Description

Join us for an afternoon presentation with Tate Modern curators Bilal Akkouche and Alvin Li as they reflect on how institutional frameworks shape curatorial practice and artist relationships—and how curators working within these frameworks can navigate, question, and adapt them to help foster a more pluralist, habitable art ecology.

Drawing on their work at Tate Modern, a major collecting institution, they will share insights into acquisitions, committees, and the inherited systems of value and visibility that inform curatorial decisions. These experiences will be contrasted with approaches from non-collecting institutions, such as the Barbican in London and Para Site in Hong Kong, to explore how structural differences influence not only what is possible, but also how curators think.

Akkouche will reflect on his experience with the Middle East, North Africa, and Africa Acquisitions Committees, while Li will draw on his background in writing and critical theory to consider a curatorial approach attentive to context, complexity, and ambivalence. Together, they will ask how tools such as art history might be used to connect rather than canonize.

This presentation is not a one-way conversation. Artists are invited to share their perspectives: What kinds of curators have enabled the most generative encounters? What do artists most need from institutional or independent curators today?

Akkouche and Li are faculty members for the Fall 2025 Banff Artist in Residence (BAiR)—a transformative five-week residency that provides mentorship, critical feedback, and studio time to visual artists and curators at any stage of their career.

This event is part of the Visual Arts Open Lecture Series, which presents talks by leading Canadian and international artists, curators, and academics.

Visual Arts is supported by the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Outstanding Artist Program.

Headshots of Bilal Akkouche and Alvin Lee
Page Summary
Bilal Akkouche & Alvin Li discuss frameworks, relationships, and imagining more inclusive art ecologies in their talk titled, Curating in Context.
Exhibition
No
Free
Yes
Donation
Off
Banff Centre Artist/Practicum/Staff Only
Off
Licensed
Off
Performance Date
Date
Extra Description

4-5:30 PM

Computed Sort Date
1764284400
Event Subtitle
Curating in Context: Structures, Relationships, and Shared Experiences
Description

Join us for an afternoon with Brandee Caoba, artist, curator, writer, and cultural activist based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In this talk, Caoba reflects on her curatorial work at SITE Santa Fe, a contemporary art space known for its experimental programming. She offers a model for curating as a form of connection, catalyzing empathy across divides. Approaching exhibitions as porous and evolving structures shaped by dialogue, community, and time, Caoba considers how they can serve as sites of civic connection, social repair, grief, ceremony, resistance, and joy.

Caoba is a faculty member for Fall 2025 Banff Artist in Residence (BAiR), a transformative five-week residency that provides mentorship, critical feedback, and studio time to visual artists and curators at any stage of their career.

This event is part of the Visual Arts Open Lecture Series, which presents talks by leading Canadian and international artists, curators, and academics.

Visual Arts is supported by the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Outstanding Artist Program.

Brandee Caoba
Page Summary
Curator Brandee Caoba explores exhibitions as evolving spaces for empathy, dialogue, and social connection in this Visual Arts Open Lecture.
Exhibition
No
Free
Yes
Donation
Off
Banff Centre Artist/Practicum/Staff Only
Off
Licensed
Off
Performance Date
Date
Extra Description

4-5:30 PM

Computed Sort Date
1762470000
Body
Image
Image from the film Underland
Paragraph Text

Media Release | October 2, 2025 | Banff, AB

The 50th anniversary Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival is excited to announce that 87 films have been chosen as finalists in the 2025 Banff Mountain Film Competition.

The Banff Mountain Film Competition submissions include the world’s best adventure, environment, and adrenaline sports films – this year received a record-breaking 570 films from 45 countries submitted, with 87 films from 14 countries selected as finalists.

The Festival will screen 17 World premieres, 10 North American premieres, and 29 Canadian premieres, and will award $30,000 in cash across 10 categories, plus a Grand Prize of $5,000.

This year’s international jury includes Ava Karvonen (Canada), a 35-year industry veteran and second-generation filmmaker; Ben Sturgulewski (USA), an acclaimed director, cinematographer, editor, writer, and the 2024 Grand Prize winner for Champions of the Golden Valley; Dina Mufti (UK), a director, producer, film curator, and recipient of the BBC Director General’s Award for Creativity; Sébastien Montaz-Rosset (France), an award-winning filmmaker, co-founder of the production company Montaz-Rosset Studio, and certified high mountain guide; and Subina Shrestha (UK/Nepal), an investigative journalist and cinematic documentary filmmaker.

View the full list of 2025 Banff Mountain Film Competition finalists here.

The category award winners and the Grand Prize winner be announced during the festival on Sunday, November 9, 2025.  

“This year’s film competition saw a record number of entries, making the selection process more difficult than ever. Our finalists in this special 50th anniversary edition showcase exceptional talent and impact in the realm of mountain storytelling. Congratulations to all our filmmakers!”

– Joanna Croston, Director of Mountain Culture at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity

Not to be missed films:

Robson (World Premiere)
(Canada, 2025, 40 minutes)
Director: Philip Forsey
Producers: Sherpas Cinema, Malcolm Sangster, Joshua Lavigne, Gabriella Dufour-Léonard

Two of the world’s most accomplished ski mountaineers, Christina Lustenberger and Guillaume Pierrel, have carved their names into history with bold first descents across the globe. Now, turning their sights on Mount Robson, the highest and most formidable peak in the Canadian Rockies, they retrace the steps of pioneering alpinists who came before them, pushing the line between past and present. Battling towering walls of ice, snow and rock, unpredictable weather, and the weight of a dream that has challenged generations, their journey becomes as much about resilience and legacy as it is about the pursuit of a descent few have ever dared to imagine. 
Screenings:
Sat, Nov 1, 7:30 PM @ Jenny Belzberg Theatre, Banff Centre 
Sun, Nov 2, 7:30 PM @ artsPlace Canmore

Chasing Time
(USA, 2024, 39 minutes)
Directors: Jeff Orlowski-Yang, Sarah Keo
Producers: Exposure Labs, Brette Ragland, Larissa Rhodes, Jeff Orlowski-Yang, Stacey Piculell

Over the course of the 15-year Extreme Ice Survey project, photographer James Balog and his team brought some of the world’s first and most compelling visual evidence of climate change to the global stage as he depicted the rapid melting of glaciers around the world. Chasing Time is a meditative exploration of time and mortality, following James and his crew as they bring the decades-long project to a close, cataloging more than one million images in the process.
Screenings:
Weds, Nov 5, 7:30 PM @ Jenny Belzberg Theatre, Banff Centre
Available online Nov 12 - 23 | Environmental Shorts 2

The Finisher: Jasmin Paris and the Barkley Marathons
(USA, 2025, 46 minutes)
Directors: Julia Marie Campanelli, Drew Darby 
Producers: Singletrack LLC, Finn Alexander Melanson, Robert Fisher

The Finisher is a chronicle of Jasmin Paris' groundbreaking achievement at the 2024 Barkley Marathons, where she became the first woman to complete the race in its 38-year history — defying long-held beliefs that no woman could ever achieve it. From her previous failed attempts to her triumphant finish — Paris’ resilience shines in one of the world’s most brutal endurance challenges.
Screenings:
Thurs, Nov 6, 7:30 PM @ Jenny Belzberg Theatre, Banff Centre 
Available online Nov 12 - 23 | Mountain Sports Shorts 2

The Track
(Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, 2025, 95 minutes)
Director: Ryan Sidhoo
Producers: Spirit of 84 Films LTD, Ryan Sidhoo

The Track is a coming-of-age journey of three teenagers chasing their improbable Olympic dreams in post-war Bosnia. Training on their bullet-riddled luge track left over from the 1984 Winter Games in Sarajevo, the heart of the journey is a relatable, sometimes humorous and exciting portrayal of friends striving for a better life despite rekindled nationalism, political corruption and a murky economic future.
Screening:
Fri, Nov 7, 7:30 PM @ Margaret Greenham Theatre, Banff Centre

Remaining Native
(USA, 2025, 88 minutes)
Director: Paige Bethmann
Producers: She Carries Her House Productions, Jessica Epstein, Paige Bethmann, Judd Ehrlich

Living on the Paiute reservation in Northwest Nevada, Ku Stevens, a 17-year-old Native American runner, struggles to navigate his dream of becoming a collegiate athlete as the memory of his great grandfather's escape from an Indian boarding school begins to connect past, present, and future. Will Ku outrun his history or will he learn to run in parallel with it to achieve his dreams?
Screenings:
Sat, Nov 8, 9 AM @ Jenny Belzberg Theatre and Max Bell Auditorium, Banff Centre 
Sat, Nov 8, 7 PM @ Lux Cinema Banff
Available online Nov 12 - 23 | Feature Film

Underland
(USA, 2025, 79 minutes)
Director: Rob Petit
Producers: Sandbox Films, Protozoa Pictures, Spring Films, Planet Octopus Studios, Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel, Lauren Greenwood, Jessica Harrop

Adapted from the bestselling book by Robert Macfarlane, Underland is a cinematic documentary that voyages into worlds rarely glimpsed by human eyes. Beginning in the shallow soil beneath an old ash tree, we travel alongside three intrepid ‘astronauts of the underworld’ into ancient sacred caves, flooded storm drains, melting glaciers, underwater burial chambers, and a deep underground laboratory built to solve the mysteries of the universe.
Screening:
Sun, Nov 9, 9 AM @ Margaret Greenham Theatre, Banff Centre

Snow Leopard Sisters
(UK, 2024, 95 minutes)
Directors: Sonam Choekyi Lama, Andrew Lynch, Ben Ayers, 
Producers: Noah Media Group, Joanna Natasegara, Tshiring Lhamu Lama

Snow Leopard Sisters tells the inspiring story of an unlikely yet powerful friendship between local snow leopard conservationist Tshiring Lhamu Lama and 17-year-old Tenzin Bhuti Gurung, who is desperate to escape a forced marriage. Together, they journey through the treacherous yet breathtaking landscape of the Himalaya in search of the last remaining endangered snow leopards.
Screenings:
Sun, Nov 9, 2 PM @ Jenny Belzberg and Margaret Greenham Theatres, Banff Centre 
Sun, Nov 9, 3:30 PM @ Lux Cinema Banff
Available online Nov 12 - 23 | Feature Film

This year’s 50th anniversary Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival (November 1-9), held by Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Banff, Alberta, will welcome adventurers, filmmakers, authors, and photographers from around the world for an exceptional lineup featuring 87 epic films (including World and North American premieres), plus a special Fire and Ice Symposium (November 4-5), the bustling Festival Marketplace, free talks on the Rab Stage, happy hours with live music, downtown events, exhibitions, and much more!

Don't miss our popular daytime book events, featuring authors, photographers, and explorers from around the world, including Hamish Frost, Guy Robertson, Sonnie Trotter, Joanna Croston, Hazel Findlay, Lynn Hill, Lydia Bradey, Sarah Hueniken, Brette Harrington, Sharon Wood, Tom Bell, Jean McNeil, Jeremy Collins, Cassidy Randall, Greg Hill, and Craig Childs.

The Festival schedule is available to view online. Tickets and passes can be purchased at banffmountainfestival.ca or Banff Centre Box Office.

Online films will be available following the Festival from November 12-23, 2025 (available in CAN/USA only).

Paragraph Text

If you’d like to provide media coverage of the 2025 Festival, please submit a media accreditation application form.

For more information or image requests, please contact: 
Jess Elliott
Media and Communications, Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival
Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
Box 1020,107 Tunnel Mountain Drive
Banff, Alberta
Canada T1L 1H5  
jess_elliott@banffcentre.ca 

Paragraph Text

About Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival: Created 50 years ago, Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival has become the premier event of its kind in the world. The nine-day Festival hosted by Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Banff, Canada, showcases the world’s best films, books and photographs on mountain subjects – climbing, culture, environment and natural history, exploration and adventure, wildlife, and sport – and attracts the biggest names in mountaineering, adventure filmmaking, and explorers as presenters and speakers. An international jury will also award over $40,000 in prizes for films and books submitted to this year’s Festival competitions. banffmountainfestival.ca    

Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival Sponsors: The 2025 Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival Presenting Sponsors are Rab and Banff and Lake Louise Tourism. The Festival is also supported by YETI, Oboz Footwear, World Expeditions, The Lake Louise Ski Resort, Grangers, SLY Foods, Duer, Alpine Club of Canada, Arc’teryx, Durston, Wild Life Distillery, Wild Rose Brewery, and KORE.

About Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity: Founded in 1933, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is a post-secondary institution built upon an extraordinary legacy of excellence in artistic and leadership development. What started as a single course in drama has grown to become the global organization leading in arts, culture, and creative decision-making across dozens of disciplines. From our home on Treaty 7 territory in the stunning Canadian Rocky Mountains, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity aims to move everyone who attends our campus – artists, leaders, thinkers, and audiences – to unleash their creative potential and realize their unique contribution to build an innovative, inspiring future through education, performances, convenings, and public outreach. banffcentre.ca 

Media Release
1
Description

SHARON LOCKHART

October 22, 2025 - January 7, 2026

Exhibition Celebration
December 3, 4 PM - 7 PM

Conversation with Sharon Lockhart and Kitty Scott
December 4, 2 PM - 3:30 PM 

Over the course of four summers spent on Newfoundland’s Fogo Island, at Canada’s easternmost reaches, Sharon Lockhart developed a new film and a series of photographs building upon core themes that have defined her career: an exploration of place and how people engage with landscapes, a durational approach to attention through extended static takes, and a long-term commitment to those who appear before her lens. This exhibition features her film installation, WINDWARD, in which the island’s striking geological formations, unique climate, and austere beauty are brought to life. The presentation also debuts her photographs, entitled Fogo Island Portrait Studio, picturing the island’s young residents.

During her 2022 residency with Fogo Island Arts, Lockhart encountered Colin Low’s film The Children of Fogo Island, which documented youth as they played, built and interacted in harmony with their community and environment. With Low’s work as a symbol of Fogo’s past, Lockhart created WINDWARD. A filmic exploration of the site’s present, this new work sees time as it shifts and envelops, surging and calming in pace with the ever-present winds that shape life on Fogo.

In WINDWARD, Lockhart carefully observes the island’s geography, capturing its youth in structured play amid fields of tall grass, volcanic rocks, and crashing waves. Through her lens, the sea, sky, land, light, and weather become essential in shaping a narrative across her subtly composed tableaux. Filmed on the island’s northern face—its windward end—the work takes cues from an unseen force: persistent gusts that descend uninterrupted from the Arctic, arriving on land as a presence inseparable from daily life. An inherited attunement to the environment, the ability to read and heed it, allows Lockhart’s subjects to enter into close exchange with their surroundings. Vastness takes hold as figures are made minute by their world. Moving in and out of sight, crossing the picture plane, the children of WINDWARD occupy Lockhart’s frames entirely, activating and informing their geography in scenes composed and choreographed for the camera. In concert with the film’s surging winds, balanced by moments of intense reprieve, Fogo Island’s elemental essence and its residents’ profound connection to the natural is brought to light.

The artist has also produced a series of photographs entitled Fogo Island Portrait Studio. The results of an open invitation extended by the artist, the images see the island’s children in static confrontations with the camera. Here, Lockhart presents her subjects in daylit portraits, their proximity countering their depiction in WINDWARD as figures subsumed by the landscape. Posed with striking directness, each child is seen asserting an agency within their material and environmental conditions, positioning them as active participants in their own futures.

 

WINDWARD is co-commissioned and co-produced by Shorefast/Fogo Island Arts, The Vega Foundation, and the National Gallery of Canada, with the support of The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery and Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Courtesy the artist and neugerriemschneider, Berlin. © Sharon Lockhart, 2025.

The exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Government of Canada and Government of Alberta.
 

Landscape with large rock on Fogo Island
Page Summary
New film and photography by Sharon Lockhart centre on the youth of Fogo Island, exploring place and landscape.
Exhibition
Yes
Free
Yes
Donation
Off
Banff Centre Artist/Practicum/Staff Only
Off
Exhibition Dates
-
Licensed
Off
Expandable Content
Artist Biography

Sharon Lockhart

Sharon Lockhart (b. 1964, Norwood, Massachusetts, US) creates installations, photography, film, painting and sculpture centered on the compelling and complex interactions between the various media and forms she employs, histories she encounters, and the communities and people with whom she collaborates.

In 2017, Lockhart represented Poland at the 57th Venice Biennale with her multidisciplinary project, Little Review. Solo exhibitions include: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Augarten, Vienna; The Jewish Museum, New York; Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius, Lithuania; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Fonzadione Fotografia Modena, Italy; Museu Coleção Berardo, Lisbon, Portugal; and Kunstmuseum Luzern, Switzerland. Lockhart’s films have been presented in the New York Film Festival, Vienna International Film Festival, FID Marseille, Berlin Film Festival, and Sundance Film Festival. Lockhart has been awarded the Herb Alpert Award, Pollack-Krasner Foundation Grant, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, D.A.A.D. Artist in Residence Fellowship, Berlin, Mike Kelly Foundation Artist Project Grant, and a Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard University, among others. Lockhart lives and works in Los Angeles.
 

Exhibition Location
Computed Sort Date
1761177599
Description

Join us for an evening that redefines the possibilities of percussion. On the occasion of their 20th Anniversary, Chicago’s GRAMMY® Award-winning quartet Third Coast Percussion presents Time Pieces: The New Classical, a program that celebrates 20 years of genre-defying, award-winning music, including many of the ensemble’s 20th Anniversary commissions. Highlighting rhythm, history, and innovation, the concert reflects on percussion’s profound influence on classical music today.

Through works by Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Jessie Montgomery, Tigran Hamasyan, Clarice Assad, and electronic artist Jlin, each piece connects past and present — from Bach reimagined through electronic sound to new commissions by some of today’s leading composers.

Since forming at Northwestern University in 2005, Third Coast Percussion has become a driving force in contemporary music, praised for its “rare power” (Washington Post) and “inspirational sense of fun and curiosity” (Minnesota Star-Tribune). The ensemble’s 20th Anniversary tour includes new commissions, international residencies, and appearances across North America and Europe. 

Members

Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, David Skidmore 

Program

Danny Clay – Playbook: Teeth
Third Coast Percussion – Niagara
Clarice Assad – The Hero
Steve Reich – Music for Pieces of Wood
Jlin – Obscure
Philip Glass – Metamorphosis

Intermission

Jlin – Please Be Still
Jessie Montgomery – Lady Justice/Black Justice, The Song
Tigran Hamasyan – Sonata for Percussion
    Memories from Childhood
    Hymn
    23 for TCP

Reviews

“Third Coast Percussion continues to push percussion in new directions, blurring musical boundaries and beguiling new listeners.” — NPR Music

"Third Coast — which became the first-ever percussion ensemble to earn a Grammy Award with a win in 2017 — may have started as a group of students who just wanted to play more of the music they love. Two decades in, they are a dominant part of the new classical cannon."   —  WBEZ

“Third Coast Percussion play as if they’re a single, eight-armed organism.”  — The New York Times

"Atmospheric, impeccable, precise performances of minimalist music" — Concerto

“Third Coast Percussion is one of the most enterprising and creative ensembles working today.”  — WFMT

Third Coast Percussion passing instruments. Photo Credit Saverio Truglia
Page Summary
GRAMMY®-winning Third Coast Percussion celebrates 20 years with works by Reich, Glass, Montgomery, Jlin, Hamasyan, and Assad.
Exhibition
No
Free
No
Donation
Off
Banff Centre Artist/Practicum/Staff Only
Off
Licensed
Off
Performance Date
Date
Audience View Micro Site URL
https://tickets.banffcentre.ca/Online/mapSelect.asp?BOset::WSmap::seatmap::performance_ids=1D489F7C-00C4-4BFB-AE37-A595F420587D
Expandable Content

About Third Coast Percussion

Third Coast Percussion (TCP) is Chicago’s GRAMMY® Award-winning percussion quartet and GRAMMY®-nominated composer collective that made history as the first percussion ensemble to win the revered music award in the classical genre. To date, TCP has garnered seven total GRAMMY® nominations.

After marking its 20th Anniversary in 2025, TCP continues its milestone celebrations with exciting and unexpected performances worldwide that “constantly redefine the classical music experience” (Forbes) and “push percussion in new directions, blurring musical boundaries and beguiling new listeners” (NPR), with a brilliantly varied sonic palette and “dazzling rhythmic workouts” (Pitchfork).

Representing “one of the most enterprising and creative ensembles working today” (WFMT), the artists of Third Coast Percussion are in-demand collaborators who have worked closely with a range of artists including choreographers Twyla Tharp, Lil Buck, and Jon Boogz; composer/performers Zakir Hussain, Jessie Montgomery, and Jlin; and composers Philip Glass, Missy Mazzoli, and Danny Elfman, among many others. The ensemble has been praised for the “rare power” (Washington Post) of its 30+ recordings, and its “inspirational sense of fun and curiosity” (Minnesota Star-Tribune).

The 2025-2026 season takes TCP to performances in Chicago, New York, Boston, and Los Angeles, as well as international dates in Serbia, Montenegro, Latvia, and France. They conduct residencies at Denison University in Ohio and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Alberta, Canada. TCP’s new tour programs include 20th Anniversary commissions by Zakir Hussain, Jessie Montgomery, Tigran Hamasyan, and more.

Known for its devoted audience engagement, TCP has performed live in 41 states and 13 foreign countries. The quartet has commissioned and premiered new works from Zakir Hussain, Jessie Montgomery, Philip Glass, Clarice Assad, Danny Elfman, and many more. Its recordings include 21 feature albums – including a GRAMMY®-winning album of Steve Reich’s works for percussion – and appearances on 14 additional collaborative releases. Its artists are also accomplished teachers who have developed a wealth of K-12 workshops and family programming, educational partnerships, and collaborations with Chicago institutions.

The four members of Third Coast Percussion (Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, and David Skidmore) met while studying percussion at Northwestern University and formed the ensemble in 2005.

Follow Third Coast on Instagram (@ThirdCoastPercussion), YouTube (@thirdcoastpercussion), TikTok (@thirdcoastpercussion), Facebook (@Third Coast Percussion), and LinkedIn (linkedin.com/company/third-coast-percussion).

Computed Sort Date
1768617000
Description

Join us for an evening of bold contemporary music as Ensemble Paramirabo performs a program of mostly minimalist works by today’s leading composers. United by a dedication to new music, the ensemble’s six members perform with a single voice that explores repetition, openness, and transformation.

Through works by Nicole Lizée, Nico Muhly, Dorothy Chang, Philippe Macnab-Séguin, Kai Kubota-Enright, and Missy Mazzoli, the concert invites listeners into sound worlds of texture and space, weaving pulse and stillness, analog and digital.

Taking its name from a work by Montreal composer Claude Vivier, Paramirabo has commissioned over 80 premieres, toured internationally, and been recognized with the Opus “Performer of the Year” prize and a JUNO nomination.

Members 

Jeffrey Stonehouse (flute & artistic director), Viviane Gosselin (cello), Gwénaëlle Ratouit (clarinets), Hubert Brizard (violin), Pamela Reimer (piano), Krystina Marcoux (percussion).

Program (approx. 61 mins)

Nicole Lizée – Music for Body Without Organs
Nico Muhly – Doublespeak
Dorothy Chang – Of All Things Elusive
Philippe Macnab-Séguin – It Was Inside You All Along
Kai Kubota-Enright – Spatial Communication of Dripstone
Missy Mazzoli – Still Life with Avalanche
Julius Eastman – Joy Boy (featuring Banff Musicians in Residence participants)

Reviews

“Montreal’s Ensemble Paramirabo quickly became known as one of the most innovative and accomplished new music ensembles in Canada.” - James O’Callaghan, Canadian League of Composers

“Ensemble Paramirabo has a firm commitment to quality chamber music, which, in the world of contemporary music, equates to total fearlessness… This ensemble is a rare gem in the city—born solely of creative inspiration, and their evolution as an up-and-coming musical force is not to be missed.” - Andrew Crust, Bachtrack

Ensemble Paramirabo
Page Summary
Montreal’s Ensemble Paramirabo performs works by Lizée, Muhly, Chang, Macnab-Séguin, Kubota-Enright, and Mazzoli in a bold, minimalist-inspired program.
Exhibition
No
Free
No
Donation
Off
Banff Centre Artist/Practicum/Staff Only
Off
Licensed
Off
Performance Date
Date
Audience View Micro Site URL
https://tickets.banffcentre.ca/Online/seatSelect.asp?BOset::WSmap::seatmap::performance_ids=85026A52-012E-4786-BB44-F2855D8F4B23
Expandable Content

About Ensemble Paramirabo

The intrepid and dedicated members of Ensemble Paramirabo come together as a single voice to perform contemporary music, showcase emerging Canadian composers, and expand the boundaries of the traditional concert experience. As a creator of innovative events, the group provides young composers with a venue for refining their trademark within Montreal’s vibrant new music scene and act as a springboard for exposure abroad. The ensemble’s flutist, Jeffrey Stonehouse, has been the group’s artistic director since its founding.

Taking its name from the piece Paramirabo, by Montreal composer Claude Vivier, the ensemble’s roots date back to 2008 at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. The ensemble has toured internationally to Belgium, England and Mexico and has been invited to Festival LOOP and Ars Musica (Mons, Liège and Bruxelle, 2019), Waterloo Region Contemporary Music Sessions (2018), Frontiers Festival (Birmingham, 2016), Eduardo Mata Festival (Oaxaca, 2016), New York’s Mise-En Festival (2014), Winnipeg’s Cluster New Music Festival and Montreal Contemporary Music Lab (2013). Paramirabo has been ensemble-in-residence for the Domaine Forget International Music and Dance Academy’s New Music Session since 2017.

A proud ambassador of local contemporary music, the ensemble is the winner of the OPUS 23rd edition - Performer of the year Prize and was nominated for the JUNO 2020 Prize, Classic album of the year - solo or chamber music for their album Alone and Unalone, in partnership with composer James O'Callaghan. Paramirabo has more than 80 premieres and commissions to its credit. Its recordings, both live and studio, have garnered numerous awards for composers such as Gabriel Dharmoo (À chaque ventre son monstre OPUS Prize 22nd edition - Premiere of the year), James O’Callaghan (AMONG AM A; Salvatore Martirano Award 2016, 1st prize); Julien Robert (Flash Point: 1st prize at the 2013 Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble Competition and 3rd place in the Serge Garant category of the 2014 SOCAN Foundation Awards); Scott Rubin (the Torn Cubist: 2nd prize at the 2013–2014 OSSIA New Music Composition Prize); and Matthew Ricketts (Graffiti Songs: 1st place in the Serge Garant category of the 2011 SOCAN Foundation Awards). The ensemble has been presented by numerous organizations, including ECM+, SCMQ, CMCQ, Groupe Le Vivier, the Music Gallery: Emergents Series, Groupe Le Vivier, Forum des compositeurs, the SMCQ, Erreur de type 27, Innovations en concert, the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, the Centre d'expérimentation musicale and Codes d’accès.

Over the years, the ensemble has been noticed by a number of journalists and music critics. Crystal Chan mentioned the ensemble in a March 2012 Scena Musicale article entitled “Yin/Yang, Montreal’s Musical Entrepreneurs.” The website Bachtrack describes the group as demonstrating “total fearlessness” and “a rare gem … born solely of creative inspiration, [whose] evolution as an up-and-coming musical force is not to be missed.”

Computed Sort Date
1769221800
Future Generations Foundation Logo
Body
Image
Banff Centre Campus. Photo by Donald Lee.

Banff Centre Campus. Photo by Donald Lee.

Paragraph Text

The post-secondary institution in Banff, Alberta celebrated a roster of programming to begin in 2026, including longstanding programs in Visual Arts, Literary Arts, and Music, in addition to several new programs and exciting updates, in a live webinar. You can watch the recording now here. 

BANFF, AB, SEPTEMBER  25, 2025 – Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is thrilled to reveal a lineup of arts programs for the spring and summer sessions in 2026 and beyond. As a world-leading post-secondary institution dedicated to arts, leadership, Indigenous culture, and mountain culture in the Canadian Rockies, this new roster is open for applications today across a wide variety of artistic disciplines for artists of all stages in their career.

Built to support practitioners of all fields, as well as those wishing to work between and across disciplines, the following departments revealed new programming: Indigenous Arts, Visual Arts, the Walter Phillips Gallery, Theatre Arts, Literary Arts, Music, Professional Training Programs, Mountain Culture, and the Leighton Artist Studios.

In a public webinar on Wednesday, September 24, each program Director spoke about their upcoming programs. That webinar is now available to view on Banff Centre’s YouTube page here.

Quotation

Program durations vary, but regardless of length, their residential nature provides an extraordinary and often career-changing environment in which to explore creative freedom, take risks, and push the boundaries of your practice. Whether you come to start, further develop or finish a project, to do research or simply experiment, time spent at Banff Centre is almost always enriching in ways that have lasting impact.

Source
Josephine Ridge, Executive Director, Arts at Banff Centre
Paragraph Text

Highlights include (in chronological order):

  • Fuse: Music Residency 2026 – April 13 - May 2, 2026
    • A new Music residency invites musicians, singers, conductors, and concert experience creators working in Classical, Jazz, Electronic, and related disciplines to engage with their curiosity and creativity alongside faculty that spans acting, circus performance, dance, composers, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra
  • Playwrights Lab 2026 – May 11 - 23, 2026
    • Banff Centre’s celebrated playwrighting program returns to the Theatre Arts department for Canadian writers to develop new works with celebrated faculty Nina Lee Aquino, Keith Barker, Colleen Murphy, Yvette Nolan, Emma Tibaldo, and Banff Centre’s International Playwright in Residence, two-time Tony Award-winner Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Appropriate, Purpose)
  • Story Sharing Residency 2.0 – May 11 - 29, 2026
    • This three-week Indigenous Arts residency supports Indigenous storytellers in developing existing work through a balance of self-directed studio time, faculty-led workshops, peer sharing circles, and one-on-one feedback sessions designed to deepen the creative process
  • Nomadisms – May 25 - June 26, 2026
    • A four-week Visual Arts residency exploring the theme of “nomadism” through experiences and relations such as itineraries of humans and non-humans, trajectories of circulation, spatial resistances, and alternative cartographies
  • Moonlighter Film Camp - Field Skills – June 26 - 29, 2026
    • A new series of programs in Mountain Culture leads several practical four-day workshops for creatives identifying as women in the outdoor filmmaking industry in partnership with Well Travel Collective
  • Audio Recording Engineer Summer 2026 – July 8 - September 9, 2025
    • This Professional Training Program for emerging recording engineers offers the opportunity to be immersed in a combination of Music programs, including Chamber Music, Summer Opera, Jazz & Sonic Arts, or the Banff International String Quartet Festival
  • Crime Writing 2026 – August 17 - 28, 2026
    • Banff Centre’s Literary Arts department continues its exploration of genre writing with a deep dive into crime writing with faculty Nita Prose, Wayne Arthurson, and David Heska Wanbli Weiden with the professional guest Alison Callahan of Simon & Schuster
  • Banff International Curatorial Institute: Curating While Black – January 25 - February 12, 2027
    • A hybrid online/in-person three-week residency and symposia brings together Black curators developing individual research projects for solo development time alongside group discussions and learning opportunities among a cohort and program faculty, organized through Banff Centre’s Walter Phillips Gallery (taking place in the Winter session of 2027)
  • Leighton Artist Studios: Solo, Group, and Photography – Year-Round
    • A trademark program at Banff Centre, these isolated artist studios mostly located in a forested area of campus are now accepting three streams of applicants based on solo, group, or photography, with one intake date for residencies that take place year-round

 

To find out about all upcoming Arts programs at Banff Centre, visit banffcentre.ca/programs.

Paragraph Text

See Banff Centre’s Media Room here.

For photos, information or interview requests, please contact:

Carly Maga
Director, Communications
Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
tel: +1.403.763.6210
cell: +1.403.431.3423
carly_maga@banffcentre.ca

 

About Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity 
Founded in 1933, Banff Centre is a post-secondary institution built upon an extraordinary legacy of excellence in artistic and leadership development. What started as a single course in drama has grown to become a global organization leading in arts, culture, and creative decision-making across dozens of disciplines, from the fine arts to Indigenous Wise Practices. From our home in the stunning Canadian Rocky Mountains, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity aims to move everyone who attends our campus - artists, leaders, thinkers, and audiences - to unleash their creative potential and realize their unique contribution to build an innovative, inspiring future through education, performances, convenings, and public outreach. banffcentre.ca

Media Release
1

Submitted by Dolson Rhona on
English
Headshot Of Ally Schuurman

fullwidth padding

Ally Schuurman (she/they) is a performance art advocate, artist, and administrator originally from unceeded Coast Salish Territory. Prior to joining Banff Centre, her work in arts education spanned 15 years, multiple disciplines, and culminated in leading the successful expansion of the student services department at Arts Umbrella.

When they’re not facilitating learning environments for artists, they’re directing, curating, and taking in works of new Canadian theatre. She has been the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Vancouver Fringe Festival Society since 2022.

Dolson Rhona
Theatre Arts Program Manager
Feature Image
Kohkom's Babushka
Subtitle
A magical Métis - Ukrainian tale about scarves that connect our culture
Page Summary
Experience the heartwarming world premiere of Kohkom’s Babushka, a time-travelling family play. Previews Oct 10, 15, 16; world premiere Oct 18.
About the Program

The Slaight Family Foundation support of Theatre Arts at Banff Centre

This week’s world premieres of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Kohkom's Babushka are made possible through the generous support of The Slaight Family Foundation. Their significant donation to Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity directly supported theatre creators, producers and presenters as the sector recovers from pandemic-related closures. Thanks to The Slaight Family Foundation, Banff Centre has the opportunity to support residencies for Canadian playwrights, workshopping and development and presentation of two world premieres alongside partner Alberta organizations and Acting, Stage Management and Theatre Producer training intensive programs.

You can learn more and purchase tickets for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow at this link.

In 2022, The Slaight Family Foundation donated $15 million in total to 22 Canadian organizations, Banff Centre was the only one chosen outside of Ontario. 

Subscribe to