UPCOMING CONCERTS
RENEWAL
October 26, 2025
JS Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BMV 565 (orch. Stokowski)
Viet Cuong Re(new)al
feat. Michael Gallant, Branden Kelly, Ryan Drew, and Shawn Dorion, percussion
Jocelyn Morlock Oiseaux Bleus et Sauvages
Ottorino Respighi Pines of Rome
Opening the 58th season of the PEISO is a program that brings new meaning and depth to the idea of renewal, pairing works with over 300 years between them. Anchored by Viet Cuong’s Re(new)al for percussion quartet and orchestra—featuring PEISO percussionists Michael Gallant, Branden Kelly, Ryan Drew and Shawn Doiron as soloists—the concert explores elemental energy through sound, from vibrating crystal glasses to bowing vibraphones. Bach’s legendary Toccata and Fugue in D minor appears in a vivid orchestration by Stokowski, while Jocelyn Morlock’s bird-inspired Oiseaux bleus et sauvages and Respighi’s cinematic Pines of Rome round out this dynamic, nature-infused program.
November 23, 2025
BLOOM
Zoltán Kodály Dances of Galanta
Hector Berlioz Les nuites d’été
feat. Hannah O’Donnell, mezzo soprano
Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73
Guest conductor Arthur Arnold makes his long-awaited PEISO debut in a program of growth and blossoming. After many years struggling to write his first symphony, overwhelmed and paralyzed by the shadow of Beethoven, Johannes Brahms produced his second symphony as if it was already composed. Known for its organic and pastoral themes, his second symphony is a story of a composer in full bloom, overcoming personal struggle in the name of their art. The orchestra welcomes back mezzo soprano Hannah O’Donnell as soloist in Berlioz’s Les nuites d’éte (Summer Nights), preceded by Zoltán Kodály’s street music inspired Dances of Galánta.
RECLAIMED
March 15, 2026
Nat Baertsch Hope
Cris Dersken Round Dance
Parkdale
Controlled Burn
feat. Cris Derksen, cello
Bedrich Smetana Má Vlast
Margaret Bonds Montgomery Variations
Reclaimed speaks to home, and what happens when home leaves us. The PEISO is thrilled to welcome Cris Derksen, a Juno-nominated Indigenous cellist and composer, who is internationally renowned for their genre-defying music that bridges the traditional and contemporary. This moving program includes Derksen’s own works including Round Dance, Parkdale and Controlled Burn. Paired with Nat Bartsch’s introspective Hope and Margaret Bonds’ Montgomery Variations, which responds to the American civil rights movement, the program also features Smetana’s 'Die Moldau' from Má Vlast, a passionate tribute to national identity and personal belonging.
BLUE
April 12 2026
Maurice Ravel Bolero
Claude Debussy Fantasy for piano and orchestra
feat. Magdalena von Eccher, piano
George Gershwin An American in Paris
Omar Thomas Come Sunday
The season closes with a program of unbridled joy, centered in the rhythms and character of jazz, pop, and gospel music. Tracing a remarkable musical evolution from the late 19th to the 20th century, Blue connects Ravel’s mesmerizing Boléro to Omar Thomas’ exuberant 2018 work Come Sunday, celebrating new sounds and cultural voices in classical music. PEI’s own Magdalena von Eccher performs Debussy’s seldom-heard Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra, while Gershwin’s An American in Paris—inspired by Ravel and reimagined here as perhaps a Canadian in Paris—anchors the concert with the vibrant, cosmopolitan energy of 1920s Paris.