The Royal Conservatory Of Music Announces March Lineup of Concert

March concerts at The Royal Conservatory of Music include performances from Jane Bunnett, Orlando “Maraca” Valle and the Magic Sax Quartet, Angélique Kidjo, Rosanne Cash, and Los Lobos and more! Get full details for all performances below!

Global Music

March 1 marks the world premiere of Warm Winds From Cuba, a project that features Jane Bunnett, the beloved Canadian saxophonist, flautist, and bandleader, known for performing Afro-Cuban jazz, and her band Maqueque, augmented by a woodwind choir composed of virtuoso flutist Orlando “Maraca” Valle from Havana and the stunning Magic Sax Quartet from Santiago. These great friends and collaborators created brand new music, including arrangements by Hilario Durán and the group members. 2025 also marks the 25th anniversary Grammy Award nominated recording Alma de Santiago, which features the Sax Quartet and Bunnett's award-winning National Film Board documentary, Spirits of Havana, which can be streamed on Prime or on the NFB website for free.

Five-time Grammy Award-winning African music icon Angélique Kidjo returns for her fourth appearance in Koerner Hall on March 25. Over the last three decades, Kidjo has cemented her status as one of the most singular and extraordinary voices in international music, inspiring countless artists with her ingenuity, eclecticism, and seemingly boundless creative spirit. On her latest album Mother Nature, she joins forces with many of her musical progeny, including some of the most captivating young creators of West African music, Afrobeat, Afro-pop, dancehall, hip-hop, and alt-R&B. The result is a truly visionary body of work, rooted in a deep understanding of musical tradition yet endlessly forward-thinking and inventive.

Music Mix

One of America's preeminent singer-songwriters, Rosanne Cash has released 15 albums of extraordinary songs that have earned four Grammy Awards, 12 Grammy nominations, and numerous other accolades for songwriting and sound recordings. Late last year, Rosanne and her husband and songwriting, producing, and performing partner, six-time Grammy Award-winning guitarist John Leventhal, launched a new record label, RumbleStrip Records, to re-examine and re-release Rosanne's early period recordings. A 30th anniversary remastered edition of the Cash/Leventhal produced album The Wheel was the inaugural release, music from which will be performed at this concert on March 7.

Los Lobos, the multiple Grammy Award-winning Mexican-American rock band from East Los Angeles, returns to Koerner Hall for an acoustic show on March 8. The band effortlessly fuses rock, Tex-Mex, folk, and blues with rhythmic beats and heartfelt lyrics, creating a genre-bending nostalgic experience. Their eclectic sound resonates with authenticity and their traditional Mexican roots, inspiring listeners all around the globe.

Classical Music

Piano Recitals

The exceptionally talented protégé of Sir András Schiff, Iranian-German pianist Schaghajegh Nosrati makes her Koerner Hall debut with a program of works by Bach, Mendelssohn, Charles-Valentin Alkan, and Haydn on March 23. Her international breakthrough came in 2014 as an award winner at the International Bach Competition in Leipzig and particularly through her increasing musical collaboration with Schiff, who praised the “astonishing clarity, purity, and maturity” as well as the musical comprehension associated with it when she plays Bach.

Chamber Music Concerts

Three internationally respected soloists, Martin Fröst, Antoine Tamestit, and Shai Wosner join forces on March 28 for a program of Bizet, Brahms, Dvořák, and a selection of Swedish, Bulgarian, French, folk dance tunes arranged by Fröst and Wosner. Fröst has been described by The New York Times as having “a virtuosity and a musicianship unsurpassed by any clarinetist – perhaps any instrumentalist – in my memory.” Violist Tamestit is internationally beloved for his unsurpassed technique and the much-vaunted beauty of his richly coloured tone, while pianist Wosner has attracted international recognition for his exceptional artistry, musical integrity, creative insight, and performances of a broad range of repertoire.

On March 29, Baroque superstars Les Arts Florissants are joined by fast-rising French violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte in Vivaldi's “Four Seasons” at 300, commemorating the work's original publication in 1725. “Théotime Langlois de Swarte reminds me why I fell in love with the Baroque violin in the first place,” commented Gramophone, while The New York Times stated that for “decades [Les Arts Florissants] have been fulfilling the task of any truly important cultural institution: opening up new worlds of beauty and excitement, both emotional and intellectual.”

The Glenn Gould School Spring Opera

The annual staged opera in Koerner Hall will be Mozart's popular Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), conducted by Jennifer Tung and directed by Allison Grant on March 19 and March 21. In this masterful comedy about love, truth, and the pursuit of enlightenment, prince Tamino sets off to rescue Pamina, the beautiful daughter of the Queen of the Night, from the mysterious Sarastro. But with the help of the bird catcher Papageno and three Spirits as their guide, Tamino discovers an even bigger adventure, and is united with his love along the way. Sung in German with English surtitles.

Free Concerts

The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists presents the fourth Taylor Academy Showcase Concert on March 8 , featuring leading young classical musicians in Canada aged 8-18, as well as The Stars of Tomorrow on March 20, in which Junior winners of The Florence Man & Bernard Sze Concerto Competition perform Baroque and Classical concerti in Mazzoleni Concert Hall. Chamber ensembles from The Glenn Gould School perform before a celebrated jury, competing for over $11,000 in awards in the GGS Chamber Competition Finals as part of the Discovery Series on March 26.

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