The Vancouver Recital Society's new season will include a three-part series celebrating the late works of Franz Schubert, performances by pianists Leif Ove Andsnes and Sir András Schiff, and a concert from the Arcanto Quartet.

Other highlights of the 2015-2016 season include an all-Bach performance from Richard Goode at the Vancouver Playhouse on February 28, an April 10 program at the Chan Centre featuring British tenor Mark Padmore and pianist Paul Lewis, and bass-baritone vocalist Bryn Terfel at the Orpheum Theatre on May 4.

VRS artistic director Leila Getz noted the program includes both celebrated musicians and emerging artists.

“When I first founded the VRS, it was to present young musicians at their beginning of their careers…to present young artists who are on their way up, to what I would hope will be great careers,” Getz told the Straight by phone.

“That’s what I love to do most, is find new artists, and then of course some of them become famous, and then I have to bring them back. András Schiff is just such an artist. He played here in 1981 for us.”

Schiff's performances at the Vancouver Playhouse on February 7 and 9, 2016, will complete a three-part concert series featuring the sonatas of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, which started in the 2014-2015 season.

The three-concert Schubert "mini-festival", called the Schubertiade Series, is curated by pianist Inon Barnatan, and includes musicians such as cellist Gary Hoffman, pianists Jonathan Biss and Kuok-Wai Lio, violinist Benjamin Beilman, baritone Randall Scarlata, and the Doric String Quartet.

The upcoming program will also feature performances from artists including young European pianist Igor Levit, who will be making his Canadian debut.

“The reviews from New York and London have been extraordinary,” Getz said of the musician.

She noted that the VRS is seeing a lot more young people in its audience.

“What I strive for is to book the best musicians I can, and hope that people will leave the hall feeling better than they did when they came in,” she said.

The achievement that the artistic director is most proud of is the fact that the VRS has built a “loyal audience”, she noted.

“They will come out to hear a musician, even though they’ve never heard the name before—and that, I think, is extraordinary,” she said.

“That’s why I keep doing what I do, because I love discovering new musicians, and there’s so many of them, and I love sharing it with our audiences. Simple as that.”

More information on the program is available at vanrecital.com.