Loverboy, the Sheepdogs and the NAC Orchestra all working for the Canada Day Weekend

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Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra: Shooting Stars

Group of Seven-adjacent painter Tom Thomson was nothing if not a shooting star, having died under unexplained circumstances at the age of 39, streaking long enough to make one believe in the miraculous. In conjunction with a new Thomson exhibit, a concert features the music of Hyacinthe Jadin, Franz Schubert and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composers who never made it to 40. June 30, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinberg, Ont.

1000 Islands Regatta: Loverboy

Overflowing with hormonal optimism and set to a chugging rhythmic momentum, it is undeniably one of this country’s great hoser hymns and mating calls: Loverboy’s Working for the Weekend, from the album Get Lucky. If you don’t think a concert from the 1980s-era hitmakers is the perfect way to start a Canada Day weekend blowout, perhaps your red leather pants just don’t fit any longer. June 30, Blockhouse Island, Brockville, Ont.

The Sheepdogs

Wheatfield soul. CanCon choogle. Southern rock for the latitude confused. However you describe it, the retro groove of the veteran Saskatchewan rockers can be wrapped in a maple-leaf flag comfortably, even if their sound is imported from another land and era. The band’s homegrown credentials were established in 2011 when they represented Canada in a contest that landed them on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. June 30 and July 1, Kee to Bala, Bala, Ont.

Canada Day at the King Eddy

Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre, currently houses Randy Bachman’s sprawling collection of guitars used on beer-soaked Bachman-Turner Overdrive warhorses Takin’ Care of Business and You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet. The building is open on Canada’s birthday, with free admission. In the spirit of “Get a second-hand guitar, chances are you’ll go far,” the landmark King Eddy venue across the street hosts live music on two stages. July 1, Calgary.

Blackie and the Rodeo Kings

Two days after the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra launches the free Whistler Summer Concert Series on June 29, the roots rock supergroup comprised of Tom Wilson, Stephen Fearing and Colin Linden entertains the picnic-blanket people occupying the lawn at Whistler Olympic Plaza. July 1, Whistler, B.C.

Toronto Symphony Orchestra

With the NHL playoffs routinely stretching well into June, the playing of the Hockey Night in Canada theme on a summer night will not be out of place. The rugged instrumental composed by Dolores Claman and orchestrated by Jerry Toth is one of the expected highlights of an open-air concert that places the works of Canadians Oscar Peterson, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and Claman alongside pieces from talented foreigners Beethoven and Brahms. July 1, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto.

Sloan and Les Hay Babies: Whoa Canada!

“Hey, you,” Sloan sang in 1998, “you’ve been around for a while.” The accomplished rock melodists have now been around for more than three decades themselves. Their latest album is modestly titled Steady, with songs I Dream of Sleep and Keep Your Name Alive suggesting the reasonable aspirations of most middle-aged indie bands in this country. They’ll headline a free concert with Les Hay Babies, a New Brunswick folk-pop trio of Julie Aubé, Katrine Noël and Vivianne Roy. July 1, Moncton.

National Arts Centre Orchestra

Written in 1962 by the jazz pianist Oscar Peterson and lyricist Harriette Hamilton, Hymn to Freedom served as one of the decade’s significant accompaniments to the civil rights movement. “All the lyrics had to do was express in very simple language the hope for unity, peace and dignity for mankind,” Hamilton once said. “It was easy to write.” A free concert closes with the bluesy anthem. July 1, Southam Hall, Ottawa.

Measha Brueggergosman-Lee

As comfortable singing Wagner as she is interpreting Nina Simone, the Fredericton-born star soprano Measha Brueggergosman-Lee is equally at home on stage at Carnegie Hall as she is in, well, a barn – specifically the lovely 400-seat venue called the Barn, at the Westben festival in Ontario’s pastoral Northumberland County. July 2, Campbellford, Ont.

Melody Gardot

“Wondrous is what the moment brings, wonderful the song the songbird sings.” The latest album from the bilingual American jazzer Melody Gardot is 2022′s Entre eux deux, co-written with pianist Philippe Powell. Seductive and coolly delivered, the often-romantic sentiments need no translation. Gardot’s four-city Canadian tour closes with a headline gig at Montreal Jazz Festival. July 2, Place des Arts, Montreal.