September 15, 2024 – June 1, 2025
Partridge Hall, 250 St Paul St, St. Catharines
Niagara Symphony Orchestra (NSO) welcome their audience back to the concert hall with an exciting 2024-2025 Season! The 2024-2025 concert season represents a new year of varied programming, spectacular guest artists and passionate performances by your Niagara Symphony Orchestra!
2024 – 2025 Season
September 15 @ 2:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Parker Plays Grieg
Partridge Hall 250 St Paul St, St. Catharines
The Medusa myth profoundly influenced the musical shape that Dark Angels would assume. Its pages bear the scars of Medusa’s transformation and the bitter metaphors associated with her suffering. Aaron Copland’s Clarinet Concerto was commissioned by jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman in 1947. The concerto quickly established itself as a standard piece in the clarinet repertoire. Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony demonstrates how convincingly he could create a large–scale symphonic work of complete technical assurance and structural equilibrium, yet wholly his own in expression.
October 20 @ 2:30 pm – 5:00 pm
All Gershwin
Partridge Hall 250 St Paul St, St. Catharines
George Gershwin wrote primarily for Broadway musical theatre, but important as well are his orchestral and piano compositions in which he blended the techniques and forms of classical music with the stylistic nuances and techniques of popular music and jazz.
November 23 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Pre-Concert Wine & Jazz
Partridge Hall 250 St Paul St, St. Catharines
Join the Niagara Symphony Orchestra for a pre-concert Wine and Jazz before the Queen Symphony event on Saturday, November 23.
November 23 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
November 24 @ 2:30 pm – 5:00 pm
The Queen Symphony
Partridge Hall 250 St Paul St, St. Catharines
Symphonic Dances from West Side Story is an orchestral suite in nine movements adapted from parts of Bernstein’s landmark musical, West Side Story.
The Queen Symphony pays tribute to the timeless songs of the iconic rock band Queen, including Who Wants to Live Forever and Bohemian Rhapsody. The music is distinctly symphonic, building on musical fragments and adding brand new material.
December 14 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
December 15 @ 2:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Home For the Holidays
Partridge Hall 250 St Paul St, St. Catharines
The NSO’s festive concert tradition returns with holly and mistletoe, and sweet sugar plums. Regardless of where you’re from, come home for the holidays with the NSO and celebrate with the familiar sounds of the most enchanting season. Stars of the Stratford Festival for many seasons, Jennifer Rider-Shaw played The Lady of the Lake in Monty Python’s Spamalot and Robert Markus most recently played Mark in RENT during the 2023 season.
January 26, 2025 @ 2:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Mozart & Beyond
Partridge Hall 250 St Paul St, St. Catharines
The overture to one of the greatest operas ever written begins with a solemn three-chord sequence from the brass, associated with the Priests of the Temple of Wisdom. We are thrilled that Eric Guo will be playing Chopin’s Piano Concerto No 1, the piece that won him the first prize at the 2nd International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments. Eric is a laureate of the Fifth Canadian Chopin Piano Competition and was named one of CBC’s 30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30 in 2019. Symphony No. 41 is the last of a set of three that Mozart composed in rapid succession. It is argued that Mozart composed the three symphonies as a unified work; Symphony No. 41, as the final work, has no introduction (unlike No. 39) but has a grand finale.
February 16, 2025 @ 2:30 pm – 5:00 pm
The Four Seasons Reimagined
Partridge Hall 250 St Paul St, St. Catharines
The Four Seasons Reimagined is a complete re-composition and reinterpretation of Vivaldi’s violin concertos, emphasizing Richter’s grounding in postmodern and minimalist music. Each tango of The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires is a unique blending of the syncopations of the dance. Originally conceived as separate compositions, Piazzolla established the practice of performing them as one suite. Drawing from her rich Mexican-American background, Maureen Conlon-Gutierrez has garnered acclaim with audiences across the U.S., Latin America and Europe. One of the world’s most sought-after bandoneonists, Hector Del Curto has performed with many renowned artists across many musical genres and appeared with the world’s leading orchestras.
March 8, 2025 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
March 9, 2025 @ 2:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Classical Mystery Tour
Partridge Hall 250 St Paul St, St. Catharines
Classical Mystery Tour is more than just a rock concert. Enjoy two dozen Beatles tunes sung, played, and performed exactly as they were written. From early Beatles music on through the solo years, Classical Mystery Tour is the best of The Beatles like you’ve never heard them.
April 5, 2025 @ 4:30 pm – 7:00 pm
April 6, 2025 @ 2:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Pastorale
Partridge Hall 250 St Paul St, St. Catharines
Fidelio is the only opera by German composer Ludwig van Beethoven. Beethoven struggled to produce an appropriate overture for Fidelio, and ultimately went through four versions. This somewhat lighter overture seems to work best of the four as a start to the opera. Appalachian Spring depicts the day of a wedding celebration at a Pennsylvania farmhouse in the early 20th Century. It opens at dawn and concludes as serenely as it began, ending the day with the same chords with which dawn was evoked. A lover of nature, Beethoven spent a great deal of time on walks in the country. He said that the Sixth Symphony is “more the expression of feeling than painting.” It is one of Beethoven’s few works containing explicitly programmatic content.
April 26, 2025 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
April 27, 2025 @ 2:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Blockbuster Broadway
Partridge Hall 250 St Paul St, St. Catharines
Celebrate Broadway’s biggest songs from Broadway’s biggest blockbusters featuring Broadway’s biggest stars! Spend an evening with songs from Wicked, The Phantom of the Opera, Annie, Jersey Boys, The Sound of Music, Chicago, CATS, The Lion King, and A Chorus Line.
June 1, 2025 @ 2:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Symphonie fantastique
Partridge Hall 250 St Paul St, St. Catharines
Samson et Dalilah’s exotic and suggestive Bacchanale, the opera’s best-known excerpt, is a showpiece in which Dalilah leads a wild and provocative dance to taunt Samson. While steeped in tradition, the Tabla lends itself to innovation and has shown its cultural versatility as an increasingly sought-after instrument in contemporary Western contexts such as Pop, Film Music, and World Music Fusion. Symphonie fantastique is widely recognized for its innovative use of a recurring theme throughout all movements. The symphony won Berlioz a reputation as one of the most progressive composers of the era. A native of Mont-Joli, Gabriel Dionne’s training as an orchestral musician led him to be part of several professional ensembles. Seduced by the exoticism and richness of North Indian music, led him to study tabla.
About Niagara Symphony Orchestra (NSO)
The Niagara Symphony Orchestra (NSO) is a Canadian symphony orchestra based in St. Catharines, Ontario, in the Niagara Region. Founded in 1948, the orchestra has been an integral part of the cultural scene in the region, providing high-quality classical music performances to audiences. The NSO performs a diverse repertoire ranging from classical masterpieces to contemporary works and often collaborates with renowned guest artists and conductors. Through its concerts, educational programs, and community outreach initiatives, the Niagara Symphony Orchestra contributes significantly to the enrichment of the cultural life in Niagara and beyond.
