Our Recommendations
Indulge your appetite for arts and culture.
With so many exciting arts and culture events happening you can feel overwhelmed. The Music on Main Team is here to help! We’ve carefully chosen a list of wonderful digital and live events to discover and experience. Whether you’re looking for a theatrical diversion or a blockbuster art show, some new dance or a classical concerto, our recommendations is a list of must-see events whenever you’re looking for a hit of culture. Make sure to check back often, as we are always scouting fun events that we think you’ll love!
Our Recommendations are must-see events, some from our Vancouver home base and a few from across the globe that we think you’ll enjoy. We’re your trusted source that you’ll want to come back to every time you’re looking for something new and exciting to discover. If you’re looking for only Music on Main events check here.
The 7th Sound of Dragon Music Festival
Sound of Dragon Society presents the 7th Sound of Dragon Music Festival on April 2 to 5, 2026. As Vancouver’s biennial celebration of Asian sounds, the festival redefines Chinese music with ground-breaking cross-cultural programming, presenting Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra (Taiwan), PhoneNX Ensemble (Toronto), 88 Strings, Vancouver Erhu Quartet, Multicultural Wind Ensemble and more.
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Listening as Activism – M’Girl Music, Kiki Connelly & the Understory Gregory Coyes
On Curation Mentorship Project Curated by Freya Zinovieff (Vancouver) Mentor: Laura Netz (Spain/UK)
Listening as Activism explores how deep listening can be a form of resistance and social engagement in our noise-saturated world. In what ways might our individual and collective listening be aimed towards activism, and what might this look, sound and feel like? The evening opens with a roundtable discussion with Renae Morriseau, Harsha Walia, Hildegard Westerkamp and Freya Zinovieff, followed by performances by M’Girl Music and Kiki Connelly & the Understory. Throughout the event, the moving-image works of Métis/Cree filmmaker Gregory Coyes will feature his concept of Slow Media, a decolonized media and exploration of the Indigenous sense of cinematic time.
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Manifesto
Nine dancers, nine drummers, nine drum kits
Channeling ancient rituals of catharsis, Australia’s Stephanie Lake Company fuses different dance styles to create choreographic fission. A kind of performative ordnance, explosive in its sheer power, Manifesto takes inspiration from the primeval connection between drumming and dancing, combining attack and rhythm, chaos and order to create obliterating dynamism. Stephanie Lake’s ability to marshal a maelstrom is met by renowned composer Robin Fox, who channels the glittering energies of old time Hollywood extravaganzas.
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On Native Land
On Native Land is a sweeping love story from Corey Payette, the creator of Starwalker, Les Filles Du Roi, and Children of God.
This new musical, produced by Raven Theatre in collaboration with Urban Ink (Vancouver), intertwines the lives of three seemingly disparate characters — a lawyer, a Chief, and a rising singer-songwriter — whose paths converge in a powerful tale of identity, land, and love.
“Payette has proven himself one of the most exciting talents in Canadian theatre, providing a First Nations perspective in his stirring musicals” — Jerry Wasserman, Vancouver Sun
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End of Greatness
End of Greatness is a new multidisciplinary performance by friends and longtime collaborators Veda Hille and Maiko Yamamoto. Through songs and stories about moss, mushrooms, sisterhood, parenthood and a few big cosmological ideas, the audience gets swept up on a wild hunt — from the forest floor to the edges of the known universe.
What are the systems that are taking us down? What are the systems that are keeping us alive? Is cake at the centre of it all?
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VÍKINGUR ÓLAFSSON, piano
Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson has become one of the world’s most sought-after artists in recent years, capturing the public and critical imagination with profound musicianship and visionary programs. His recordings have led to over one billion streams and he has won numerous awards, including the 2025 GRAMMY for Best Classical Instrumental Solo for his recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, BBC Music Magazine’sAlbum of the Year, and the Opus Klassik Solo Recording of the Year (twice). He makes his VRS debut with a deeply personal program, “Opus 109”, centred around Beethoven’s sublime Piano Sonata No. 30.
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