Pictures At An Exhibition

A multidisciplinary event blending visual art with the expressive power of brass and percussion

On April 12, 2026, the Hannaford Street Silver Band will premiere Pictures at an Exhibition, Modest Mussorgsky’s visionary 1874 suite, in an art-and-concert experience unlike anything seen before, premiering in Toronto. In dialogue with Mussorgsky’s music, each movement of the suite is paired with one of 15 large-scale paintings by Toronto artist Paula Arciniega, whose vivid canvases give visual form to the music’s rhythm, colour, and emotion. Together, music and painting create a living gallery of sound and light. A one-night-only event that reimagines Mussorgsky’s masterpiece for a new century.

See The Paintings

"Within these forms I sense eternity - the knowledge that this dialogue is not a passing storm but a lifelong rhythm"

~ Paula Arciniega

Listening Station

Rhapsody In Blue

The evening opens with George Gershwin’s beloved Rhapsody in Blue, featuring acclaimed pianist Jamie Parker, a three-time Juno Award winner and member of Canada’s celebrated Gryphon Trio. Paula Arciniega’s companion painting, created specifically for this performance, reflects Gershwin’s fusion of classical form and jazz energy, setting the tone for an evening where art and music meet in bold conversation.

Hannaford Street Silver Band

Performing Mussorgsky's suite, Pictures At An Exhibition, is the 30-piece Hannaford Street Silver Band, one of North America’s leading professional brass ensembles. Under the leadership of Artistic Director David Pell and Executive Director Jen Stephens, Hannaford continues to expand the possibilities of brass performance through bold collaborations and new artistic partnerships.

Known for its powerful sound, precision, and artistic daring, the band brings Mussorgsky’s monumental score to life under the baton of Jamie Sommerville. This unprecedented collaboration with Arciniega bridges disciplines, time periods, and creative legacies offering Toronto audiences something wholly original.

"For me, the glow of this collaboration is not only cosmic but human: a shared hymn, voices united across time, memory, and imagination. In this space, we stand together - artist and composer, past and present, viewer and vision - woven into a single procession that carries forward. The cadence is final, yet also unending – a resonance that lingers long after the last note."

~ Paula Arciniega

LIGHTING
DESIGN

Production Director Sam Rosenthal works in close collaboration with the creative team to craft a seamless sensory experience, uniting music, light, and movement in one cohesive vision. Lighting design by Melissa Joakim will play a central role in shaping the evening’s atmosphere, guiding audiences through shifting moods and musical landscapes as Mussorgsky’s suite unfolds. Each element deepens the dialogue between music, painting, and light, heightening the emotional resonance of the performance.

GALLERY
PROMENADE

Extending beyond the stage itself, audiences are invited to promenade among Paula Arciniega’s paintings, installed throughout the hall. This immersive installation echoes Mussorgsky’s own inspiration, his walk through the memorial exhibition of his friend Viktor Hartmann, allowing concertgoers to move through the artwork just as Mussorgsky once did.

Join us. For this one-night-only event. Mussorgsky’s timeless suite vividly brought to life through brass, canvas, and light.

VIP
Postlude

A VIP postlude will feature a solo performance of Maurice Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin paired with a new companion painting by Paula.

Ravel is the composer who, decades after Mussorgsky’s death, created the celebrated orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition that brought the work into symphonic concert halls around the world.