The National Arts Centre Announces its 2026–2027 Season: Live, Bold, and Unmistakably Canadian

The National Arts Centre Announces its 2026–2027 Season: Live, Bold, and Unmistakably Canadian

Join us for Music Director John Storgårds’s first season with the NAC Orchestra, and enjoy the power of live music, dance and theatre

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John Storgårds (Credit: Greggory Clark)

May 7, 2026 – OTTAWA (Canada) – In 2026–2027, we invite you to experience the best new and emerging artists, and reconnect with long-time favourites from around the world and close to home.

The NAC Orchestra enters a landmark chapter as internationally-acclaimed conductor John Storgårds begins his tenure as Music Director. He joins the NAC Orchestra with a vision that balances world-class artistic excellence and a deep investment in Canadian voices. His inaugural season features rising Canadian soloists, including Kerson Leong, Élisabeth Pion, and Kevin Chen, and centres on the music of British Columbia composer Jean Coulthard through a major performance and recording project.

Throughout the season, the NAC Orchestra also welcomes renowned international artists, including violinists Christian Tetzlaff and Hilary Hahn, and French hornist Ben Goldscheider. The Orchestra will offer a lively mix of musical experiences—from blockbuster film scores and classic pop hits to high-energy Caribbean rhythms and family-friendly orchestral journeys featuring vibrant dance and circus magic.

Popular music lovers will be thrilled by the variety of shows from across the Canadian musical identity, including the legendary Bruce Cockburn, pop idol Roch Voisine, indie darlings Rheostatics, alt-pop artist Begonia and multi-award-winning artist Allison Russell. In addition, a driving force behind the radiance of Quebec culture, Cirque Éloize will wow NAC audiences next season. Expect to be swept up in the infectious energy of Afro-Peruvian rhythms through the unique sounds of Afro-Andean Funk. With a growing series of best-selling authors on our stages, the NAC is very excited to welcome David Sedaris and Zadie Smith to Southam Hall this fall.

The NAC Dance season features a spectacular opening by Irish choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan with MÁM. Danza Contemporánea de Cuba will offer an electrifying evening that showcases the vibrancy and sensuality of modern Cuban artistry. Guillaume Côté returns with Midsummer Night Dreams for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, a poetic reimagining of Shakespeare’s 1595 play. Audiences will experience 2par2 by Ebnfloh Dance Company, a powerful example of emerging choreographic voices within Quebec’s Hip-Hop scene. NAC Dance and Indigenous Theatre will co-present Matriarchs Uprising, a festival curated by Olivia C. Davies as a platform for Indigenous women to redefine the future of contemporary dance and storytelling.

In theatre, the season emphasizes work shaped by cultural continuity and community connection. Indigenous Theatre presents Waiting for Godot – Inuktitut, a culturally reimagined version of Samuel Beckett’s classic, created by a collective of Inuit translators and artists. The production reflects how the NAC supports theatre makers in developing work that serves both artistic excellence, cultural renewal and linguistic preservation. Co-produced by NAC Indigenous and French Theatre, Innu artist Soleil Launière’s Pakuneu is a multidisciplinary work grounded in Innu cosmology that uses theatre, krumping, song, and video to explore the possible life paths of a child born in prison. In an NAC Indigenous Theatre and NAC English Theatre co-production, Margaret Laurence’s beloved novel The Diviners is adapted in a powerful version by Vern Thiessen and Yvette Nolan, directed by Krista Jackson.

English Theatre continues to champion Canadian artists through its long-term support of playwrights at pivotal moments in their creative journeys. Ins Choi, whose wildly popular play Kim’s Convenience was staged at the NAC before becoming a hit television series, returns with his latest award-winning work, Son of a Preacherman. The season also features the Stratford production of Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman’s The King James Bible Play. Directed by Nina Lee Aquino, this production underscores the NAC’s commitment to carrying Canadian stories beyond their world premieres and out to audiences across the country. That spirit of national reach and partnership continues with Arts Club Theatre Company’s production of Lauren Yee’s Cambodian Rock Band, arriving at the NAC after its 2025 Canadian debut in Vancouver—an electrifying blend of live music and historical drama featuring the songs of Dengue Fever.

French Theatre similarly highlights artistic growth as Etienne Lou returns to the NAC stage in Je comprends. Respect., a gripping autobiographical journey that brings together theatre and Hip-Hop, recruiting local dancers. French Theatre Artistic Director Mani Soleymanlou is back on stage in Bashir Lazhar, directed by Marie Brassard. This 2007 play by Evelyne de la Chenelière about a professor displaced from his homeland still resonates in the collective consciousness. In a monumental staging of L’Orestie, Alice Ronfard unites a cast of more than 30 to deliver an ambitious masterpiece. Joël Pommerat returns to the NAC iwith Les Petites Filles modernes (titre provisoire), a poetic dive into the tumult of two children’s hearts, for audiences aged 13 and up. A strong focus on youth programming also emerges, with a majority of works led by female voices.

The National Arts Centre nurtures the Canadian performing arts sector by investing millions through its National Creation Fund, providing artists with the essential time and resources to develop ambitious new works for audiences here and around the world. We support the next generation of artists through professional residencies, masterclasses, and intensive mentorship programs. By co-producing world premieres and providing a national platform for companies from across the country, the NAC serves as a vital engine for artistic innovation and professional growth across Canada.

"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."
- Annabelle Cloutier, President and CEO, National Arts Centre

THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS
Programming at the National Arts Centre is supported by many generous organizations from across the country. The NAC Foundation would like to thank The Azrieli Foundation, BMO Financial Group, the Janice & Earle O'Born Fund for Artistic Excellence, Group Germain Hotels, Hewitt Foundation, Leacross Foundation, Les Suites Hotel Ottawa, Lord Elgin Hotel, Mark Motors Group, Meta, National Bank of Canada, Power Corporation of Canada, RBC Foundation, Rogers Communications, Scotiabank, TD Bank Group, and the Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation.

A huge thank you to our devoted Donors' Circle individual donors for making programming at the NAC possible.

ABOUT THE NAC
The National Arts Centre is Canada’s bilingual, multi-disciplinary home for the performing arts. The NAC presents, creates, produces, and co-produces performing arts programming in various streams — the NAC Orchestra, Dance, English Theatre, French Theatre, Indigenous Theatre, and Popular Music and Variety — and nurtures the next generation of audiences and artists from across Canada. The NAC is located in the National Capital Region on the unceded territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation.

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NACO (credit: Remi Theriault)

NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE 2026– 2027 SEASON DISCIPLINE HIGHLIGHTS

NAC ORCHESTRA

John Storgårds’s inaugural season as Music Director puts the spotlight on Canadian artists—celebrating emerging talent, iconic performers, and some of the country’s most influential composers. Featured soloists include rising star Élisabeth Pion, the 2025 Honens International Piano Competition gold laureate; Kevin Chen, the second-prize winner at the 19th International Chopin Piano Competition; violinist James Ehnes; and pianist Angela Hewitt, in her first collaboration with John Storgårds. Bernard Labadie and La Chapelle de Québec will perform a luminous program of Bach cantatas. A connecting theme in Storgårds’s concert programs will be the work of composer Jean Coulthard (1908–2000), a notable voice in Canadian orchestral music that is too seldom heard today.

Throughout the season, the NAC Orchestra also welcomes world-class international artists, including violinists Christian Tetzlaff and Hilary Hahn, and French hornist Ben Goldscheider. The season opens with a dynamic piano program featuring New Zealand conductor Gemma New and Japanese pianist Makoto Ozone performing Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. The season also sees the return of sensational young conductors Ryan Bancroft, Stephanie Childress, and Roderick Cox and the visionary David Robertson’s debut with the NAC Orchestra.

Violinist Ray Chen and pianist Marc-André Hamelin return to Southam Hall for recitals as part of the Great Performers Series.

The Pops series offers a lively mix of musical experiences—from blockbuster film favourites and classic hits by Swedish supergroup ABBA to a tribute to the music from Star Wars and other treasured works by John Williams. Caribbean rhythms will once again fill Southam Hall with a fresh edition of the smash hit Reggae Roots, led by Principal Youth Conductor and Community Ambassador Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, with vocalist Jah’Mila. The NAC Orchestra’s bilingual Family Adventures series for children aged 5 to 12 brings music to life with Spooky Symphony, a playful, Halloween-themed musical journey; Fiesta sinfónica, bursting with colourful rhythms and dance, and Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons: A Circus Symphony, where dazzling orchestral music meets circus magic.

“While this is my first season as Music Director, I have worked with the NAC Orchestra for more than a decade. From the very beginning, I felt a powerful and undeniable connection with the musicians and our audiences. Now, as Music Director, I can't wait to spend more time with good friends and make new ones as we share music that will excite us, challenge us, uplift us, and most importantly, bring us together.”

– John Storgårds
Music Director, NAC Orchestra

John Storgårds (credit: Curtis Perry)

POPULAR MUSIC AND VARIETY

Canadian music has never been more influential on the national and international stage. The NAC’s Popular Music and Variety programming for the 2026–2027 season celebrates that impact while giving audiences the chance to discover voices shaping the future.

This fall, Winnipeg's Begonia performs her new album Fantasy Life, PEI’s The East Pointers stop by on their national tour, Canadian legend Bruce Cockburn and Canadian indie rock darlings Rheostatics return! And Allison Russell also returns performing her new album in Southam Hall.

Enjoy the powerful rhythms of Afro-Peruvian music with Afro-Andean Funk, and Portuguese quartet Danças Ocultas will bring soundscapes with four diatonic accordions.

From the vibrant Quebec cultural scene, Bobby Bazini is back with his latest album Seul au cinéma, Roch Voisine sings Gordon Lightfoot, and Philippe B tours Cigale, his seventh album. Kleztory bring their infectious mix of klezmer, jazz and classical music, and we’re excited to present the Nikamu Mamuitun II project: a powerful musical gathering where cultures intersect and rise together.

Contemporary circus group Cirque Éloize brings its blend of circus arts, music, dance, technology, and theater at the NAC for the first time. The live comedy show HYPROV with comedian Colin Mochrie and hypnotist Assad Mecci is back, and you can expect more comedy to be announced later this spring!

Best-selling authors David Sedaris and Zadie Smith take the Southam Hall stage as part of our growing series of world-class authors.

Our festive season includes the return of Choir!Choir!Choir! for a very special Christmas show, and Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy for A Celtic Family Christmas! More seasonal programming to come.

“We are incredibly excited about music programming for next season. Canadian artists are some of the most compelling artists in the world. It’s a privilege to spotlight both our biggest Canadian stars and the next generation of emerging talent.”

– Heather Gibson
Executive Director, Popular Music and Variety

Stay tuned for another major announcement of artists in June, and all year round!

NAC DANCE

The 2026–2027 Dance season, the third under Caroline Ohrt’s direction, features a selection of thoughtful and daring works, rich in humanity, love, and dreams, that explore movement as a space for reflection and transformation. The season also confirms NAC Dance’s commitment to creation: it includes co-productions of three new Canadian works, amplifying the influence of Canadian choreographic voices.

Among the productions coming up on the Southam Hall stage: MÁM, by Irish choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan, opens the season in style. Combining music with traditional and contemporary dance, this piece is performed by 12 dancers and 8 musicians. Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet presents a Stravinsky double bill: a new version of The Firebird created by Houston Thomas, and The Fairy’s Kiss choreographed by Alexeï Ratmansky. The program is a vibrant tribute to the composer’s boldness, magic, and modernity. Les Grands Ballets Canadienspresent two flagship productions: The Nutcracker, a festive holiday favourite, and Guillaume Côté’s brand new Midsummer Night Dreams, his sensitive reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s classic tale.

With Cuba, Here and Now, Danza Contemporánea de Cuba delivers an electrifying evening that showcases the vitality and relevance of contemporary Cuban artistic creation through a fusion of sensuality, virtuosity, and group energy. Finally, The National Ballet of Canada presents its new production of Dr. Coppélius, a magical tale of creativity, love, and identity, featuring inventive sets and costumes and compelling artistry.

In the Babs Asper Theatre, a constellation of unique worlds will take shape over the course of the season. The legendary Louise Lecavalier kicks things off with her latest creation, danses vagabondes, driven by her dazzling physicality and magnetic presence. The surrealist imagination of Tiffany Tregarthen and David Raymond comes to life in Rhino, a mysterious dance adventure in which unlikely characters struggle against oblivion. Next, Indian artist Aditi Mangaldas presents FORBIDDEN, a contemporary dance piece inspired by Kathak that explores desire, freedom, and taboos. Deepstaria, a new work by British choreographer Wayne
McGregor, dives to the mysterious depths of the ocean, combining dance, sound, and light in an intense sensory experience. And in Songs of Love and Collapse, Frédérick Gravel blends dance and live music in a captivating mix of past and present influences.

In the Azrieli Studio, NAC Dance will showcase two powerful works that explore our relationship with our  bodies and our communities. In 2par2, choreographer Alexandra ‘Spicey’ Landé investigates interpersonal dynamics, using Hip-Hop to convey the complicated nature of human connection. In When the Bleeding Stops, Icelandic choreographer Lovísa Ósk Gunnarsdóttir offers a fresh perspective on menopause, tackling its complexities with humour, sincerity, and flair. She will be joined by women from the local community, transforming the piece into a platform for sharing and solidarity.

In June, NAC Dance will partner with NAC Indigenous Theatre to co-present Matriarchs Uprising. Curated by Olivia C. Davies, this festival provides a forum for Indigenous women to envision the future of contemporary Indigenous dance and storytelling.

“Above all, the new season celebrates the body in motion as a source of vitality and renewal, and explores the essence of our relationship with the world and the intimate power of movement. The program offers a variety of choreographic approaches and aesthetics that bridge legacy and innovation, reinterpreting traditional forms to reflect contemporary realities and perspectives.”

– Caroline Ohrt
Executive Producer, NAC Dance

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Kate Eggins
Manager, Communications
National Arts Centre
613-240-2494
kate.eggins@nac.cna.ca

Mireille Allaire
Director, Communications
National Arts Centre
343-998-4244
mireille.allaire@nac-cna.ca