The Tuckamore Festival takes its name from the tuckamore tree, an evergreen unique to Newfoundland and Labrador and celebrated for its tenacity, strength and special beauty.
Since 2001, the festival has worked hard to create a two-week event that inspires, excites, provokes, moves, teaches, and mentors. Its extraordinary chamber music series of world-class musicians draws devoted audiences from the Province and beyond.
What is chamber music?
“Chamber music is the art of playing in a group, without a conductor and where each musician has their own distinct part. Chamber music requires an almost super-human ability to listen and sense another person’s intentions. You are part of a collective, a community where each person is vital, but together you make something greater than the sum of its parts. The result can be magical.
When things are going well in a chamber music performance it is almost an out-of-body experience. You feel like you are communicating on a level that is more nuanced, electric, and deeper than words could ever be, instinctively and effortlessly feeling and anticipating another musician’s pacing and expression.
You learn to live in someone else’s skin. These are valuable skills.”
—Nancy Dahn, Co-Artistic Director
Music for all audiences
The Tuckamore young artists program attracts talented emerging musicians and composers from across the continent to mentor with the Festival’s renowned faculty and guest artists. With numerous outreach concerts, educational and free events, the Festival also welcomes new audiences and strives to deepen their enjoyment and understanding of music. The Festival also champions the creation of chamber music works by living composers by the commissioning and performing new works. Tuckamore is all things chamber music!
Inspiring and aspiring artists
In previous years, the Festival has featured guest artists such as Louis Lortie, Janina Fialkowska, Andre Laplante, the St. Lawrence, Shanghai, Miro, and Borromeo String Quartets. Participants in the Young Artist Program have included winners of national competitions and students from some of North America’s finest music schools including the Juilliard School, the Glenn Gould School, Rice University, SUNY Stony Brook, the University of Toronto and McGill University. Recently, a number of Tuckamore alumni have returned to the festival as featured guest artists!
Don’t miss this season’s series: extraordinary performances and events packed with exuberance, passion and great beauty that are sure to move and inspire you.