Here is the Calgary Philharmonic’s 2024–2025 season
By Ramiro Bustamante Torres, April 17 2024—
The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) announced its 2024–2025 season on Apr. 9. At a launch party, people present were treated with the Calgary Philharmonic Chorus singing an arrangement of “Carmina Burana” by Orff teasing the piece as one of the season starters on Sep. 14. A performance by violinist Jeremy Gabbert and violist Alisa Klebanov playing “String Duo in G Major, K. 423” by Mozart led to the announcement of Rune Bergmann’s last year as music director at the CPO and celebrating both Bergmann’s and Mozart’s birthday with their show on Jan. 25 called Mozart’s Birthday Party. They will be performing Mozart’s “Mass in C Major (Coronation)” and “Symphony No.38” — the latter part of the theme of this season’s theme as the graphic associated has a circular soundwave of the symphony. Bergmann also stated that the theme is “Vibrancy” for the season.
If you don’t want to miss the action with Bergmann, he has a few more concerts where he’ll be in, such as in Berstein’s Serenade with Karen Gomyo — the CPO will be performing Bruckner’s “Symphony No. 8” adding to the introduction of Bruckner to the Calgarian audience on Oct. 18 and 19. Yo-Yo Ma, joined by Bergmann, will return to Calgary to perform Elgar’s “Cello Concerto” and a selection from Grieg’s “Peer Gynt” suites on May 2, 2025. If you missed Yo-Yo Ma eight years ago, the same season Bergmann was named the music director, this will be your last chance to see the two together again. Bergmann’s last performance as music director will be Mahler’s “Symphony No. 2” also called the “Resurrection” symphony, which is a performance not to miss.
“[Bergmann] has continued the city’s love affair with Mahler that was introduced by the previous music director,” said Marc Stevens, CEO and president of the CPO, in a statement to the Gauntlet. “[…] finishing with Mahler’s Ressurection will just be a very, very emotional moment.”
There will be a special performance from Calgary-born popstar Kiesza on Oct. 5, as she will be performing music from her soon-to-be-released album Dancing and Crying: Vol. 1 and her previous hits. There will also be tributes to great musical artists and bands starting with A Tribute to Pink Floyd on Sept. 20 and 21. One I’m excited to see is the Simply the Best: The Music of Tina Turner performance on Mar. 8, 2025, celebrating the music of Tina Turner on International Women’s Day seems like the perfect combination. The CPO will continue its film-in-concert series starting with Disney Pixar’s Coco in Concert on Oct. 11 and 12, nicely leading into the Day of the Dead, and continue with the Harry Potter and Star Wars movies amongst many more.
The season has a great selection to choose from with famed Romantic composers such as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Ravel on the roster. The list of special guests continues with many more such as violinist James Ehnes, pianist Jeneba Kanneh Mason and Cree artist Cris Derksen presenting her a premiere of Controlled Burn in Calgary. For educators, the Education Concert Series has three wonderful opportunities starting with Babar the Elephant on Nov. 20 and 21, a throwback to the old popular cartoon.
For now, subscription packages are on sale exclusive to subscribers until Jun. 10 for the new season with individual tickets going on sale on Jun. 11. To find out more about the upcoming 2024–2025 season or to look at the current 2023–2024 season, visit the CPO’s website here.