Calgary AB (August 14, 2025) — World-renowned stars, epic classics, thrilling collaborations, rockin’ pops, family fun, blockbuster movies, and more — the Calgary Phil heads into its 70th anniversary season with concerts for all ages and tastes. Celebrating seven decades as Calgary’s Orchestra, the Calgary Phil is more committed than ever to making orchestral music accessible to everyone. September alone demonstrates the exciting variety that audiences can expect throughout the season. We officially get things cooking on September 5 at The Big Four Roadhouse for the Canadian premiere of SYNTHONY: EDM Meets Orchestra, which sees the Calgary Phil, along with…
Browsing: Popular Music
June 12, 2025, VANCOUVER, B.C./ / Traditional territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations – The Vancouver Folk Music Festival full schedule is now available for the three day event taking place at ʔəy̓alməxʷ / Iy̓ál̓mexw Jericho Beach Park on July 18 to 20. “In addition to our incredible 12 Mainstage artists, we have curated three days of performances and workshops featuring 44 artists,” says Vancouver Folk Music Festival Artistic Director Fiona Black. “Performances begin at 3:00 pm on Friday afternoon with artists TEKE:TEKE, Nico Paulo and Bel & Quinn to name a few before our Evening Main Stage shows start at 6 pm. On Saturday and Sunday, the festival site…
British Columbia and Alberta by Madeline Boldt EARLY MUSIC VANCOUVER This year marks the 55th anniversary of Early Music Vancouver’s Summer Festival. From July 26-Aug. 8, early-music lovers in Vancouver can expect a wide array of performances, from Mozart’s Requiem to Schubert’s Lieder, as well as a Chinese-Baroque Musical Dialogue featuring Vancouver’s Sound of Dragon Ensemble. Titled In Endless Ascent, the 2025 festival focuses on the theme of spiritual transformation and musical elevation, blending the old and the new. www.earlymusic.bc.ca Banff International String Quartet Competition From Aug. 25-31, some of the world’s finest emerging string quartets will take the stage…
In celebration of National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21, La Scena Musicale asked several Indigenous artists to help create a playlist. Each artist selected one song by an Indigenous musician or composer and explained why they chose the piece. Discover what some of Canada’s incredible Indigenous creators are listening to in their song selections below. Eadsé www.eadsemusic.com Eadsé, which means “my good friend” in Wendat, is a Wendat singer-songwriter based in Montreal. She was recently named a 2025-26 Radio-Canada Revelation following the release of her first album Healer, which explores healing, resilience and letting go in French, English and…
One must have several talents to be an accomplished artist: technical skills that make you rare and sought-after, perseverance, vision, a sense of showmanship to give the audience an exceptional experience—and, in addition, the ability to adapt to life’s circumstances. In a nutshell, this is the philosophy and work ethic of Michael Bridge, who though Calgary-born and Toronto-based, has dedicated himself to the most Latin of musical instruments! “I’m generally the only one doing what I do,” he says of playing the accordion. And Bridge does it well. In June, he kicks off his summer tour in Edmonton at the…
If you are a singer in Quebec, you likely know Dr. Françoise Chagnon. A specialist in otorhinolaryngology (commonly referred to as ear, nose and throat medicine) and cervico-facial surgery for nearly 40 years, Dr. Chagnon takes care of professional voices in both opera and popular music. Some of her patients have sung on the most prestigious stages in the world and, with her guidance, have learned to better understand, master, and maintain their hidden vocal instrument. Her affinity for musicians’ health developed through medicine and, first and foremost, her fascination with the larynx, vocal cords, and the physiology of the…
Musicians have a strong emotional attachment to music. Scientific evidence has shown that they hold many advantages over non-musicians: better fine motor and co-ordination skills, better auditory working memory and spatial hearing, better phoneme and speech processing, better figure-ground discrimination, better pitch discrimination, and better identification of vocal emotions, to name but a few. Musicians enjoy music enough to make it a career, and they spend many hours a day listening to, practising, and playing music. Research has shown that musicians prefer to listen to music at a higher level in dB than non-musicians. In general, whether a musician or…
Marc Boucher, founder and artistic director of Festival Classica, is a man with wide open ears. “An artistic director,” he says, “should listen to a lot of music. …I even listen to heavy metal.” The diversity of Boucher’s musical taste is reflected in Festival Classica’s programming. This year, performances include symphonic arrangements of Beatles songs, newly composed tangos for cello and bandoneon (a concertina-like instrument), as well as a variety of classical and contemporary operas. Past editions of Festival Classica took place in Montreal as well as in the Montérégie region of Quebec. This year, the Montérégie region will be…
Since its inception, Le Festival de la Voix has been dedicated to showcasing the beauty of the human voice, offering audiences a rich variety of vocal music from classical to jazz, folk, and world music. For its 12th edition, the festival continues to spotlight artistic diversity and meaningful cultural collaborations. One of its highlights is Nikamu Mamuitun (Songs That Unite Us), a project uniting Indigenous and Quebecer singer-songwriters to explore shared histories and musical traditions by blending French and Innu lyrics to reinforce connection and reconciliation. Eight emerging artists will present the results of their work at the Beaconsfield High…
TORONTO, CANADA/LONDON UK (March 20, 2025) – Sir Elton John, one of the most iconic and influential musicians of all time, has been named the Laureate of the 15th Glenn Gould Prize, The Glenn Gould Foundation announced today. After public nominations, the distinction of The Glenn Gould Prize Laureate is awarded by a diverse, international jury of distinguished artists and cultural leaders from music, literature, politics, law, literature, media, visual arts, film, dance and human rights to an individual whose body of work has enriched the human condition through the arts. They take into account such factors as transcendent excellence, innovation, humanitarian and social…
