Vancouver New Music
Vancouver New Music engages communities in the exploration, creation, and experience of progressive and outstanding new music.
Supporting creativity, innovation, curiosity and a multiplicity of voices and ideas, we are committed to curating practices, not only works, and embracing the rhizomatic expansion of current modes of sound and music creation. In nurturing a sense of place and a sense of being, these streams of collaborative activities can become tools and spaces to inspire, motivate, engage, and sustain current sound, music, and other artistic practices as vital parts of cultural life in our community.
Founded in 1973, Vancouver New Music regularly commissions and premieres new works by Canadian composers and, since its inception, has premiered over 250 works, as well as presented leading and emerging electroacoustic and electronic music artists, international composers and performers, sound installations, and music theatre. Vancouver New Music also presents an annual festival that focuses each year on a theme within the new music landscape and explores the interaction of contemporary music with other disciplines such as theatre, installation, and media arts. Other activities include lectures and workshops with visiting artists, ensemble workshops and presentations open to the community, and other sound-, art-, and new-music related community events, such as Soundwalks.
A new annual/biannual series, Parallels, brings internationally renowned artists together with local musicians to create new works that are specific to the time, places, and people involved in their creation. This ongoing initiative aims to stimulate creative exchange within the artistic community and to provide Vancouverites with opportunities to experience one-of-a-kind collaborations. Previous guest artists have included Uri Caine and Okkyung Lee.
