AMPLIFY – Polaris Festival & Harbourfront Centre Present Savannah Ré, Julianna Riolino and Witch Prophet
Free, No Registration Required | September 19, 20 & 26, 2026 | Toronto | Harbourfront Centre / Toronto Music Garden | All Ages | Accessible
In celebration of the 2026 Polaris Festival, presented by SiriusXM Canada, Polaris Music Prize has partnered with Harbourfront Centre and The Waterfront BIA to present a series of free concerts on Toronto’s iconic waterfront featuring Savannah Ré, Julianna Riolino and Witch Prophet.
The 2026 Polaris Festival is a month-long celebration of Canadian music as art, bringing together concerts, salons, listening sessions, conversations, artist development initiatives and the Polaris Concert & Award Ceremony at Massey Hall. Through the Festival, Polaris creates space for audiences to listen differently, gather around important Canadian albums and explore how music shapes culture, identity, memory and belonging.
These free waterfront concerts bring Polaris-recognized artists into public space, creating opportunities for audiences to encounter Canadian music with attention, care and curiosity. Presented in collaboration with Harbourfront Centre and The Waterfront BIA, the series reflects a shared commitment to accessible cultural experiences, artist discovery and live music in the places where people already gather.
Concert Schedule
Savannah Ré
Saturday, September 19, 2026, 7:30 PM–8:30 PM
Garden Pavilion, Harbourfront Centre / Toronto Music Garden
Julianna Riolino
Sunday, September 20, 2026, 1:00 PM–2:00 PM
Toronto Music Garden
Witch Prophet
Saturday, September 26, 2026, 7:30 PM–8:30 PM
Garden Pavilion, Harbourfront Centre / Toronto Music Garden
Savannah Ré | Saturday, September 19, 2026, 7:30 PM–8:30 PM
Three-time consecutive JUNO Award winner for Traditional R&B/Soul Recording of the Year and five-time JUNO Award nominee Savannah Ré has become the one to watch in Canadian R&B. By making music with the unyielding intention to craft songs that forfeit polished stories for authentic ones, the Toronto artist has become the go-to collaborator for R&B’s upper echelon, having written with artists like Babyface, Normani, Wondagurl and her mentor, Grammy Award-winning producer Boi-1da.
Savannah Ré’s critically-lauded debut EP Opia earned her shoutouts from the likes of SZA and Timbaland and multiple award nominations including a place in music history as the first artist to ever be nominated for both the Contemporary R&B Recording of the Year and the Traditional R&B/Soul Recording of the Year JUNO Awards, the first artist to ever receive the Traditional R&B/Soul Recording of the Year JUNO Award and, after winning it for a second time in 2022, and a third time in 2023, the only artist to receive the award to date.
Julianna Riolino | Sunday, September 20, 2026, 1:00 PM–2:00 PM
Julianna Riolino knows how to capture and highlight beauty before it fades. On her debut LP, All Blue, Riolino reflects on her own past, the memories of pain, healing, and love strewn through it. The songs focus morality and the stretch of time, seeping naturally into Riolino’s Americana-indebted songwriting, resulting in a golden and fluid debut.
Blending past and present musically represents Riolino’s own experience as well, the songs written over a period of years, their meanings picking beyond that stretch and pulling lessons forward. And in that process, her philosophical lyrics bring that complexity forward to the listener in surreally sweet melodies, pouring growth and healing directly through the ear and into the heart.
Witch Prophet | Saturday, September 26, 2026, 7:30 PM–8:30 PM
Witch Prophet is a Toronto-based, Ethiopian/Eritrean singer-songwriter, producer, and creative visionary whose work blends jazz fusion, neo-soul, and trip-hop, with multilingual vocals in English, Tigrinya, and Amharic. Drawing on her ancestral lineage and lived experience, she creates spiritually resonant, groove-centered music that feels both futuristic and deeply rooted.
Her critically acclaimed discography (including The Golden Octave, D.N.A Activation, and Gateway Experience) has earned praise from Billboard, Pitchfork, Complex, FADER, CBC Music, Exclaim!, Bandcamp, and more, along with Polaris Prize short list and long list recognition. Known for her hypnotic vocal style, rich harmonies, and boundary-pushing sonic worlds, Witch Prophet has performed at major festivals such as Montreal Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival, Winnipeg Folk Festival, The Great Escape (UK), SXSW (Austin), MAMA Festival (Paris), and New Skool Rules (Rotterdam). She has shared stages with and opened for Sudan Archives, Tash Sultana, JPEGMAFIA, KeiyaA, CLIPPING, Pierre Kwenders, Begonia, Lido Pimienta, and more.
Her latest album, Words Are Spells / Thoughts Are Magic marks her most expansive work yet -—a dual-sided project exploring the power of language, thought, and intention. Produced by Witch Prophet and her wife/collaborator SUN SUN, the album merges ancestral resonance with contemporary soul, offering a transformative musical experience. A magnetic performer and genre-defying storyteller, Witch Prophet continues to carve a singular path in today’s global music landscape.
About Harbourfront Centre
Harbourfront Centre is Canada’s community waterfront, home of arts, culture and education, and a registered charitable not-for-profit cultural organization operating a 10-acre campus on Toronto’s central waterfront.
Harbourfront Centre provides year-round programming, supporting a wide range of artists and communities. It inspires audiences and visitors with bold, ambitious and engaging experiences, championing Canadian artists throughout their careers, presenting them alongside international artists and fostering artistic exchanges between disciplines and cultures.
About the Polaris Festival
Polaris Music Prize is a Canadian charitable arts organization honouring music as art. Through its Album, Song and Heritage Prizes, Polaris amplifies Canadian artists based on artistic merit.
The 2026 Polaris Festival is presented by SiriusXM Canada and made possible through the support of Experience Ontario, Ontario Creates, the City of Toronto’s Cultural Festivals Funding Program, FACTOR, the Government of Canada, Canada’s private radio broadcasters and the Festival’s many community and venue partners.
