The Vancouver Recital Society is one of Vancouver’s major presenters of classical and chamber music, offering a platform for fans to see new and established high-profile performers. Concerts have taken place in the Orpheum Theatre, the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, the Kay Meek Centre and the Vancouver Playhouse.[1]
Leila Getz created the organization in 1980. Its first season had a budget of $10,000. By the 2010s, its annual revenue had grown to $1.4 million.[1]
The Vancouver Recital Society attracted criticism in 2022 for using Russian ethnicity as a basis for whether or not it would require statements of solidarity with Ukraine from its performers. Pianist Alexander Malofeev, who has relatives in Russia and Ukraine, made a statement which condemned the war but did not fulfil other requirements. Getz pointed instead to the possibility of a confrontation with protesters as the primary reason for cancelling Malofeev's concert.[4][5]