March 2026

Dear Music Lover,

Music offers us so many things: reassurance and inspiration, challenge and joy. And music is personal, particularly chamber music, which brings musicians and audiences together in a very special, intimate way. If you haven't attended a festival concert before, come along, and you'll see. This year's festival holds many riches!

As always, we look forward to the return of old friends: violinists Mark Fewer, Gwen Hoebig, Mark Lee and Airi Yoshioka, pianists Peter Allen, Philip Chiu, David Moroz, and John Novacek, clarinettist Dominic Desautels, violists Isaac Chalk and Marina Thibeault, cellist Blair Lofgren, and more.

And it's always special to meet new faces at the festival. This year, we have our first composer-in-residence for years: Ian Cusson, whose opera, Empire of Wild, will premiere at the Canadian Opera Company next season. We will hear the radiant voice of soprano Emma Pennell, whose career is taking off spectacularly. And Edmonton Symphony cellist Julie Hereish brings her vast chamber music experience to our festival for the first time.

Conductor Timothy Weiss joins us to lead an exciting concert on May 31, including the extraordinary violin concerto by György Ligeti, with Mark Fewer as the intrepid soloist - expect detuned string instruments, labyrinthine rhythms like an M.C. Escher drawing, and...ocarinas!

A long-held wish of mine comes true on Tuesday, June 2, when we will be sharing the excitement of our festival with audiences in the Valley, in a special concert at the Devour! Studios in Wolfville.

And to conclude, we look forward to our traditional orchestral gala concert, led by the ebullient Jeffery Meyer, and culminating in the grandeur of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, in Ravel's famous orchestration.

As usual, over the two weeks of the festival, we'll encounter chamber music classics, by Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Beethoven, and more.

With the creativity and enthusiasm of our Guest Artists, it is a pleasure to put our festival programs together every year.

I encourage you to get your tickets soon. Construct your own series by purchasing a Pick-4, Pick-8 or Full Festival Pass (the last representing a 25% discount). And there are special prices for people 35 and under.

Here's to another fabulous festival. See you there!

Simon Docking
Managing and Artistic Director
Scotia Festival of Music