ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
Pianist Élisabeth Pion - A curious explorer of piano repertoire with a rare combination of sensitivity and strength, 29-year-old French-Canadian pianist Élisabeth Pion is the Gold Laureate and Audience Choice Award winner of the 2025 Honens International Piano Competition. She appears on international stages as a recitalist, chamber musician, and guest artist, earning acclaim for her technical precision, expressive range, and deep engagement with her repertoire.
Élisabeth has performed at prestigious venues such Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Maison Symphonique, Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, and Sala Cecília Meireles. She is a regular guest artist with distinguished ensembles including the Orchestre Métropolitain, Edmonton Symphony, the Toledo Symphony, the Brazilian Symphony, and Les Violons du Roy, and has collaborated with conductors such as Gerard Schwarz, Elias Grandy, Nathalie Marin, Kensho Watanabe, and Nicolas Ellis, to name a few. She was a Radio-Canada 2024-25 Breakthrough Artist.
Violinist Julia Mirzoev is noted for her warm tone, grace, and fierce attack (California Music Center). A native of Toronto, Canada, Julia has been featured on the CBC’s “Top 30 Classical Musicians Under 30”, CBC radio 94.1, and classical 96.3 FM. Her awards include top prizes including the prize for the commissioned work at both Michael Hill and the Irving M. Klein international competition, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal competition, grand prize at the Canadian Music Competition, and first prizes at the Crescendo International competition and Cremona music festival competitions.
As an internationally recognized soloist known for her vivid interpretations and dynamic stage presence, Julia’s performances have taken her across North America, Europe, and New Zealand, in venues including Carnegie Hall, Koerner Hall, Roy Thomson Hall, Maison Symphonique, Salle Bourgie, and the Banff Centre. She has appeared as soloist with the Toronto Symphony, Brampton Rose Orchestra, Scarborough Philharmonic, Sinfonia Toronto, Orchestra Toronto, and the Montréal Bach Festival Orchestra, among others.
A passionate chamber musician, Julia has been a winner of the Yale Chamber Music competition, and has been a fellow at the Sarasota, Manchester, Toronto, Yellow Barn, and Perlman Music Program festivals.
A graduate of the University of Toronto, Mcgill University, and the Yale University school of music, Julia has received the Broadus Erle graduating prize at the Yale School of music, and the Golden Violin grand prize at Mcgill University. Her mentors include Andrew Wan, Ani Kavafian, Jonathan Crow, Barry Shiffman, and Jacob Lakirovich.
Having grown up in a family of musical pedagogues, Julia takes pride in sharing her devotion to creative music-making with her students. In addition to her private studio, Julia currently coaches at the Royal Conservatory’s Taylor Academy and L’Orchestre des Jeunes du Mont-Royal. She has also taught at the Arcadia Music school in Toronto, the JVL Music in Summer festival, and has led violin sectionals for the Mount Royal Youth orchestra of Montréal, and the McGill University school of music. A Rebanks Fellowship alumni of the Royal Conservatory,, Julia is grateful for the support of the Canada Arts Council instrument bank for the loan of the 1747 “Palmason” Janarius Gagliano.
Sinfonia Toronto now in its 28th season, has toured twice in Europe, in the US, South America and China, receiving glowing reviews. It has released six CD’s, including a JUNO Award winner, and performs in many Ontario cities. Its extensive repertoire includes all the major string orchestra works of the 18th through 21st centuries, and it has premiered many new works. Under the baton of Nurhan Arman the orchestra’s performances present outstanding international guest artists and prominent Canadian musicians.
Maestro Nurhan Arman has conducted throughout Europe, Asia, South America, Canada and the US, returning regularly to many orchestras in Europe. Among the orchestras Maestro Arman has conducted are the Moscow Philharmonic, Deutsches Kammerorchester Frankfurt, Filarmonica Italiana, St. Petersburg State Hermitage Orchestra, Orchestre Regional d’Ile de France, Hungarian Symphony, Arpeggione Kammerorchester, Milano Classica and Belgrade Philharmonic.
ABOUT THE MUSIC
Violin Concerto No. 2 in E Major by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
The Violin Concerto No. 2 in E Major blends appealing melodies with the elaborate counterpoint for which Bach is celebrated. This concerto follows the traditional Venetian model, with each movement distinct in its rhythm and tonality.
The first movement Allegro opens with a lively rhythmic theme that is bright and assertive. The solo violin engages in a spirited dialogue with the orchestra, featuring virtuosic passages and elaborate ornamentation. The Adagio sets a more introspective tone, giving the violin a lyrical and expressive melody, in contrast with the vivacity of the first movement, moving at a slower, more reflective pace. The deeply lyrical movement showcases the warm, singing tone of the violin in a tender, expressive melody. The final Allegro assai returns the concerto to a faster tempo, ending the piece with an energetic and joyful dance-like rhythm. Both playful and exuberant, it features a brisk and buoyant theme that passes back and forth between the soloist and the ensemble.
Taken as a group, Bach's violin concertos are part of a larger body of work that includes the Brandenburg Concertos and several harpsichord concertos. This concerto stands out, however, for its innovative blending of Italian influence with Bach's unique style. The vigorous start with three striking E major chords in the first movement, the profound, chaconne-like Adagio and the exuberant finale with its dynamic interplay between soloist and orchestra, all bear the mark of Bach's genius.
The E-major concerto is known from a copy dated after Bach's death and from his adaptation of a concerto for harpsichord, placing its creation during Bach’s service to Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen. Much of Bach’s instrumental music was written during this period, when he had to satisfy the prince's taste for secular music. This was a departure from Bach's earlier focus on church music. This concerto and others from the same period reflect Bach’s deep engagement with and adaptation of Vivaldi’s concerto style, combining traditional ritornello and rondo forms with unique structural features. This integration of elements shows in his manuscripts, for example fully writing out the repeat of the first movement - an unusual practice at the time. The bass-driven melody of the slow movement is also distinctive within the genre.
Piano Concerto for Strings and Timpani by Galina Ustvolskaya (1919-2006)
Toronto premiere
This concerto is one of the most distinctive and intense works in 20th-century music. Written early in Ustvolskaya’s career, it already shows many traits that made her famous: stark sonorities, obsessive rhythms and a deeply spiritual atmosphere.
Galina Ustvolskaya was born in Petrograd (St. Petersburg, also known as Leningrad) and studied composition at the Leningrad Conservatory as one of Dmitri Shostakovich's students. Although Shostakovich greatly admired her music, Ustvolskaya later rejected the idea that she belonged to his stylistic tradition. Shostakovich admired her greatly but also reportedly said “There is no link between me and Ustvolskaya’s music,” not as a criticism, meaning only that her voice was completely independent. Her music gradually became increasingly austere, unlike most Soviet composers of the mid-twentieth century.
This concerto was written in 1946, not long before the Soviet cultural crackdown of 1948 that condemned modernist music. After the 1948 edict, Soviet composers were expected to produce works that were optimistic, melodic, and accessible to audiences. Ustvolskaya’s concerto was already in line with those expectations, but it also contains unusual intensity and harmonic harshness, foreshadowing her later radical style.
The concerto’s special combination of solo piano, string orchestra and timpani produces a highly concentrated sound world. The timpani often act almost like a second soloist, reinforcing rhythmic tension.
The opening movement is energetic and rhythmic, featuring propulsive rhythms, forceful piano chords, and a dramatic interplay with strings. The movement has an almost mechanical drive, a trait that appears frequently in Ustvolskaya’s music. The slow movement provides a lyrical contrast, with expressive piano melodies, darker string harmonies and an introspective character. The finale returns to the driving rhythmic energy of the first movement. It features powerful piano writing, sharp orchestral accents, and increasing tension leading to a dramatic close.
Although this is an early work, several elements of Ustvolskaya’s mature style are already present. The piano part is often played with heavy, hammer-like chords. Rather than flowing virtuosity, the emphasis is on rhythm, power and repetition. Using only strings and timpani gives the music a sense of severity, clarity, and dramatic concentration. Even the quieter sections have a feeling of tension and inner pressure. This emotional intensity became a hallmark of Ustvolskaya’s later music.
Despite the concerto’s relatively short length, it has the impact of a much larger symphonic work. It is an important bridge between Soviet-era orchestral traditions and the composer’s later, highly personal style. Her later works were even more extreme, involving unusual instrument combinations, massive, repeated chords, and mystical religious themes.
Song of Smyrna by Norbert Palej
World premiere
Composer’s note: “A contemplation of Smyrna, the ancient city of Asia Minor, on whose ground the composer once unknowingly walked. Out of echoes of its glory and its suffering, fragments gather into a single song - one that rises from the ashes and remains faithful unto death.”
Originally from Cracow, Palej has had works premiered three times at Carnegie Hall and his music has been heard in Canada, the US, Thailand, Poland, Chile, Norway, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Austria, Hungary, Great Britain, Costa Rica and across China. His 2021 project Return from the Stars was developed in collaboration with the European Space Agency, introduced from aboard the International Space Station orbiting Earth, and presented at Expo 2020 Dubai. He is Associate Professor of Composition and the artistic director of the annual New Music Festival at the University of Toronto, as well as an active concert pianist and conductor. He is a recipient of the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, Robbins Family Prize in Music Composition, a Benjamin Britten Memorial Fellowship and Ontario and Toronto Arts Council grants.
Symphony for Strings and Timpani by Edvard Mirzoyan (1921-2012)
Edvard Mirzoyan’s Symphony for Strings and Timpani is one of the most important orchestral works of 20th-century Armenian music. It is a powerful and emotionally intense composition that combines modern symphonic writing with elements of Armenian musical heritage.
Mirzoyan was a leading figure in Armenian classical music during the Soviet period. Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, to an Armenian family, he was educated at the Komitas State Conservatory in Yerevan. He later became chairman of the Union of Composers of Armenia. He helped shape the post-war Armenian symphonic tradition alongside composers such as Aram Khachaturian and Arno Babajanian.
This symphony was written in 1962, during a period when Soviet composers were experimenting with a more expressive, personal musical language after the end of the extreme political repression of the late Stalin era. Composers across the Soviet Union - including Dmitri Shostakovich and Mieczysław Weinberg - were writing works for string orchestra foregrounding emotional intensity, concentrated musical structure, and darker expressive moods. Mirzoyan’s symphony fits into this tradition.
The combination of strings plus timpani creates a focused and dramatic sound world. The timpani part plays a crucial role, providing rhythmic propulsion, vivid climaxes and structural punctuation.
Although called a symphony, the work is not divided into separate movements, instead unfolding as a continuous dramatic arc. After a slow introduction, intense dramatic development is followed by a central lyrical section and a rhythmic and dramatic climax. The piece ends on a quiet, reflective note. This single-movement design reflects a modern symphonic approach similar to works by Shostakovich and other mid-century composers.
This piece exemplifies expressive modernism, employing a harmony more modern than traditional Romantic symphonies. Features include dissonant chords, chromatic harmonies and shifting tonal centers. Mirzoyan also incorporates elements of Armenian music: modal melodies, mournful melodic lines and expressive ornamentation. Some scholars interpret the symphony as reflecting the years of tension and struggle under Stalin’s rule.
