TAFELMUSIK to Open 48th Season with BEETHOVEN & FARRENC Program

Tafelmusik will launch its 48th concert season with Beethoven & Farrenc, September 25–27 at Koerner Hall, bringing together three composers who challenged the musical conventions of their time, led by celebrated conductor Jakob Lehmann in his Tafelmusik debut.

Performed by Tafelmusik on period instruments, the program features Sophie Gail’s Overture to La Sérénade, Louise Farrenc’s Symphony no. 3 and Beethoven’s Symphony no. 7.

At the heart of the program is a remarkable musical reunion nearly two centuries in the making.

Opening the program is Sophie Gail’s Overture to La Sérénade, heard for the first time by Tafelmusik audiences. Paris-born Gail was a pianist, singer and published composer who turned to music to support herself and her four children after her family lost its fortune during the French Revolution. Her 1818 opera La Sérénade marked a return to success at Paris’ Opéra-Comique.

Next comes Louise Farrenc’s Symphony no. 3, another Tafelmusik premiere. When the symphony premiered in Paris in 1849, it shared the program with Beethoven’s already-famous Symphony no. 5. The comparison was daunting, yet Farrenc’s work emerged to critical acclaim. Critic Hortense Wild wrote that before half the work had been played, she had forgotten her anxieties and “the composer’s gender,” describing the piece as “magnificent.”

A celebrated pianist, composer and pedagogue, Farrenc became Professor of Piano at the Paris Conservatory in 1842 and was the only woman in the 19th century to hold a permanent position there of such high rank. Her Symphony no. 3, completed in 1847, would be her final orchestral work.

Taking its cue from history, Tafelmusik places Farrenc alongside Beethoven once again, this time culminating with Beethoven’s revered Symphony no. 7, famed for its haunting Allegretto, one of classical music’s most recognizable movements, heard everywhere from the fall of the Berlin Wall to The King’s Speech and Westworld.

“A new Tafelmusik season is here, and we’re starting with a bang,” says Cristina Zacharias, Artistic Co-Director of Tafelmusik. “Beethoven’s Seventh is thrilling live, Farrenc’s music is a revelation, and we’re so excited to welcome Jakob Lehmann for his Tafelmusik debut. Come experience it with us at Koerner Hall and help us kick off what promises to be an incredible season.”

Beethoven & Farrenc launches Tafelmusik’s 48th season and marks a new earlier curtain time, with all 2026/27 evening concerts beginning at 7:30pm.

BEETHOVEN & FARRENC

Friday, September 25, 2026 | 7:30pm
Saturday, September 26, 2026 | 7:30pm
Sunday, September 27, 2026 | 3:00pm

Koerner Hall, TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning

Tafelmusik Orchestra, on period instruments
Jakob Lehmann, guest director

PROGRAM

Sophie Gail
Overture to La Sérénade — Tafelmusik premiere

Louise Farrenc
Symphony no. 3 in G Minor, op. 36 — Tafelmusik premiere

Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony no. 7 in A Major, op. 92