Intersection, Toronto’s annual festival of experimental music, returns with a three-day showcase of innovative music from August 29 to 31, 2025. Music explorers and adventurous listeners will be able to find niche and boundary-smashing genres at a variety of accessible venues throughout the city.
Canadian music from the experimental and indie spheres come under the spotlight, including artists like alt-jazz fusion stars Lavender Town,
Highlights include Lebanese-Canadian sound artist and experimental ambient musician Alex Raja Ven, Palestinian-Canadian guitarist and composer Bilal Nasser, who blends his classical background with several other genres, and Temporal Waves by Canadian tabla player Shawn Mativetsky, who blends tabla traditions with electronic music.
Along with music, Intersection presents sound and visual installations by David & Sydney Dacks and Stephanie Orlando.
It will be the 14th year for Intersection, which began as the Toronto New Music Marathon in what was then known as Yonge Dundas Square. Over the years, it has featured luminaries of the contemporary music world, including Bang On A Can, John Oswald, Sarah Hennies, Joan LaBarbara, and many more.
The Festival
Intersection launches on August 29 at Sonic Boom Records. The lineup includes Palestinian-Canadian guitarist Bilal Nasser and London-based, Lebanese-Canadian electronic artist Alex Raja Ven.
August 30 will see a marathon of music at Sankofa Square, beginning at 2 p.m. The lineup includes a return for Bilal Nasser and Alex Raja Ven, along with the Heart Map Ambient Ensemble, classical/jazz/hardcore-fusion ensemble Arkkose; underground Toronto ambient artist Anthéne; composer Khôra (AKA Matthew Ramolo); Montréal’s Shawn Mativetsky and his synthwave project Temporal Waves; and Lavender Town.
The Square will also feature installations by local artists Stephanie Orlando, David and Sydney Dacks. Orlando’s “Sonic Bikes!”, previously featured at Nuit Blanche, lets you perform on instruments re-purposed from scrap metal bike frames and parts.
David and Sydney Dacks’ “A Radio Active Active Community” is an idiosyncratic trip back in time to the days of Toronto’s campus radio’s golden era in the early 1990s.
The final day of Intersection on August 31 offers interactive workshops and performances, including:
A panel discussion at 918 Bathurst Centre at 3 p.m. that explores the campus radio era of the Dacks’ audiovisual installation. Co-presented by the Canada Black Music Archives, the panel will be moderated by CIUT radio veteran Judy Perry and also include Phil Vassell (CBMA) and DTS (The Masterplan Show).
After more presentations and discussions, there will be a reception with all the festival artists at the Canadian Music Centre from 7-9 p.m.
- Find more information and details [HERE].
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