Newfound Music Festival XXIII
Newfound Music Festival XXIII
Guest artist Quasar
January 28-30, 2026
Newfound Music Festival, now in its 23rd year, is an annual festival that invites students, alumni, and faculty to share their "Newfound ideas" with the School of Music community. Join us for workshops, a symposium, special guests, concerts, and a final gala performance. This year's guest artist will be the saxophone quartet Quasar.
Newfound Music Festival: Symposium
Thursday, January 29, 2026, 12pm-4pm
Suncor Energy Hall
Free and open to the public
Newfound Music Festival: Gala Concert
Thursday, January 29, 2026, 7:30pm
D.F. Cook Recital Hall
Newfound Music Festival: Mainstage Concert featuring Quasar
Friday, January 30, 2026, 7:30pm
D.F. Cook Recital Hall
Stay tuned for more additions to the schedule!
Fascinated by the music of our times, the Quasar saxophone quartet dedicates itself to the creation and promotion of contemporary music. The group's ventures have included instrumental music, improvisation, and electronics. Alone or accompanied by a symphony orchestra, acoustic or plugged, Quasar offers its audience unique and deeply original programming. The ensemble has won 10 OPUS prizes awarded by the Conseil québécois de la musique, including for "Artist of the Year". Quasar presents a series of concerts in Montreal and performs regularly in Canada and abroad.
Since its founding in 1994, Quasar has premiered over 200 works spanning multiple areas of musical creation. A real driving force of creative music, the quartet works closely with composers favouring research, experimentation and the emergence of new ideas. Quasar thus contributes in an exceptional way to the development of Quebec's music while also being credited several premieres of works by foreign composers.
Marie-Chantal Leclair — artistic director, soprano saxophone
Mathieu Leclair — alto saxophone
André Leroux — tenor saxophone
Jean-Marc Bouchard — baritone saxophone
Newfound Music Festival XXIII - Call for Gala Performances
We are looking for submissions for the Gala Concert which will be held January 29th, 2026 at 7:30pm in D.F. Cook Recital Hall, MUN School of Music.
We welcome all genres and interpretations of contemporary music, including but not limited to contemporary classical, jazz, and improvised music. We particularly encourage:
- Faculty proposals
- Student proposals
- Meaningful musical collaborations between Faculty and Students
- BIPOC composers and performers
- Female composers and performers
- Canadian composers
- LGBTQ+ composers and performers
A database of diverse composers can be found here.
Ideal duration is 4 - 10 minutes, and smaller ensembles (1 - 5) are encouraged.
Deadline for proposals - faculty, students and alumni - is December 15th, 2025.
Newfound Music Festival XXIII - Call for Symposium Proposals
We are calling for submissions for the Symposium which will be held on Thursday, January 29th from 12pm-4pm in Suncor Energy Hall, MUN School of Music. We welcome proposals for short lectures that explore any aspect of contemporary music, broadly defined, including but not limited to popular folk music, contemporary classical, jazz, improvised practices, and interdisciplinary perspectives. We particularly encourage:
- Faculty Presentations
- Student Presentations
- Collaborative Faculty
- Lectures highlighting the work of BIPOC creators
- Lectures highlighting work by women in contemporary music
- Lectures centred on Canadian voices in New Music
- Lectures addressing LGBTQ+ creators and communities
Ideal durations between 5-15 minutes. The deadline for proposals is December 15, 2025.
Newfound Music Festival XXIII - Call For Volunteers
We would greatly appreciate any help from those who would like to volunteer!