This year's UTNMF 2026offered an outstanding line up of concerts, masterclasses, lectures, andworkshops celebrating contemporary music at multiple University of Torontovenues.
Norbert Palej is aninternationally recognized Polish Canadian composer, conductor and pianist. Heis Professor and Head of composition department at the University of TorontoFaculty of Music.
Festival Coordinator and Artistic DirectorProfessor Dr Norbert Palej commented:
‘’I am deeply satisfied with how the 2026 UTNMF turned out: wewelcomed extraordinary musicians from distant countries such as Norway andPoland, and Vivian Fung was a wonderful featured composer. Nature challenged uswith extreme temperatures and a snowstorm to boot, but we didn’t let that deterus — we powered through!”
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The 2026 edition marked Palej’s 17th festival and he is looking forward for more tocome
“I began directingthe UTNMF in 2010, when Krzysztof Penderecki was our guest, so the 2026 editionmarked my 17th festival. Some ideas take years to ripen, and sometimesit takes years before the guests I have in mind are able to come. The planningof specific programs begins about a year in advance. For example, I alreadyhave a sense of who might visit us in 2027, but most of the programs are stilltaking shape’
Asked about his world premieres: 'Mene Mene'for solo oboe and orchestra that was featured
at Sinfonia Toronto'sconcert by acclaimed Berlin Philharmonic oboist Christoph Hartmann,Palej replied;
‘I was very nervous about this work because itis probably my most daring one to date. It demands extreme endurance and focusfrom the ensemble, an unusually restrained mode of participation from thesoloist, and it challenges the audience with its unconventional proportions andobsessive minimal material.
The first rehearsal I attended made me even moreworried, as it revealed just how strenuousMene Mene was for the performers. Yet, as it turned out, theywere saving their strength and energy for the concert: Sinfonia Toronto andoboe virtuoso Christoph Hartmann delivered a performance more emotionallycharged and intense than I could have dreamed of.”
