Corbin Murdoch steps in as Vancouver Folk Music Festival executive director

The musician, cultural programmer, and producer is set to work alongside artistic director Fiona Black

WELL-KNOWN LOCAL musician, cultural programmer, and producer Corbin Murdoch has just been announced as the new executive director at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival.

Over the past two decades, Murdoch has worked for organizations across the country, including The Cultch, Theatre Replacement, the Vancouver Fringe Festival, and The River Clyde Pageant. Most recently, Murdoch served as the artistic and executive director of the Dawson City Music Festival.

Murdoch was chosen after an extensive search and will work alongside Folk Fest artistic director Fiona Black on planning for the 49th Vancouver Folk Music Festival, set to take place July 17 to 19, 2026 at ʔəy̓alməxʷ / Iy̓ál̓mexw Jericho Beach Park.

The organization is also working toward its golden anniversary celebration the following year, as well as longterm strategic planning and financial stability after pulling itself out of postpandemic financial challenges.

The Vancouver-born and -raised artist’s flagship project, the folk-roots band The Nautical Miles, has toured across Canada and Europe and has performed at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival itself.

Murdoch completed a master of fine arts in interdisciplinary studies at SFU in 2014.

“I am honoured to lead VFMF as it embarks on its next chapter and prepares for its 49th festival,” Murdoch said in the press announcement today. “My goal is to carry forward its legacy as a vibrant, inclusive, and sustainable cultural hub to present folk and roots music for years to come.”

Featured

Janet Smith

Janet Smith is founding partner and editorial director of Stir. She is a Webster Award–winning arts journalist who has spent more than three decades immersed in Vancouver’s performing arts, film, and gallery scenes. She sits on the Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle.

Articles

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

Chor Leoni honours Remembrance Day at The Soul Flies Away, November 11

Program features a world premiere, a new arrangement, and the return of Don Macdonald’s High Flight, which pays tribute to a Canadian airman’s journey

The Six String Nation Guitar Celebrates the Great Canadian Songbook at the Kay Meek Arts Centre, November 8

Four artists play iconic Canadian songs on an instrument made from pieces of national history

With new outfit Elephant, Adam O’Farrill’s musical language evolves into more direct expression

The composer and trumpeter moves from head to heart through the adventurous nature of the four-piece ensemble, coming to VanJazz ’26

Get your best salsa and cumbia moves on at VLACC's I Like It Like That! on October 10

Featuring live music, DJs, and dance lessons, the event is part of Latin Expressions 2026, hosted by the Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre

BlackGate brings new sounds from Ireland to the Music on Main stage, November 3

Acclaimed double bassist Caimin Gilmore performs compositions from his debut album alongside cellist Kate Ellis and harpist Lavinia Meijer

Branford Marsalis and Dianne Reeves pay tribute to John Coltrane at the Chan Centre on October 13

In Coastal Jazz and Chan copresentation, the pair mark the centennial of saxophonist Coltrane’s birth by performing songs from his 1963 album with singer Johnny Hartman

For Mark Mothersbaugh, scoring a film means interpreting the language of the director

The DEVO member—coming to town as part of the Vancouver International Film Festival—has built a second career composing music for TV cartoons, Wes Anderson movies, and everything in between

Randy Raine-Reusch receives WOMAD award for “extraordinary vision and artistry”

The multifaceted Vancouver-based musician and composer has worked with everyone from Aerosmith and Raffi to Pauline Oliveros and the Cranberries

MUTEK x VIFF Live delivers cutting-edge electronic music and workshops, October 2 to 4

Presented as part of the Vancouver International Film Festival’s live-performance series, the event is a collaboration between MUTEK Montreal and Vancouver’s Chapel Sound Art Foundation

Tawnie Olson’s Missa Brevis reflects light and hope in political darkness

Steeped in her faith, this new work by the Vancouver Chamber Choir’s composer in residence is a timely reminder of what human beings have endured and survived