The Vancouver Recital Society (VRS) is one of the premier concert presenters in North America, offering a milestone debut series for rising stars and an internationally renowned concert series for the world’s most celebrated performing artists.
Our history
Started in 1980 by Founder and Artistic Director Leila Getz, the VRS presents twenty concerts a year at the Vancouver Playhouse and Orpheum Theatres in downtown Vancouver and at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at UBC.
Among other legendary artists, Yo-Yo Ma, Kiri Te Kanawa, Jessye Norman, Itzhak Perlman, Evgeny Kissin, Kathleen Battle, and Vladimir Ashkenazy have all appeared in recital for the VRS.
The Vancouver Recital Society is committed to fostering music education and appreciation in our community by offering concerts by leading world artists free of charge to inner-city and other Vancouver-area schools.





Photos: Top left Yo-Yo Ma, Kiri Te Kanawa, Jessye Norman, Itzhak Perlman, and VRS Founder and Artistic Director, Leila Getz.
Notable VRS debuts include Cecilia Bartoli, Maxim Vengerov, Anne Sofie von Otter, Sir András Schiff, Joshua Bell, Bryn Terfel, Yuja Wang and Sheku Kanneh-Mason. The VRS has also been a champion of Canadian artists such as Angela Cheng, Scott St. John, James Ehnes, Jon Kimura Parker and Jaeden Izik-Dzurko, among others.
The Vancouver Recital Society has built a great reputation over the years, presenting a balance of wonderfully seasoned veterans and inspiring young artists.”
– Cellist Yo-Yo Ma
The Vancouver Recital Society is committed to fostering music education and appreciation in our community by offering concerts by leading world artists free of charge to inner-city and other Vancouver-area schools.
The VRS has partnered with the Saint James Music Academy, the VSO School of Music, the Vancouver Academy of Music, and UBC School of Music to offer lectures, workshops and masterclasses to Vancouver music students by visiting artists.