September starts the slow ramp up to the new season.  The first thing in my calendar is Mysterious Barricades on September 14th from 1pm to 2pm in Walter Hall.  This is a series of coast to coast, dawn to dusk concerts in aid of Suicide Awareness.  Russell Braun, Monica Whicher and Nathalie Paulin are all involved.  It’s free but ticketed.  Check the link for details.

The 19th at noon in the RBA sees the traditional first concert of the free concert series featuring the COC Ensemble Studio.  At 8pm at Roy Thomson Hall you can catch Barbara Hannigan performing and conducting with the TSO.  The following day from 1-4pm in Walter Hall she’s doing a master class and a Q&A with Brett Dean, composer of Hamlet.

On the 22nd there’s a recital of French and Mexican songs by Renée Bouthot with Ana Cervantes at the piano.  It’s at the Heliconian Club from 2 – 3.30pm.  It’s being repeated at the Wellington County Museum in Fergus at 7.30pm on the 25th.

The 28th sees the opening of the COC season at the Four Seasons Centre at 7.30pm.  It’s Puccini’s Turandot.  Robert Wilson directs, Carlos Rizzi conducts with Tammy Wilson in the title role, Sergey Skorokhodov as Calaf, Joyce El-Khoury as Liu and David Leigh as Timur.  It’s the Alfano completion.  There are nine performances with some changes of cast between opening night and October 27th.

There’s another double header on the 30th.  Tammy Wilson has a free noon hour gig in the RBA and then at 7.30pm at Walter Hall there’s the Nathalie Paulin and Stephen Philcox recital postponed from earlier in the year.