24, 2021
Ramón Ortega
Quero,oboe
November 12, 2020 | 1.30 pm
A COVID-caused late start to our season
MICHAEL BRIDGE, accordion; Kornel Wolak, clarinet, with TSO principal cellist Joseph Johnson, livestreamed professionally. The program will include original compositions and arrangements of familiar music by Bach, Vivaldi, Brahms, Lutoslawski and Sydney Bechet. Michael’s mentor Joseph Macerollo – Canada’s patriarch of the accordion – appears in a duo by Canadian Andrew Staniland. There will be a new WMCT-commissioned work by Anna Pidgorna. MORE
March 4, 2021 | 1.30 pm
JOYCE EL-KHOURY, soprano; Serouj Kradjian, piano
Part of an expansive project involving national music and instrumentalists from the home countries (Lebanon, Armenia) of these artists. Songs by Bizet, Fauré, Chausson, Ravel and Saint-Saëns reflect Lebanon’s former colonial power, and twentieth-century Lebanese songs in Arabic demonstrate the vital culture of this jewel of the east. MORE
April 1, 2021 | 1.30 pm
ERIC LU, piano
A solo piano recital of Mozart, Schubert, Chopin and Scriabin returns us to standard repertoire, with a brilliant performer. Mr. Lu first came to international attention as a prize-winner at the 2015 Chopin International Competition in Warsaw aged just 17, becoming one of the youngest laureates in the history of the competition. In 2018 he won First Prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition. He made his BBC Proms debut the following year and is currently a member of the prestigious BBC New Generation Artist scheme. MORE
May 6, 2021 | 1.30 pm
MARMEN QUARTET ||| VIANO QUARTET
For this concert the WMCT is thrilled to take advantage of an unprecedented opportunity provided by the unique result of the most recent Banff International String Quartet Competition. Two string quartets tied for the 1st prize! Each quartet will perform a work of their choice in the first half and then together present Mendelssohn’s famous octet for the second. This promises to provide a spectacular lift to the season – a season experience already well spiced with diversity and innovation. . MORE
June 24, 2021 | 1.30 pm (rescheduled from October 8, 2020)
RAMON ORTEGA QUERO, oboe; Annika Treutler, piano
The season closes with a rarity – a recital appearance by an oboist, indeed by one of the foremost oboists in the world. Offering a program of Ravel, both Schumanns (Clara and Robert), Snr. Ortega’s countryman De Falla, and Borne’s Carmen Fantasy, the music will range wiely, providing everything from fireworks to depth. MORE