The Kronos Quartet performs with Tanya Tagaq at Toronto's Koerner Hall.Lisa Sakulensky/Handout
Emerson String Quartet
Because of a snowstorm in 1979, the young Emerson String Quartet almost didn’t make it to its first Vancouver recital. But a private jet rushed in the ensemble, who didn’t have time to change out of their jeans before hitting the stage. Airplanes and snow fly, and so does time: The famed American quartet has announced its retirement, set for this summer. The Emerson (including original fiddlers Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer) will say farewell to Canada with a concert presented by the same Friends of Chamber Music who brought the group into the city 43 years ago. The program includes quartets by Haydn and Shostakovich, as well as a Schubert quintet that invites the special-guest return of founding cellist Eric Wilson. If the blue jeans from 1979 no longer fit, the Emerson’s high sophistication and superb prowess never went out of fashion. Dec. 4; Vancouver Playhouse
Barbara Hannigan
Since James Brown died in 2006, nobody has officially taken up the Hardest Working Man in Show Business mantle. When it comes to the Most Tireless Soprano, however, the superstar Barbara Hannigan is in contention for the title. Thankfully, the pride of Waverley, N.S., has fit a home-country appearance into her schedule. With the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, she will sing three pieces, including Quebec composer Claude Vivier’s song of solitude, Lonely Child. The singer gets a well-deserved rest when the orchestra performs Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, a 50-minute epic inspired by the composer’s self-destructive enthusiasm for a beautiful woman. Dec. 7, 10 and 11; Montreal Symphony House
Kronos Quartet
The first rule of the classic string quartet club is that the ensemble shall be comprised of cello, viola and two violins. San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet sticks to that convention, but, after that, all bets are off and boundaries exist only to be crossed. As such, the foursome was a natural choice to kick off the 21C Music Festival, the Royal Conservatory of Music’s annual playground for innovation and newly minted music. Three Kronos concerts include A Thousand Thoughts (a live documentary of sorts), a performance with students from the Glenn Gould School, and a premiere-stocked program that includes a piece by Steve Reich, new music inspired by Billie Holiday, Jimi Hendrix and Mahalia Jackson, and a remix of Tanya Tagaq’s Colonizer that features the Inuit throat singer and past Kronos collaborator. Dec. 6, 8 and 9; Toronto’s Koerner Hall
Brad Wheeler