Banff Musicians in Residence Winter 2025

Overview  

This program provides space and focused time for musicians of all genres to concentrate on artistic development while working on projects that can be either individually or group/ensemble based. You may be working in your established genre(s), or exploring a new one.

Along with the freedom to structure your time around the needs of your project, you will receive artistic inspiration and career advice from well-established faculty. You will have access to a range of artistic influences across the three weeks with the opportunity for interaction and collaboration to produce outstanding, creative results.

Those interested in additional professional development can apply for the role of Artistic Associate and act as the liaison between faculty and musicians for the program's duration. An individual of exceptional musical ability and maturity will be offered this unique opportunity to be involved in the delivery and event curation of the Banff Musicians in Residence program. The Artistic Associate will liaise between visiting artists and resident musicians as well as Music programming and production staff. 

What does the program offer?

While this program is largely self-directed, there will be opportunities to gather as a group for lectures, seminars, and collaborative jam/listening sessions with esteemed faculty the Kronos Quartet and others. Faculty will be present to assist and mentor you throughout the program for group and/or one-on-one consultations. A personal studio space is provided, accessible 24 hours per day, while production spaces are shared among all participants in the residency. Instruments including pianos, keyboards, harpsichord, fortepiano, percussion instruments, concert harp, string instruments and sound equipment for practice, explorations and self-recordings in individual studios may also be available upon request. Any additional technical requests for lighting, projections or sound amplification for your project may be limited and require review to confirm availability.

Culminating in a series of public concerts in an intimate Banff Centre venue for a receptive and casual local audience, you will have opportunities to explore new material, perform repertoire, and share the stage with fellow artists and faculty. These concerts are also recorded for your archival use.

You may also sign up for additional walks and day trips within Banff National Park as well as campus-wide activities organized by our Participant Resources team.

Who should apply?

The program is ideal for individual musicians, ensembles, bands, composers, and music researchers, to spend focused time working on a specific project; creating new works; preparing for concerts, auditions or competitions; or exploring and researching innovative ideas. 

Participants should be comfortable working autonomously in an unstructured environment to benefit the most from the program. Musicians at all levels are encouraged to apply. Participants must attend all three weeks of the residency.  

We welcome musicians of all ages (18+), backgrounds, gender identities and expressions to apply. Artists from historically underrepresented and equity seeking groups are especially welcome.