Revered Kronos Quartet and Dynamic YAMATO Drummers of Japan Lead Highlights from Chan Centre’s 24-25 Season

The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at the University of British Columbia announces concert highlights from its upcoming 2024-25 season. With the full season still to be announced, the first wave of performances revealed today includes three streams of programming: Chan Centre Presents, Chan Centre EXP, and the newest series, Chan Centre Director’s Cut. Presents is primarily programmed by curator-in-residence Jarrett Martineau, alongside guest curators David Fung and Dinuk Wijeratne. EXP is solely helmed by Martineau, while Director’s Cut features selections from Chan Centre director Pat Carrabré.

Subscriptions for the general public go on sale June 12, and single tickets go on sale June 25. Subscription packages start with any four concerts from the Presents or EXP series and enjoy 20% off, offering more variety than ever before.

An announcement for the third annual Indigenous festival ʔəm̓i ce:p xʷiwəl (Come Toward the Fire) will be made on June 4, 2024.

Curated by Jarrett Martineau:

Newly minted as the Juno’s 2024 Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year, Inuk musician Elisapie kicks off the EXP series on September 28, 2024, with the West Coast premiere of her new multimedia concert, Uvattini. Meaning “home” in Inuktitut, the immersive show combines music, narration, performance and film as directed by Émilie Monnet to reveal the intimacies of her Salluit community and her personal story. Co-presented with the Vancouver International Film Festival.

Kronos Quartet, who have just celebrated their 50^th anniversary, return to the Chan Centre on October 26 for the Chan Presents series for their first performance at the Chan in a decade, to present a brand-new program of music. The innovative group have “broken the boundaries of what string quartets do” (The New York Times) over their five decades of performing, commissioning over 1,100 new works, recording over 70 albums, and being recognized with more than 40 awards, including three Grammys. They have been at the cutting edge of what this centuries-old artform can do, collaborating with illustrious artists like tabla master Zakir Hussain, genre-defying musician Rhiannon Giddens, rock band Nine Inch Nails and the inimitable David Bowie. This will be the Canadian premiere of their newly announced lineup featuring new violinist Gabriela Díaz and violist Ayane Kozasa.

In celebration of Black History Month, on February 28 2025, Grammy-winning saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and Grammy-nominated harpist Brandee Younger will lead an ensemble performance of Translinear Light: The Music of Alice Coltrane, as part of the ‘Year of Alice’, a year-long celebration of Alice Coltrane’s life and spiritual jazz legacy. An accomplished pianist, harpist and composer, as well as the wife of saxophonist John Coltrane, Alice’s music combines Vedic chants with gospel, and inspires listeners to find liberation from within. This performance will be the Canadian premiere of this program.

On March 30, 2025, the famed Silkroad Ensemble come to the Chan Centre for their Uplifted Voices program, championing women and non-binary members and compositions that connects Indigenous music from North America with folk and ancestral traditions from Japan, China, Armenia, Ireland and the Scottish Hebrides. With music that draws from each musician’s personal background, Uplifted Voices weaves a musical tapestry that highlights our shared humanity.

“This season offers a kaleidoscopic spectrum of sounds. I am excited to welcome the return of renowned artists like Kronos Quartet and Silkroad Ensemble to present dynamic new works and collaborations, to celebrate the legacy of incomparable musical icons like Alice Coltrane, and to present the premiere of new projects like Elisapie’s Uvattini, which blends music, film and Inuit storytelling. We have many more EXP and Chan Presents and Director’s Cut concerts still to be announced that will add even more colours to the spectrum of what promises to be an enthralling and inspiring season.”

Jarrett Martineau, Curator-In-Residence

Chan Centre Presents curated by Dinuk Wijeratne:

YAMATO Drummers of Japan open Dinuk Wijeratne’s first concert of the season with a bang on March 29, 2025. With over 4,500 shows across 54 countries, the renowned taiko group have “the power to put an audience on its feet, laughing, clapping and taking part.” (London Times) since its formation in 1993. For this concert, they celebrate “Hito no chikara,” the power of human strength.

Wijeratne’s second and final curated show features Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali on April 6, 2025. The nephews of the master Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Rizwan and Muazzam have been performing together since the 1990s. Singing in Punjabi and Urdu, their performances have been praised for their “euphoric intensity” and “mesmerizing abandon.” (The Guardian). Drawing from a rich vein of Islamic and Sufi poetry, Rizwan and Muazzam continue the unbroken Qawwali legacy of their family that has flourished over five centuries. This concert will conclude Wijeratne’s tenure as guest curator.

“In his thought-provoking concept statement for the YAMATO World Tour, artistic director Masa Ogawa considers the rapidly advancing state of artificial intelligence (AI) and poses the question of whether it will ever surpass humans and, for that matter, start playing taiko. As a musician myself, I find this an unsettling thought. Whatever the future brings, there is no question that YAMATO and Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali are two extraordinary groups of individuals who have harnessed the power of cooperation and shared creativity. For now, at least, we can safely say that AI has a lot to learn from their seemingly superhuman gifts. Their music is their collective heartbeat. It is the power of being human.”

Dinuk Wijeratne, Guest Curator

Director’s Cut curated by Pat Carrabré:

Finally, the 27^th season also introduces the Director’s Cut series. Celebrating Pat Carrabré’s new five-year reappointment as director of the Chan Centre, the concerts on this series were hand-selected by the Juno-nominated Métis composer, educator, conductor, and former CBC radio host. The concerts offer intimacy in their smaller venues and insight into the creatively discerning eye of the Chan Centre’s very own director. These concerts are not included in subscription packages but can be purchased as an add-on.

The series begins on November 9, 2024 with the Montreal-based quartet Amir Amiri Ensemble performing in Roy Barnett Recital Hall at the UBC School of Music. Amir Amiri is a composer and champion of the santur, a 72-string hammered dulcimer that traces its origins back to 500 BCE. With dazzling virtuosity, the ensemble takes inspiration from its Persian musical roots while transcending borders and genres.

In partnership with Early Music Vancouver and the Indian Classical Music Society of Vancouver, Bahauddin Dagar performs on November 23, 2024 in the Telus Studio Theatre. Dagar is a master of the rudra veena, a plucked string instrument with a deep bass resonance. Performing with pakhavaj artist Tejas Tope, Dagar explores the rhythmic virtuosity and endless microtones of dhrupad, India’s oldest surviving style of classical music.

“It is a thrill to put my programming hat back on, reminding me of my former life as a radio host. I am always being pitched concerts for the Chan Centre and it is so rewarding to be able to say ‘yes’ to projects that have made me pause and reflect on my own conceptions of music-making. I also think these concerts will resonate with audiences and inspire with their virtuosity and daring creativity.”

Pat Carrabré, Chan Centre Director

Revered Kronos Quartet and Dynamic YAMATO Drummers of Japan Lead Highlights from Chan Centre’s 24-25 Season

Curated by Jarrett Martineau:

Chan Centre Presents curated by Dinuk Wijeratne:

Chan Centre Presents curated by David Fung:

Director’s Cut curated by Pat Carrabré: