Free-for-all musical buffet

Attend a songwriting workshop, join in a fiddle jam, enrol in a winds and brass masterclass or just sit back and listen to a concert of Canadian music — all for free — at Canada Music Week, Nov. 20 to 26, at the Victoria Conservatory of Music.

The week-long Canada 150 celebrations include:

Special screening of the ISCM World New Music Days 2017 held in Vancouver Nov. 2 to 8.

The event is hosted by Christopher Reiche Boucher, president of the Canadian League of Composers and includes more than 20 performances with compositions by composers from all over the world.

It includes the Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal, performing Canadian composer Ana Sokolvic’s new violin concerto Evta, performed by Andréa Tyniec and the ensemble conducted by Véronique Lacroix, from the Roundhouse Performance Centre, Vancouver.

It also features The Electra Women’s Choir of Vancouver, performing the rarely heard The Star Princess and the Waterlilies by Canadian composer R. Murray Schafter, from Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver.

Doors open at 7, the screening runs 7:30 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 21 in Wood Hall.

A Winds and Brass Masterclass, hosted by Victoria Conservatory of Music department head Emily Nagelbach.

Students from the school’s Ann and George Nation Conservatory School of Classical Music, Winds and Brass Department, gather to perform and be coached on Canadian works.

The class runs 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 22 in room 302. Limited seating available, RSVP to emily.nagelbach@gmail.com.

Victoria Conservatory of Music B.C. Fiddle Orchestra in a Canadian fiddle jam with Daniel Lapp

Bring your fiddles and join in an hour of traditional Canadian fiddle tunes led by fiddle master Daniel Lapp.

Doors open at 7 and the event runs 8 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 23 in Wood Hall.

Canada on Key is a Victoria Conservatory of Music faculty concert, with Canadian works on piano.

Doors open at 7, with the performance 7:30 to 9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 24 in Wood Hall.

Join a songwriting workshop with Canadian singer-songwriter Colleen Eccleston. She discusses songs written by local young songwriters, and shares tips gleaned from many years’ experience writing songs. There will be a songwriting challenge, so bring your pencil and your voice.

The workshop runs 3 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 25 in room 224.

All the events are free to join and attend, and take place at the Victoria Conservatory of Music, 900 Johnson St. For information, go to vcm.bc.ca.