2025
MARKHAM CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FESTIVAL
Markham Contemporary Music Festival has been promoting, since 2011, the performance by local artists of music written worldwide in the 20th and the 21st centuries. An annual event, the Festival also includes lectures and seminars in both English and French, workshops, master-classes, pre-concert chats, intermission discussions, post-concert receptions, documentary films about the life of contemporary composers, and networking events. The Festival encourages local community engagement through activities that celebrate and preserve performing arts.
The 2025 Markham Contemporary Music Festival included the following events:
Concerts
GODS AND MORTALS
Sunday, June 29, 2025 at 3:00 p.m.
CBC Glenn Gould Studio
250 John St. West, Toronto ON M5T 1X5
Markham Contemporary Music Festival presents three rarely performed works by Igor Stravinsky. Agon (1957), a ballet for Balanchine, unites neoclassicism with twelve-tone technique. Its contrasting dances, rhythmic clarity, and inventive textures embody competition and precision, defining Stravinsky’s distinctive late style. Apollon musagète (1928) is a neoclassical ballet for strings, portraying Apollo guiding the Muses. Its luminous clarity, restraint, and elegance mark a turning point in Stravinsky’s style and Balanchine’s choreography. Orpheus (1947) is a neoclassical ballet portraying the mythic musician’s tragic journey. Scored with restraint and lyricism, its clarity, subtle orchestration, and elegiac mood highlight Stravinsky’s mature, reflective style.
Kristian Alexander | conductor
7:10 p.m. Prélude: pre-concert recital.
7:20 p.m. Pre-concert talk.
CONTRASTS AND CONVERSATIONS
Sunday, June 22, 2025 at 3:00 p.m.
Cornell Recital Hall
3201 Bur Oak Ave, Markham ON L6B 0T2
Markham Contemporary Music Festival presents three gems of the 20th century chamber music repertoire written by the German composer Paul Hindemith. His Octet for Winds and Strings (1958) blends classical balance with modern counterpoint. Written late in his career, it highlights clarity, dialogue, and instrumental color, showcasing Hindemith’s mature craftsmanship and playful inventiveness. Hindemith’s Kammermusik No. 1 (1921) bursts with energy and satire, mixing counterpoint, modern rhythms, and jazz-inspired flair. Its four movements culminate in a witty “Ragtime” finale, epitomizing Hindemith’s vibrant early style.
Kristian Alexander | conductor
7:10 p.m. Prélude: pre-concert recital.
7:20 p.m. Pre-concert talk.
CELEBRATION OF CULTURE AND HERITAGE
Saturday, June 14 and Sunday, June 15, 2025
10 am, 11 am, 12 pm, 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm, 4 pm, 5 pm and 6 pm
Cornell Recital Hall
3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Over 200 local young artists perform musical pieces written by various composers worldwide.
Open Rehearsals
Tuesday, June 3, 2025 at 7 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Maestro Kristian Alexander leads an open rehearsal of works by French composer Lalo.
Tuesday, June 10, 2025 at 7 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Maestro Kristian Alexander leads an open rehearsal of works by French composer Debussy.
Tuesday, June 17, 2025 at 7 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Maestro Kristian Alexander leads an open rehearsal of works by French composer Ravel.
Friday, June 20, 2025 at 7 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Maestro Kristian Alexander leads an open rehearsal of works by Stravinsky.
Tuesday, June 24, 2025 at 7 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Maestro Kristian Alexander leads an open rehearsal of works by Hindemith.
Friday, June 27, 2025 at 7 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Maestro Kristian Alexander leads an open rehearsal of pieces by contemporary composers.
Exhibits
WORLD MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Monday through Friday from June 17 to June 28, 2025from 3 pm to 6 pm
MCMF Rehearsal Hall
3a-50 Innovator Ave (2nd fl.), Stouffville ON L4A 0Y2
Open visit of the World Musical Instruments Collection. Includes authentic instruments by Indigenous artists. Tickets are required for a specific day and time.
Lectures and Films
SHOSTAKOVICH AGAINST STALIN
Wednesday, June 18, 2025 at 6 pmMCMF Rehearsal Hall
3a-50 Innovator Ave (2nd fl.), Stouffville ON L4A 0Y2
Larry Weinstein’s film examines the harrowing subject of Stalin’s bloody purges and Shostakovich’s musical response. Described by the composer as his “tombstones”, Symphonies 4 to 9 represent the composer’s weapons against Stalin’s tyranny, and remain powerful testimony to a great artist’s struggle against oppression.
WE WANT THE LIGHT
Sunday, June 22, 2025 at 6 pm
MCMF Rehearsal Hall
3a-50 Innovator Ave (2nd fl.), Stouffville ON L4A 0Y2
A film about freedom and captivity, about emancipation, acculturation and assimilation. A film about the roles played by Moses and Felix Mendelssohn in the dream of fruitful, unproblematic integration of the Jews into German society after their liberation from the ghettos. A film about Richard Wagner, his essay “The Jews in Music” and his influence on the thinking of the Third Reich. Most of all, it is a film about how much music can mean to people even in the direst circumstances.
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS
Tuesday, June 25, 2024 at 6 pmMCMF Rehearsal Hall
3a-50 Innovator Ave (2nd fl.), Stouffville ON L4A 0Y2
A 1951 American musical comedy film inspired by the 1928 orchestral composition by George Gershwin. Starring Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron (her film debut), Oscar Levant, Georges Guétary, and Nina Foch, the film is set in Paris, and was directed by Vincente Minnelli from a script by Alan Jay Lerner. The music is by George Gershwin, with lyrics by his brother Ira, with additional music by Johnny Green, and Saul Chaplin, the music directors.
Workshops
Composition Workshop I
Tuesday, June 3, 2025 at 6 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Composition workshop (part 1 - artistic expression through contemporary writing techniques) for young Canadian composers.
Composition Workshop II
Tuesday, June 10, 2025 at 6 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Composition workshop (part 2 - exploring new ideas in collective writing of contemporary music) for young Canadian composers.
Composition Workshop III
Friday, June 13, 2025 at 6 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Composition workshop (part 3 - writing music for film and television) for young Canadian composers.
Composition Workshop IV
Tuesday, June 17, 2025 at 6 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Composition workshop (part 4 - writing music for musical theatre) for young Canadian composers.
Composition Workshop V
Friday, June 20, 2025 at 6 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Composition workshop (part 5 - writing choral music) for young Canadian composers.
Community Workshop
Tuesday, June 24, 2025 at 6 pm
Cornell Recital Hall, 3201 Bur Oak Ave., Markham ON L6B 0T2
Community workshop on Indigenous music and heritage performance.
The 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 festivals have been supported by the Tourism Industry Partners, a program of the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, administered by the Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation.
