Peace & Remembrance: Ravel & Vaughan Williams

Featuring: Simon Rivard, Jane Archibald, Korin Thomas-Smith, Joel Tranquilla, The Symphony Nova Scotia Chorus Finding solace in a world of chaos. Honouring the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Legion and the 50th anniversary of the Nova Scotia Choral Federation, this powerful program invites reflection, remembrance, and hope. From Barber’s timeless Adagio for Strings to Ravel’s memorial tribute and Vaughan Williams’ urgent plea for peace, this music remains as poignant and moving today as when it was written. About the Artists: Simon Rivard , conductor Simon Rivard is the music director of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra and the Edmonton Opera. Next season, he leads Haydn’s Creation at the NSO, as well as Cusson & Vavrek’s Indians on Vacation (world premiere) and Wagner’s Siegfried at the Edmonton Opera. He makes his début with the Lapland Chamber Orchestra and collaborates with Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and Orchestre Métropolitain, among others. He is the Principal Conductor of The Happenstancers , one of Toronto’s leading new music ensembles. Rivard has conducted Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Opéra de Montréal, Orchestre Métropolitain, Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra (Switzerland), and the Göteborgs Symfoniker (Sweden). From 2018 to 2022, he was the Resident Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, where he was mentored by Gustavo Gimeno and Sir Andrew Davis, and through 2024, he was the Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra. Born in Montréal, Rivard studied violin and orchestral conducting at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and McGill University. Jane Archibald , soprano Jane Archibald began her career in her native Canada, before becoming an Adler Fellow with the San Francisco Opera. She then joined the ensemble of the Vienna State Opera, debuting many coloratura roles. She has since gone on to perform regularly in the celebrated opera houses and concert halls of the world. In 2022-2023 she makes her debut as the title role in Salome at the Fondazione Lirico Sinfonico Petruzzelli e Teatro di Bari. In concert, Jane will open the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s season singing Messiaen’s Poèmes pour Mi with Ryan Wigglesworth, for radio and tv broadcast. She is also soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and Rune Bergmann; Mozart’s Mass in C Minor and Requiem with National Arts Centre Orchestra and Bernard Labadie; Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and Kent Nagano; Mozart’s Requiem with Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Michael Francis; Debussy’s La Damoiselle élue and Dutilleux’s Correspondances with Seattle Symphony and Conductor Emeritus Ludovic Morlot, and sings Beethoven’s “Ah, perfido” and Haydn’s Scena di Berenice at the Teatro Carlo Felice with Ricardo Minasi. Her career thus far has taken her to the Metropolitan Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Paris Opera, La Scala Milan, Teatro San Carlo, Carnegie Hall, Barbican London, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Zurich Opera, Frankfurt Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Canadian Opera Company, major orchestras in London, Atlanta, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Madrid, Hamburg, Tel Aviv, Cincinnati, Salzburg and opera houses and festivals in Lyon, Glyndebourne, Geneva, Hyogo, Copenhagen, Toulouse, Baden-Baden, Aix-en-Provence and Santa Fe, among others. Jane Archibald is a Juno-award winner who appears on numerous CD and DVD recordings, most recently in the celebrated release of Bernstein’s Candide, with Marin Alsop and the London Symphony Orchestra. Korin Thomas-Smith, baritone Named one of CBC Music’s 30 hot classical musicians under 30 in 2021, Canadian baritone Korin Thomas-Smith is carving a place for himself in the North American music scene. Praised for his “imposing baritone” (Wall Street Journal) as well as his “easy physical presence” (New York Classical Review), Korin has established the start of a promising career. The 2026-2027 season sees several role and house debuts, beginning with two Rossini works; the first as a Filene Artist at the Wolf Trap Opera, performing the role of Dandini in La Cenerentola, and the second his title role debut with the Edmonton Opera in Il barbiere di Siviglia. Korin makes his Seattle Opera debut as Schaunard in a new production of La bohème. In the Francesca Zambello production of The Little Prince, Korin made his Dallas Opera debut as The Businessman for which he was praised for his “baritone bright and substantive” (Dallas Morning News). 2025 saw Korin performing as Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette with the Canadian Opera Company, and with the Santa Fe Opera, Korin performed as Schaunard in La bohème, Count Ceprano in Rigoletto, and covered Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro. Korin is a recent graduate of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, in his time performing as Second Apprentice in Wozzeck, Captain in Eugene Onegin, Wagner in Faust, and Malatesta in Don Pasquale. Korin has been a young artist at several esteemed festivals in the United States, including Des Moines Metro Opera, the Glimmerglass Festival, where he performed as Argante in Rinaldo, the Music Academy of the West, Aspen Music Festival and School, and the Ravinia Steans Music Institute. Korin is alumni of Yale University, during his studies performing as Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia, Raimbaud in Le Comte Ory, and Dottore Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore. Korin is also a graduate of the University of Toronto Opera program, where he won the Jim and Charlotte Norcop Prize in Song, and was a fellow in the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Performance Residency Program. Korin is graciously supported by the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation. Honouring the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Legion and the 50th anniversary of the Nova Scotia Choral Federation, this powerful program invites reflection, remembrance, and hope. From Barber’s timeless Adagio for Strings to Ravel’s memorial tribute and Vaughan Williams’ urgent plea for peace, this music remains as poignant and moving today as when it was written. Simon Rivard is the music director of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra and the Edmonton Opera. Next season, he leads Haydn’s Creation at the NSO, as well as Cusson & Vavrek’s Indians on Vacation (world premiere) and Wagner’s Siegfried at the Edmonton Opera. He makes his début with the Lapland Chamber Orchestra and collaborates with Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and Orchestre Métropolitain, among others. He is the Principal Conductor of The Happenstancers , one of Toronto’s leading new music ensembles. Rivard has conducted Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Opéra de Montréal, Orchestre Métropolitain, Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra (Switzerland), and the Göteborgs Symfoniker (Sweden). From 2018 to 2022, he was the Resident Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, where he was mentored by Gustavo Gimeno and Sir Andrew Davis, and through 2024, he was the Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra.