Events

Friends of Chamber Music 2023/24 Season Subscription Page

**PLEASE READ!! IMPORTANT PURCHASE INFO**

During the purchase of a PYO4 package, you will be asked which concerts you would like to attend. In the text field provided, simply type the concert names, separated by a comma. For example - "Takacs, Zemlinksky, Busch, Bennewitz".

This only applies to PYO4 (pick your own 4 concerts) series. For full subscriptions (10 concerts), please place "N/A" in the text field. 

Once you have completed your order, a V-Tix Online representative will send your tickets via email or by post the following Friday or Monday. Please allow up to two weeks for mailed tickets.

Please call Vtix Solutions toll-free at 1 (888) 961-6111 if you have any questions about how to purchase subscriptions or tickets. 

***Please note, This link is for choosing your season subscription! This is not a ticket.***

Website link for donations through Canada Helps: https://friendsofchambermusic.ca/

Full Subscription - 10 Concerts $550

PYO4 (4 concerts) - $240.00 each

Season Listing: 

1. Zemlinsky Quartet - Tuesday, October 17, 2023, 7:30 p.m. 

A welcome return performance from this much-lauded Czech ensemble. “…an urbanity to its playing, which gave way to fervour, with the players sometimes rising from their seats at crucial musical moments.” Strad – Wigmore Hall 2022

•    Germaine Tailleferre: String Quartet/Quatuor à Cordes

•    Alexander von Zemlinsky: String Quartet No. 1, Opus 4 (1896)

•    Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet No. 9 in C Major, Opus 59, No. 3 "Razumovsky"
 

2. Mandelring Quartett - Sunday, October 29, 2023, 3:00 p.m. 

This fabulous German ensemble is a perennial audience favourite. We cannot have a season without a late Beethoven quartet, and who better to play it for us than the Mandelring. “Brilliance is not a strong enough word – it’s more like an electric shock… transfixes the listener from literally the very first note.” Neue Züricher Zeitung

•    Dmitri Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 1 in C Major, Opus 49

•    György Ligeti: “Métamorphoses Nocturnes”

•    Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet No. 15 in A Minor Opus 132    
 

3. Busch Trio - Tuesday, November 7, 2023, 7:30 p.m. 

Our premiere performance by this fine Amsterdam-based piano trio, in a programme featuring two of the most popular piano trios of the 20th Century. “Expressive and well-balanced playing.” The Strad “Adolf Busch would certainly be proud to have lent them his name.” Crescendo Magazine

•    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Trio in B-flat Major, K502

•    Maurice Ravel: Piano Trio in A Minor

•    Dmitri Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 2 in E Minor, Opus 67
 

4. Takács Quartet - Tuesday, December 5, 2023, 7:30 p.m. 

This internationally-celebrated Hungarian-flavoured quartet is a perennial audience favourite. This concert will be full of gorgeous tones and melodies. “Impeccable… performances as wonderful and sonorous as you could hope for.” The Sunday Times “…naturalness and confidence…” Gramophone

•    Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in B-flat Major, Opus 76, No. 4 "Sunrise"

•    Béla Bartók: String Quartet No. 2 in A MInor

•    Franz Schubert: String Quartet No. 15 in G Major, D887
 

5. Goldmund Quartet - Tuesday, January 30, 2024, 7:30 p.m. 

Our first performance from this talented German ensemble. Expect an evening of elegance, beauty, and some artistic fire. “…[the group] played with freshness and excitement as well as deep musicianship… delicacy and forthrightness… intense and dramatic… “ Seen and Heard – Edinburgh International Festival

•    Joseph Haydn:  String Quartet in D Minor, Opus 76, No. 2 “Quinten” 

•    Alexander Borodin: String Quartet No. 2 in D Major

•    Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet No. 7, Opus 59, No. 1 "Razumovsky"
 

6. Han Finckel Setzer Trio - Tuesday, February 6, 2024, 7:30 p.m. 

A return engagement with an irresistible audience favourite, playing two masterworks of the repertoire. “One of the very few distinguished American trios” Vancouver Classical Music. “The music unfolded like a spontaneous, heady conversation among three intimate friends” Chicago Classical Review

•    Franz Schubert: Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat Major, Opus 99, D898

•    Franz Schubert: Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat Major, Opus 100, D929
 

7. Karol Szymanowski Quartet - Tuesday, March 12, 2024, 7:30 p.m. 

An enduring audience favourite with an evening of early and late Romantic music from this group whose members display their Polish and Ukrainian roots. “It was hard not to fall in love with the Szymanowski Quartet… All professionals perform with intensity, but playing from the heart is another matter… " New York Times  

•    Franz Joseph Haydn: String Quartet No. 1 in B-flat Major, Opus 1, Hob III:1 "La Chasse”

•    Arnold Schoenberg: String Quartet in D Major (1897)

•    Felix Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Opus 13

•    Karol Szymanowski: Nocturne & Tarantella for String Quartet, Opus 28 (arr. Myroslav Skoryk)
 

8. Fauré Piano Quartet - Tuesday, March 26, 2024, 7:30 p.m. 

Our first performance from this emerging ensemble, in a programme of late Romanticism that contrasts Mahler and Brahms masterworks with Fauré’s refined music. “…[they] brought tremendous pleasure by highlighting interpretative details that had scarcely ever been heard before.”Süddeutsche Zeitung “ravishing performances” BBC Music Magazine

•    Gustav Mahler: Klavier Quartettsatz/Piano Quartet in A Minor

•    Gabriel Fauré: Piano Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Opus 15

•    Johannes Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, Opus 25
 

9. Signum Quartet - Tuesday, April 2, 2024, 7:30 p.m. 

Our first performance from this German quartet is a mixed programme of melodic beauty and tonal range. “Prepare for a deeply moving experience.” Strings Magazine. “Fury, tenderness, terror, sardonic humour and resignation were here in a journey that left the listener bruised and breathless.“ The Times

•    Franz Schubert: Auf dem Wasser zu Singen D774 (arr. Xandi Van Dijk)

•    Erwin Schulhoff: Five Pieces for String Quartet

•    Matthijs van Dijkk: Rage Against the Machine (2018)

•    Leo Tolstoy: Waltz in F Major

•    Leos Janacek: String Quartet No. 1 (1923) "Kreutzer Sonata"

•    Franz Schubert: String Quartet No. 1, D18

10. Bennewitz Quartet with pianist Arsentiy Kharitonov - Tuesday, April 9, 2024, 7:30 p.m. 

A return engagement with this impressive Czech ensemble, playing Romantic and more modern Czech music. “…[the quartet is] renowned for their clarity of structure, as well as their beautiful tonal palette and purity of intonation in their execution.” EuroArts

•    Hans Krasa: Theme and Variations for String Quartet

•    Leoš Janáček: String Quartet No. 2

•    Antonín Dvořák: Piano Quintet No.2 in A Major, Opus 81