Articles — Stir

Folk-rooted string quartet the Fretless finds a voice in singer-songwriter Madeleine Roger

Collaborating with vocalists taught the acclaimed, formerly all-instrumental group new ways of listening and working

MUSICJanet SmithJanuary 20, 2026Fretless, Kay Meek Arts Centre

UBC Opera performs Leonard Bernstein’s satirical operetta Candide, February 5 to 8

Rarely presented in Vancouver, the production blends musical theatre and opera with a philosophically rooted storyline

MUSICStir VancouverJanuary 20, 2026Partner Content, UBC Opera

Ariel Barnes brings nomadic spirit and intense curiosity to classic and contemporary cello works

The adventurous artist sees his upcoming program with Vetta Chamber Music as a way of expressing music’s power to console and cheer, even in dark times

MUSICJanet SmithJanuary 20, 2026Vetta Chamber Music, Ariel Barnes, cello

Ralph Moore Quartet headlines sixth edition of Jazz at the Bolt, February 13 to 15

Hosted by the Cellar Music Group at the Shadbolt Centre, festival opens with a special concert by the Vancouver Jazz Orchestra with Champian Fulton and Klas Lindquist

At the Advance Theatre Festival, Alexandra Lainfiesta uses magic realism to explore the personal sacrifices of immigration

Latinx theatre artist’s debut script unfolds across three worlds: Toronto, Antigua Guatemala, and a realm in which the immigration system functions like a game show

Vancouver Chamber Choir concludes 46th annual Conductors' Symposium with Neighbo(u)rs, February 13

Five emerging conductors lead a program of pieces by both Canadian and American composers, from Amy Beach to Stuart Beatch

MUSICStir VancouverJanuary 19, 2026Partner Content, Vancouver Chamber Choir

You’re Just a Place That I Know retraces a refugee story through song, at the BMO Theatre Centre from January 21 to February 1

Adrian Glynn McMorran’s moving theatre-concert pays tribute to his Ukraine-born grandparents, complete with a choir and traditional instruments

MUSIC, THEATRE, WHAT'S STIRRINGJanet SmithJanuary 19, 2026Arts Club Theatre Company, Arts Club, Arts Club Theatre

John Irving, Claire Sicherman, and more celebrated authors set to join 41st annual JCC Jewish Book Festival, February 21 to 26

Programming spans the festival’s beloved annual Book Clubs epilogue event and pre-festival events with photographer Dina Goldstein and cookbook author Rachel Simons

Stir Cheat Sheet: 5 shows to startle and spellbind at PuSh International Performing Arts Festival

Productions that “push” forms include dance works that play with props and stereotypes, as well as ethereal odes to nature and the northern lights

Violinist Gil Shaham joins the VSO for Brahms & Tchaikovsky 5, February 13 and 14

Musician rises to the challenge of Brahms’s sole Violin Concerto on program that also features guest conductor Han-Na Chang

MUSICStir VancouverJanuary 16, 2026Partner Content, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, VSO

Vancouver Chamber Choir performs Timothy Takach’s nature-rooted multimedia piece We Are Phoenix, January 24

Under the inspiring title I Fall, I Rise, the concert also features the Focus post-secondary choir and winners of the Young Composers’ Competition

MUSIC, WHAT'S STIRRINGJanet SmithJanuary 16, 2026Vancouver Chamber Choir

Carousel Theatre for Young People hosts first annual Family Forward Festival, February 14 to 16

Offerings range from storytelling event The Family Flame to dance parties, documentary screenings, drag performances, and more

Daily human cost of the Russo-Ukrainian war revealed in PuSh Fest’s Eight Short Compositions

The starkly moving show by the Czech Republic’s Archa Centre of Documentary Theatre recounts true stories of lives upended by the conflict

House of Folk: A Lost Canadian Folk Show premieres at the Firehall Arts Centre, February 14 to March 8

Production by Tracey Power transports audiences back to the time of coffeehouse open mics that nurtured musicians like Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen

THEATREStir VancouverJanuary 15, 2026Partner Content, Firehall Arts Centre, Firehall Arts CEntre, Tracey Power

Fierce fiddling to contra dance, as Festival du Bois unveils program for March 6 to 8

Aleksi Campagne, Bagatelle, Nicolas Pellerin et les Grands Hurleurs, and the Jocelyn Pettit Band are among offerings at celebration of Maillardville’s francophone roots

MUSIC, NEWSJanet SmithJanuary 15, 2026Festival du Bois, francophone, Quebecois

Vancouver Bach Family of Choirs presents intimate Valentine's event Behind the Keys, February 13

Annual fundraiser features a romantic piano recital by Leslie Dala, along with wine, chocolate, and optional charcuterie

Nina Davies’s dance-focused show Image Syncers explores blurry boundaries between reality and simulation

After years in the U.K., the Vancouver-born artist returns home with a deeply speculative work at Western Front

ART & DESIGNJanet SmithJanuary 14, 2026Western Front, Homepage feature, Image Syncers

Luna Llena channels Mediterranean melodies at Alliance Française Vancouver, January 17

Bruno Allary leads the Marseille, France–based Compagnie Rassegna as it plays songs from Sicily, Spain, Western Algeria, and Occitania

Théâtre la Seizième hosts Parler mal at Alliance Française Vancouver, February 6 and 7

Théâtre Gauche production probes into linguistic insecurities and the stigma of being a “bad francophone”

Recirquel’s postapocalyptic Paradisum conjures visual worlds out of fabric and light

Producer Natália Fábics says the Hungarian work, co-presented by DanceHouse and The Cultch, is as much a contemporary artwork and philosophical epic as a fusion of circus and dance

DANCEJanet SmithJanuary 14, 2026DANCEHOUSE, DanceHouse, The Cultch, THE CULTCH, circus, Vancouver Civic Theatres, Homepage feature

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