Before joining us in Montr\u00e9al and Qu\u00e9bec City, the guest artists are experiencing a particularly busy season starting in the summer of 2026: tours at the biggest European festivals, recordings, new creations, duo debuts. A tour d’horizon, artist by artist, of what’s happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scottish harpsichordist and conductor John Butt, Music Director of the Dunedin Consort, is invited to the chamber music festival Music at Paxton; in August, John Butt conducts his ensemble as part of the prestigious Edinburgh International Festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, John Butt serves in 2026 as Artistic Director of the Baroque Music Festival of the Institut fran\u00e7ais d’\u00c9cosse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South Korean cellist Hayoung Choi, First Prize winner at the 2022 Queen Elisabeth Competition, will take on one of the pinnacles of any cellist’s career by performing all six of Bach’s Suites for Solo Cello in a single evening at the Edinburgh International Festival (August 2026). The 2026\u20132027 season will see her as soloist with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra in Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Belgian ensemble Vox Luminis, led by its founder Lionel Meunier, makes a splash at the Festival de Saintes (Domenico Scarlatti’s Stabat Mater<\/em>, July 16) and then at the Salzburg Festival: the *Mass in B minor* and a programme pairing Liszt’s *Via Crucis* with Biber’s Rosary Sonatas.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Originally from Montr\u00e9al, Daniel Lanthier has been teaching baroque oboe at the Utrecht Conservatory since 2020 and performs regularly with Les Musiciens du Louvre, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Concerto Copenhagen, and Il Giardino Armonico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marco Baronchelli, trained under Luca Pianca in Lugano, is a member of the Italian ensemble filoBarocco, which is part of the European EEEMERGING+ programme. The duo they present in Montr\u00e9al is part of a chamber tour built in the spirit of their recent projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n American violinist Augustin Hadelich is completing his artist residency with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a distinction reserved for the most prominent soloists. He plays the 1744 Guarneri del Ges\u00f9 “Leduc-Szeryng,” made available to him by the Tarisio Trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Ensemble Jupiter, led by lutenist Thomas Dunford and mezzo-soprano L\u00e9a Desandre, 2026 is the year of the major promotional tour for their new album Songs of Passion<\/em>, a double CD released on Erato in late 2025 and winner of the Presto Recording of the Year. The tour culminates in November at Carnegie Hall (New York, November 17, 2026) and in Montr\u00e9al. L\u00e9a Desandre, now one of the most sought-after operatic artists of her generation (Erato, Victoires de la Musique), simultaneously carries on a busy 2026 season marked by productions at the Paris Opera, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and Salzburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Founded in 1991 by recorder player Francis Colpron, the Montr\u00e9al ensemble Les Bor\u00e9ades is preparing its 2026\u20132027 season, built around its 30th anniversary, the centrepiece of which will be a production of Lully’s opera Atys.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Hungarian-British pianist \u2014 knighted in 2014 \u2014 has made The Art of Fugue<\/em> the centrepiece of his 2025\u20132026 season. Artist-in-Residence at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, he continues a cycle titled “The World of Bach” combining lectures and performances of The Art of Fugue<\/em>. The international press has also reported on a recording project of the work currently in progress; Montr\u00e9al will be, in late November, one of the major North American stops on this Bachian journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Concertmaster of the OSM since 2008 and founder of the New Orford String Quartet, Andrew Wan also maintains a residency at Cecilia Concerts in Halifax. Together with Anna Burden and Victor Fournelle-Blain \u2014 two OSM soloists from the new generation that defines Montr\u00e9al’s orchestral excellence \u2014 he forms an entirely Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois trio for this Bachian highlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For S\u00e9bastien Dauc\u00e9, 2026 is the year of two major undertakings. The first: a new recording of Cavalli’s La Calisto<\/em> for Harmonia Mundi (digital release 2026). The second, which is precisely the programme for Montr\u00e9al: a cycle of Bach’s “Weimar Cantatas” presented throughout the year \u2014 Festival de Saintes (July 12), Promenades musicales du Pays d’Auge (August 1), Acad\u00e9mie Bach de Saint-Donat (August 22), Th\u00e9\u00e2tre de Caen (November 10) \u2014 just before the ensemble arrives in Montr\u00e9al.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For American mandolinist Chris Thile, 2026 is the year of the concert rollout of his major recording project: Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 2,<\/em> a double album released on Nonesuch Records, which transcribes Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin for solo mandolin. A MacArthur Fellow, founder of Nickel Creek and the Punch Brothers, Chris Thile thus continues a rare dialogue between Bach and the American bluegrass tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy \u2014 partners on stage and in life \u2014 2026 is the season of their world debut as an official duo: Edinburgh International Festival, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Piano \u00e0 Lyon, Wigmore Hall. Their previous albums (Harmonia Mundi), including their 2024 Schubert recording (Diapason d’Or), have been celebrated by critics. A third album is expected in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Orchestra-in-Residence at the Konzerthaus Berlin, AKAMUS continues in 2026 to enrich its reference discography on Harmonia Mundi and other labels. The ensemble carries on its “Europe Dances” cycle across Europe and shines throughout the 2026 season with its immense companionship with the music of the Bach family.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDaniel Lanthier and Marco Baronchelli<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Augustin Hadelich<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Ensemble Jupiter, L\u00e9a Desandre and Thomas Dunford<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Les Bor\u00e9ades<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Sir Andr\u00e1s Schiff<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Andrew Wan, Anna Burden and Victor Fournelle-Blain<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Ensemble Correspondances and S\u00e9bastien Dauc\u00e9<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Chris Thile<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Akademie f\u00fcr Alte Musik Berlin (AKAMUS)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Kent Nagano<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n