About Us
Vision
Cantos is a national catalyst for discovery, innovation and renewal through music.
Mission
To create engaging music experiences for the community using our unique collection, our cultural spaces and our expertise.
Where We’ve Been
Cantos Music Foundation was created on January 1, 2003 from the marriage of two local organizations: TriumphEnt Foundation and Cantos Music Museum.
TriumphEnt Foundation, founded in 1990, presented programming centered specifically on the organ family of instruments including the Calgary International Organ Festival.
Cantos Music Museum, founded in 1997, focused on developing a world-class collection of musical instruments and related materials.
Where We Are
Cantos is an amazing collection.
Today, Cantos has nearly 2,000 musical artifacts in its collection including one of the largest collections of keyboard instruments in the world, vintage recording equipment and the latest technology in recording and sound synthesis. The collection also includes items from Alberta’s musical traditions as well as the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame Collection which currently resides on the Stampede Grounds.
Cantos is engaging programs.
We serve more than 60,000 people every year at Cantos Music Foundation. Our Creative Spaces program provides inexpensive performance space for artists of all genres and even beyond music. There is always something interesting happening on the Cantos stage including Blue Mondays, our all ages blues jam and workshop series held the last Monday of every month where kids and veterans jam together and teach and learn from one another – not to mention make great music!
We also offer extensive education programs to school kids from kindergarten through to post-secondary. Kids learn science, math and social studies through music here at Cantos, as well as music, of course! We are currently working on a program on synthesized sound in partnership with SAIT Polytechnic.
Cantos is community.
Many of our programs involve community outreach – both to the community at large and with other innovative, exciting organizations throughout Calgary and across the country!
It’s not unusual to find our team of intrepid interpreters showing off the Cantos collection and bringing the magic of music to a seniors home or a science fair or a festival or…well, you get the idea.
We have great relationships with our arts and culture friends in Calgary and you will often find us involved either by providing instruments for special performances, or using our performance space for a festival or workshop or offering our expertise in any number of arenas.
Where We’re Going
The future is a symphony of opportunity for Cantos Music Foundation. We are currently working on building the National Music Centre at the site of the King Edward Hotel in Calgary’s East Village.
This 110,000 sq.ft., $120-$130 million project will give Canada a place that amplifies the love, the sharing and the understanding of music. Like nothing else in Canada, the National Music Centre will tell Canada’s music story in a cohesive way through expanded collections and exhibitions, extensive programming and national outreach through partner organizations.
For more information on the National Music Centre, please visit www.nmc.ca.
Media Inquiries:
Camie Leard, Manager
Marketing, Communications and Public Relations
Phone: (403) 543-5122
Email: leardc@cantos.ca
