Tuesday

• Pianist Mehdi Ghazi at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, noon. Free.

The first free lunchtime recital of the new year sponsored by the Canadian Opera Company at the Four Seasons Centre is a brilliant opportunity to measure the progress of this promising young Algerian pianist, discovered as a teenager by Montrealer Alain Lefèvre. The hour-long programme packs a virtuosic as well as poetic wallop with Études by Sergeis Rachmaninov and Prokofiev, a journey between Venice and Naples in Franz Liszt’s Années de pèlerinage and the fearsome middle piece on the Holy Spirit in Olivier Messiaen’s Vingt regards sur l’enfant-Jésus.

To whet our appetites, here is Ghazi with some Liszt:

Thursday

• Violist Eric Nowlin and pianist Jamie Parker at Walter Hall, 12:10 p.m. Free.

University of Toronto kicks off its free lunchtime recitals for 2014 with two substantial sonatas for viola and piano from 1919, by Paul Hindemith and the underappreciated British violist-composer Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979), performed by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra associate principal viola and the Gryphon Trio’s pianist.

This is a not-very-elegant recording of the Clarke sonata — additional incentive to get out to hear the Torontonians get it right:

• St Lawrence String Quartet for Music Toronto at the Jane Mallett Theatre, 8 p.m.

This great, Toronto-born chamber ensemble makes its first visit home with new violinist Mark Fewer, who officially replaced Scott St John a few days ago. Their recital features string quartets by Joseph Haydn (Op. 20 No. 1), Bohuslav Martinu (No. 5) and Antonin Dvorák (Op. 61). Details here.

Saturday

• St James Cathedral’s Snell Hall, 12:30 p.m.

The brightly modern public space at Church and Adelaide Sts gets set alight with art song by Franz Schubert and Andrew Ager sung by Vicki St Pierre, Vicki Hathaway, James McLean and David Roth, accompanied by the (living) composer. Admission is by freewill offering.

Saturday & Sunday

• Ignat Solzhenitsyn with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at Roy Thomson Hall, 7:30 p.m. (Sat.) George Weston Hall,  3 p.m. (Sun.)

Ignat Aleksandrovich Solzhenitsyn, the 41-year-old son of the late, famous dissident from Russia’s dark Communist days, is an accomplished pianist and conductor who makes his Toronto Symphony début with the first of this year’s Mozart festival concerts. From the podium, he leads the Overture to the opera La clemenza di Tito and Symphony No. 39, K543. He’ll take on Piano Concerto No. 18, K456, from the keyboard. Solzhenitsyn performs a lot of chamber music, which bodes well for this Mozart programme. You’ll find the details here.

Sunday

• Pianist Patricia Parr and the Pamina Quartet for Syrinx Concerts at Heliconian Hall, 3 p.m.

One of this city’s great pianists, Patricia Parr, is sneaking out of semi-retirement to perform Antonin Dvorák’s gorgeous Piano Quintet with the Pamina Quartet (violinists Marie Bérard and Czaba Koczó, violist Theresa Rudolph and cellist Roberta Janzen — all of whom work with either the Toronto Symphony, Canadian Opera Company and/or National Ballet orchestras). Also on the programme are quartets by Ludwig van Beethoven (Op. 18 No. 5) and Canadian Kelly Marie Murphy. Details here.

John Terauds

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John Terauds

John Terauds, Editor-Emeritus of Ludwig van Toronto, is currently a Divinity student at the University of Toronto and a church music director. He joined the Toronto Star in 1988, was the classical music critic from 2005 to 2012, and continues as a freelance critic for the paper. He is the co-author of Roy Thomson Hall: A Portrait, a book written with Toronto Star Colleague, William Littler.

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