After 11 years of bringing you local reporting, the team behind the Vancouver Observer has moved on to Canada's National Observer. You can follow Vancouver culture reporting over there from now on. Thank you for all your support over the years!

Jason Hall

Jason Hall, Senior Editor - Arts & Culture, brings his passion for the local side of the Vancouver arts scene to the Vancouver Observer. Having grown up in a family of artists and theatrical designers of various sorts, he developed an early love for visual as well as performing arts. 
 
Previous to taking up the pen, he played clarinet with a number of orchestras in Canada (including the Vancouver Symphony), and continues to perform around the city. He also cycle commutes to Burnaby where he works as Marketing Content Writer for Webtech Wireless (a software company), and is instructor for BCIT’s Associate Certificate in Technical Writing program. 
See his website at JasonHall.ca and follow him on twitter: @jasonhall_ca
The Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble. Photo courtesy of Mark Montgomery

“Autumn Flight” celebrates community in historic Chinatown

Composer Alan Lau looks heavenward for inspiration and there he finds a humorous tale of Vancouver's birds, brought to life by the excellent musicians of the Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble.
Taylor Ho Bynum, cornet

Musical journeys into secret Vancouver

Uncompromising and intimate, private and house concerts are among the best places in Vancouver to hear exciting new music—if you can get an invite.
Dressed in rain gear, Mark Haney's brass band slouched into the cemetery

“11” Questions for Ghosts of Wars Past

Mark Haney’s “11” for brass ensemble uncovers the courage and inter-generational wounds of the Renfrew Heights Veterans Housing Project.
Don José (Richard Troxell) and Carmen (Kate Aldrich). Photo: Tim Matheson

Vancouver Opera's Carmen aims, fires, misses...then hits a bull’s eye

The Vancouver Opera roared to life Saturday night with enough treachery and dashed hopes to put Wall Street to shame. VOA’s Carmen tells the cautionary tale of love, jealousy, and excessive smoking.
Ethos plays VanDusen

Fanfare for a sustainable future – the arts weigh in

With real-estate development turning entire neighbourhoods into construction sites, a recent concert at VanDusen Gardens’ award-winning Visitor Centre sang the praises of sustainability.

Getting to the bottom of The Orpheus Project

Whenever you set out to create something new, it’s a descent into the unknown. But was The Orpheus Project a descent or merely a clever format for a concert (Hades with A/C)?
Bicycle Opera

Bicycle Opera wheels into rural Ontario

Imagine the delight and surprise that summer day last year when a travelling opera company rolled into town—on bicycles!
Vagabond Opera

Barbarians at the gates: Vagabond Opera ignites West Vancouver Library

“If you kiss a thief, count your teeth”
Victoria Guitar Trio

Victoria’s (secret) Guitar Trio steals into Mount Pleasant

I’ve seen better marketing campaigns from a garage sale, and that’s a shame because guitarists Dias, Verdejo, and Werner (who comprise the Victoria Guitar Trio) are excellent musicians.

Bard's saucy A Midsummer Night’s Dream defies logic

Bard on the Beach takes direct aim at logic and reason to prove we do indeed need to believe the garden’s bottom has fairies.