Christopher Gaze, CM, MBE, OBC is best known as the Founder and Artistic Director of Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival, which celebrates its thirty-seventh season in 2026. He hosts the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s popular Tea & Trumpets series and also their annual Traditional Christmas concerts.

Christopher plays a leading role in British Columbia as an advocate for the arts in general, and his passionate dedication to Bard on the Beach has fuelled its growth into one of the largest professional theatre companies in Canada, drawing a total of well over two million patrons since 1990. In June, his memoir, The Road to Bard: A Legacy of Shakespeare on Canada’s West Coast, was released with Harbour Publishing.

His many honours include the Order of Canada, Member of the Order of the British Empire, Canada’s Meritorious Service Medal, the Mayor’s Arts Award for Theatre, the Order of British Columbia, the King Charles III Coronation Medal, and honorary doctorates from UBC and SFU.