Two works by John Adams give the New Creations Festival a thrilling launch: the journey towards spiritual grace of the exhilarating Harmonielehre, and the compact, punchy fanfare, Short Ride in a Fast Machine. From north of the 49th parallel comes the spectacular new percussion concerto that Canadian composer Vincent Ho wrote for the world’s foremost soloist, Dame Evelyn Glennie.

This performance includes an Intermission Chat in the lobby.

It’s an evening of vivid musical imagery at the New Creations Festival: John Adams’s jazz-flavoured City Noir evokes the moody, late-night streets of post-World War II Los Angeles. Liquid Interface by Mason Bates unites the worlds of orchestral music and live electronica for a panorama of all things watery, from majestic glaciers and pounding rainstorms to the waves that caress a tropical island paradise.

Casual Concerts are typically performed without an intermission and are followed by a party for the whole audience in Roy Thomson Hall's North Lobby. After the concert, mingle with TSO musicians and guest artists in a relaxed setting and enjoy live music by local bands.

Hailed by The Washington Post as “a savvy, sensitive composer with a keen ear, an innate sense of form and a generous dash of pure esprit,” Pulitzer prize-winner Jennifer Higdon contributes an ingenious concerto for chamber ensemble and orchestra to the New Creations Festival’s finale. The highlight is the world première of a work from the imagination of Canada’s master composer, R. Murray Schafer.

This performance includes an Intermission Chat in the lobby.