Music on Main and the Roundhouse launch Vancouver's inaugural BIG BANG Festival, February 16

Event designed specifically for youth features hands-on activities, surprise performances, and mini concerts by local and international artists

BIG BANG Festival. Photo by Jonathan Lorange

AN ADVENTUROUS, INTERNATIONALLY based music festival designed specifically for young audiences is coming to Vancouver in the new year in a presentation by Music on Main and the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre.

Called the BIG BANG Festival, the event created by Belgium’s Zonzo Compagnie will bring a mix of mini concerts, hands-on activities, and surprise performances to the Roundhouse during the Family Day long weekend on February 16 starting at 12 pm. Children ages five and up are invited to the event, which centres interactive musical experiences.

While a full lineup for the festival will be announced in the coming weeks, so far audiences can expect to hear from international voices like Belgian singer Naomi Beeldens and local musicians such as Iranian Canadian santour player Saina Khalediand and Taiwanese-born, Vancouver-based zheng player Dailin Hsieh (both of whom recently performed in Music on Main’s The Tempest Project).

The BIG BANG Festival is hosted each year in several cities around the world. Canadian stops include Ottawa and Quebec, while European host cities span The Hague, Brussels, Dublin, Lisbon, Rennes, Reykjavík, Copenhagen, and beyond.

Tickets to the fest’s inaugural Vancouver edition will be on sale as of January 15. Guests can purchase single tickets or reserve event-specific tickets (many of which are free or $5). Music on Main also offers a limited number of complimentary tickets for all self-identifying Indigenous folks, which can be reserved by contacting the box office.

Music on Main’s 2024-25 season programming continues into spring and summer, with concert highlights including A Month of Tuesdays at the Fox Cabaret from April 8 to 29 (featuring Alfredo Santa Ana, Dálava, Eve Egoyan, and Chloe Kim), the Kessler Academy string orchestra on August 10 at the Roundhouse, and the free Summer Pop-Up Concerts in Mount Pleasant Park from August 18 to 20.

Featured

Emily Lyth

Emily Lyth is a Vancouver-based writer and editor who graduated from Langara College’s Journalism program. Her decade of dance training and passion for all things food-related are the foundation of her love for telling arts, culture, and community stories.

Articles

With BlackGate, Ireland’s Caimin Gilmore steps into the spotlight

The project’s success should allow the double bassist and composer—who kicks off Music on Main’s 2026–27 season—to turn down more gigs as a hired sideman

Trumpeter Jon Faddis honours his mentor Dizzy Gillespie at CapU Centre, November 27

The protégé will be accompanied by both large and small CapU Jazz ensembles

Halloween at the Polygon takes a trip back to the era of slasher flicks and aerobics, October 31

The 1980s-themed party includes a free-play arcade, a pop-up tattoo parlour, and live performances by Trauma Novelle, Reveal Yourself, and Devours

Elektra's Chez Nous embraces the holiday season, November 28 and 29

Annual Christmas concert features compositions by Shireen Abu-Khader, Srul Irving Glick, Marie-Claire Saindon, and Stephen Smith

United Voices Choir performs Mozart's Requiem and Coronation Mass, November 22 and 27

Led by director Greg Caisley, concert features 60-voice choir, orchestra, and four outstanding soloists

Review: At Vancouver Opera, knockout arias and inspired staging live up to Tosca expectations

Season opener, coproduced with Pacific Opera Victoria, features a strong central trio of singers and striking lighting and sets

Vancouver Chamber Choir and Belle Spirale Dance Projects join forces in The Little Match Girl, November 13 and 14

Vocals, movement, and lighting meet in a bold reimagining of David Lang’s Pulitzer Prize–winning choral composition

Chapel Sound Art Foundation announces the Constellation Festival, November 12 to 15

Offerings spans queer cinema, live electronic music, and dance throughout this multidisciplinary collaboration between six emerging curators

The Shadbolt Centre hosts Ruby Singh and the Future Ancestors, November 20

Award-winning performer, composer, and producer leads a project that blends blues, gospel, hip hop, and griot traditions

In Beatitude, Vancouver Cantata Singers launch season with Sherryl Sewepagaham's serene ode to land, October 24

The Cree-Dene composer’s new work joins a program aimed at instilling calm, bliss, and joy

In Death and Taxes, Brass Tax and Gerardo Avila celebrate life through music and clowning

As part of the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival, the new show nods to Mexico’s Día de los Muertos and similar traditions from other countries

Early Music Vancouver hosts the Magic of Monteverdi with France's Les Arts Florissants, November 17

Baroque masters William Christie and Paul Agnew lead the vocal ensemble in a revelatory program devoted to the lauded Italian composer

Poiesis Quartet takes musical approach founded on artistic and social inclusion

Featuring contemporary and canonical pieces, the acclaimed ensemble’s program at the Kay Meek Arts Centre reflects dedication to creating space for emerging and marginalized voices

Myra Melford and her trio set to make a splash as part of VanJazz ’26 on October 25

The American pianist’s project is part of her ongoing engagement with the work of post-abstract expressionist painter Cy Twombly

At Vancouver Opera, Tosca reveals the full complexity of one of Puccini’s smartest women

Director Brenna Corner dove deep into history to flesh out the corruption that surrounds a tragic character who lives life on her own terms

Ghibli Jazz Orchestra pays a big-band tribute to beloved animation studio’s soundtracks

Isabel Leong and her 18-piece band play scores by Ghibli composer Joe Hisaishi—but they don’t simply re-create the music of the films

The Vancouver Bach Choir performs Christopher Tin's The Lost Birds, November 14

Grammy-nominated composition draws on poetry to honour species that have vanished from the natural world

Kuniko Kato uses Open Frequencies to bring new meaning to Steve Reich’s groundbreaking music

As part of Vancouver New Music’s festival, the acclaimed percussionist relies on a traditional Japanese spirit of harmony that allows Reich’s precise patterns to breathe

Songs for a New World brings an intimate concert to the Minoru Chapel, November 13 and 14

Gateway Theatre production follows four characters standing on the precipice of change

Vetta Chamber Music hosts violist Jacob van der Sloot and his musical family, November 13 to 16

Artists unite to perform soaring string sextets by Dvořák and Brahms

TAXA gives the silent horror classic Nosferatu a new soundtrack at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, October 17

F.W. Murnau’s 1920 German Expressionist film—an unauthorized adaptation of Dracula—was nearly lost thanks to a lawsuit launched by Bram Stoker’s widow