About the VICO

The Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra, founded in 2001 by Canadian composer Moshe Denburg, was one of the world's first concert orchestras devoted specifically to performing new intercultural music on a grand scale. It is currently the only professional ensemble of its kind in Canada. The ensemble includes Western strings and winds (violin, viola, cello, contrabass, oboe, flute, clarinet) alongside Chinese erhu, sanxian, zheng, and sheng/suona; Persian kamanche, tar/setar, and tombak; Vietnamese dan bau; percussion from many world music traditions; and a variety of other instruments as required.

Mission & Mandate

Through composition, performance and educational outreach to both music professionals and the general public, the VICO supports the development of Canadian composers and musicians of diverse backgrounds (including Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Indian, Persian (Iranian), Latin and South American, Vietnamese, North American and European), and fosters the creation of musical works that fuse and transcend cultural traditions. 

Since repertoire for the VICO’s unusual and diverse instrumentation does not already exist, creating new work is an integral component of all our programming. Developing and presenting new commissions (over 150 new Canadian works since 2001, and counting!) provides a necessary framework for bringing musicians and composers together to learn from each other, in a uniquely collaborative process.

Vision

We build bridges of imagination. We approach diversity as a fascinating challenge and a creative call to action. We create and perform music that transcends borders and breaks down barriers, modeling a pathway for integrating non-Western traditional instruments, sounds and techniques into contemporary Canadian classical music.