Guelph Musicfest

It’s Guelph Musicfest’s 20th Anniversary! In celebration, this season features a dynamite lineup of great composers and superlative musicians, all designed to lift your spirits in these difficult times.

May 22 Schmalz & Pepper, May 29 Festival Trio with Sadie Fields, Katie Schlaikjer & Ken Gee, June 5 Stewart Goodward performs Bach’s Goldberg Variations, June 12 The Gryphon Trio, June 19 Penderecki Quartet with guest Ken Gee

Friday May 22, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Guelph Youth Music Centre Recital Hall
75 Cardigan Street, Guelph, ON
Schmaltz & Pepper

A uniquely virtuosic and entertaining chamber ensemble performing original music inspired by Klezmer, Yiddish Swing, Jazz and Classical music.

This groundbreaking ensemble features the extraordinary talents of Eric Abramovitz, the principal clarinetist of the Toronto Symphony and the Grammy-nominated multi-instrumentalist and arranger, Drew Jurecka, virtuosic violinist/vocalist/composer, Rebekah Wolkstein, founder/leader of the acclaimed Payadora Ensemble, Juno-nominated bassist, Michael Herring and Juno-award winning pianist, Jeremy Ledbetter. This ensemble is redefining the traditional boundaries of Yiddish music, blending classical mastery with innovative compositions and soulful arrangements.

This band has an exhilarating trajectory. A mere 6 months after Abramovitz and Wolkstein came up with the idea to form a band, they had a full show of original music and inventive arrangements. Their debut performance was a live-to-air broadcast with a studio audience at Zoomer Hall in Toronto for Classical 96.3FM in May 2024. Since then, they have sold out shows for Ashkenaz, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Jewish Music Week in Toronto and are headlining the ‘Put a Yid on it’ festival in Winnipeg. They are performing at many of the top chamber music festivals in Canada in 2025: Toronto Summer Music, Ottawa Chamberfest, Stratford Summer Music, Eloria Music Festival, Tuckamore Festival in Newfoundland and more!

Friday May 29, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Guelph Youth Music Centre Recital Hall
75 Cardigan Street, Guelph, ON

REPEAT PERFORMANCE
Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society
Sunday May 31, 2026 at 7 pm
Keffer Memorial Chapel

Festival Trio
Sadie Fields violin
Katie Schlaikjer cello
Ken Gee piano
Beethoven Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 1, No. 3
Michael Conway Baker Piano Trio
Brahms Piano Trio No. 1 in B major, Op. 8 (final version)
Cellist Katie Schlaikjer joins violinist Sadie Fields and Guelph Musicfest director/pianist Ken Gee as the new member of the Festival Trio which has been performing since 2014.

Sadie now lives in Brussels, Belgium, and has a stellar career in Europe, performing in top-drawer ensembles, and recently become the new principal violinist of the famed Edinburgh String Quartet. But she grew up in Guelph before heading off for studies in Manchester and London, UK.

Katie Schlaikjer is the new member of the Festival Trio, as Paul Pulford has now retired from concert performance. Katie is well known as a member of the JUNO-winning Penderecki String Quartet, quartet-in-residence at Wilfrid Laurier University’s Faculty of Music in Waterloo, Ontario. At Laurier she serves on the performance faculty, teaching cello and chamber music.

Ken is a Hamilton native and he was very involved in the local music scene, performing, organizing concerts, managing a string chamber orchestra, and was even a music critic for the Hamilton Spectator. Now living happily in Guelph, he has been performing even more, and founded and continues to organize Guelph Musicfest by himself.

 

Saturday May 30, 2026 at 3:30 pm
Grace United Church
140 Bruce St South, Thornbury (Blue Mountain), ON

(NOTE: This special recital is not part of the 5-concert series)
Classical Spring: Sonatas and Miniatures
Festival Duo
Sadie Fields violin
Ken Gee piano
Beethoven “Spring” Sonata for piano & violin No. 5 in F major, Op. 24
Lili Boulanger Two Pieces for violin & piano (Nocturne, Cortège)
Mozart Sonata for piano & violin No. 21 in E minor, K. 304
Tchaikovsky Souvenir d’un lieu cher (Méditation, Scherzo, Mélodie)
Festival Trio cellist Katie Schlaikjer is unable to come to Thornbury this May, but violinist Sadie Fields and pianist Ken Gee decided to come to Grace United Church as a duo to keep our music going in Blue Mountain.

Sadie now lives in Brussels, Belgium, but is moving to Edinburgh, Scotland in April. She has a stellar career in Europe, performing in top-drawer ensembles, and is the new principal violinist of the famed Edinburgh String Quartet. But she grew up in Guelph before heading off for studies in Manchester and London, UK.

Ken is a Hamilton native and he was very involved in the local music scene, performing, organizing concerts, managing a string chamber orchestra, and was even a music critic for the Hamilton Spectator. Now living happily in Guelph, he has been performing even more and founded and continues to organize Guelph Musicfest by himself.

Sadie & Ken enjoy their visits to Grace United Church in Thornbury, where they are always warmly welcomed by music director Chris Burton and our “regulars”. They hope to see you all, and please tell your friends about the concert.

 

Friday June 5, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Guelph Youth Music Centre Recital Hall
75 Cardigan Street, Guelph, ON
Stewart Goodyear (piano)
One of the best pianists of his generation.Philadelphia Inquirer
Proclaimed “a phenomenon” by the Los Angeles Times and “one of the best pianists of his generation” by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Stewart Goodyear is an accomplished concert pianist, improviser and composer. Mr. Goodyear has performed with and been commissioned by many of the world’s major orchestras and chamber music organizations.

Last year, Orchid Classics released Mr. Goodyear’s recording of his suite for piano and orchestra, Callaloo, and his piano sonata. His recent commissions include an orchestral work for the Chineke! Orchestra, his Piano Quintet for the Penderecki String Quartet, and a piano work for the Honens Piano Competition. His suite for solo violin, Solo, was recorded by violinist Miranda Cuckson on the Urlicht Audiovisual label, and his work for cello and piano, The Kapak, was recorded by cellist Inbal Segev on the Avie Records label.

Mr. Goodyear’s discography includes the complete sonatas and piano concertos of Beethoven, as well as concertos by Tchaikovsky, Grieg and Rachmaninov, an album of Ravel piano works, and an album entitled For Glenn Gould, which combines repertoire from Mr. Gould’s US and Montreal debuts. His Rachmaninov recording received a Juno nomination for Best Classical Album for Soloist and Large Ensemble Accompaniment. Mr. Goodyear’s recording of his own transcription of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker (Complete Ballet) was chosen by the New York Times as one of the best classical music recordings of 2015. His discography is released on the Orchid Classics, Naxos, Analekta, Bright Shiny Things, Marquis Classics, and Steinway and Sons labels. Mr. Goodyear releases his recording of Prokofiev’s 2nd and 3rd Concertos with Andrew Litton and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the composer’s 7th Sonata, on Orchid Classics this September 2024.

Recent highlights were performances at the BBC Proms with the Chineke! Orchestra, his return to the Phillips Collection (Washington D.C.), and performances with the Vancouver and Toronto Symphonies, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, Frankfurt Museumgesellschaft, and A Far Cry in Boston.

 

Friday June 12, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Guelph Youth Music Centre Recital Hall
75 Cardigan Street, Guelph, ON
Gryphon Trio
Annalee Patipatanakoon violin
Roman Borys cello
Jamie Parker piano

The endlessly inventive Gryphon Trio has captivated international audiences for over 30 years with dynamic, deeply expressive performances. Recognized among the world’s leading piano trios, the Gryphon bridges tradition and innovation with repertoire spanning European classicism to 21st-century multimedia, redefining chamber music for today.

Their discography of 22 acclaimed recordings on Analekta, Ondine, and Naxos includes works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Dvořák, Ravel, Shostakovich, and Piazzolla, as well as by contemporary composers such as Valentin Silvestrov, Christos Hatzis, and Kelly-Marie Murphy. Broken Hearts and Madmen, a genre-defying album with vocalist Patricia O’Callaghan, blends Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, and traditional Latin songs. The Trio’s recordings have garnered numerous accolades, including three Junos.
An ensemble-in-residence at Music Toronto for more than 25 years, the Gryphon Trio performs extensively throughout North America and Europe. Their commitment to artistic innovation has produced over 100 commissioned works, numerous multimedia works and resulted in collaborations with a long list of musicians and artists from other fields.

A landmark achievement, Constantinople—a multimedia work conceived by composer Christos Hatzis and created with a remarkable theatrical production team—was presented across North America and at London’s Royal Opera House. More recently, the Trio produced Echo – Memories of the World, in collaboration with a team of Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists. Also featuring singer Marion Newman and actor Cheri Maracle, Echo is a powerful multimedia work that positions artists as custodians of shared heritage, giving voice to memories and histories that have too often been marginalized, silenced, or erased.

Dedicated educators, the Trio gives masterclasses across North America and serves as Artists-in-Residence at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music. Jamie Parker holds the Rupert E. Edwards Chair in Piano Performance, Annalee Patipatanakoon is Professor of Violin and Chamber Music, and Roman Borys is Artistic and Executive Director of Toronto’s long-running chamber music series, Music TORONTO.

Their flagship educational initiative, Listen Up!, offers a unique opportunity for elementary students to discover their own capacity to communicate through the arts. Delivered over a full school year, the program features workshops in poetry,

 

 

Friday June 19, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Guelph Youth Music Centre Recital Hall
75 Cardigan Street, Guelph, ON
PENDERECKI QUARTET
Jerzy Kaplanek violin
Jeremy Bell violin
Christine Vlajk viola
Katie Schlaikjer cello

guest pianist Ken Gee

Celebrating their 40th anniversary, the Penderecki String Quartet began their career as winners of the Penderecki Prize at the National Chamber Music Competition in Łódz, Poland in 1986. Now based in Waterloo, Ontario where they have been Quartet-in-Residence at Wilfrid Laurier University since 1991, The Penderecki String Quartet has become one of the most celebrated chamber ensembles of their generation. The four Penderecki musicians (now originating from Poland, Canada, and USA) bring their varied yet collective experience to create performances that demonstrate their “remarkable range of technical excellence and emotional sweep” (Toronto, Globe and Mail).

The PSQ’s international performing schedule has included appearances in New York (Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Hong Kong (Academy for the Arts), Los Angeles (REDCAT Hall at Disney Center), St. Petersburg (Sheremetev Palace), the Adam Festival in New Zealand, and throughout Europe in Rome, Madrid, Paris, Belgrade, Prague, Krakow, Vilnius, and Zagreb. The PSQ has also toured extensively in Mexico, Australia, Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, and from coast to coast in Canada.

Dedicated educators, the PSQ have been recent guests at Bloomington Indiana University’s String Academy, the Beijing Conservatory, University of Southern California (Los Angeles), University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and with their partner universities in Osnabrück, Germany and Lyon, France.

To this day the PSQ is a devoted champion of the music of our time, having premiered over 100 new works from composers in Canada and abroad. Penderecki Quartet’s large discography includes over three dozen recordings including the chamber music repertoire of Beethoven and Brahms on both the Marquis and Eclectra labels, as well as the first Canadian release of the six Béla Bartók quartets. Their disc of Marjan Mozetich’s “Lament in the Trampled Garden” won the 2010 JUNO Award for Best Composition. In October 2013, the PSQ worked with Maestro Krzysztof Penderecki on his Third Quartet (2008) and performed it at Symphony Space in New York City on the occasion of his 80th birthday. This followed with the recording of Penderecki’s Third Quartet along with quartets of Norbert Palej on the Marquis label. In 2022, the PSQ was featured in Howard Shore’s soundtrack to David Cronenberg’s film Crimes of the Future.

The Penderecki Quartet has performed with diverse artists such as Atar Arad, Jeremy Menuhin, Stewart Goodyear, James Campbell and have recently appeared with jazz saxophonist Jane Bunnett, jazz pianists Egberto Gismonti, Don Thomson and David Braid, pipa virtuoso Ching Wong, Dancetheatre David Earle, Pentaedre Wind Quintet, actor Colin Fox, and New York turntable artist DJ Spooky.

The Penderecki Quartet continue to be active members of the Faculty of Music at Laurier University where they have built the string program to be one of the top programs in Canada, attracting an international body of students. Their annual Quartetfest at Laurier is an intensive study seminar and concert series that has featured such ensembles as the Tokyo, Fine Arts, Lafayette, Miro, Ying, and Ariana String Quartets.

Tickets:

LIVE SERIES – FULL CONCERT SERIES
Enjoy all FIVE of the May-June concerts! Reserved seating in the Recital Hall and online video replays are included.
Adult Series $240
Senior Series 65+ $225
Student (full-time) or Child $90

LIVE SERIES – 4-CONCERT SERIES
Your choice of four concerts in the May-June series. Reserved seating in the Recital Hall and online video replays are included.
Adult Series $195
Senior Series 65+ $185
Student (full-time) or Child $75

LIVE SERIES – 3-CONCERT SERIES
Your choice of any three of the 5-concert series in May-June. Reserved seating in the Recital Hall and online video replays are included.
Adult Live Series $150
Senior Live Series 65+ $140
Student (full-time) or Child $55

LIVE SERIES – 3-CONCERT SERIES
Your choice of any three of the 5-concert series in May-June. Reserved seating in the Recital Hall and online video replays are included.
Adult Live Series $150
Senior Live Series 65+ $140
Student (full-time) or Child $55

ONLINE SERIES
Enjoy the entire 5-concert series ONLINE (no seating) for one low price. A single ticket is all you need for the entire household to share. The video will be available for 7 days, beginning the evening after the live concert. You get a program in PDF and a link to read program notes.
Online-only Series Ticket $75

Enjoy great concerts with your friends and family, and experience some of the best acoustics anywhere.

Reserved Seating is available to Full Concert Series ticket holders only in the raised ”cushy” seat section until March.

Reserved seating in the floor section is available to 3 or 4-concert series ticket holders until the end of February and in any available seat from March.

MUSICFEST LIVE ticket holders also get MUSICFEST ONLINE for no extra charge. Enjoy the high-definition video replay (1080p) with great stereo sound for 7 days, beginning the evening after each concert. If something comes up and you have to miss the live performance, you won’t miss any of the wonderful music.

How to get tickets?

Buy Online

 

Date & Time:

May 22 – June 19, 2026

Venue:

In person concerts at Guelph Youth Music Centre – Recital Hall, 75 Cardigan Street, Guelph

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