Kitchener 
Events Description
Open Ears Festival creates unique concert experiences intended to disrupt the audience’s conceptions of what ‘music’ is, or what it can be. We present an eclectic range of festival events from indie classical music to electroacoustic to sound installations. The festival explores the theme of integrating community brought together in unexpected musical settings.
The focus of Open Ears events is the art of listening. Featuring a mix of local, national and international artists, performances have featured ensembles from string quartets, chamber orchestras, and choirs to turntable art, multimedia, performance art, film and dance. Our music is presented in traditional concert halls and churches, as well as alternative spaces, including abandoned buildings, coffee shops, and civic squares and parks.
Open Ears remains unique, though, thanks to the mix of composed with improvised music, combined with our commitment to collaborations with other organizations (musical and otherwise). With an increased focus on ‘sound-making’, we explore beyond a traditional music concert. The festival has developed a national and international identity and continues to play a vital role in the life of contemporary art in Waterloo Region.
The 2026 Open Ears Festival celebrates Richard Burrows’ final festival as artistic director with the program theme “Going Out With a Bang.” The festival has a percussion focus while maintaining the curiosity that makes Open Ears special.
Thursday (June 4) features The Happenstancers’ Future Pastorale, a concert-length performance art piece that deconstructs and reassembles Claude Vivier’s Ojikawa for voice, clarinet, and percussion. Friday (June 7) begins with the world premiere of Frank Horvat’s Confined in Everyday Scenes, which confronts the tragedy of human trafficking, performed by cellist Joann Whang; the headlining concert is the world premiere of the chamber opera Mme Caeneus’s Canteen, co-presented with ANIMA; music by James Rolfe and words by Luke Hathaway with contributions from asitha tennekoon.
Saturday (June 8) features local talent Found Sound Ensemble; Fragmented Forms, which draws from historical music for its experimental improvisations; Leslie Ting’s What Brings You In, with Ting and Germaine Liu; Guinean choreographer and dancer Aly Keita’s Nimba; and Kairos Percussion Quartet’s six-work program “Twisted Ritual.” Sunday (June 9) features Duo Cichorium’s multimedia performance The Sylvan Legacy. And for the grand finale, TorQ Percussion and Taktus Duo perform Simeon ten Holt’s masterpiece Canto Ostinato in celebration of its fiftieth anniversary.
Open Ears 2026 concludes on Sunday, June 7th! The final day of our festival includes a video-game inspired participatory performance, and a celebration of one of the most quietly radical works of late-20th-century minimalism.
June 4 events
Hours. Minutes. Seconds. by Peter Hatch #OE26
On for the duration of the festival!
Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery at 101 Queen St N
FREE!
Interactive Performance Workshop with Duo Cichorium
6 pm
Church of Good Shepherd at 116 Queen St N
FREE!
FUTURE PASTORALE by The Happenstancers
8 pm
The Registry Theatre @registrytheatre (122 Frederick St.)
$30/$5 student with ID
June 5 events
Hours. Minutes. Seconds. by Peter Hatch #OE26
On for the duration of the festival!
Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery @kwartgallery at 101 Queen St N
FREE!
DIY Instruments and Noisemakers Workshop with Duo Cichorium #OE26
6 pm
Church of Good Shepherd @cogskitchener at 116 Queen St N
FREE!
Confined in Everyday Scenes World Premiere #OE26
7:30 pm
@kitchenerlibrary Theatre at 85 Queen St N
$30/$5 student with ID
Mme Caeneus’s Canteen #OE26 #Anima
9 pm
@registrytheatre (122 Frederick St.)
$30/$5 student with ID
June 6 events
Hours. Minutes. Seconds. by Peter Hatch #OE26
On for the duration of the festival!
Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery @kwartgallery at 101 Queen St N
FREE!
Serene Music by Found Sound Ensemble #OE26
11 am
Victoria Park Lake at David St
FREE!
Fragmented Forms #OE26 Labyrinth Musical Workshop Ontario
1 pm
@trilliumlutheran at 22 Willow St
$30/$5 student with ID
What Brings You In #OE26
3 pm
@perimeterinstitute at 31 Caroline St N
$30/$5 student with ID
NIMBA: The Performative Installation #OE26 Kira Arts
5 pm
Waterloo City Hall
FREE!
Improv Workshop with Duo Cichorium #OE26
6 pm
Church of Good Shepherd @cogskitchener at 116 Queen St N
FREE!
Twisted Ritual by Kairos #OE26
8 pm
The Registry Theatre @registrytheatre (122 Frederick St.)
$30/$5 student with ID
June 7 events
Hours. Minutes. Seconds. by Peter Hatch #OE26
On for the duration of the festival!
Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery at 101 Queen St N
FREE!
The Sylvan Legacy by Duo Cichorium #OE26
1 pm
The Registry Theatre (122 Frederick St.)
$30/$5 student with ID
Canto Ostinato featuring Taktus Duo and TorQ Percussion Quartet #OE26
3 pm
Kitchener City Hall Rotunda (200 King St W)
FREE!
HOW MUCH
Tickets:
Pass $151.94
How to get tickets?
WHEN & WHERE
Date & Time:
June 4 – 7, 2026
Venue:
Various locations, Kitchener
More to Do:
