The BIG BANG Festival is back at the NAC Family Day Weekend

BIG BANG Festival returns to NAC

A joyous musical adventure for the whole family

January 14, 2025 – OTTAWA (Canada) – As the BIG BANG Festival returns to the National Arts Centre on February 15 and 16, bouncing rhythms and colourful scores will echo through the building. Kids aged 5 to 12 and their families can catch the vibe with two days of sonic adventures, just in time for Family Day weekend during Winterlude.

From musical juggling and percussive dance with Maputo-Mozambique, to the buzzing rhythms of Moskitto Bar and hip-hop fanfare from Montreal’s Basement Brass– there are lots of activities to enjoy both for free and at family-friendly prices. Get your Latin music fix with El Balcón or try out one of the festival’s mini-concerts with the Music Rooms series for some tap dancing, drum dancing, or even a little musical carpentry.

For this 7th edition, attendees can join a wild costume ball with a DJ, and even visit an interactive sound installation that features a toilet. Since 2019, the BIG BANG Festival has attracted thousands of young visitors and their families to the NAC.

“The BIG BANG is a joyful surprise. While some of our staples return year after year, that doesn’t stop us from wanting to surprise you! What we love most of all is seeing the amazement in your eyes.”

Mélanie Dumont, Curator of BIG BANG Festival Ottawa

Kids are at the heart of the BIG BANG Festival. The 2025 edition will feature a performance project, NOMAD, in which a group of intermediate students from Alta Vista Public School will work with international artist Ceren Oran to prepare a Soundpainting performance. Also, it would not be a BIG BANG Festival without a superstar crew of young Ambassadors. This lively bunch of ten local kids will act as hosts and are ready to welcome families and artists. 

Explore the full program at www.bigbangfestival.ca  

NAC Big Bang Festival Events Schedule

TICKETED EVENTS

Families will find accessible prices with ticketed events ranging from $7-$15.

Maputo-Mozambique


February 15 & 16 | $15 
60 minutes ● No dialogue ● Ages 6-12 

Body Beatbox

Time to shake it all off! In this lively show featuring juggling, rhythmic songs and percussive dance, four stunning performers dazzle us with sight and sound. The incredible memories from this show will sustain you for the rest of the year.

Produced by Compagnie TG

El Balcón


February 15 | $15 
45 minutes ● Multilingual ● Ages 5+ 

New wave Latin music fun!   

Explosive energy and a lot of fun! El Balcón captivates audiences with fiery stage presence and dynamic sound. Leading the new wave of original Latin music in Quebec, this close-knit group stands out for its palpable camaraderie. With a unique blend of musical styles, Montreal’s El Balcón is sure to fill your heart and have you moving your feet!

Moskitto Bar


February 16 | $15 
45 minutes ● Multilingual ● Ages 5+ 

Rhythms that will have you buzzing

Named after the ravenous Northern Ontario mosquitoes that joyfully feasted on the three founding bandmates during their original rehearsals, this group will have you itching to dance! Hailing from the vibrant melting pot of Toronto, Moskitto Bar weaves together a beautiful and original mix of Ukrainian, Balkan, Iraqi Middle-Eastern, and French Celtic music.

Music Rooms


February 15 & 16 | $7
20 minutes ● Multilingual ● Ages 5+  

À la carte micro-concerts

With just a small group of audience members and an accessible price, these micro-concerts are a festival favourite. Enjoy the casual atmosphere, as artists perform in tucked-away and mysterious NAC settings. There will be three Music Rooms to choose from in 2025, featuring tap dancing with a twist, a little musical carpentry, and some drum dancing that will require you to wear your jacket and boots.

Music Rooms 1: Pierre-Luc Clément & David Lafleur


Music Rooms 2: Chantale Boulianne & Sara Létourneau


Music Rooms 3: Sylvia Cloutier see lead photo

FREE ACTIVITIES AND SHOWS

Basement Brass

February 15 & 16 | Free | 3 Showtimes each day
Bilingual ● For all ages

Hip-hop fanfare

Fusing hip-hop and traditional New Orleans brass tactics, this young Montreal group knows how to crank up the energy and get everybody on their feet! With a lineup of brass instruments, percussion, bass and vocals, Basement Brass is known for high-energy performances. There ain’t no party like a Basement Brass party!

NOMAD


February 15 & 16 | Free | 2 Showtimes each day
Multilingual ● For all ages

A Soundpainting project

NOMAD is a recurring artistic project at BIG BANG Festivals across Europe and here at the NAC. This year we welcome Ceren Oran, a multi-disciplinary artist, born in Istanbul and currently based in Germany. She is teamed up with a group of intermediate students from Alta Vista Public School.

PARTY ANIMALS


February 15 & 16 | Free
Multilingual ● For all ages

A wild costume ball 

It’s time to put on a zany outfit and give it your all on the dance floor! PARTY ANIMALS starts with a visit to the costume shop, stocked with animal prints, fluorescent ponchos and lots of sequins. Select some fabulous accessories and then join DJ Rise Ashen on the dance floor. Let your inner animal emerge as you shimmy and shake to the electrifying beat.

The Water Fountain

February 15 & 16 | Free
Without words ● For all ages

Playful acoustics 

Inspired by the “string telephone” and “playground telephone tubes”, The Water Fountain is an interactive sculpture designed specifically for the BIG BANG Festival and its young audience. The sound transmitters/receivers in this case are not your average tin cans… Are you game to stick your head in a toilet?

Klank de Kleuren – Tone the Colours


February 15 & 16 | Free
Bilingual ● Ages 5+

Interactive audio trip

Choose your favourite track and dive into a world where sounds, movement and words blend together to create a colourful journey. Headphones on, get set for an exciting audio adventure! Here, words and sounds propel you into space. They make you move-sometimes on your own, sometimes in harmony with others around you.

What makes the BIG BANG Festival unique?? 

The BIG BANG is a one-of-a-kind festival of musical adventures. It invites children and their families on a colourful journey featuring a rich array of sound concepts whose diversity and originality make the festival a hit wherever it goes.

The BIG BANG loves to travel, and what’s more, it loves to take visitors of all ages on adventures. It builds on the legacy of the OORSMEER festival, founded by Wouter Van Looy in 1995, to offer children an artistic and musical program designed specifically for them, and which they even help deliver by participating in certain interactive installations.

Since its inception, the festival has travelled to several European cities, from Tallinn to Lisbon, from Antwerp to Athens, from Seville to Dublin, from Lille to Enschede, via Ghent, Brussels, Rouen, Reykjavik and Copenhagen. In 2019, the event took a giant leap across the ocean to land in its first North American city: Ottawa! Since then, each edition has been a resounding success, bringing together thousands of curious people attracted by the many guest artists and invigorating performances and micro-concerts.

Special thank you to all BIG BANG FRIENDS 

The Ottawa presentation of the BIG BANG is the result of the NAC’s relationship with Belgium’s Zonzo Compagnie, which specializes in musical theatre for young audiences and is directed by Wouter Van Looy. In recent years the NAC has presented several Zonzo performances, including Listen to the Silence, set to the music of John Cage; Slumberland, an exploration of the world of dreams and the night; Mile(s)tones, a show about legendary jazzman Miles Davis; HUSH: Henry’s Dream Machine, an off-the-wall concert-performance about Henry Purcell, and roundABOUT # Tsubasa Hori at last year’s BIG BANG Festival. The BIG BANG is an initiative of Zonzo Compagnie.

The French Embassy in Canada provided support for the Maputo-Mozambique presentation. The 2025 Ottawa edition of the festival also received support from the Goethe-Institut for NOMAD, and from the Embassy of Belgium in Canada. The 2025 festival will be in full swing during Winterlude.

news release by NAC

Other articles from totimes.ca – otttimes.ca – mtltimes.ca

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email
Ottawa

The latest on what’s going on in your city – delivered straight to your inbox