Contempo Music Festival 2026

Our Mission

To inspire young musicians by giving them a platform where their classical training comes alive through pop, Disney, and musical theatre—music they feel connected to and excited to perform.

Our Purpose

We created this festival to offer a warm, modern, and student-centered performance experience. While traditional festivals can feel formal or intense for some young performers, our goal is to provide a supportive and uplifting environment where students can truly shine and get the experience they need to grow.

Here, we focus on:

  • A relaxed, welcoming atmosphere

  • Meaningful, encouraging adjudicator feedback

  • Fun performance opportunities with contemporary music

  • Recognition for every student, so each child leaves feeling proud and motivated

Our vision is simple:
Make performance joyful, relevant, and confidence-building—so every student walks away feeling like a winner.

General Rules & Guidelines
Syllabus (Piano)
Registration Form (Closed)

Contempo Festival is now over. Thank you all for participating!

Contempo Festival is now over. Thank you all for participating!

2026 Category Winners

Category A Winner: Ivy Ye

Category B: Evangeline Au

Category C: Sean Wu

Category D: Grace Ye

2026 Special Award Winners

Most Confident Budding Musician Award: Valeria Paniagua

Audience Favourite (Popular Vote) Award: Rhys Suelto

Best Stage Presence Award: Sean Wu

Most Expressive Performance Award: Grace Ye

  • Contempo Music Festival is organized by Simusique Studio, and is open to all piano students in British Columbia working at RCM Levels 1–10 who want to perform contemporary, popular, film, and culturally diverse repertoire with the same seriousness as classical music.

  • An online adjudicated piano festival focused on the RCM Popular Selection List (and equivalent popular‑style repertoire). Each participant performs one (or more) memorized piece, receives written feedback from an experienced adjudicator, and is eligible for certificates and special awards such as Best Performance, Judge’s Choice, Most Confident Beginner, and Audience Favourite.

  • Registration deadline is February 28, 2026, with video submission deadline on April 9th. Results will be announced on April 30, 2026.

  • The 2026 festival runs online only. Performers record their piece on their own instrument and submit a video; adjudication, awards, and the Audience Favourite voting all take place digitally, so families can participate from anywhere without travel.

  • Classical training is essential, but today’s young musicians also connect deeply with music from movies, games, Broadway, jazz, and global popular styles. Contempo exists to bridge that gap—to give students a serious, encouraging space to present the music they love, apply their classical skills in new styles, and gain confidence performing for a real audience.

  • Students register through our online application form, then receive clear guidelines for recording and uploading their performance video by the submission deadline. Adjudicators watch each performance, prepare written comments and marks, and help select special prize recipients.

    • Best Pop Performance

    • Best Stage Presence

    • Most Confident Beginner

    • Audience Favourite (voted online!)

Adjudicators

Jean Brown

Jean has had the privilege of having received instruction from the esteemed Jean Lyons, Lorraine Ambrose and Lorne Watson, among others, in regards to teaching, pedagogy and performance for students.

Jean has a rich history of involvement within the musical community, serving on the executive for the Alumni of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto for several years, as well as organizing Master Classes and Workshops for her Registered Music Teacher’s Branch

Herbert Kwan

Young Steinway Artist Herbert Kwan is a professional multi-instrumentalist musician, known for his piano performances in various concerts featuring Asian celebrities. His involvement in concerts do not limit to performing, as he also arranges music specializing in orchestral and band sound. For the past few years, he had take on the role of a Music Director for Jin Chi Live in Vancouver 2017, Ping An Live in Vancouver 2016, Super Girl Singing Competition Canada Finals 2016,  Vancouver Chinese Film Festival's Award Ceremony 2016, and the Canadian Cancer Society Annual Gala featuring Pancy Lau.

Thank you to our sponsors for supporting Contempo Music Festival 2026!