Celebrate December with the VSO’s festive music at the Flynn and a visit from Santa! Join Music Director Andrew Crust, guest singers, and your Vermont Symphony Orchestra for a concert that delivers a joyful mood for the season. Enjoy favorites like Sleigh Ride and selections from The Nutcracker, a new commission by Vermont composer Michael Schachter inspired by a Jewish folktale, a rousing audience holiday sing-a-long, a musical reading of selections from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and more!

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VSO: Holiday Pops

The Flynn

Celebrate December with the VSO’s festive music and a visit from Santa! Join Music Director Andrew Crust, guest singers, and your Vermont Symphony Orchestra for a concert that delivers a joyful mood for the season. Enjoy favorites like Sleigh Ride and selections from The Nutcracker, a new commission by Vermont composer Michael Schachter inspired by a Jewish folktale, a rousing audience holiday sing-a-long, a musical reading of selections from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and more!

Holiday Pops – Barre

Barre Opera House

Paramount Theatre, VT

Made in Vermont with The Moth Radio Hour

Bellows Falls Opera House

Southern Vermont Arts Center

Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center

The season launches with Machines & Myths, a powerful program featuring the full symphonic orchestra in its largest performance of the year. Combining Rossini’s William Tell Overture, Kelly Marie Murphy’s Machines, Mannequins, and Monsters, and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15, this concert explores themes of heroism, technology, and the human condition—bridging classical grandeur and contemporary innovation. Audiences can expect a dynamic experience that balances familiarity with experimentation—an invitation to both seasoned concertgoers and new listeners alike.

Machines & Myths

Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre

An evening full of discoveries: This concert brings to light musical treasures that are all too rarely heard in the shadow of famous names. Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga’s First String Quartet – written when he was only 16 years old – reveals an astonishing genius who died far too young. The powerful piano quintet with double bass by Mozart’s pupil Johann Nepomuk Hummel combines classical and early romanticism, while Felix Mendelssohn’s youthful String Quintet op. 18 surprises with brilliance and vigour. This is accompanied by Fauré’s songful »3 Romances sans paroles« and Jules Auguste Demersseman’s virtuoso fantasy for alto saxophone – a real rarity. A programme of musical surprises.

International Mendelssohn Festival

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

### Beethoven’s Emperor Piano Concerto - Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

**Date and Time:**  
May 23, 2025, Friday at 7:00 PM

**Venue:**  
Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver

**Event Overview:**  
Join the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra for an enchanting evening featuring Beethoven’s majestic Fifth Piano Concerto, commonly known as the "Emperor" Concerto. This performance is part of the "Musically Speaking" series, which offers insightful commentary and a deeper understanding of the music.

**Program:**  
- **Kelly-Marie Murphy:** *Curiosity, Genius, and the Search for Petula Clark*  
- **Bartók:** *Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta*  
- **Beethoven:** *Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor*  

**Performance Duration:**  
Approximately 120 minutes, including one intermission.

**Featured Artists:**  
- **Otto Tausk:** VSO Music Director  
- **Behzod Abduraimov:** Piano Soloist, described by The Times as having the "magic touch," will bring technical mastery and profound artistry to Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto.

**Additional Information:**  
This concert is a part of the "Fridays 7 pm" series under the "Musically Speaking" banner, which aims to provide audiences with a richer concert experience through engaging narratives and musical insights.

**Tickets:**  
Available for purchase now. Don't miss the opportunity to witness this extraordinary performance.

**Subscription Information:**  
Consider subscribing to the 2024/25 season for benefits and pricing details. Renew your subscription to ensure you don't miss any of the upcoming spectacular performances.

For more details and to purchase tickets, visit the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra's official website.

Beethoven’s Emperor Piano Concerto

Orpheum

After shaking the foundations of Southam Hall with her fiery NACO debut last season, pianist Yeol Eum Son makes her highly anticipated return to perform Maurice Ravel's glittering Concerto in G for piano and orchestra. Inspired by the Basque folk songs of his childhood and the hot jazz he heard while on tour in Harlem and New Orleans during the Roaring '20s, Ravel's captivating concerto journeys between moments of whip-crack humor and sweet nostalgia.

Shelley & Yeol Eum Son

Southam Hall

### Event Description: Branford Marsalis Chamber Project

**Date and Time:**  
Friday, February 21, 2025, at 7:30 PM

**Venue:**  
Rackham Auditorium  
915 East Washington Street  
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

**Event Overview:**  
Join us for an exquisite evening of chamber music featuring the renowned saxophonist Branford Marsalis. This special performance will take place just two nights after the Branford Marsalis Quartet’s UMS debut. Branford Marsalis will be showcasing his classical prowess alongside two distinguished members of the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance community: saxophone professor Timothy McAllister and collaborative pianist Liz Ames.

**Program:**  
- **Claude Debussy:** Rhapsodie, L. 98
- **Sally Beamish:** First Light from Divertimenti for Two Soprano Saxophones and Piano
- **Kelly-Marie Murphy:** Unstoppable Fear Machine
- Additional works to be announced

**Artists:**  
- **Branford Marsalis:** Saxophones
- **Timothy McAllister:** Saxophones
- **Liz Ames:** Piano

**Ticket Information:**  
- Season Ticket packages are now available.
- Individual event tickets go on sale on August 1.
- Student, Senior, and Group Discounts may be available.
- To purchase tickets, visit the UMS website or call the ticket office at 734-764-2538.

**Sponsors:**  
This event is generously supported by Elaine and Peter Schweitzer, who are also supporting Branford Marsalis’s UMS debut and residency.

**Additional Information:**  
Branford Marsalis, hailing from the rich musical environment of New Orleans, has expanded his musical universe to embrace both jazz and Western classical music. His journey from the clarinet to the alto, tenor, and soprano saxophones has led him to a successful career as a composer and performer. Marsalis has often remarked on the challenges of classical music, likening it to reading Shakespeare or Chaucer, where the performer must bring the characters to life without altering the original words.

Don't miss this unique opportunity to experience the fusion of jazz and classical music through the talents of Branford Marsalis and his esteemed colleagues.

**Contact Information:**  
For more details, visit the UMS website or contact the Box Office at 734-764-2538.

Branford Marsalis Chamber Project

University of Michigan

You can simply go to a concert at the Philharmonie, spontaneously, during your lunch break – and with free admission: every Wednesday at 13:00 between September and June. The programme lasts 40 to 50 minutes: chamber music, piano works or a percussion duo – everything from Tchaikovsky to tango. Members of the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Karajan Academy regularly perform, as well as guests from the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, the Staatskapelle Berlin and the Berlin music conservatories. As can be expected at a lunch concert, catering is available from 12 noon until shortly before the concert begins.

Lunch concert

Berliner Philharmoniker

The emotional centre or life-powering organ, numerous compositions have been inspired by the heart. In Another Little Piece of My Heart, Montgomery evokes passion and palpitations, while Murphy’s Strum is punctuated by a steady pulse of pizzicato notes similar to a heartbeat, and Glass’ celebrated “Mishima” Quartet is carried along by an uninterrupted stream of subtle emotions.

At the Heart of the string quartet

Place des Arts

Each section or family of instruments in an orchestra is led by a Principal Musician or first chair. Twelve of these musicians perform as the Regina Symphony Chamber Players, also known as the Core or RSCP. They perform in all of our mainstage performances as part of the orchestra, taking the spotlight as solo performers when needed and work together on choosing music for chamber concerts. When not playing with the RSO, these musicians are teachers, composers and performers who have made Regina the homebase for themselves and their families.

New Year, New Music - Afternoon

Government House

Spotlight Artist Bruce Liu takes centre stage once again with Rachmaninoff’s iconic Piano Concerto No. 2, whose second movement inspired a power ballad famously covered by Celine Dion. Kelly-Marie Murphy’s whimsical opening work combines elements of humour, introspection, and a nod to the “Downtown” singer’s era of catchy pop music, and Prokofiev’s Fifth rounds out the program with its resplendent beauty.

Bruce Liu Plays Rachmaninoff 2

David Pecaut Square

Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Christina Landshamer – two global stars, each outstanding in their own unique way. In this concert, the two artists will each have their own stage and will be supported by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and its Chief Conductor Gustavo Gimeno.

Kelly-Marie Murphy

Events

Upcoming events

22 - 23 Jan, 2026

Bruce Liu Plays Rachmaninoff 2 · Toronto Symphony Orchestra

Feb 5, 2026

Toronto Symphony Orchestra / Patricia Kopatchinskaja / Gustavo Gimeno · Elbphilharmonie

Past events

Dec 6, 2025

VSO: Holiday Pops · The Flynn

5 - 7 Dec, 2025

Holiday Pops – Barre · Vermont Symphony Orchestra

About

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