Come experience Latin Rhythm Infused Jazz Standards inspired by the legendary Ahmad Jamal, performed live by The Csaba Kanyasi Jazz Quartet. This is Day Two of the three-day series For the Love of Jamal, where soulful improvisation and vibrant Latin rhythms meet timeless jazz melodies.

On this day, enjoy the talents of Csaba Kanyasi on drums, Peter Bull on bass, Trevor Wentzell on piano, and Luke Dobson on trumpet as they bring these classic tunes to life with free-spirited interpretation and energy.

Doors open at 2:30 PM. Don’t miss this fantastic matinee that captures the spirit of the ongoing Halifax Jazz Festival.

Shows in the series include:

Day One: FREE Jam Event at the Moxy Hotel on July 10th from 4:00-7:00

Day Two: At the Music Room on July 11th from 3:00 to 5:00

Day Three at the Bus Stop Theatre from 3:30 to 5:30 pm on July 12th

Tickets are $22 including fees, Doors open at 2:30 pm.

Juno Award-winning clarinetist Virginia MacDonald has established herself as a leading voice of her generation. Known for her lyrical and dynamic approach to the clarinet, she has been described by legendary clarinetist Doreen Ketchens as playing “like a scholar, very refined with plenty of soul.” As an in-demand bandleader, sidewoman, and composer, she maintains a busy international performance schedule across North America and Europe, regularly appearing at renowned venues such as Birdland, Smalls, Ronnie Scott’s, Le Duc des Lombards, and Dizzy’s. Her festival appearances span the globe, with performances at the Detroit, Rochester, Torino, Montreal, and Toronto Jazz Festivals, among others. Born and raised in Toronto, the Canadian clarinetist now resides in New York.

Alongside her other projects, Virginia enjoys working with her father, renowned Canadian jazz saxophonist Kirk MacDonald. She appears on several of Kirk’s albums, notably including his 2018 release “Generations” which features the esteemed pianist, Harold Mabern. The two have toured together extensively, including multiple European tours and a tour of India in 2020.

Doors open at 7:30pm. Tickets are $35 plus fees.

Ari Hoenig is a jazz drummer, composer, and educator known for his unusual and intense approach to drumming emphasizing complex rhythms in direct harmony with other group members. Ari is widely noted particularly for his drumming not being relegated to just keeping tempo, or being a side issue to the music he plays in, but rather for elevating drumming as an indispensable part of the performance.

Both of Ari's self-produced solo drum CDs, "Time Travels" (2000) and "The Life Of A Day" (2002), document his exploratory nature and they represent an ambitious tribute to the melodic possibilities of the drum set. Today, Ari continues to build on the concepts of these two records by playing largely improvised solo concerts using a simple four-piece drum kit without help from extraneous percussion instruments.

Doors open at 7:30pm. Tickets are $45 plus fees.

Pixel.wav presents Mega-Vania: A complete run of 2 classic games, Megaman 2 and Super Castlevania 4, accompanied by a 5 piece band!

Watch Moncton speed runner Allain Arsenault power through these legendary retro games with the crew from Pixel.wav ripping through the Original Soundtrack alongside him.

Will we succeed in getting through both games on time for show end? You'll have to come see to find out! 

Tickets are $25 in advance, and $30 at the door.

Nicola Miller’s suddenlyListen Quartet plays Friday July 3, 7pm at the Music Room in Halifax. Saxophonist and composer Nicola Miller is joined by improvisers Gabriella Ciurcovich (bass), Nick Fraser (drums), and Tim Crofts (piano) for a performance that moves between jazz, free improvisation, and textured sound worlds.

Tickets are $20 or PWYC.

These four splendid musicians gave a very well-received recital for us last season, as part of their first Canadian tour. Based in Paris, and praised as "a model of technical discipline, elegance and musical excellence", the Magenta String Quartet is an ensemble to watch! Among their recent highlights: competing in the 2025 edition of the prestigious Banff International String Quartet Competition.

ON THE PROGRAM

Dinuk Wijeratne: Two Pop Songs on Antique Poems

Grażyna Bacewicz: String Quartet No. 1

Raphaël Merlin: New Work

Fanny Mendelssohn: String Quartet in E-flat Major

Ida Derbesse and Elena Watson-Perry, violins
Claire Pass-Lanneau, viola
Fiona Robson, cello

Presented by Scotia Festival of Music, The Music Room Chamber Players Series brings 21 delightfully varied chamber and classical music concerts to Halifax from September to May, showcasing a wide range of local and visiting performers.

In the spirit of anarchy and exploration, award-winning artists India Gailey and Leah Plave present brand-new music for two cellos. The program features premieres by seven Canadian composers who have agreed to this surprising but refreshing prompt. This concert will be a sneak peak of the music before their album comes out!

ON THE PROGRAM

Music by Kelly-Marie Murphy, Alice Ho, Adam Clarke, Cris Derksen, Jeff Reilly, Emily Kennedy, and India Gailey.

India Gailey and Leah Plave, cellos

Presented by Scotia Festival of Music, The Music Room Chamber Players Series brings 21 delightfully varied chamber and classical music concerts to Halifax from September to May, showcasing a wide range of local and visiting performers.

Two years since his last visit to Halifax, pianist and podcaster Luke Welch returns to the Music Room with an eclectic and entertaining program, including music by Scarlatti, Chopin, and African-Canadian composer Nathaniel Dett, whose works are showcased on Luke's new CD.

ON THE PROGRAM

Domenico Scarlatti: Three Sonatas

Frederic Chopin: Scherzo No. 3, Op. 39

R. Nathaniel Dett: Magnolia; Inspiration Waltzes; In the Bottoms

Luke Welch, piano

Presented by Scotia Festival of Music, The Music Room Chamber Players Series brings 21 delightfully varied chamber and classical music concerts to Halifax from September to May, showcasing a wide range of local and visiting performers.

Robert and Clara Schumann are one of classical music's "power couples", inspiring each other both as pianists and composers over two decades during their courtship and married life. Tonight, we will hear music from various points in their professional and family lives, including Clara's piano trio, known to have influenced Robert's works in that genre, and Robert's piano quartet, with its piano part inspired by Clara's virtuosity.

ON THE PROGRAM

Robert Schumann: Märchenbilder (Fairy Tale Pictures) Op. 113

Clara Schumann: Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 17

Robert Schumann: Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op 47

Roman Fraser, violin
Carolyn Farnand, viola
Thomas Beard, cello
Philip Chiu, piano

Presented by Scotia Festival of Music, The Music Room Chamber Players Series brings 21 delightfully varied chamber and classical music concerts to Halifax from September to May, showcasing a wide range of local and visiting performers.

As part of their cross-Canada tour, the Lemańczyk / Golicki / Sarnecki Trio will promote their debut album “NYC Session”. During the Canadian tour, the band will be joined by an outstanding Canadian trumpeter - Jacques Kuba Séguin. The tour takes place as part of the international JAZZ PO POLSKU “Around the World” project.

The trio was formed in 2023 and consists of acclaimed, award-winning Polish musicians recognized on international stages: Rafał Sarnecki (electric guitar), Piotr Lemańczyk (bass guitar), and Adam Golicki (drums). During the Canadian tour, the band will be joined by an outstanding Canadian trumpeter - Jacques Kuba Séguin. His expressive style perfectly complements the trio’s European sensibility and modern sound. The artists will perform repertoire from the album “NYC Session” as well as Séguin’s original compositions.

Lemańczyk / Golicki / Sarnecki Trio music can be described as mainstream jazz, often drawing from rock expression and sophisticated harmony. In addition to Mike Stern, the trio has collaborated with artists such as Randy Brecker and Grażyna Auguścik, performing a dozen concerts in Poland and the USA. In January 2024, the trio recorded an album in New York, featuring Mike and Leni Stern. Spring 2025 saw the band perform a JAZZ PO POLSKU “Around the world” concert tour in China and Japan, consisting of 21 concerts in biggest cities.

Tickets are $40-50, and can be purchased via Eventbrite.

The Scotia Festival String Quartet - playing together since 2022 - have been busy at every festival in recent years, giving us many memorable performances. These four principal players from Canadian orchestras will be back with us for the 2026 festival, and tonight they will bring a preview of what to expect! 

ON THE PROGRAM

Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in C Major, Op 20, No. 2

Edvard Grieg: String Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 27

Gwen Hoebig and Mark Lee, violins
Isaac Chalk, viola
Blair Lofgren, cello

Presented by Scotia Festival of Music, The Music Room Chamber Players Series brings 21 delightfully varied chamber and classical music concerts to Halifax from September to May, showcasing a wide range of local and visiting performers.

The ensemble Les Idées heureuses draws inspiration from Johann Sebastian Bach, who frequently adapted his own works for different instruments. Recorder virtuoso Vincent Lauzer and harpsichordist Dorothéa Ventura present Bach Reinvented: a program in which you’ll be delighted to hear various solo dance suites (originally composed for harpsichord, lute, and violin) reimagined and reinterpreted as duos. It’s a wonderful opportunity to discover - or rediscover - these Bach masterpieces in a playful and captivating new light.

Presented by Scotia Festival of Music, The Music Room Chamber Players Series brings 21 delightfully varied chamber and classical music concerts to Halifax from September to May, showcasing a wide range of local and visiting performers.

REAL STORIES. REAL CONVERSATIONS. REAL IMPACT.

Join us for the Talk With Dr. Agnes Show — an evening of meaningful dialogue, insight, and community connection.

This special episode features Dr. Laniyi Ogunsanya, a Family Physician who will share his powerful personal journey of parenting a son with Autism. His story raises awareness, fosters understanding, and offers hope to families and communities.

Expect honest conversation, inspiration, and moments that prompt reflection, learning, and growth.

Complimentary Seats Available - reserve your seats through the link below.

Trio Timia is a vibrant young ensemble from Montreal. In 2025, they made a detour to Halifax to perform for our Scotia Festival Young Artists, and when they played, it was clear that they needed to return! This concert will be a delight.

ON THE PROGRAM

Franz Schubert: Piano Trio No. 2 E-flat Major, D. 929

Bochuslav Martinů: Piano Trio No. 2 in D minor, H. 327

June Lee, violin
François Lamontagne, cello
Itamar Prag, piano

Presented by Scotia Festival of Music, The Music Room Chamber Players Series brings 21 delightfully varied chamber and classical music concerts to Halifax from September to May, showcasing a wide range of local and visiting performers.

Blending voices, strings and piano, Blue Lobelia's album release invites the audience to excavate emotion through sound and movement.

Blue Lobelia’s latest ensemble project [Blanche Israël (cello / voice) // Joss MacNeil (voice) // Mat Hughes (piano / voice)] titled, 'cloud strawberry mermaid pink', presents as a lush interactive ritual rooted in her background as a music therapist.

This dreamy, embodied performance unravels us from our conditioning, guiding audiences through portals of somatic memory and emotional excavation with opportunities for simple repetitive guided movements and written reflection.

Her new songs rely on the belief that time spirals and that gut feelings are guiding whispers from our future selves, echoing backward into now.

Through movement, journaling, breathwork and sound, cloud strawberry mermaid pink blurs the line between concert and ceremony, music and theater, inviting you to feel, remember, and unravel. It is a spell for intuition and the unending act of becoming.

The concertmaster and principal string players of Symphony Nova Scotia bring you a majestic classic from Johannes Brahms, a little-known work by Alessandro Scarlatti (one of the first ever string quartets), and works by two of the most popular classical composers working in North America today.

ON THE PROGRAM

Johannes Brahms: String Quartet No. 1 in C minor, op. 51 No. 1

Alessandro Scarlatti: Sonata a Quattro in F minor

Jessie Montgomery: Source code

Caroline Shaw: Blueprint

Renaud Lapierre and Isabelle Fournier, violins
Carolyn Farnand, viola
Rachel Desoer, cello

Presented by Scotia Festival of Music, The Music Room Chamber Players Series brings 21 delightfully varied chamber and classical music concerts to Halifax from September to May, showcasing a wide range of local and visiting performers.

Experience an intimate evening of richly blended harmonies and expressive jazz stylings as CANVAS, a captivating vocal quartet from Halifax, takes the stage at The Peggy Corkum Music Room. Featuring four amazing voices — Fran Farrell (Soprano), Amelia McMahon (Alto), Ryan Billington (Tenor), and Kurt Sampson (Bass & Vocal Percussion) — this performance presents a curated program of vocal jazz favourites, inventive arrangements, and heartfelt interpretations.

PROGRAM includes songs from a variety of artists ranging from Nat King Cole, Charlie Chaplin, The Beatles, Prince, and even Johannes Brahms!

Over the course of a one-hour concert, CANVAS explores the textures and interplay of close harmony singing, bringing both classic and contemporary works to life in this beautiful, 105-seat venue. Audiences are invited to enjoy the nuance, artistry, and engaging musicality that define the group’s approach.

Tickets: $20.00

Tickets are available online and at the door. Seating is limited — advance purchase is recommended.

The great Canadian mezzo-soprano Allyson McHardy has performed at the Paris, Chicago and San Francisco Operas, and with conductors including Johannes Debus, Seiji Ozawa, and Trevor Pinnock. With the extraordinary pianist Carson Becke, she brings a seasonally appropriate program celebrating the joys and challenges of winter, showcasing a brand-new song cycle by Ottawa composer Robert Rival.

ON THE PROGRAM

Aaron Copland: Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson (selections)

Rebecca Clarke: Binnorie

Florence Price: Piano Sonata in E minor

Cecilia Livingston: Penelope

Robert Rival: Winter Songs

Allyson McHardy, mezzo-soprano
Carson Becke, piano

Presented by Scotia Festival of Music, The Music Room Chamber Players Series brings 21 delightfully varied chamber and classical music concerts to Halifax from September to May, showcasing a wide range of local and visiting performers.

Nuovo is a contemporary concert series co-founded and co-directed by composers Shanti Sivarulrasa and Benjamin Fraser.

Our Winter 2026 concert features new works by emerging Atlantic-Canadian composers Kip Johnson, Stephen Deturbide, Benjamin Fraser, Garrett Horne, Shanti Sivarulrasa, and Hsiu-Ping Patrick Wu.

The concert showcases performances by Shanti Sivarulrasa and Amelia Parker (violins), Gabriel Galvis Rangel (viola), Elizabeth Ruxton and Emily Domet (sapranos), Corrine James (mezzo soprano), Graham Doyle (tenor), and Ria Kim (piano).

Alkali Collective continues its sixth concert season with TRACE, a program exploring the marks music leaves on memory, perception, and human experience. The concert features works by Rebecca Adams and Garrett Niall, selected through Alkali Collective’s annual Call for Scores, highlighting bold and distinctive voices from early-career composers connected to Atlantic Canada.

Tickets: $25/adults, $20/students, $15/ages 12 and under.
Live-Stream Tickets: $15/household.

Fifty years ago, the great pianist and composer Frederic Rzewski premiered his epic set of variations on the Chilean protest song, El pueblo unido jamás será vencido. It is an hour-long journey that invites comparison with Bach’s famous “Goldbergs”. Tonight, the brilliant Canadian pianist Corey Hamm takes on this monumental challenge. Corey’s recording of this piece was praised by the composer as one of the very finest: “Excellent! Bravo! This may be the best recording.”

Presented by Scotia Festival of Music, The Music Room Chamber Players Series brings 21 delightfully varied chamber and classical music concerts to Halifax from September to May, showcasing a wide range of local and visiting performers.

Blending voices, strings and piano, Blue Lobelia's album release invites the audience to excavate emotion through sound and movement.

Blue Lobelia’s latest ensemble project [Blanche Israël (cello / voice) // Joss MacNeil (voice) // Mat Hughes (piano / voice)] titled, 'cloud strawberry mermaid pink', presents as a lush interactive ritual rooted in her background as a music therapist.

This dreamy, embodied performance unravels us from our conditioning, guiding audiences through portals of somatic memory and emotional excavation with opportunities for simple repetitive guided movements and written reflection.

Her new songs rely on the belief that time spirals and that gut feelings are guiding whispers from our future selves, echoing backward into now.

Through movement and sound, cloud strawberry mermaid pink blurs the line between concert and ceremony, music and theater, inviting you to feel, remember, and unravel. It is a spell for intuition and the unending act of becoming.

Praised for their “effortless musicianship” by the London Times, the Busch Trio began performing together over ten years ago as students at the Royal College of Music in London. Based in Amsterdam, they have performed in major halls in Europe and North America, including London’s Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Berlin’s Konzerthaus. Very active as recording artists, their current project is the complete Beethoven trios.

ON THE PROGRAM

Joseph Haydn: Piano Trio in C Major, Hob. XV No. 21

L. van Beethoven: Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 70 No. 2

Dimitri Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67

Mathieu van Bellen, violin
Ori Epstein, cello
Omri Epstein, piano

Presented by Scotia Festival of Music, The Music Room Chamber Players Series brings 21 delightfully varied chamber and classical music concerts to Halifax from September to May, showcasing a wide range of local and visiting performers.

Port City Church presents “Hope Alight”—a seventy-minute production rich with traditional Christmas carols and a weaved story of Hope that all should hear. This gathering will bring back those nostalgic Christmas memories as we sing together, hear stories, scripture and poetry of Hope Alight.

Admission is free with the donation of one or more food items for Feed Nova Scotia.

Port City Church presents “Hope Alight”—a seventy-minute production rich with traditional Christmas carols and a weaved story of Hope that all should hear. This gathering will bring back those nostalgic Christmas memories as we sing together, hear stories, scripture and poetry of Hope Alight.

Admission is free with the donation of one or more food items for Feed Nova Scotia.

Port City Church presents “Hope Alight”—a seventy-minute production rich with traditional Christmas carols and a weaved story of Hope that all should hear. This gathering will bring back those nostalgic Christmas memories as we sing together, hear stories, scripture and poetry of Hope Alight.

Admission is free with the donation of one or more food items for Feed Nova Scotia.

Port City Church presents “Hope Alight”—a seventy-minute production rich with traditional Christmas carols and a weaved story of Hope that all should hear. This gathering will bring back those nostalgic Christmas memories as we sing together, hear stories, scripture and poetry of Hope Alight.

Admission is free with the donation of one or more food items for Feed Nova Scotia.

Beloved across Canada and beyond, Duo Concertante are always welcome visitors to the Music Room. Their program includes one of the most popular violin sonatas of all, composed as a wedding present for Franck’s colleague, the violinist Eugène Ysaÿe, as well as a brilliant sonata by J.S. Bach, a specially commissioned work by Mexican-Canadian Luis Ramirez, and a richly expressive sonata by the 19th-century virtuoso Amanda Maier.

ON THE PROGRAM

César Franck: Sonata in A Major

J.S. Bach: Sonata in E major for violin and keyboard, BWV 1016

Luis Ramirez: Iridescence (2024)

Amanda Maier: Sonata in B minor

Nancy Dahn, violin
Timothy Steeves, piano

Presented by Scotia Festival of Music, The Music Room Chamber Players Series brings 21 delightfully varied chamber and classical music concerts to Halifax from September to May, showcasing a wide range of local and visiting performers.

Flux features Pierre-Yves Martel (Montreal), Norm Adams, Jacinte Armstrong, D'Arcy Gray, and guests

Two duos perform: Jacinte Armstrong and D'Arcy Gray with pieces by John Cage, and Pierre-Yves Martel and Norm Adams with peaceful, long tones for synthesizer and cello.

Tickets are available online or at the door.

Catch Mat Hughes on December 6 on the grand piano at the Music Room in their beautiful venue for an intimate concert. Mat will be joined by his full band and Adina for an opening set. Doors at 7pm.

Tickets are $25.