Events

St. Lucia’s Day, Yi Ping, Diwali, Obon, Hanukkah, Advent and Christmas -- festivals of light.  Around the world, groups have fashioned holidays, festivals, and rituals around it. With these rituals come beautiful practices. The UW Choir will explore music from India, Japan, Thailand, and Sweden as well as Canadian traditional music for Advent and Christmas.  The  60 voice UW Choir is directed by Dr. Gerard Yun. Tickets available at the door.

"Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here."  JK Rowling
The orchestra@uwaterloo produces many such magical moments. Directed by Daniel Warren, students, staff, faculty and alumni from all faculties join together to play beautiful symphonic music.

This concert will feature the Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake Suite, Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, and Dvorak's Symphony No. 6 in D Major.

Benjamin Britten’s quirky cantata, Rejoice in the Lamb, set to the delightfully peculiar poetry of Christopher Smart is the feature work on the University of Waterloo Chamber Choir’s term-end concert.  Organist Jan Overduin joins the choir in this program at Knox Presbyterian Church, Waterloo.  Music by Jan Sandström, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Tim Corlis, Franz Biebl and others completes the program. The Chamber Choir is directed by Mark Vuorinen.  Tickets are available at the door.

The UWaterloo Jazz Ensemble is an accomplished group of approximately twenty student musicians.  They perform a mix of jazz classics and modern pieces.  The director is Michael Wood, well known vibist and jazz director.
The concert lasts approximately 75 minutes, refreshments to follow.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe described chamber music (specifically, string quartet music) as "four rational people conversing". This conversational pattern–which refers to the way one instrument introduces a melody or motif and then other instruments subsequently "respond" with a similar motif–has been a thread woven through the history of chamber music composition from the end of the 18th century to the present. 

Come join us and hear accomplished UW student musicians play beautiful chamber music.  Free admission, followed by a reception.

Registration and audition slots are now open for 7 different ensembles:

In 1817, the 20 year old Franz Schubert wrote a song for voice and piano about a fish. Two years later, he created a set of variations from this delightful theme which became the 4th movement of his immortal quintet nicknamed “The Trout”.

Our performers are
Bruce Skelton, violin
David Wadley, viola
Ben Bolt-Martin, cello
George Greer, double bass
Joanne Bender, piano

Every two years, orchestra@uwaterloo holds a Concerto and Aria Competition that is open to University of Waterloo students and recent graduates, and is judged by a panel of professional musicians. Winners perform as soloists with the orchestra in a public concert.  On Saturday, January 27th the actual competition takes place.  The evening competition is open to the public.  Three to four finalists will perform in front of a jury to win the honour of playing a solo with the orchestra@uwaterloo.  Contestants include pianists, strings, and woodwind performers, as well as voice students.

Ben Bolt-Martin, a renowned local cello player and our Instrumental Chamber Ensemble director, will perform mostly original music for solo cello with looper.