Creating Community Around The Music of Franz Schubert in Calgary

What, where, and when?

We invite Calgary classical musicians to Calgary’s first annual Schubertiade, to be held January 31, 2026, at St. David’s United Church 3303 Capitol Hill Crescent NW, Calgary, AB

Modelled after the Schubertiade that ran successfully in Chicago’s PianoForte Studios from 2005 to 2018, and was the most widely attended event PianoForte ever hosted, this Schubertiade will be more than just a group recital.

It will feature two rooms with performances happening in parallel, similarly to an academic conference, so the audience can move between the rooms to hear performances that interest them — or mingle with performers and fellow listeners at the coffee table in between. 

Think of it as a Schubert music fan convention, with the intimacy of a house jam.

How will it work?

The afternoon will be divided into half-hour performance slots, of which actual music may be approximately twenty minutes, and ten minutes for the audience to change rooms, have refreshments, and mingle. 

Performers tackling an extra-long piece can take multiple performance slots, e.g. if someone wants to do the entire Winterreise, they take three slots; the Trout Quintet would get two. A half-hour slot can be multiple piano students of one teacher taking turns, or a soprano, a tenor, and a pianist doing each a couple of solo Lieder and a duet.

So basically, it’s not a multi-hour recital with a trapped audience, but an opportunity for lovers of Schubert’s music to mingle and form community. 

No adjudications, no grades, but an excellent opportunity for musicians to test-run repertoire before the spring festival season.

Admission and participation will be free, with donations encouraged to cover space and refreshment costs.

Program for January 31, 2026 (subject to change):

Saturday, January 31, at Summit View (formerly St. David’s) United Church:

1:00 pm – 1:20 pm
Sanctuary: Belita Ensemble (Hyun Jung Song & Cathy Cheon);

• Military March No. 1 D.733 (1st. Hyun Jung Song, 2nd Cathy Cheon)
• Lebensstürme Allegro in A minor D.947 (1st Cathy Cheon, 2nd Hyun Jung Song )

Lower Hall: Tony Cavalleri and Oliver Munar:

• Fischerweise, D.881
• Der Lindenbaum, D.911
• Aufenthalt D.957
• An die Musik D. 547

1;20 pm – 1:30 pm
Social break

1:30 pm – 1:50 pm
Sanctuary:
Summit View Orchestra;

• The Unfinished Symphony, mvt 1, D. 759

Tony Qin:

• impromptu in G flat Major, no. 3 op. 90, D.889

Lower Hall:
Tanisi Sinha and Oliver Munar:

• An die Laute D.905
• An den Mond D. 259

Anagha Mankekar and Marilyn Chau:

• Frühlingslied D.398
• Adieu D.578
• Liebhaber in allen Gestalten D.558

1:50 pm – 2:00 pm
Social break

2:00 pm – 2:20 pm
Sanctuary: Summit View Chamber Choir

• Mass No. 3 in B-flat major D 324: Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus

Lower Hall:

Tamara Vardomskaya and Tony Qin:

• Ganymed D.544
• Suleika I D. 720

Nairilys Garcia and Derek Lee:

• Der Alpenjäger D.524
• An den Mond D.193
• Die Forelle D.550

2:20 pm – 2:30 pm
Social break

2:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Sanctuary: Singalong of “Ave Maria” D. 839 (Tony Qin, piano) and open jam

What do I play?

Billed performers for 2026 are closed, but we welcome everyone to the open jam!

The great thing is that Schubert wrote such a large number of pieces that some are accessible to almost all levels of musical ability. Don’t feel you have to do a hard piece to match your RCM grade level, when it may be more fun to perform an easy piece you love! E.g. For vocalists, “Gretchen am Spinnrade” and “Erlkönig” are ARCT-level pieces, but for flutists, flutetunes.com rates them “easy,” and they are great melodies on any instrument.

Any music by Schubert or related to Schubert is welcome, and it doesn’t matter if someone else would also be playing the same piece.

– A world premiere of a composition inspired by a theme from the Unfinished Symphony?

– The Trout Quintet on piano and four saxophones?

– Tap dance to “Der Wanderer”, or mime to “Auf dem Wasser zu singen”?

– A musicology grad student talk on an aspect of Schubert’s role in history?

We want to hear your ideas!

Email your ideas, questions, and concerns to schubertiadeyyc [at] gmail [dot] com. A mailing list and link to Facebook group and Discord server will be coming shortly.

Why?

Because I, Tamara Vardomskaya, found Schubertiade Chicago incredibly fun when I did graduate school in Chicago, and want something like that in Calgary.

In the words of Thomas Zoells, head of the PianoForte Foundation and founder of Schubertiade Chicago:

“”Why Schubert, you may ask, and not Chopin or Brahms or Beethoven? It’s not that we love Schubert more or Chopin less, but Schubert is unique in that not only does he bring the so-called heavenly length to his music, but after you’ve listened to a long piece of Schubert’s music, you actually want to enjoy another long piece of Schubert’s music. The variety, melodic invention, joy and sadness all in one and separately, and his spirit makes him music easy to take in for hours on end. Try this with other composers and you’ll be pining for something different after a while.

“The Schubertiade also brings something else that is dear to my heart and fits so perfectly with the mission of the PianoForte Foundation: the spirit of friendship that Schubert was known to cherish. This friendship is given time to flourish between audience members and musicians as they spend the day together and help to create a musical community.“

Schubertiade YYC is a registered nonprofit community association.

Schubertiade YYC 2026 is funded by a microgrant from Calgary Arts Development