Noteworthy

Genre-defying and boundary-crossing, Latvian accordionist Ksenija Sidorova has redefined what her instrument can do on the world stage. Making her Toronto Symphony Orchestra début in the 2025/26 season, she will perform the North American Première of Dances—a dazzling concerto written for her by Estonian composer Tõnu Kõrvits. Sidorova’s artistry invites audiences to rethink the accordion’s possibilities, blending classical finesse with the instrument’s rich folk roots and a distinctly modern edge.

Beginnings

Sidorova’s introduction to the accordion happened purely by accident: her grandmother, who herself played the instrument in the Latvian folk tradition, thought it would be something fun for her and her then-six-year-old granddaughter to do one summer. From playing folk tunes, Sidorova was soon given “little classical music pieces” by a teacher to learn. “Eventually, it went so naturally onto something serious that, by the age of 12, I knew I wanted to make it my profession,” she remembers. Four years later, she won a scholarship to London’s prestigious Royal Academy of Music to study classical accordion, which she says is a highlight of her musical life. “I didn’t know it was possible. There were people who really believed.” 

Path to Creative Diversity

Considered the leading ambassador for classical accordion today, Sidorova has made her name playing music spanning three centuries. Her award-winning recordings show the breadth of her musical interests—from J.S. Bach and Mozart, to Astor Piazzolla and modern works by Sergey Akhunov, Dobrinka Tabakova, and Gabriela Montero. From the beginning of her career, she has been particularly keen on expanding the repertoire of the accordion, which has been a classical instrument only from the 1960s, when the addition of a new keyboard made it fully polyphonic. This technical innovation has since inspired contemporary composers to create new works for the accordion. Among them is Kõrvits, who composed Dances (2024), a Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Estonian Festival Orchestra Co-commission, with Sidorova’s distinctive talents in mind.

Ambassador of Sound 

“[The accordion] is a traditional instrument in so many countries, an accompaniment to many songs,” says Sidorova, though it’s also “multi-faceted.” She credits her experience of performing with Sting and Bryn Terfel in October 2015 (for Terfel’s 50th-birthday celebration at the Royal Albert Hall) for “strengthen[ing] my belief that it’s time to take the accordion to places it has never been and to reach new audiences.” 

“I love performing modern works and new commissions,” she elaborates, “but I feel it is my mission now to introduce the accordion to a new audience. My heart enjoys playing many different styles of music and I want to share this experience with as many people as possible.”

Experience the exhilarating artistry of Ksenija Sidorova and the brilliant colours of Tõnu Kõrvits’s Dances at Debussy & Sibelius on October 30, and November 1 and 2, 2025. Join the TSO for this unforgettable début and hear the accordion as you’ve never heard it before. Get your tickets now at TSO.CA/Concerts.