Dashan and Carolyn Kuan on the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Lunar New Year 2026: Year of the Horse Celebration
Written by Fête Chinoise Editorial Team (Kayla Lo)
Images Courtesy of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra has been celebrating the Lunar New Year with the community since 2014. What started as an outreach concert held on a weekday has grown into a prime-time Saturday night event, drawing sold-out crowds to the Roy Thomson Hall. This year, the Year of the Horse: Lunar New Year Celebration concert takes place on February 28. We had the privilege of speaking with host and guest artist Dashan, and conductor Carolyn Kuan about their thoughts on this vibrant annual celebration.
Dashan (Mark Rowswell)
Carolyn Kuan
The Lunar New Year is the most important festival for the Chinese community. Having a Lunar New Year concert presented by the city’s orchestra, a symbol of mainstream Canadian culture, is a meaningful way to integrate the festival into the broader cultural landscape. “It indicates that the Lunar New Year is part of the cultural mosaic that all Canadians can celebrate and come together over,” Dashan shares. Having worked in China for nearly 40 years, the Canadian entertainer has been the featured guest artist in every TSO Lunar New Year concert since the inaugural 2014 edition.
“It indicates that the Lunar New Year is part of the cultural mosaic that all Canadians can celebrate and come together over.”
Photography: ALlan Cabral
Photography: ALlan Cabral
For Carolyn Kuan, the Lunar New Year bridges her Chinese heritage and her journey in the Western classical music world. For many in the diaspora, this festive time is filled with music, laughter, and celebration, a time to actively participate in traditions and connect with one’s roots. Carolyn finds it incredibly meaningful to share that spirit and honour her heritage through a symphony orchestra, a language she loves dearly.
The concert welcomes all audiences. Carolyn is especially excited to share these traditions with new listeners. For Western audiences, music transcends language barriers, and festive music is always energetic and joyful, making it easy to connect with its emotions. For first-time concert-goers, the event offers a way to pass traditions from one generation to the next, honouring both the continuity of the Lunar New Year and Chinese heritage. Carolyn shares, “If a child in the audience sees their culture reflected on stage, or if another child discovers something new and beautiful about a different culture, that’s very powerful. That’s how understanding begins.”
“If a child in the audience sees their culture reflected on stage, or if another child discovers something new and beautiful about a different culture, that’s very powerful. That’s how understanding begins.”
Wu Man
Ryan Huang
The programme of the evening is a blend of traditional and modern, East and West, curated in collaboration with Carolyn and Olga Mychakluk, TSO’s Director of Pops and Special Concerts. In recent years, the concert has featured classical Chinese poetry narrated against modern orchestral music. This year, Dashan will narrate The Way to Shu is Treacherous (Shu Dao Nan 蜀道難) by Li Bai 李白, one of China’s greatest poets, alongside a world premiere of a brand-new composition by Alison Yun-fei Jiang. International Pipa virtuoso Wu Man will perform a beautiful concerto, while captivating piano prodigy Ryan Huang, who also enchanted audiences at the 2026 Fête Chinoise Signature Event, will play the beloved Grieg Piano Concerto.
The program also includes the symbolic Gongxi Gongxi by Chen Gexin, works by Li Huanzhi, Zhao Jiping, Liu Tieshan & Mao Yuan, Canadian composer Vivian Fung, and a special dance performance from the Yang Yang Dance Studio. Carolyn is particularly excited to present Folk Songs by Huang Ruo, originally premiered by the composer in 2012. Through classical music, modern adaptations of traditional Chinese music, and new compositions that bridge cultural barriers, the evening promises to be a truly unique experience.
Photography: ALlan Cabral
The TSO extends the celebration beyond the concert to a full community experience. A pre-concert artisan market and lion dance performances will take place in the Roy Thomson Hall lobby. Audiences can also enhance their evening with a pre-concert reception and multi-course dinner at Shangri-La Toronto, featuring festive-themed cocktails and entertainment with guest artists. Sharing meals is central to Chinese Lunar New Year traditions, symbolising unity, harmony, and family bonds. This reception offers an immersive way to celebrate the festival together, just like a family gathering.
The concert is currently sold out, but limited tickets remain for the Silver Supporter package which comes with concert and pre-concert dinner experience, with proceeds supporting the TSO’s music education and outreach programs. For more information, visit TSO.CA/LNYDinner.
Win a pair of tickets to the Year of the Horse: A Lunar New Year Celebration Concert!
Fête Chinoise is thrilled to partner with the TSO to offer a chance to win a pair of tickets to the February 28 concert. Enter the giveaway now via Fête Chinoise’s Instagram. Good luck!
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