The Molinari Quartet’s 2025–26 autumn season marks both a new beginning and the continuation of its major projects. The QM musicians enthusiastically welcome a new member, violist Cynthia Blanchon, whose extensive experience as a chamber musician will be an asset to the ensemble. The Molinari’s 29th season will be filled with masterpieces for string quartet, including the presentation of Shostakovich’s complete quartet cycle, which could not be held last May and is rescheduled for May 2026.

The first concert of the season will take place on Tuesday, 7 October at 7:30 p.m. at the Conservatoire de Montréal. Entitled ‘Passages,’ this concert will feature two great masters of the 20th-century string quartet, Dmitri Shostakovich and Béla Bartók, as well as French composer André Boucourechliev.

On Friday, 5 December at 7:30 p.m., the second concert of the season, ‘Canadian Rhythms’, will feature three Canadian works with lively rhythms. You will hear Dark Energy by composer Kelly-Marie Murphy, R. Murray Schafer’s 4th Quartet, and the premiere of Blair Thomson’s Internesses.

As usual, the two autumn concerts will be preceded by informative Dialogues sur le Plateau at the Maison de la culture Plateau Mont-Royal, 465 Mont-Royal Avenue East. These activities allow the public to familiarise themselves with the works on the programme of the Vingtième et plus series of concerts held at the Conservatoire.

The Dialogues will take place on 21 September at 2 p.m. and 2 December at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free.

The Molinari Quartet continues its collaboration with the Guido Molinari Foundation with the presentation of the Music to See series of concerts. The fall concert will take place on Sunday, 2 November at 3 p.m., and the musicians will perform R. Murray Schafer’s Quartet No. 1, Dmitri Shostakovich’s Quartet No. 12, and the premiere of Denis Dion’s Coin Darling, a work in tribute to Guido Molinari. The concert will take place in the heart of the exhibition I am here by the renowned artist Irene F. Whittome. This exhibition will bring together works spanning sixty years of artistic practice.

Tickets are sold at the door for $20. The Guido Molinari Foundation is located at 3290 Sainte-Catherine Street East in Montreal.

Full details of all the concerts are available in the Calendar section of the website.