A Steve Reich ode and an international roster as Vancouver New Music announces 2026-27 season
Highlights of the roster include Kuniko Kato Quartet, Charmaine Lee, and Miyama McQueen-Tokita
Charmaine Lee
Kuniko Kato
VANCOUVER NEW MUSIC’S 2026-27 season has just been unveiled, bringing in artists from not only Canada and the U.S. but as far away as Japan, Korea, Egypt, and Australia.
The season launches with the Vancouver New Music Festival’s Open Frequencies, running October 22 to 24 at Pacific Spirit United Church. It kicks off with Japan’s Kuniko Kato Quartet performing a program celebrating Steve Reich’s 90th birthday, the program boasting percussive new adaptations specially curated by the quartet with Reich.
The rest of the three-day fest presents internationally acclaimed and emerging artists working across experimental, interdisciplinary, and cross-cultural sound practices, including Korea-U.S.’s Okkyung Lee, Egypt’s Nadah El Shazl with Montreal’s Sarah Pagé, and B.C.’s Meredith Bates and Piu.
The season also marks the return of the One-Page Score Project on January 23, 2027 at Christ Church Cathedral. The popular series inviting community members to create graphic scores, which are then performed by Plastic Acid Orchestra.
Other season highlights include Aussie-U.S. vocalist Charmaine Lee on February 20 at The Beaumont Studios, with her experiments in feedback and live processing of vocals; Vancouver-based x/o (Veron Xio) explores parallel terrain through voice and electronics to open the evening.
The eighth installment of VNM’s community-focused PARALLELS series features Japanese-Australian koto player Miyama McQueen-Tokita, March 20 at the Annex.
The season wraps April 24 with American sound artist Olivia Block on the city’s largest pipe organ.
Tickets on sale September 1, with more information at newmusic.org. 
Related Articles
