Chan Centre's MADE IN CANADA Series to Unite And Celebrate Acclaimed Inuit Artists
Electric double bill offers Vancouver audiences an evening of haunting northern beauty and mesmerizing arctic sounds.
The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts will present an evening of Inuit artistry with legendary singer-songwriter Susan Aglukark and acclaimed throat-singing duo PIQSIQ on April 12, 2026, at 7:30pm on the Chan Shun Concert Hall stage.
The concert will feature two separate programs, blending Aglukark's mix of Inuit folk, country, and pop with PIQSIQ's modern twist on traditional throat singing.
“This dynamic pairing brings together groundbreaking Inuit artists who have put Inuit identity firmly on the map. Susan, with her record-breaking album, and PIQSIQ, who continue to reimagine the tradition of throat singing so it resonates powerfully today,” says T. Patrick Carrabré, Director, Chan Centre. “Both have recently captivated Vancouver audiences, but this concert offers a rare and extraordinary opportunity to experience a wide breadth of northern artistry in one night.”
A Canadian icon and the first Inuk artist to ever win a JUNO Award, Susan Aglukark's performance at the Chan Centre celebrates the 30th anniversary of her album This Child (1995). Since its release, Aglukark has gone on to write and record 10 albums, win three more JUNOs, author two children's books, earn a Governor General's Performing Arts Award for lifetime artistic achievement, and is an officer of the Order of Canada. Aglukark recently released her memoir, Kihiani, in 2025, and is the founder of the Arctic Rose Project, which gives Inuit and Northern Indigenous youth a safe after-school space, as well as the co-founder of the Aboriginal Literacy Project.
Nominated for a 2026 JUNO for Global Music Album of the Year for their album Legends (2025), Inuit throat-singing sisters Inuksuk Mackay and Tiffany Ayalik blend tradition with natural and technological inspiration. Using only their vocals and live looping techniques, the duo perform katajjaq, Inuit throat-singing, to create evolving soundscapes that evoke the haunting darkness of perennial Arctic winters. In Inuktitut, “piqsiq” is a windstorm that conjures the impression of snow falling back up towards the sky. This phenomenon has coloured their “riveting… and truly haunting” (Vancouver Sun) music, while pushing the tradition of Inuit throat-singing forward as a living art. While katajjaq was once outlawed and almost extinct, PIQSIQ are reclaiming their culture with every spellbinding performance.
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