National Arts Centre Unveils 2026–2027 Season Across Music, Theatre, Dance, and Popular Music
John Storgårds begins his NAC Orchestra tenure alongside soloists Hilary Hahn, Kerson Leong, and Kevin Chen
The National Arts Centre has announced its 2026–2027 season, featuring programming across the NAC Orchestra, Dance, English Theatre, French Theatre, Indigenous Theatre, and Popular Music and Variety streams. The season includes new and returning Canadian artists, international performers, theatrical productions, and interdisciplinary works.
The NAC Orchestra enters a new chapter as internationally acclaimed conductor John Storgårds begins his tenure as Music Director. His inaugural season includes performances by Canadian soloists Kerson Leong, Élisabeth Pion, and Kevin Chen, as well as a performance and recording project centered on the music of British Columbia composer Jean Coulthard. The orchestra will also welcome International Artists including violinists Christian Tetzlaff and Hilary Hahn, and French hornist Ben Goldscheider.
The orchestra’s season will feature film scores, pop music programs, Caribbean music performances, and family-oriented concerts incorporating dance and circus elements.
Popular Music and Variety programming will include performances by Bruce Cockburn, Roch Voisine, Rheostatics, Begonia, and Allison Russell. The season will also feature performances by Cirque Éloize and Afro-Andean Funk, along with appearances by authors David Sedaris and Zadie Smith.
Dance
The NAC Dance season opens with MÁM by Irish choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan. Additional productions include performances by Danza Contemporánea de Cuba and Guillaume Côté’s Midsummer Night Dreams for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. The season will also feature 2par2 by Ebnflōh Dance Company and Matriarchs Uprising, a festival curated by Olivia C. Davies and co-presented by NAC Dance and Indigenous Theatre.
Indigenous Theatre and English Theatre
Indigenous Theatre programming includes Waiting for Godot – Inuktitut, a reimagined version of Samuel Beckett’s play created by Inuit translators and artists. NAC Indigenous and French Theatre will also co-produce Innu artist Soleil Launière’s Pakuneu, a multidisciplinary work incorporating theatre, krumping, song, and video.
In an NAC Indigenous Theatre and NAC English Theatre co-production, The Diviners by Margaret Laurence will be adapted by Vern Thiessen and Yvette Nolan, with direction by Krista Jackson.
English Theatre programming will also include Ins Choi’s Son of a Preacherman, following the NAC presentation of Kim’s Convenience prior to its television adaptation. Additional productions include the Stratford presentation of Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman’s The King James Bible Play, directed by Nina Lee Aquino, and Lauren Yee’s Cambodian Rock Band, presented by Arts Club Theatre Company following its Canadian debut in Vancouver.
French Theatre
French Theatre programming includes the return of Etienne Lou in Je comprends. Respect., which combines theatre and Hip-Hop and recruits local dancers. French Theatre Artistic Director Mani Soleymanlou will appear in Bashir Lazhar by Evelyne de la Chenelière, directed by Marie Brassard. The season also includes a production of L’Orestie directed by Alice Ronfard featuring a cast of more than 30 performers, and Joël Pommerat’s Les Petites Filles modernes (titre provisoire).
“In a world that keeps changing, the arts anchor us. They connect us through words, expression, and music that speak to who we are. I believe this wholeheartedly. That sense of connection is at the core of our 2026 2027 season with shows and concerts that ground and replenish us through the depth and diversity of theatre, music, dance, and interdisciplinary arts,” said Annabelle Cloutier, President and CEO of the National Arts Centre.
The National Arts Centre also highlighted its continued investment in the Canadian performing arts sector through the National Creation Fund, professional residencies, mentorship programs, and co-productions with artists and companies across Canada.
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