Early Music Alberta

05/12/2026

One of the delights of last Friday’s concert was hearing Lucas Harris perform Paganini’s Sonatina No. 4 in C Major, MS 85 for solo guitar. 🥰🎶

This piece offered such a lovely glimpse into Paganini’s more intimate musical world — elegant, poised, and beautifully shaped. It reminded us that beyond the legendary violin virtuoso was also a composer deeply devoted to the guitar.

For those who missed the concert, or for anyone who wants to revisit this wonderful program, the livestream recording is available until end of day Sunday, May 17, offering the chance to hear this remarkable music — and this extraordinary historical guitar — from home. 🎥✨

🎟 Get your ticket to watch the concert recording before it's too late! https://www.earlymusicalberta.ca/season-2025-2026/

05/11/2026

Did you miss the final concert of the season?! 🥺 You still have time to be immersed in all its beauty!

Last Friday’s Paganini & Boccherini concert opened with Paganini’s Cantabile in D Major, MS 109 for violin and guitar, beautifully performed by Yeeun Ha (violin) and Lucas Harris (guitar). 🎶

It was such a graceful and expressive way to begin the evening — intimate, lyrical, and full of quiet charm. The conversation between violin and guitar unfolded with such elegance, and it set the tone for a concert that so many described afterward as magical, unforgettable, and simply WOW!!! ✨😯

If you were not able to join us in person, the livestream recording is available for purchase until end of day Sunday, May 17, and this opening is a beautiful place to begin.

Watch from home: 🎟🎥 https://www.earlymusicalberta.ca/season-2025-2026/

05/08/2026

Tonight’s the night! 🥰🎶💃

Don’t miss Paganini & Boccherini, our final concert of the season, tonight at 7:00 PM.
Join us in person for an evening of brilliance, warmth, and surprise — or take in the concert by livestream, with beautiful quality that feels as though you are right there in the room. 🎥

🎟Tickets and details: https://www.earlymusicalberta.ca/season-2025-2026/

05/07/2026

TOMORROW night: Paganini & Boccherini ✨💃

Join Early Music Alberta on Friday, May 8 at 7:00 PM for a pre-concert chat with Lucas Harris, followed by a concert that brings a different side of Paganini into view — not only the legendary virtuoso, but the composer of intimate, surprising, guitar-rich chamber music.

With Lucas Harris, Keith Hamm, Yeeun Ha, Gabriele Thielmann-Vriend, and Josephine van Lier, this program offers warmth, brilliance, historical colour, and a high-energy close with Boccherini’s Fandango. ✨

We would love to see you there!!

🎟Tickets and details: https://www.earlymusicalberta.ca/season-2025-2026/

Josephine van Lier

05/07/2026

This Friday ~ Paganini & Boccherini!! 🥰

Join us in just TWO short days for an evening of intimate chamber music, historical colour, and a few wonderful surprises along the way. ✨

In-person or livestream, Friday, May 8, 2026 at 7:30 PM
🎟Tickets and details: https://www.earlymusicalberta.ca/season-2025-2026/

05/06/2026

Just 3 more days until our upcoming concert — and today’s rehearsal has us even more excited! 🎶🤩 Get your tickets ... you won't want to miss this final show of the season!

Seeing this music begin to take shape in the room is MAGICAL ✨~ the conversation between strings and guitar, the colour of the historical instruments, and all the little details that make this program so full of CHARACTER and SURPRISE!

“Paganini and Friends” is coming up on Friday, May 8, 2026 at 7:00 PM, and this beautiful program is already sounding vivid, intimate, and full of life.

Can't make it in person? Watch it livestream with the purchase of a ticket ~ We can’t wait to share it with you!

🎟Tickets and details: https://www.earlymusicalberta.ca/season-2025-2026/

Part of a Paganini Festival weekend in collaboration with the Edmonton Classical Guitar Society:
https://www.edmontonclassicalguitarsociety.org/event-details

05/04/2026

A little more about the guitar Lucas Harris will be playing this Friday… 🎶

Our upcoming Paganini & Boccherini concert on May 8, 2026 features a beautifully restored 1831 Gaetano Guadagnini guitar, and its story is almost as fascinating as the music itself. A restoration blog by Michael Schreiner gives a closer look at the instrument’s nearly-as-built condition, its distinctive construction, and the careful repair work that helped bring it back to performance.

Read more here:
https://schreinerlutesandguitars.blogspot.com/2016/12/gaetano-guadagnini-1831-restoration.html

Then come hear it live on Friday, May 8 at 7:30 PM. 🤩

🎟 Concert details and tickets: https://www.earlymusicalberta.ca/season-2025-2026/

I had no previous experience with guitars built by Gaetano Guadagnini II (1805 - 1852) so when Lucas Harris invited me to accompany him to...

05/04/2026

Join us this coming Friday (May 8, 2026) for an engaging pre-concert lecture, with Lucas Harris, exploring the fascinating life of Niccolò Paganini—legendary virtuoso, notorious gambler, and irresistible romantic, whose otherworldly artistry even gave rise to rumours of a pact with the devil. ✨

Beyond his astonishing feats on the violin, discover the lesser-known story of his lifelong devotion to the guitar and how it shaped his musical voice. A compelling portrait of brilliance, excess, and intrigue awaits. 🎶

🎟 Tickets and details: https://www.earlymusicalberta.ca/season-2025-2026/

05/03/2026

Something truly special at the upcoming concert 🤩
Josephine learning a new instrument! 😯 As if baroque cello and violoncello piccolo were not enough for the May 8th performance, she is now adding castanets to the mix for Boccherini’s Fandango. 💃

Honestly, we love this!!

It is exactly the kind of detail that makes this upcoming concert on Friday, May 8 at 7:30 PM feel so alive — full of musical colour, historical character, and a few unexpected delights along the way.

Come hear it all in Paganini & Boccherini, part of a collaborative Paganini Festival weekend with the Edmonton Classical Guitar Society.

🎟 Tickets and details: https://www.earlymusicalberta.ca/season-2025-2026/
🎟 Festival partner concert: https://www.edmontonclassicalguitarsociety.org/event-details

Josephine van Lier

05/01/2026

We are just one week away from Paganini & Boccherini. 🤩

On Friday, May 8 at 7:30 PM, this program brings together the elegance of Paganini’s chamber writing, the warmth of guitar and viola, the distinctive voice of the violoncello piccolo, and the spirited energy of Boccherini’s Fandango. 💃🏽

It is intimate, surprising, and full of character — the kind of concert that rewards close listening and invites you right into the conversation!

Join us in-person OR watch via livestream!
🎟Tickets and details: https://www.earlymusicalberta.ca/season-2025-2026/

04/30/2026

Planning your May 8–9 weekend?

Make it a Paganini Festival weekend. 🎶✨

Early Music Alberta presents Paganini & Boccherini on Friday, May 8 at 7:30 PM, with guitar, baroque strings, violoncello piccolo, and Boccherini’s lively Fandango.

Then the Edmonton Classical Guitar Society continues the celebration on Saturday, May 9 with their own festival concert.

Two evenings. 😯
One fascinating composer. 🤩
So much to discover. 🥰

🎟EMA tickets/details: https://www.earlymusicalberta.ca/season-2025-2026/
🎟ECGS concert: https://www.edmontonclassicalguitarsociety.org/event-details