Taking place March 25 – April 18
Join your Hamilton Philharmonic for our annual Composer Festival! The Composer Festival takes a deep dive into the world of a composer featured on our Mainstage, exploring the historical context and cultural influences of some of the biggest names in Western classical music.
Join your HPO for events across our community celebrating the life, music and influence of composers Beethoven and Brahms!
This year the HPO will take you around Hamilton with talks and performances highlighting composers Beethoven and Brahms and how their artistic impacts helped shape the musical landscape.
Upcoming Composer Festival events:
- Share your musical talents with your favourite short work or movement by composer Beethoven & Brahms
- Enjoy a screening of Immortal Beloved at The Westdale
- Travel through history with our Composer-in-Residence at fascinating talks.
Don’t forget to join us at FirstOntario Concert Hall when we cap the festival off with our mainstage concert, Myth & Memory
Composer Festival Events
Beethoven & Brahms Community Recital
Saturday, April 11, 2026
Time: 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM St. Paul’s United Church, 29 Park St. W, Dundas, ON
Hosted by Abigail Richardson-Schulte
Free to attend and participate
Registration required for participants
Doors open for audience at 1:30pm, seating is general admission
This is an opportunity for local musicians to come together for an afternoon of music making and community building. For some musicians, it is a wonderful to have a reason to work on a piece of repertoire they have been longing to perform. For others, it’s a chance to share their gifts with like minded musicians. Some of our more senior youth players often use this as an opportunity to perform music they are about to compete with, or present in exams, juries or recitals. For others still, it’s a great excuse to pull together a chamber music group.
Whatever your reason, this small window of time on an early spring afternoon allows you to leave the world behind and immerse yourself in performing and listening to the works of two great composers. It’s no wonder this has become an HPO staff favourite.
If you have any questions about the Community Recital, please email Megan Benjafield: mbenjafield@hpo.org
Screening of Immortal Beloved
Tuesday, April 14, 2026
Time: 7:00 PM
The Westdale (1014 King St W, Hamilton ON)
Hosted by Abigail Richardson-Schulte
Part of the HPO Composers’ Festival with an introduction by HPO Composer-in-Residence Abigail Richardson-Schulte! This biography chronicles the life of the classical composer Ludwig van Beethoven (Gary Oldman) and his painful struggle with hearing loss. Following Beethoven’s death in 1827, his assistant, Schindler (Jeroen Krabbé), searches for an elusive woman referred to in the composer’s love letters as “immortal beloved.” As Schindler solves the mystery, a series of flashbacks reveals Beethoven’s transformation from passionate young man to troubled musical genius.
Community Presentation: Beethoven and Brahms
Wednesday, April 15, 2026
Time: 7:00 PM
St. Paul’s United Church, Dundas
Hosted by Abigail Richardson-Schulte
Hosted by the Hamilton Association, and lead by HPO Composer-in-Residence Abigail Richardson-Shulte, this talk covers two of the most well known composers – Beethoven and Brahms.
Inside The Orchestra: Brahms
Friday, April 17, 2026
Time: 7:30 PM
FirstOntario Concert Hall
Hosted by Daniel Vnukowski
Go deeper into the symphonies featured on the HPO mainstage at Inside the Orchestra! Sit on stage for a rehearsal of Brahms’ Symphony No. 3 infused with fascinating insights into the music and the rehearsal process. Classical FM presenter and pianist Daniel Vnukowski hosts this unique event, guiding us through a listening journey for a deeper musical experience. Enjoy Inside the Orchestra as a standalone event or come back again the next evening for our mainstage concert and experience the music from the audience and hear Brahms’ work from a new perspective.
Cocktail Tasting with the HPO
Friday, April 17, 2026
Time: 9PM
FirstOntario Concert Hall
Hosted by Barebones Bartending
Extend your Inside the Orchestra experience with a unique on-stage cocktail tasting at FirstOntario Concert Hall. Immediately following the rehearsal, stay on stage and enjoy a relaxed two-hour gathering led by the expert mixologists of Barebones Bartending.
Myth & Memory
Saturday, April 18, 2026
Time: 7:30 PM
FirstOntario Concert Hall
Immerse yourself in the rich symphonic sound of three distinguished orchestral works performed by your HPO. Beethoven’s sole violin concerto, starring the HPO’s own concertmaster Stephen Sitarski, is an expansive epic of lyrical beauty, while Brahms’ powerful Third Symphony is a finely wrought musical drama of intense feelings in a restless search for inner tranquility. Raphael’s vivid frescoes depicting the story of Cupid and Psyche shine in Hindemith’s score inspired by his visit to Rome’s Villa Farnesina.
