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.
Coastal Jazz: Cécile McLorin Salvant
A compact, cyclical, immersive suite of songs populated by distinct spiritual characters, Cécile McLorin Salvant’s Ghost Song bears all the signatures of a McLorin Salvant project—thoroughly considered, carefully rendered, and absolute in its cohesion—while also being marked by the assured confidence of a once-in-a-generation artist stepping fully into her potential.
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Queer Arts Festival: Bijuriya: Gabriel Dharmoo
Gabriel and Bijuriya are one person – and it’s time to bring them together on one stage. Code-switching between drag performance, original songs, experimental sound design and the porosity between singing and lip-syncing, this piece celebrates the artist’s brownness through an array of unexpected talents. A quirky yet vulnerable exploration of their inadequacy to fully represent the subcultures they seek to embrace.
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Coastal Jazz: Peggy Lee Band – Early Show
qually adept in far-out free improv, the classical rigour of her work with the VSO, and the arcing melodic textures of her detailed, emotionally deep compositions, cellist/composer Peggy Lee exudes mastery in both quietude and fire. Premiering new music alongside selections from its rich back-catalogue, the Peggy Lee Band builds a sound world where “melodies slide in and out of abstraction; skewed marches butt up against folk songs; chamber music niceties crumble under the assault of funk and psychedelia.” (Georgia Straight).
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Coastal Jazz: Francois Houle Recoder 4tet with Gordon Grdina, Mark Helias & Gerry Hemingway
Experimental music bible The Wire noted that “one reason why Canadian clarinetist François Houle’s compositions roar with such fierce and indefatigable energy lies in the personnel and instrumentation he’s assembled to play them”, and with his new RECODER 4tet, he’s brought together an absolute dream team. Drummer Gerry Hemingway first captured Houle’s ear on the legendary 1980s Braxton Quartet recordings, while bassist Mark Helias has performed with everyone from Ed Blackwell to Tony Malaby. Joining these two monster international musicians is Francois’ long-time collaborator, JUNO Award-winning Vancouver guitarist Gordon Grdina.
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Coastal Jazz: Gamelan Bike Bike
Gamelan Bike Bike gets its musical inspiration from Indonesia and its raw materials from Vancouver’s scrap heaps. Founded in 2012, the community-based ensemble has transformed discarded metal—including over 100 bicycle frames—into tuned metallophones and gongs to perform new music for gamelan, including recent works from Balinese composer I Putu Gede Sukaryana (Balot). With Robyn Jacob, George Rahi, Wendy Chen, Shawn Sekiya, Peter Park, Jack Adams, Kaia Stoesz, Dylan Perera, Adrian Avendaño.
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Coastal Jazz: TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival
The TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival is held in multiple locations across the beautiful city of Vancouver. Framed by mountains and the ocean, this idyllic location is the perfect place to get your musical fix. With 1,800 artists, 300 performances, 35 venues, and 150+ free shows – this annual event is not to be missed.
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