Musiciens en résidence à Banff 2027

Basia Bulat is a Montreal based singer songwriter whose work bridges gospel, soul, and classic folk, carried by a distinctive voice and a deeply expressive, multi-instrumental approach. A three time Polaris Music Prize finalist and JUNO Award nominee, Bulat has built an international reputation through a rich and evolving catalogue, from her early analogue folk recordings to more expansive, collaborative works. Her music has been celebrated on global stages and platforms from NPR’s Tiny Desk and Later... with Jools Holland to major tribute concerts honouring artists like Leonard Cohen and The Band and she has toured alongside artists including Sufjan Stevens, The National, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. 

In 2025, Bulat released Basia’s Palace her most sonically expansive album to date, featuring lush arrangements, synthesizers, and layered melodies, earning widespread acclaim across North America and Europe. In 2026, she returns to a more intimate setting, presenting a solo tour that reimagines songs from Basia’s Palace alongside highlights from her extensive catalogue. Performing on guitar, piano, and autoharp, these stripped down concerts foreground the emotional core of her songwriting, allowing each piece to unfold with clarity and depth. The result is a powerful and personal live experience one that highlights Bulat’s singular artistry and enduring place within the contemporary folk tradition.

Image by Richmond Lam.

“collectif9 takes the future of classical music by the hand, giving it a serious rejuvenation.”

ICI MUSIQUE

Laureate at the 2025 JUNOS and 'Performer of the Year' at the 2025 Prix Opus, Montreal string ensemble collectif9 is known for their innovative programming and approach to chamber music. The string nonet aims to promote classical music from a personal perspective, where new voices and interpretations are welcomed and encouraged, performing “with an infectious energy and vigour that grabs an audience’s attention” (The WholeNote). Since their 2011 debut, collectif9 has performed numerous concerts across North America, Europe, and Asia. As performers of classical and contemporary music, the ensemble combines the power of an orchestra with the agility of a chamber ensemble. collectif9 operates on the premise that a change of context can influence communication and experience.

collectif9 presents new programmes every season in Montréal, Canada, and their national and international touring schedule includes performances in chamber music series, festivals, universities, and more. Highlights include concerts in the Festival de Música de Morelia (Mexico), La Folle journée de Nantes (France), Festival de Lanaudière (Québec), Shenzhen Concert Hall (China), and Sound Unbound (Barbican Centre, London). The ensemble continually explores new repertoire and new artistic partnerships with composers, video artists, poets, lighting designers, and other inspired collaborators, to create multidisciplinary projects that come to life in acoustic or amplified settings.  

Rituæls (Analekta, 2024), the most recent album by collectif9, received a Juno Award and an Opus Award, and was a finalist at the Gala ADISQ. Released with European label Alpha Classics, the ensemble’s two previous albums were nominated at the Juno Awards in 2022 and 2023. Rituæls has been described as “a sensory landscape that evokes timelessness... the real, the important” (Pan M 360), No Time for Chamber Music as “sheer delight” (New Music Buff), and Vagues et ombres as “spellbinding” (Pan M 360), a “superb reinterpretation of Debussy” (Classique News). In addition to their albums, the group has released a series of three film-concerts, live performances filmed with a cinematographic approach, as well as a docu-concert (Ce qui nous lie, 2025) which reveals the group's creative process.  

Inspired by the processes of other artistic movements, collectif9 continually searches for new ways of expression within the classical medium, fostering communication and collaboration between artists of all kinds and members of society. The group is also committed to the preparation of specially-designed school shows and presentations, masterclasses, and workshops. Created specifically for their intended group, collectif9’s educational activities focus on energy, shared experiences, and exploration.  

collectif9 has received a great deal of support and encouragement, and is very grateful to the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts de Montréal, and FACTOR.

Direction

Thibault Bertin-Maghit , general and artistic direction 
Andrea Stewart , associate general and artistic direction

2025-2026 Musicians

violins Chloé Chabanole, Scott Chancey, John Corban, Robert Margaryan, Camille Poirier-Lachance, TJ Skinner 
violas Cynthia Blanchon, Marilou Lepage 
cellos Marieve Bock, Juan Sebastian Delgado, Andrea Stewart 
double bass Thibault Bertin-Maghit  
guitar Steve Cowan 
marimba Krystina Marcoux 
drums Ronny Desinor 

S’il existe un principe qui guide tout ce que fait Luca Fogale, c’est l’intention. Ses chansons sont sans prétention et dépourvues d’artifices — elles résonnent plutôt d’une riche nuance, sa voix murmurée frappant comme une brise chaude et enveloppante. « C’est pourquoi j’écris si lentement, » confie-t-il. « Chaque mot compte pour moi. » Tout comme Hemingway éliminait les mots inutiles, ou comme le peintre minimaliste Frank Stella est devenu synonyme de la phrase « ce que vous voyez est ce que vous voyez », Fogale s’efforce lui aussi de créer sans artifice. Ce rare mélange de maîtrise et de retenue explique pourquoi Fogale — qui a récemment lancé son quatrième album studio, Challenger — compte deux nominations aux prix JUNO dans la catégorie Album contemporain adulte de l’année (pour Run When the Light Calls en 2023 et Nothing Is Lost en 2020) et a cumulé plus de 250 millions d’écoutes en continu.

Fogale a été élevé dans la foi catholique à l’extérieur de Vancouver, où il vit toujours. Il a ensuite appris à jouer du piano et de la guitare, qui, au début de la vingtaine, sont devenus son évangile à lui. « Mon attention, au lieu de se tourner vers Dieu, s’est tournée vers l’intérieur; vers une révérence pour l’esprit humain et pour ce monde, et vers une profonde exploration de soi. Dans ce changement, explique-t-il, j’ai trouvé la profondeur de gratitude, de paix et de foi que je crois avoir toujours cherchée. »

Challenger, partage-t-il, a été écrit « surtout dans des moments de calme entre les tournées ». Plus précisément, il parcourait quelques heures en voiture pour quitter la ville et se rendre dans un chalet paisible niché au cœur de l’intérieur de la Colombie-Britannique. Là, il a affronté ses doutes avec courage, et même avec émerveillement. « Cet album est né d’un questionnement sur qui je suis devenu et sur ce qui m’a façonné, et, par conséquent, d’une réflexion sur la part de mon passé qui ne me sert plus — ce que je peux remettre en question et ce que je peux laisser aller, » dit-il. « Plus je passe de temps à m’engager dans cette vie, plus mon regard sur le monde s’élargit. Cela m’oblige à réfléchir sur moi-même et à me tenir responsable de qui je suis. Cela élève mes exigences quant à la personne que je veux devenir. »

Si le processus de Challenger lui a appris quelque chose, c’est que son travail le plus marquant naît d’une introspection profondément humaine. « Pendant longtemps, je considérais l’écriture de chansons comme une canalisation du cosmos — d’une influence extrinsèque — comme si les idées ne faisaient que passer à travers nous, » dit-il. « Mais plus je vieillis, plus je m’ancre fermement dans la conviction que toute cette expression artistique provient du plus profond de nous-mêmes : des parties de nous qui sont soit les plus prêtes, soit les plus nécessaires pour ce monde. »

Challenger est maintenant disponible via Nettwerk et comprend les extraits Horizon, For, Ashes, Lost Without You et *Begin*.

Reid Anderson is a composer and bass player best known for his work in the genre-defying instrumental group The Bad Plus. Since its inception in 2001, the band has amassed widespread acclaim and created an uncompromising body of work that spans 15 studio albums and countless live performances. The Bad Plus are widely considered to be one of the most significant groups of their time and Anderson’s prolific work as a composer has defined their sound throughout the years.

Born in Minneapolis in 1970, Anderson began playing the acoustic bass at the age of 18. He was accepted into Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music one year after picking up the instrument and graduated in 1993. He moved to New York to pursue a career in jazz and has since performed and recorded with some of the most prominent musicians of his generation, including: Joshua Redman, Bill Frisell, Mark Turner, and Kurt Rosenwinkel. Anderson began to focus heavily on composition in New York
and released three critically acclaimed albums of original music for the Spanish label, Fresh Sound New Talent, between 1997 and 2000. Two of these albums were on the New York Times’ Top 10 List for their respective years.

Anderson’s career has amassed a number of standout moments, including a 2011 commission from Duke University and Lincoln Center for The Bad Plus to arrange and perform Stravinski’s, "The Rite of Spring." They have also composed for dance - writing and performing “Violet Cavern” for the Mark Morris Dance Group. In 2013 Anderson premiered his first evening length composition, "The Rough Mixes." This work for 2 violins, cello, drum set, electronics, and video was performed as part of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra's Liquid Music series. In 2020 he composed the music for the New York Times Podcast, “Nice White Parents.”

Along with his work in The Bad Plus, Anderson is a member of the ensemble Broken Shadows - which explores the music of Ornette Coleman, Julius Hemphill, Dewey Redman, and Charlie Haden - and the instrumental synth band, Golden Valley Is Now. Both of these groups released albums in 2019. 

Reid Anderson will spend the remainder of 2022 touring with The Bad Plus in support of their fifteenth studio release and focusing on a new electronic music group with Gregg Belisle-Chi on guitar and Tina Priceman on violin.