Always dedicated to experimental and innovative music, The Music Gallery moves “Forward” for its fourteenth X Avant festival. Each headliner presents new work – including three world premieres.

This festival centres on artists taking, or attempting to take, the next step in their work, career or practice. For some, “the next step” is a graduation to bigger ideas, longer tours and more money. In creative music, moving forward with art is associated with instrumental mastery and developing a personal musical vocabulary. Regardless of genre, all forward paths in music require an artist to dedicate mind, body and soul. Sometimes life challenges and structural inequities make it difficult or impossible to take the next step. There is no single way forward: twists, turns and dead ends await. We explore this theme with four headliners who present new work, plus two panel discussions.