Banff string quartet festival brings dance, accordion and orchestral sound into chamber music

Canadian choreographer Neshama Nashman and pianist Jan Lisiecki are among more than 40 artists taking part in the Sept. 3–6 festival.

Calgary-born accordionist Michael Bridge, left, and Canadian dancer and choreographer Neshama Nashman are among the artists featured at the 2026 Banff International String Quartet Festival, running Sept. 3–6.

Photos: Sam Gaetz, left; Ingo Schaefer, right/Courtesy of Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

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BANFF, Alta. — The Banff International String Quartet Festival is expanding the traditional four-player chamber ensemble this September, pairing string music with dance, accordion, larger ensembles and orchestral arrangements.

The four-day festival runs Sept. 3 to 6 at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and features more than 40 artists. Organizers say the 2026 program begins with the traditional string quartet — two violins, viola and cello — while exploring collaborations with other performers and musical forms.

That approach will be particularly visible Sept. 5, when Canadian dancer and choreographer Neshama Nashman joins dancers Anton Tcherny and Irene Yang for a program combining choreography and live music.

The program includes three choreographed works set to music by Johann Sebastian Bach, David Lang and Samuel Barber. Calgary-born accordionist Michael Bridge is among the musicians taking part, with the concert also incorporating string quartet and vocal performances.

Festival director Barry Shiffman said working with Nashman's choreography changed the way he heard the accompanying music.

“Dancers count it in a way that responds to how they hear music, as opposed to how it's printed,” Shiffman said in an Aug. 20 release from Banff Centre.

Nashman is a Canadian choreographer and dancer based in Düsseldorf, Germany, where she has been a soloist with Ballett am Rhein since 2020. Her choreography has been presented in Germany, the United States and Canada, including at Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music.

The second half of the Sept. 5 concert expands the ensemble for Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring. Thirteen musicians are scheduled to perform the work, with Toronto Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Jonathan Crow leading the group.

The festival will also experiment with the scale of chamber music during its Sept. 4 evening program. Calgary-born Banff Centre alumnus Jan Lisiecki will perform Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Banff Festival Orchestra.

That concert will include an expanded performance of Franz Schubert's Death and the Maiden, originally written for string quartet. Members of the Afiara Quartet, Dalí Quartet and Opus13 will be joined by additional violin, viola, cello and bass players for the orchestral arrangement.

Lisiecki returns Sept. 6 to perform Beethoven's Spring Sonata with Crow. His appearances are part of a festival program that also includes contemporary compositions, Latin American repertoire and a Canadian premiere.

Opening night Sept. 3 features the Canadian premiere of British composer Gavin Bryars' newly commissioned Harpsichord Quintet. The program also includes works by Mark Applebaum, Johannes Brahms and Antonín Dvořák.

Norwegian-Swedish ensemble Opus13, which placed second at the 2022 Banff International String Quartet Competition, will perform twice on Sept. 4. Cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Connie Shih are scheduled for two recitals on Sept. 5.

The Dalí Quartet takes the stage Sept. 6 with a program featuring Latin American composers, including Silvestre Revueltas, Sonia Morales-Matos and Astor Piazzolla. The festival concludes that evening with Shiffman, Isserlis and the Banff Festival Strings among the performers.

The Banff International String Quartet Festival was established in 2017 and is held during the years between editions of the triennial Banff International String Quartet Competition. This year's programming continues the festival's chamber-music focus while bringing other disciplines, instruments and larger ensembles into the concert schedule.

The Banff International String Quartet Festival runs Sept. 3–6 at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Individual show tickets and BISQFest LITE packages remain available through Banff Centre.