Early Music Vancouver unveils 2025 Summer Festival, themed Bach & Mozart: In Endless Ascent
Performances from July 26 to August 8 include veteran musician Alexander Weimann, Baroque dance company Les Jardins Chorégraphiques, and beyond
Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière of Les Jardins Chorégraphiques.
NEARLY 50 CANADIAN early music artists, both emerging and established, will take the stage at Early Music Vancouver’s just-announced 2025 Summer Festival.
Themed Bach & Mozart: In Endless Ascent, the 55th annual festival—which is hosted across five venues from July 26 to August 8—pairs music from the past with present sounds. Works by J.S. Bach and W.A. Mozart share programs with brand-new compositions from Canadian composers such as Dorothy Chang, Lan Tung, Gregory Borton, and more.
The summer lineup will kick off on July 26 with the free concert Baroque in Motion on Granville Island, featuring harpsichordist Alexander Weimann (who is director of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra), violinist Chloe Meyers, flutist Grégoire Jeay, and dancer Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière. The following afternoon, Weimann will make a special solo appearance on piano with True North Variations: O Canada Reimagined at the Annex, to celebrate his CD launch.
The festival will close on August 8 at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts with Mozart Requiem, featuring soprano Magali Simard-Galdès (EMV’s 2025 artist in residence), alto Emma Parkinson, tenor Jacob Perry, and bass Drew Santini, alongside Weimann and the PBO. On August 5 at Christ Church Cathedral, Bach Cantatas: The Ascent will feature a similar group of artists, as Simard-Galdès, Perry, Santini, and the PBO led by Weimann are joined this time by alto Daniel Moody.
Of note on the lineup is the fourth iteration of EMV: The Next Generation, a program for nurturing emerging artists. The Gallo Chamber Players were chosen this year by EMV’s artistic and executive director Suzie LeBlanc; the musicians will perform a Christ Church Cathedral concert called Bach and the Heavens on August 1. Later that day at the same venue, Forgotten Harmonies: Schubert & Friends will feature Simard-Galdès, natural horn player Simon Poirier, and fortepiano player Olivier Godin.
On July 29 at Christ Church Cathedral, Silk String: A Chinese-Baroque Musical Dialogue will blend instruments from across cultures and centuries, featuring Parkinson, the EMV Festival Players, and Sound of Dragon Society. Then at the Vancouver Playhouse on July 31, The Enchanted Forest will unite Montréal-based baroque dance company Les Jardins Chorégraphiques (directed by Lacoursière and Stéphanie Brochard) with the Pacific Baroque Orchestra and artists Rande Cook and Tarun Nayar.
The remainder of the offerings will all happen at Christ Church Cathedral. There’s De Juer et de Baler (To Play and Dance) on August 2 with musicians Norbert Rodenkirchen and Pierre Hamon on an electric combination of medieval flutes and percussion. On the afternoon of August 7, Figments and Fragments: Marenzio to Mozart will feature the return of natural horn player Poirier alongside organist and fortepiano player Abraham Ross. And later that evening, Bach’s Musical Offering will include Jeay on traverso, violinist Chloe Kim, viola da gamba player Margaret Little, and keyboardist Christophe Gauthier.
Tickets are on sale now through the EMV website. Folks who identify as Indigenous and people ages seven to 17 can attend the festival for free. 
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