Global opera powerhouse Hèctor Parra comes to Banff Centre with an action-packed story set in interwar France.

Commissioned by the Opéra national de Paris, the Catalan composer’s Miroir de nos peines adapts Pierre Lemaitre’s novel of the same name, with a libretto by Jean-Luc Vincent. The narrative plunges headlong into the madness of the Phoney War, as France—seized by the panic of a new European conflict—descends into chaos.  

Recipient of the Ernst von Siemens Composition Prize and the National Culture Prize of Catalonia, Parra is internationally recognized for his dramatic and innovative operas. Miroir de nos peines isn’t the first time he’s taken an interest in French-language literature: his adaptation of Jonathan Littell’s Les Bienveillantes premiered in 2019 to enormous acclaim, with the Barcelona newspaper La Vanguardia heralding it as “the most important opera of the 21st century.”  

This free, work-in-progress showing isn’t to be missed.

Opera is generously supported by the David Spencer Endowment Encouragement Fund and the Maria Francisca Josepha Brouwer Scholarship Fund for Dutch Artists.

A rare, one-day-only chance to visit a hidden gem of Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity's campus.

Tucked into a forested, secluded part of Banff Centre’s campus are nine Leighton Artist Studios, creative spaces that have hosted accomplished Canadian artists, including Joni Mitchell, Yann Martel, Daniel MacIvor, k.d. lang, Lawrence Hill, and Ken Lum. 

During this rare access to an otherwise private part of campus, learn about Canada's rich artistic history and witness its vibrant present.

In 1983, Banff Centre invited leading Canadian architects to design dedicated studios for creative work: spaces that remove distractions, foster concentration, and provide the physical conditions to create freely. The eight selected architects each designed a unique structure nestled in the stunning Banff Centre landscape. Over time, the studios have expanded. Two decades later, the Painter House was introduced to support collaborative residencies. 

The studios officially opened in 1985. Since then, more than 1,000 artists from around the world have used them to create new work—novels, operas, exhibitions, screenplays, choreography, sound art, and more.

Guests are also invited to enjoy refreshments on the Painter House Studio deck.

Information Tent
Connect with Leighton Artist Studios program staff at the on-site information tent. Ask questions, learn more about the studios, and gain insight into the day-to-day experience of a residency in these unique creative spaces.

Timing: 1:30 PM, 2:30 PM, & 3:30 PM

Faculty member at the Juilliard School for over 10 years, Hung-Kuan Chen is a deeply expressive pianist and a familiar face at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, both onstage and in the classroom. He has performed in many of the world’s foremost concert venues, including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully in New York, the Kennedy Center in D.C., Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, and the Tonhalle in Zürich.

Hung-Kuan was born in Taipei and raised in Germany; his early studies blended the musical philosophies of those two cultures. The winner of the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition and the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, he has collaborated with conductors like Christoph Eschenbach and Hans Graf.  In 1992, Hung-Kuan suffered a hand injury resulting in focal dystonia. Through meditation and his own unique research, he was able to heal and return to his life as a concert artist. 

Tema Blackstone’s influential work encompasses an impressive concert career, spanning both solo and duo performances, as well as advocacy for music as a force for personal and societal well-being. A faculty member at the Juilliard School, she believes in passing on great music to new generations.

We’re lucky to have both Blackstone and Chen on faculty for the two-week Art of Piano residency, which offers professional pianists and pianist-composers the chance to work with internationally celebrated artists. Participants advance their craft through individual coaching, masterclasses, and performance opportunities. 

Art of Piano is generously supported by lead donor Heather Edwards.
Additional support provided by the Alice and Betty Schultz Scholarships Endowment Fund for Dance and Music, Helen Graham, and the Yolanda Freeze Master Artists Music Fund.

A pair of brilliant pianists joins participants from the Art of Piano program for a concert blending traditional and contemporary repertoire.

Back after audience-favourite appearances in 2024 and 2025, Joanna MacGregor is a world-renowned performer, composer, and conductor whose versatility has captivated audiences in over 80 countries. She’s released more than 40 solo recordings, ranging from Chopin and Piazzolla to Bach and John Cage, and has contributed to collaborative and compositional projects that encompass jazz, film, visual art, contemporary dance, and electronica. She’s also a highly experienced educator and serves as Head of Piano at London’s Royal Academy of Music.

Pianist and UCLA Associate Professor David Kaplan has been called “excellent and adventurous” by The New York Times. As an orchestra soloist, he’s appeared with the Britten Sinfonia at London’s Barbican and Das Sinfonie Orchester Berlin at the Philharmonie. He’s drawn steady acclaim for concert programs that creatively interweave classical, contemporary, and newly commissioned works. His solo album New Dances of the League of David was released in 2024 to immediate raves.

We’re lucky to have both MacGregor and Kaplan on faculty for the two-week Art of Piano residency, which offers professional pianists and pianist-composers the chance to work with internationally celebrated artists. Participants advance their craft through individual coaching, masterclasses, and performance opportunities. 

Art of Piano is generously supported by lead donor Heather Edwards.
Additional support provided by the Alice and Betty Schultz Scholarships Endowment Fund for Dance and Music, Helen Graham, and the Yolanda Freeze Master Artists Music Fund.

A Grammy Award-winning trailblazer joins participants from the Art of Piano program for a concert blending traditional and contemporary repertoire.

Lauded as “exquisite” by The Philadelphia Inquirer and “a pianist of sterling artistry” by Gramophone, Michelle Cann is one of the most sought-after pianists of her generation. Recent engagements include appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the LA Phil, and Orquestra Sinfônica Municipal de São Paulo.  

Recognized as a leading interpreter of the piano music of Florence Price, Cann performed the New York City premiere of Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement with The Dream Unfinished Orchestra in 2016. Her recording of the concerto with the New York Youth Symphony won a Grammy in 2023 for best orchestral performance. She won another Grammy in 2025 for Beyond the Years: Unpublished Songs of Florence Price, recorded with soprano Karen Slack, which features 19 unpublished songs composed by Price. Her acclaimed debut solo album Revival, featuring music by Price and Margaret Bonds, was released in 2023.

We’re lucky to have Cann on faculty for the two-week Art of Piano residency, which offers professional pianists and composers the chance to work with internationally celebrated artists. Participants advance their craft through individual coaching, masterclasses, and performance opportunities.

Art of Piano is generously supported by lead donor Heather Edwards.
Additional support provided by the Alice and Betty Schultz Scholarships Endowment Fund for Dance and Music, Helen Graham, and the Yolanda Freeze Master Artists Music Fund.

Two world-class pianists—one French, one American—join participants from the Art of Piano program for a concert blending traditional and contemporary repertoire.

Tema Blackstone’s influential work involves an impressive concert career encompassing both solo and duo performances. She also advocates for music as a force for personal and societal well-being. A faculty member at Juilliard, she believes in passing on great music to new generations. She’ll be joined by faculty member Éric Le Sage.

Le Sage is internationally established as a representative of the French piano school. He has performed as a soloist with groups, including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, LA Phil, Rotterdam Philharmonic, and Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, as well as at Carnegie Hall and the Philharmonie de Paris. He released two magnificent albums in 2022: an orchestral Mozart record under the baton of his longtime stage partner François Leleux, and a solo album featuring rare French repertoire from the beginning of the 20th century.

We’re lucky to have both Blackstone and Le Sage on faculty for the two-week Art of Piano residency, which offers professional pianists and pianist-composers the chance to work with celebrated artists. Participants advance their craft through individual coaching, masterclasses, and performance opportunities. 

Art of Piano is generously supported by lead donor Heather Edwards.
Additional support provided by the Alice and Betty Schultz Scholarships Endowment Fund for Dance and Music, Helen Graham, and the Yolanda Freeze Master Artists Music Fund.

Two world-class pianists—one French, one American—join participants from the Art of Piano program for a concert blending traditional and contemporary repertoire.

Connecticut-raised piano-composer Timo Andres’s recent highlights include a solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall and the world premiere of a piano concerto at the LA Phil, led by John Adams. His work on Justin Peck’s stage adaptation of Sufjan Stevens’s Illinoise: A New Musical earned him a Tony Award nomination; he’s also been nominated for a Grammy. His collaborators include Becca Stevens, Brad Mehldau, Philip Glass, Kronos Quartet, and many more.

Éric Le Sage is internationally established as a representative of the French piano school. He has performed as a soloist with groups including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, LA Phil, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, as well as at Carnegie Hall and the Philharmonie de Paris. He released two magnificent albums in 2022: an orchestral Mozart record under the baton of his longtime stage partner François Leleux, and a solo album featuring rare French repertoire from the beginning of the 20th century.

We’re lucky to have both Andres and Le Sage on faculty for the two-week Art of Piano residency, which offers professional pianists and pianist-composers the chance to work with celebrated artists. Participants advance their craft through individual coaching, masterclasses, and performance opportunities.

Art of Piano is generously supported by lead donor Heather Edwards.
Additional support provided by the Alice and Betty Schultz Scholarships Endowment Fund for Dance and Music, Helen Graham, and the Yolanda Freeze Master Artists Music Fund.

James Ehnes is back!

One of the planet’s most renowned violinists celebrates his 50th birthday with a not-to-be-missed tour across Canada.

The Banff Centre favourite will perform in recital with the celebrated pianist Andrew Armstrong; the pair have collaborated on several acclaimed recordings. Together, they’ll perform a repertoire including Brahms’s “Sonata No. 3,” Bartók’s “Rhapsody No 1,” and the world premiere of Carmen Braden’s “Imaginal,” co-commissioned by Banff Centre.

Ehnes’s extensive discography has won a bounty of awards, including two Grammys, three Gramophone Awards, and 12 JUNO Awards—the most of any classical musician in history.  

He’s also one of the most sought-after musicians on the international classical stage. Recent and upcoming orchestral highlights include the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, LA Phil, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Cleveland Orchestra.

A devoted chamber musician, Ehnes is the Artistic Director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society and the leader of the Ehnes Quartet.

He plays the “Marsick” Stradivarius of 1715, named after Belgian violinist and teacher Martin Pierre Marsick (1847–1924), who owned the instrument created by Antonio Stradivari of Cremona. Valued at approximately $10-million CAD, the instrument was purchased in 1999 by collector David L. Fulton, who immediately loaned it to violinist James Ehnes and then sold it to him a decade later. 

Supported by:

Questioning form and expectations and jostling between theatrical and somatic ideals of confrontation and conversation, White Space is a new evening-length work. The performance features 11 captivating dancers in a restless and thought-provoking world fueled by a vast movement vocabulary consisting of Kyle Abraham’s signature blend of classical and contemporary dance with a hip-hop underbelly. 

The work brings together acclaimed composers, Jason Moran and Nico Muhly, for a haunting new collaborative score that pierces the heart of choreographer Abraham’s newest dance. 

The original score, written for two pianists on a single piano, echoes with hip-hop driving the collision of reality and idealism.

White Space marks the second time Abraham is collaborating with world-renowned visual artist, Glenn Ligon, on scenic design. Other collaborators include noted costume designers, Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung, and longtime lighting collaborator, Dan Scully. 

"Kyle Abraham has a mission — and it’s bigger than himself. He likes to spread the love with his company, A.I.M., and, in doing so, broaden the viewer’s experience of what a dance concert by a choreographer-led company can be." -Gia Kourlas, The New York Times

“For almost 20 years, the inclusive modern dance company has brought thought-provoking movement rooted in Black and queer history and culture to the forefront…” -Freya Drohan, Vogue
 

PROJECT SUPPORT 

White Space was supported by New Music USA’s Organization Fund in 2025-26, with additional commissioning funds provided by the O’Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation.

White Space is co-commissioned by Jacob's Pillow, LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura, PEAK Performances at Montclair State University, with the support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels. White Space was created in part during a Pillow Lab residency at Jacob's Pillow, made possible by support from the Vivienne Jones Endowment Fund at Jacob's Pillow.

Supported by:

Indigenous soul. That’s how Six Nations-born-and-bred Lacey Hill describes her emotion-filled original songs, which grow out of a lifelong love for music-making.

Part of the Oneida/Mohawk Wolf Clan, the singer-songwriter paid her dues performing cover songs and singing backup for local Six Nations bands. Now, she’s one of the few musicians from her community consistently dropping albums.

Previous releases include multiple volumes of a decade-long series of albums called 528. Entry three, The Moon (528 III), was released in 2022.

Between recording sessions, Hill makes a point of touring. She continues to expand her fanbase not only across Canada but internationally, with shows in Australia, Scotland, and the U.S.

Hill is an alumna of Banff Centre’s Indigenous Arts and Music programs.

Join Banff Centre throughout the month of June for National Indigenous History Month. Other free events include dance and jewelry workshops, film screenings, and a story sharing circle.

With support from