Meet the 2026 Adjudicators!

Tara Kannangara

JUNO-nominated artist, Tara Kannangara is a second-generation, Sri Lankan-Canadian force of nature, giving you music that is deeply personal, genre-bending and culture blending. All this, encompassed by wild trumpet melodies, searing guitar lines, lush synths, and piercing lyricism will make you turn your head and listen.

As a tween Tara watched hours of television alone in her room eating rice crispy squares after school. These happy times were interspersed with weekly piano lessons, singing lessons and early morning band rehearsals before homeroom. She eventually left her beautiful hometown of Chilliwack BC to study classical trumpet and voice at the University of Victoria but her love for making her own art led her to Toronto to pursue music at the University of Toronto. After years of studying institutionalized art, Tara was compelled to break the veneer built around her experience of music-making. She returned to those happy moments alone in her bedroom with her rice crispies and began to write about being a dreamer, an outsider, and a woman longing to be seen. Not to mention the glory and absurdity of love!

Tara has been featured on CBC’s The Signal, The Sunday Edition and NPR Tiny Desk with Lido Pimienta. She also performed on Lido’s Grammy nominated record, “Miss Colombia.” She has had the privilege to work with extraordinary homegrown artists such as Jeremy Dutcher, Charlotte Cornfield, and Witch Prophet. Her own work has been presented at major festivals across North America including The Montreal Jazz Festival, The Washington DC Jazz Festival and The Smithsonian. She currently teaches at Voice and Trumpet at Humber College.