Le Vivier, Montreal's hub for new music, announces the fourth edition of La Semaine du Neuf, which will be held from February 27 to March 15, 2026, in several emblematic venues in Montreal, including the Wilder Building, CIRMMT, and La Chapelle Scènes contemporaines. Under the theme Music & Movement, this edition explores the physical nature of sound: the musician's gesture, the dancer's body, and the vibrations that traverse space. Hosting artists from around the world, the festival offers concerts, multidisciplinary performances, sound installations, professional gatherings, and a young audience program.
The Body as an Instrument
At the heart of this program, music is embodied and becomes movement. This symbiosis is driven by the collaboration between choreographer Ula Sickle and the Brussels-based ensemble Ictus in Holding Present, where music and dance merge into a powerful collective gesture. This exploration of physicality continues in Le Souffle des Corps (The Breath of Bodies), resulting from a residency of the saxophone quartet Quasar with the Escuela Superior de Música y Danza de Monterrey. The French ensemble lovemusic offers Protest Of The Physical, a performance where the interpreter's body becomes the very engine of sound creation. Finally, the double bill featuring Du Vivant, with its wild invented instruments, and the collective formed by Sarah Bild, Susanna Hood, and the duo Nous perçons les oreilles, promises a stunning encounter between improvisation and body expression.
Major International Productions
Le Vivier reaffirms its vocation as a global crossroad by hosting key ensembles and unprecedented collaborations. The multidisciplinary performance Hide to Show by the Belgian ensemble Nadar questions our relationship with hyperreality, while Defining Space marks a meeting between Quebec's emerging McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble and the Swiss ensemble Contrechamps. The latter also joins forces with Architek Percussion for Kino-Sonique, a triptych exploring repurposed technologies and digital avatars. The international scene is also represented by the French ensemble Proxima Centauri with Mouvements, a dialogue between electronics and instrumental instantaneity, as well as by a double program featuring the improvisation group Limules alongside No Hay Banda and the Colombian artist Ana María Romano.
Immersion, Digital Arts, and Hybridity
The festival reinvents traditional stage design by integrating digital systems and reflections that resonate with our era into the concerts. Quigital, Architek Percussion, and soprano Sarah Albu present Corporate Retreat, a theatrical performance about the future of work, centered on percussion and enriched by technology. Megumi Masaki proposes Hearing Ice, a narrative work for piano and multimedia raising awareness about climate change, while Alexandra Templier invites the public to the immersive experience Le Murmure du Vivant (The Whisper of the Living), combining electroacoustic music, voice, dance, and visual arts. Ensemble Éclat explores fragmented spaces in Broken Spaces, an immersive concert blending electronic music and digital visuals, while the duo Stick & Bow and the ensemble Paramirabo offer an exploration of the relationship between gesture, sound, and light, at the intersection of contemporary music, improvisation, and digital art in Canta Lo Invisible.
Symposium on Indigenous Curatorial and Creative Practices in New Music
Led by Dylan Robinson, Stó:lō/Skwah artist, curator, and writer, the symposium sq'eq'íp st'elti'telem (songs gathering together) explores how Indigenous forms of gathering, listening, and creation can transform ways of conceiving contemporary music. The symposium's highlight is sxelxéles te tl'etl'áxel (designs for inviting), a multidisciplinary performance created by Dylan Robinson in collaboration with artists from the fields of dance, film, and music. Guided by xwélmexw values, it proposes new modes of gathering and listening.
Mini Neuf: A Day of Music for Little Ears
On March 8, the Mini Neuf offers a full day of musical discoveries featuring concerts, sound installations, and a series of workshops where children can explore music, build instruments, dance with Agora de la danse, and be introduced to percussion.
Tune in to the Unexpected
For almost 20 years, Le Vivier has been dedicated to new music. A non-profit organization, Le Vivier is dedicated to the dissemination of new music and the support of emerging artists, through its programming, its emerging artists Hub (Pôle relève), and its activities for youth. Thanks to solidarity pricing and affordable packages, Le Vivier is committed to making new music accessible to all audiences.
