Musicians of all genres can enjoy space and focused time to concentrate on artistic development in the unrivalled natural beauty of the Canadian Rockies.
Music programs at Banff Centre develop your talent alongside world class faculty, while providing time and space to push boundaries with support to realize your potential and hone your skills.
Focus on your artistic development, have the opportunity to perform and record, and receive artistic inspiration and career advice.
2024
Welcomes two new programs.
Chamber Music and Opera: Interplay is a celebration of both opera and chamber music. With the common goal to capture the emotional essence of chamber work, whether that be in the form of instrumental pieces or new operas, this residency will foster the potential of unique voices and creative visions that culminate in live performances that create excitement and growth. Created by some of the most thrilling leaders of opera and chamber music, this is a unique opportunity to work side-by-side with living composers on the creation of new work, leading to world premieres. Participants are given the chance to discover, to take risks, and learn from each other and leading practitioners.
The four-week program offers early-career and established musicians, singers and creatives the opportunity to explore two new operas (new arrangements by Daniel Schlosberg of Poul Ruders / Paul Bentley’s The Handmaid’s Tale, based on Margaret Atwood, and Ian Cusson / Royce Vavrek’s Indians on Vacation, based on Thomas King) created by the program’s faculty composers and new music by participant composers
Jazz & Sonic Arts: GATHER LISTEN HERE
Jazz and Sonic Arts engage with sound in innovative ways, using improvisation, experimentation, and technology to expand sonic possibilities of music. Both are ever-evolving and diverse genres which create a powerful synergy to inspire creativity for multidimensional transcendent artistic experiences. Jazz and Sonic Arts are also catalysts for cultural dialogue, empowerment, positive societal change, and ecological awareness.
This three-week program brings together early career artists from around the world to work with exciting, internationally celebrated performers, creators, and mentors that have made significant contributions to artistic innovation in Jazz and Sonic Arts. The goal is to build community that feels the inspirational energy of making creative music in an immersive, inclusive and transformative learning environment.
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This residency offered me the opportunity to create and express in ways I would not have otherwise dreamt of. Through this highly collaborative environment, we built a community in which not only all ideas were uplifted and valued but all people as well. These relationships with those who started as my collaborators and have now become my dear friends will surely leave a lasting impact on my personal and creative trajectories.
Benjamin Portzen, Banff Musicians in Residence, 2023
For questions about the department and what we offer, please contact:
Email: arts_info@banffcentre.ca
Phone: 403.762.6180