This Valentine’s Day program draws a sell-out crowd studded with musical royalty – guitarist Karin Schaupp, percussionist Vanessa Tomlinson and composers Robert Davidson, Erik Griswold and Paul Dean among them.

The curation is astute: the centrepiece, and longest work at 32 minutes, is a world premiere – a Harp Concerto by Tristan Coelho, gifted to his wife Emily Granger, QSO’s Principal Harp, for the occasion.

Since meeting a decade ago, Coelho has written short harp works shaped by Granger’s virtuosity, stylistic strengths and her bold, bright tone. She once recalls being told by a conductor that there was “too much harp” – a curious criticism in a profession more often urged to project. Writing a harp concerto carries the inherent risk of submerging the soloist, yet Coelho’s deft scoring avoids that pitfall. Soloistic fragments flicker against quick-draw orchestral responses, ensuring clarity and momentum.

Granger’s playing is generously communicative and easeful, and she clearly relishes stepping from the orchestral ranks into the spotlight – a move warmly supported by her colleagues’ attentive commitment.

In Monoliths, inspired by Yosemite’s vast granite formations, the harp erupts from an orchestral maelstrom. Granger’s brutal, accented strikes dispell any lingering cliché of angelic ripples and soothing broken chords....