Vancouver Symphony Orchestra puts out call to BC musicians and ensembles for Day of Music event May 15
Honorariums available for videos, livestreams, and pop-up performances for free celebration

Photo by Joel Wyncott
THE VANCOUVER SYMPHONY Orchestra is inviting amateur and professional musicians and ensembles from across the province to join in video recordings, livestreams, and popups for the Day of Music on May 15.
The free celebration will feature more than 100 performances released via the virtual DayOfMusic.ca hub. Pop-up performances are also being planned around the province, adhering to public-health orders.
The VSO is offering honorariums of $400 for individuals and $1,000 for ensembles to selected participants. Preference is to be given to groups whose work falls under the categories of classical, jazz, chamber, world music, Indigenous, and wind-band genres.
Proposals to participate can be submitted at DayOfMusic.ca by April 15.
Day of Music is the VSO’s annual free community celebration of music and musicians, launched in 2019. In that pre-pandemic year, the inaugural event welcomed over 14,000 people to 100 free performances in celebration of the VSO’s 100th Anniversary. The 2020 event was disrupted by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Janet Smith is founding partner and editorial director of Stir. She is an award-winning arts journalist who has spent more than two decades immersed in Vancouver’s dance, screen, design, theatre, music, opera, and gallery scenes. She sits on the Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle.
Related Articles
German conductor Constantin Trinks will lead the concert, which also features Bruckner’s Symphony No. 5
Artistic director and violinist Joan Blackman says Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy’s interstellar Dark Energy is challenging but worth the effort
Poet Garth Martens says the Victoria-based troupe’s performances are a visceral and intimate conversation between words, music, and dance
Grammy Award–nominated artist to play a mixed program of works by Steve Reich, J.S. Bach, Thomas Adès, and more
A decade in the making, dramatized song cycle blends tones of classic spaghetti westerns with soprano vocals and flamenco dance to create haunting vision
In partnership with Pacific Opera Victoria, new production of Giuseppe Verdi’s tragedy centres opulence, oppression, and revenge
One-man band takes on the iconic album before delving into originals
Program mixed monumental moments with the rising star pianist’s gift for light, crystal-clear intonation
Soprano joins the Pacific Baroque Orchestra under the direction of Alexander Weimann
Acclaimed guitar-and-bass duo blends whisper-soft passages with lush sonic swells and a deeply personal investigation of violence endured by Indigenous cultures