The Tempest Project

The Tempest Project is a new immersive work that Music on Main is developing iteratively between 2020 and 2024.

Celebrated for “inventive presentations of top-flight contemporary music” (Stir Magazine), Music on Main is re-imagining classical and contemporary music performance with The Tempest Project, an ambitious, immersive production that will premiere in July 2024.

Led by Artistic Director David Pay, this staged production will explore dreams and disruption, revenge and reconciliation, power, magic, redemption, empathy, and the impacts of colonialism.

An integral part of this project is The Tempest Project Company: a group of Metro Vancouver based musicians and creative professionals who are lending their talents and lived experiences to the growth and scope of this ambitious production as it develops. An important part of this Company includes providing space for musicians from various musical and cultural backgrounds and teachings to come together to learn and teach each other about their musical practices.

Royal Bank of Canada is this project’s Founding Partner.

Introducing, The Tempest Project Company:

Blakc and white, Aram Bajakian playing the guitar and looking off to the side
Aram Bajakian, guitar, oud
Paolo Bortolussi, in a red shirt and black pants, holding his flute while sitting on a bench in front of a window
Paolo Bortolussi, flute
Julia Chien in a purple shirt holding two mallets and playing the drums
Julia Chien, perucssion
Dailin Hsieh in a dress with grey and orange planes, playing the zheng.
Dai-Lin Hsieh, zheng
Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa, machine think love
Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa, piano
Saina Khaledi, sitting at her santour in a black outfit for As dreams are made
Saina Kahledi, santour
Jonathan Lo in a blue suit sitting behind his cello, looking up.
Jonathan Lo, cello
Julia Ulehla sitting on a carpet with microphones, singing in front of red curtains
Julia Ulehla, vocals

The Tempest Project Collaborators:

David Pay, Artistic Director
Shayna Goldberg, Artistic Planning & Operations Manager
Nancy Tam, Sound Designer
Katie Findlay, Vocals
Alfredo Santa Ana, Composer
Prevail, Vocals
Melanie Yeats, Dramaturg
Saina Khaledi, Composer
Gabriel Kahane, Composer