Sergei Rachmaninoff
– Piano Concerto No. 2
Michael Berkovsky, piano
Ludwig van Beethoven
– Symphony No. 9 (Ode to Joy)
with Amadeus Choir of Toronto
Sara Schabas, soprano
Alessia Vitali, mezzo soprano
Andrew Haji, tenor
Dion Mazerolle, baritone
Saturday June 14, 2025
7:00pm George Weston Recital Hall
Rafael Luz Conductor
Ticket Prices
Canadian-Israeli pianist Michael Berkovsky is an internationally acclaimed artist who has performed as a soloist across Europe, Asia, North America, and South America. He made his New York debut at David Geffen Hall and has appeared with conductors including Vladimir Feltsman, Stefan Sanderling, Leon Fleisher, and William Noll. His performances have aired on 96.3 Classical FM and CBC Radio, and in 2022 he recorded for the RCM Piano Syllabus.
Michael is on faculty at the Glenn Gould School and the Phil and Eli Taylor Academy, where he maintains a highly competitive studio. His students have won top prizes in national and international competitions including Chopin (Warsaw, Geneva), Van Cliburn Junior, Cleveland, Kaufman, Bösendorfer-Yamaha, and have been accepted to Juilliard, Curtis, Yale, and NEC.
In the summer of 2025, Michael will be guest faculty at both the Juilliard Music Festival in New York and the Juilliard Summer Festival in Tianjin. In addition, he and his wife, Coral Solomon-Berkovsky, are the artistic directors of the RCM Piano Intensive Festival, which will celebrate its inaugural season this summer.
Born in the former Soviet Union, Michael later studied in Israel and earned degrees from Juilliard and a doctorate from Peabody Conservatory.
Praised for her “beautifully clear, light lyric soprano” (Ludwig Van), Sara Schabas’ 2024-2025 season includes performances on three continents. She performs a recital tour of mainland China and completes residencies in Germany and France with the Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques, returns to the Masterworks of Oakville as soprano soloist in Messiah, and sings recitals with the pianist Alexey Shafirov for the COC, the Franz-Schubert-Institut and the Schubert and Modern Music Competition in Austria, as well as Concerts Lachine and the Chapelle Historique du Bon-Pasteur series in Montreal.
An interpreter of music from the baroque to the cutting edge, Sara enjoys collaborations with various composers and has created roles for Vancouver Opera, Pacific Opera Victoria, Tapestry Opera, and Loose Tea Music Theatre among others, and sung as soloist with opera companies and orchestras across North America. In 2020, she was nominated for the Dora Award for Outstanding Performance by an Individual for her portrayal of Anne Frank in Cecilia Livingston’s Singing Only Softly, and she is the 2024 winner of the Wirth Vocal Prize. Born and raised in Toronto, Sara is currently completing a Doctorate of Music in Voice Performance at McGill and serving as editor of Art Song Canada magazine.
Alessia Vitali is an Italian Canadian mezzo-soprano originally from Montréal, Québec. She recently completed her first year of Calgary Opera’s McPhee Artist Development Program, where she made her mainstage debut as La Ciesca in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. During the company’s 2024–25 season, she also undertook a role study of Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and appeared in the title role of Nino Rota’s family-friendly opera The Witty Squirrel./
Her recent operatic credits also include Signora Guidotti in Rota’s I due timidi, Mercédès in Bizet’s Carmen, Rosina in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto, Cherubino in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, and the title role in Handel’s Serse.
This summer, Alessia will join the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity’s Interplay program, a residency focused on innovation and collaboration in contemporary opera. There, she will take part in the Canadian premiere of Poul Ruders’ The Handmaid’s Tale, compelling adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s acclaimed dystopian novel.
She holds a Master of Music in Opera from the University of Toronto, where she studied under the guidance of Elizabeth McDonald.
Canadian tenor Andrew Haji is acclaimed for his warm, mellifluous tone and expressive artistry, praised for “lyric beauty and carrying power” and a voice described as “bright yet warm…used with grace and all the requisite legato lines.” He is celebrated on operatic and concert stages for his musical depth and clarion vocal presence.
In the 2024–25 season, Haji made debuts with the Chicago Symphony (Haydn’s Mass in Time of War), the Cleveland Orchestra (Bach’s Easter Oratorio and Magnificat), and Germany’s NDR Radiophilharmonie (Bach’s Christmas Oratorio). He also returned to Carnegie Hall as the Evangelist in Bach’s St John Passion with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and sang the title role in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito at Pacific Opera Victoria.
Notable operatic roles include Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Alfredo (La traviata), Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Rodolfo (La bohème), Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Macduff (Macbeth), Cassio (Otello), and Pollione (Norma), with leading companies across Canada and abroad.
An alumnus of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio, Haji is a prizewinner of the Marilyn Horne Song Competition, the Montreal International Music Competition, and Grand Prix winner of the International Vocal Competition in ’s-Hertogenbosch.
Acadian baritone Dion Mazerolle has forged a solid reputation in Canada and Europe as an artist of the highest calibre. A former member of the Atelier lyrique de l'Opéra de Montréal, he is acclaimed for his musical finesse and strong stage presence, both in opera and in concert.
Dion's recent concert engagements include Carmina Burana with Toronto’s North York Concert Orchestra and Pax Christi Chorale, Haydn's Creation with Galileo Orchestre and Mozart’s Requiem with Montreal’s Ensemble Caprice. In Montréal, Dion continues his collaboration with Idées Heureuses, as a soloist in Graupner’s Cantatas. Performances this season include Brahms’ Requiem with L’orchestre symphonique de l’Estuaire, Bach’s St. John Passion with Ensemble Caprice, Verdi’s Requiem with Toronto’s Kindred Spirits Orchestra and A Canadian Valentine with Confluence Concerts.
Dion recently triumphed as Alberich in Edmonton Opera’s Das Rheingold and starred as Golaud in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande at the Teatri di Piacenza in Italy. In France, Dion debuted as le Roi de Trèfle in Prokofiev’s surreal opera L’Amour des trois oranges with Opera National de Lorraine in Nancy.
This season, Dion debuted as Dr. Falke with Stratford Symphony in their concert version of Die Fledermaus and sings Zuniga in Carmen with Montreal’s Festival Classica.
The award-winning Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto celebrates more than 50 years of enlivening the Toronto arts landscape through energetic performances, unexpected programming and artistic collaborations that redefine choral music. As we reflect on more than five decades of artistic excellence, we recognize that it has only been made possible through the dedication of our community. Starting with our choir members, volunteers, and staff, and rippling out to our audiences, donors, sponsors and the public, The Amadeus Choir has become a vital thread of connection in the cultural tapestry of Greater Toronto and beyond.
Led by Artistic Director Kathleen Allan, the Choir champions the best of choral music and premieres works of Canadian and international composers through a self-produced Toronto concert series, guest performances, and special events. The Amadeus Choir regularly commissions work from high-profile and emerging Canadian composers and recently established the Choral Creation Lab, a residency for composers and poets to co-create original works.
George Weston Recital Hall
Meridian Arts Centre
5040 Yonge Street North York
Tickets on sale now!
