Canvas is an ongoing series that provides learning-driven, entertainment-sustained live music experiences.
Every corner of human experience is touched by music. Music impacts our childhoods, our sense of identity, our ability to understand others. Music demonstrates human achievement, perseverance, and expression. Music and musicians shape history and bring stories to the forefront. Music provides opportunities to come together in shared experience.
In our programming, Canvas gives space to these extraordinary intersections and welcomes every type of music listener to absorb performances and ideas.
Our programming reaches across boundaries of genre and instrumentation. We find as much relevance in the music of Freddie Mercury as Sergei Rachmaninoff and are happy to show you how pianos are constructed, what a major scale is, and how music impacts an aging mind.
Some liken our programs to a musical Ted Talks. We don’t disagree!
Unlike conventional concerts, Canvas programs are curated with audience experience in mind. Each event provides an opportunity for audiences to engage directly: in conversation, hands-on learning, or even music-making. We provide visual learning stations throughout our space, reiterating topics covered in the program. We’re happy if you walk away loving the performance. We’re ecstatic if you walk away with a deeper understanding of music, musicians, or the music process.
Canvas has created thirty original programs, collaborated with over a hundred different musicians / artists / scientists, and over two thousand different audience members have attended our invitation-only Lab shows. Some of our programs have been featured in theaters, schools, community centers across the United States. One of our programs is currently in development for large-scale media release. In 2022, Canvas is launching Mixed Media - a new initiative to engage conservatory students in conversation about the changing landscape of live music programming.
I love re-thinking what gathering for music can be. I hope you’ll join us for the next show!
“If the audience laughs and cries in equal portions, the artists and I have done our jobs. If the audience is more inspired by music’s role in the world, then Canvas has done its job.”
