The Chan Centre Adds Jazz Visionaries, Genre-Defying Artists and Musical Legends to its 2026–2027 Season

The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts has announced four additional events for its landmark 2026–2027 season, with more events to come. These new offerings expand an already ambitious lineup with influential voices in jazz, ambient and experimental music, Latin American music, and African music.

The new slate opens with one of contemporary jazz’s most influential voices. Kamasi Washington brings his expansive sound, boundary-pushing vision, and dazzling saxophone playing to the Chan Centre on December 2. The composer, bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist has reshaped contemporary jazz by incorporating elements of hip-hop, funk, R&B, and beyond across acclaimed works including The Epic, Heaven and Earth, and Fearless Movement. As Pitchfork writes, Washington’s records present jazz as “vitally important,” with a “grand scale and sheer musical urgency.” A celebrated collaborator, he has worked with artists including Florence + the Machine, Metallica, Herbie Hancock, and Kendrick Lamar, with whom he won two Grammys.

On January 17, Grouper, the project of Liz Harris, makes her first Vancouver appearance in 18 years. Harris creates music that exists somewhere between dream and waking, blending ambient, psychedelic, folk, and dream pop into immersive soundscapes. Across more than two decades, she has continually reshaped Grouper’s sound, from the lush, song-driven textures of Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill to the expansive experimentation of A I A and the intimate, piano-led Ruins. Her acclaimed 2021 album Shade brings these different approaches together, revealing the emotional intimacy at the heart of her work. Rarely seen live, Grouper will perform from her celebrated catalogue at the Chan Centre.

With rich theatricality, vibrant grace, and a powerful social conscience, Lila Downs returns to the Chan Centre on March 4 for her first performance here since 2018. One of Latin America’s most influential voices, the Grammy and Latin Grammy Award-winning artist is rooted in Oaxaca and shaped between Mexico and the United States. Her music honours her Indigenous heritage while embracing jazz, cumbia, folk, boleros, and contemporary rhythms. Downs’ 2026 album, Cambias mi Mundo (You Change My World), is her first composed almost entirely of original songs and her most acoustic and intimate work to date. In 2026, Downs was also recognized with a Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for her “restless creative personality and visionary talent for experimentation and daring musical fusions.”

Closing out the newly announced slate, Salif Keita performs on May 9. Nicknamed the “Golden Voice of Africa,” the Malian singer-songwriter has spent more than five decades forging a pioneering sound that draws on Mandingue musical traditions, jazz, funk, rhythm and blues, and other global influences. With 75 albums to his name, Keita is one of the most prolific artists of his generation. His groundbreaking 1987 album Soro propelled him to international fame, while his latest release, So Kono, earned four stars from The Guardian, which declared that “the Golden Voice still has it.” A five-time Grammy nominee and founder of the Salif Keita Global Foundation, Keita returns to Vancouver for his first appearance since 2011.

Tickets for all newly announced events are available for Chan Centre Plus Members. Basic Members can purchase from Wednesday, September 23 at 12PM. General On-Sale begins Thursday, September 24 at 12PM. Tickets can be purchased online at www.chancentre.com or through the box office phone line: 604-822-2697.