Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity has posted “Save the dates” notices for the Banff International String Quartet Festival, but its official pages show inconsistent start dates for the 2026 festival. As of December 2025, the Banff Centre BISQFest page lists the festival as September 3–6, 2026, while the Banff International String Quartet Competition (BISQC) page lists it as September 4–6, 2026 — a one‑day difference that presents a potential problem for presenters and visitors booking travel or programming.
BISQFest was launched in 2017 to provide a concentrated, immersive weekend of chamber music in non‑competition years. The Banff International String Quartet Competition returned in 2025 (Aug. 25–31, 2025), and BISQFest has run in recent off years, including 2023 and 2024, offering concerts, collaborations and career‑development opportunities for quartets and guest artists. Barry Shiffman — listed by Banff Centre as Director of the Banff International String Quartet Competition and Festival — has described the event in past press materials as “A magical weekend of music in the mountains awaits,” and his reappointment and related remarks appear in Banff Centre press releases.
Past BISQFest programmes have featured ensembles such as the Ehnes Quartet, Viano Quartet and the Isidore String Quartet, and Banff Centre typically uses on‑campus venues such as Rolston Recital Hall and the Jenny Belzberg Theatre. Festival pages also list supporters and media partners (for example, the Jenny Belzberg Future Fund and The Violin Channel) and name Banff Airporter as the official shuttle provider, underlining the event’s link to local tourism and accommodation planning.
The advance postings on Banff Centre’s site are intended to help small presenters, touring presenters and music fans plan travel, hotels and festival packages well ahead of the busy late‑summer season in the Rockies. Banff Centre has not yet published a full programme or ticketing schedule for a 2026 festival on the BISQFest page; those details are typically released closer to the event.
Anyone planning to attend or to programme touring concerts should check Banff Centre’s official BISQFest and BISQC pages for updates and clarifications, and contact festival communications at bisqc@banffcentre.ca or by phone at 403‑762‑6231 to confirm the official 2026 dates and ticketing plans.
