Tanya Tagaq

From Ikaluktutiak (Cambridge Bay, Nunavut), internationally-celebrated artist Tanya Tagaq is an improvisational singer, avant-garde composer and bestselling author. A member of the Order of Canada, Polaris Music Prize and JUNO Award winner and recipient of multiple honorary doctorates, Tagaq is an original disruptor, a world-changing figure at the forefront of seismic social, political, and environmental change.

Kronos Quartet

For 50 years, San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet—David Harrington (violin), John Sherba (violin), Hank Dutt (viola), and Paul Wiancko (cello)—has reimagined what the string quartet experience can be. One of the most celebrated and influential groups of our era, Kronos has given thousands of concerts worldwide, released more than 70 recordings, and collaborated with many of the world’s most accomplished composers and performers across many genres. Kronos has received more than 40 awards, including three Grammys and the Polar Music, Avery Fisher, and Edison Klassiek Oeuvre Prizes.

Through its nonprofit organization, Kronos Performing Arts Association (KPAA), Kronos has commissioned more than 1,000 works and arrangements for quartet. KPAA also manages Kronos’ concert tours, local performances, recordings, and education programs, and produces an annual Kronos Festival in San Francisco. In its most ambitious commissioning effort to date, KPAA has recently completed Kronos Fifty for the Future. Through this initiative, Kronos has commissioned—and distributed online for free—50 new works for string quartet designed for students and emerging professionals, written by composers from around the world.

Nancy Mike

Nancy Mike is a throat singer, accordion player, visual artist and author originally from Pangnirtung, Nunavut. She is a mother of four beautiful children; a nurse; former member of the Iqaluit-based band, ‘The Jerry Cans.’ Nancy has performed many of her songs in Inuktitut and is passionate about preserving her Inuktut language. Nancy is committed to representing Inuit and to challenging common misperceptions she encounters about life in the Arctic in all of her artistic projects.

Cynthia Pitsiulak

Cynthia Pitsiulak, a twice Juno nominee currently lives in Iqaluit, Nunavut. Pitsiulak is a multidisciplinary artist, specializing in throat singing, painting, acting, television and radio production. Originally from Kimmirut, Nunavut, Pitsiulak has traveled and performed around the world sharing her artistic talents. She is best known for her work with her duo Silla, and former trio Silla and Rise.

Charlotte Angugaattiaq Qamaniq

Charlotte Angugaattiaq Qamaniq is a North Baffin Inuk performance artist, actor, and contemporary and traditional throat singer hailing from Iglulik, Nunavut. She is best known for her work in the throat singing duo Silla, in twice Juno nominated band Silla and Rise, and Juno nominated Iva and Angu.

Varna Marianne Nielsen

Varna Marianne Nielsen is a multi artist from Greenland, her focus is to compose music, in a fusion of electronic music, sounds of nature and improvised Greenlandic drumsinging. For 25 years, she has been engaged in performances as a singersongwriter, vocalist and her Indigenous heritage. She has gained experience as an actress. Her interest in research within her ancestors' practice, has led her into filmmaking, which she is directing and composing music for.