This season we have much to celebrate. The 09-10 season - NUMUS’ 25th - was one of our most successful ever. All of our shows were enthusiastically received by both audiences and critics, so we’ve decided to enlarge our offerings.

In 2010-11 we are presenting not one series, but three.

Our Winter/Spring Ensemble Series features our good friends the Penderecki String Quartet in a Battle of the Bands with my own group from Manitoba: Buhr, Fournier & Roy. We’re also featuring the Bellows & Brass Trio in a riveting full evening work of video, live music and electronics, Murderous Little World, by Canadian composer Linda Bouchard. And finally, we present members of the Princeton Laptop Orchestra to close the series.

Our spring Recital Series is also a celebration of the piano, sponsored by Yamaha Canada: The Great Canadian Contemporary Piano Summit. The series features eight innovative contemporary pianists packed into one weekend, including David Braid, Heather Taves, John Kameel Farah and the brilliant virtuoso Stephen Drury performing Rzewski’s The People United Will Never Be Defeated! paired with one of the works that had a powerful influence on the Rzewski composition, Beethoven’s monumental Hammerklavier Sonata.

And, something new for NUMUS, we celebrate the young generation’s creative music with our Starlight Indie Band Festival, hosted and curated by the CBC’s Laurie Brown at The Starlight Club in Waterloo.

Please join us as we explore these many fascinating worlds of modern music.