Canada on Music Theory Print

Abie Rotenberg

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Abie Rotenberg () is a prolific Orthodox Jewish musician, composer and entertainer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Rotenberg grew up in Queens, New York, surrounded by other up and coming religious Jewish musicians, including Eli Teitelbaum, who directed the first Pirchei boys choir, as well as Rabbi Baruch Chait and Label Sharfman who attended yeshiva with him. Rotenberg studied piano and taught himself guitar at a young age. Musical career Rotenberg has cited the musicians Rabbi Ben Zion Shenker and Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach as strong influences. Rotenberg has also been a main fixture of the annual HASC A Time for Music concerts. He has produced a children’s audio series called the Marvelous Midos Machine comprising four volumes, with all original material. Rotenberg said that wanted to raise awareness of different traits inherent in each child through this series. He also produced the children’s audio CDs The Golden Crown and The Lost Treasure. Writing career In September 2015, Rotenberg published his first novel, The Season of Pepsi Meyers, a book about an 18-year old Jewish boy playing for the New York Yankees, set in the future (Audley Street Books). In November 2016, Rotenberg r

Achille Fortier

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Achille Fortier (23 October 1864 – 19 August 1939) was a Canadian composer and music educator. His compositional output includes a modest amount of choral and chamber works, several songs and motets, and a small amount of symphonic music. A considerable portion of his compositions are religious in nature. Much of his work remains unpublished and some of his music is now lost as it was destroyed by a fire. The Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec holds more than 30 of his original scores in its collection. Life Born in Saint-Clet, Canada East, Fortier received his initial musical training at the Petit Séminaire de Saint-Thérèse just outside Montreal where he was a pupil of Father Sauvé. He then pursued further studies with Guillaume Couture and Dominique Ducharme in Montreal. In 1885 Fortier went to France where he studied for the next five years. Among his teachers there were André Gedalge and Ernest Guiraud (music composition). In 1889 he attended the Conservatoire de Paris, the first Canadian to be admitted as a regular student. In 1890 Fortier returned to Canada to join the teaching staff at the Institut Nazareth in Montreal where he was an instructor for classes in cou

Ada Kent

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Ada Twohy Kent (8 February 188823 July 1969) was a Canadian musician, composer, and music educator. She was described as “probably Canada’s most successful woman composer” in a 1943 profile. Early life and education Ada Jane Fairlane Twohy was born in Denver, Colorado, the daughter of William Humphrey Twohy and Ada Lutz Twohy. Her parents were both Canadian. Her piano teachers included J. E. P. Aldous and A. S. Vogt. She earned a bachelor’s degree in music at the University of Toronto in 1906, at age 18, and an LRAM from the Royal Academy of Music in London. Career Kent was a pianist and composer from her teens, and a music educator. In Hamilton, Ontario, she was a church organist beginning in her teens, In 1938, she gave a recital of her own works at London’s Wigmore Hall. She gave a similar program in 1939, at the Prince Edward Hotel in Windsor. Kent composed works for piano, violin, and voice, and wrote several books of songs for children. She often used texts by Canadian writers as the lyrics of her songs. “Ada Twohy Kent has the precious gift of melodic sense,” wrote a reviewer in 1937, about her first book of songs. “There’s a simple vigor and often a lyric enchantment in the

Adam Vincent Clarke

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Adam Vincent Clarke (born 1992) is a Canadian composer of contemporary classical music, opera, and dance. Clarke was born in Nova Scotia, later moving to Antwerp, Belgium where he co-founded the dance-theatre company Âmok/Âmok in 2016. His style of composition is characterized by a fusion of folk traditions, contemporary classical music, and melodic structures. Early life and education Clarke was born in 1992 in Nova Scotia, Canada, growing up in the community of Greenwood. He developed an interest in music as a child, beginning to learn to play the bagpipes at the age of nine. During this period he cultivated a fascination for Eastern Canadian folk music, which later influenced his compositions. Clarke was also inspired by heavy metal, and learned to play the electric guitar prior to pursuing formal musical education. He studied composition at Acadia University under Dinuk Wijeratne and Derek Charke, going on to earn a master’s degree at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp in Belgium. Career Clarke’s work spans contemporary classical music, opera, and interdisciplinary performance. His compositions have been commissioned and performed internationally by ensembles and companies such

Adélard Joseph Boucher

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Adélard Joseph François-Arthur Boucher (28 June 1835 – 16 November 1912) was a Canadian publisher, importer, choirmaster, organist, conductor, writer on music, composer and numismatist. In 1865 he founded the A.J. Boucher Co. in Montreal which published the works of Canadian and foreign composers until it closed in 1975. In 1862, he founded the Société de numismatique de Montréal, serving as the organization’s first president. He composed several works for solo piano, of which his most well known are Coecilia, a mazurka caprice; Les Canotiers du St-Laurent, a ‘quadrille canadien’; Jolly Dogs Galop; and Souvenir de Sabatier, a suite of waltzes. Most of his compositions were written and published before 1866. Early life and education Born in Maskinongé, then in Lower Canada, Boucher’s parents died in 1845 when he was 10 years old. He spent the next six years living and studying at the St. Joseph’s College and Mother Seton Shrine in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He was particularly influenced by his music teacher at the school, Henry Dielman, who instructed him in the organ, piano, flute, violin, and singing. He then was a pupil at the Séminaire d’Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris where his fost

Airat Ichmouratov

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Airat Rafailovich Ichmouratov (, Tatar Cyrillic: Айрат Рафаил улы Ишмурат, born 28 June 1973) is a Russian-born Canadian composer, conductor and klezmer clarinetist of Volga Tatar descent. He is a founding member and clarinetist of award-winning Montreal-based klezmer group Kleztory and invited professor at Laval University in Quebec, Canada. Early life Ichmouratov was born and raised in Kazan, the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. He is the second child of Razima Ichmouratova (Gatina) and Rafail Ichmouratov. Airat Ichmouratov is a representative of a well-known Tatar theatrical dynasty. His grandfather, Riza Fakhrutdinovich Ishmurat (Ishmuratov), was a playwright, publicist, and director. He was an Honored Artist of the RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic). His grandmother, Rashida Abdulazyanovna Ziganshina, was an actress at the Galiaskar Kamal Tatar Academic Theatre, as well as a playwright and public figure, and was a People’s Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan and the Russian Federation. At the age of seven, Ichmouratov began his musical education at Kazan Children’s Music School No. 3, named after Röstäm Yaxin. There, he initially

Alain Gagnon

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Alain Gagnon (22 May 1938 − 26 March 2017) was a Canadian composer and music educator based in Laval, Quebec. His compositions have been performed by ensembles throughout Canada. Early life and education Gagnon was born in Trois-Pistoles, Quebec. He began teaching himself the piano as a young child; in 1951, at the age of 13, he began taking music lessons at the Rimouski Seminary with Father Philippe-Antoine Lavoie with whom he studied until 1958. In 1960 he entered the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Québec where he was an organ student with Henri Gagnon. Those honours enabled him to pursue graduate studies in France at the École Normale de Musique de Paris with Henri Dutilleux and at the École César Franck with Olivier Alain in 1965–1966. He studied for a short period of time at the Institut de Sonologie of Utrecht in 1966 and in 1967 at the Geneva Conservatory with André-François Marescotti. He joined the Canadian League of Composers and was an associate of the Canadian Music Centre. The Quebec Symphony Orchestra commissioned his Prélude and performed the works premiere in 1969 under conductor Pierre Dervaux. In 1980 he composed “Pastourelle”, his first composition for orga

Alain Mayrand

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Alain Mayrand is a Canadian composer, orchestrator, and conductor known for his contributions to film music. He served as the lead composer for the animated feature film Mosley and has contributed to the scores of major motion pictures such as Ender’s Game and Elysium, among others. Career Mayrand holds a bachelor’s degree in piano performance and guitar from Bishop’s University, as well as a master’s degree in composition from The University of British Columbia. In addition to his formal studies, he trained in cello and flute to enhance his compositional skills, with the cello remaining his favorite instrument. Mayrand served as Composer-in-Residence with the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra for four years. Mayrand’s concert music has been commissioned, performed, and recorded by ensembles worldwide. Among the orchestras that have performed his music are the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra, the Russian Film Music Symphony Orchestra, the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra of Taipei, the Ramat-Gan Orchestra in Israel, and the Troy University Concert Band in Alabama. Mayrand was twice commissioned by the Dallas Chamber Symphony to compose original scores for their silent film series. In 2

Alain Trudel

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Alain Trudel (born 13 June 1966) is a Canadian conductor, trombonist and composer. Biography Born in Montreal, Quebec, Trudel first became known to the public as a trombone soloist. He made his solo debut at the age of 18, with Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Trudel was the first Canadian to be a Yamaha international artist, and Yamaha has named a trombone mouthpiece in his honour. He served on the faculty of the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec à Montréal from 1995 to 2008, teaching trombone and chamber music. From 2004 to 2012, Trudel was conductor of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra. From 2006 to 2008, Trudel was music director of the CBC Radio Orchestra, the final conductor to hold the post whilst the orchestra was under the auspices of the CBC. Trudel was also interim music advisor for the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra from 2007 to 2008. He suffered from a rare cancer in his late 30s that caused him to cease work temporarily. In 2006, Trudel became music director of l’Orchestre Symphonique de Laval. He made his Opéra de Montréal debut in 2009, with Die Zauberflöte, as well as the 30th anniversary gala, which was released as a live CD and nominated for a

Alan Laurillard

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Alan Laurillard (born April 20, 1946) is a Canadian composer, workshop leader, saxophonist, keyboard player and sample artist, living in the Netherlands and Bulgaria. He plays jazz, improvisational music and non-Western music. For his work as a musician, orchestral and workshop leader, and driver of the jazz scene in Groningen, Laurillard received the Boy Edgar Prize in 1982, the most important jazz award in The Netherlands, and four years later received the Henri de Wolf Jazz Prize. Youth, education and early career in Canada From 1955 to 1963 Laurillard was a member of the North Vancouver School Orchestra, which won the Canadian championship for school orchestras in 1960. During this period, he studied music theory and composition with Gordon Webster. Besides the tenor saxophone Laurillard also studied the piano and percussion. Between 1959 and 1972 he worked as a semi-professional saxophonist and arranger for various rock and roll and rhythm and blues groups and big bands in Vancouver. The soul group the Accents (1962–1967) was the most prominent of them. At the University of British Columbia, he completed his studies in mechanical engineering, but did not pursue a career in tha

Albert Chamberland

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Albert Chamberland (12 October 1886 – 4 April 1975) was a Canadian violinist, composer, conductor, music producer, and music educator. As a violinist he performed as a chamber musician with a number of ensembles, including the Beethoven Trio with whom he made some early recordings for His Master’s Voice during the first decade of the 20th century. He also made some solo recordings for His Master’s Voice and was a concert soloist. He performed with a variety of orchestras, serving as the Montreal Symphony Orchestra’s first concertmaster. Chamberland also created several compositions for band and orchestra. Early life and education Born in Montreal, Chamberland began his musical training in his native city with Jean A. Duquette, before entering the conservatory at McGill University, where he was a pupil of Alfred De Sève. His sister Luce was a concert pianist and was married to bassist Ulysse Paquin. Career Chamberland began his career as a violin soloist in 1904 at the age of 18. He soon began playing in J.-J. Goulet’s Montreal Symphony Orchestra (no relation to the current orchestra of that name). From 1907 to 1910 he was a member of the Beethoven Trio and from 1910 to 1920 he play

Albert Pratz

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Albert Pratz (13 May 1914 – 28 March 1995) was a Canadian violinist, conductor, composer, and music educator. He was awarded the Canadian Centennial Medal in 1967. His compositional output was modest and consists of only instrumental works. Some of his compositions, such as Melanie Waltz (1956) and A Tango (1957), were recorded by the CBC Symphony Orchestra; of which he was concertmaster from 1953 to 1961. He worked in the same capacity for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra from 1966 to 1969, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1970 to 1979. He was also active as a teacher, both privately and at a number of universities, and made recordings as both a violinist and conductor. Education and early career Born in Toronto, Pratz studied in his native city with Broadus Farmer and Luigi von Kunits. During the early summer of 1930 he was a pupil of Mischa Mischakoff in the United States. In 1933 he studied with Michel Piastro in the US, and in 1936-1937 he studied under William Primrose in Europe. Pratz started his career playing in a radio orchestra for the CFRB with conductor Alexander Chuhaldin in 1929. Throughout the 1930s he played in various orchestras including the Canadian Rad

Albert Viau

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Albert Viau (6 November 1910 – 27 June 2001) was a Canadian baritone, folksinger, composer, and music educator. After beginning his career as a musician in the classical repertoire, he specialized in folk music and traditional songs. He released about 50 78 rpm records during his career, mostly for La Bonne Chanson. He also recorded a few songs under the pseudonym Jacques Dupont, including Partons, la mer est belle, Le Soir sur l’eau, and Le Lac des amours, and recorded the song Le Rêve passe with the Canadian Grenadier Guards Band for RCA. Many of his recordings include his own compositions. During his lifetime he wrote more than 200 songs, many of them comic patter songs, as well as hymns and two requiem masses. Early life and education Born in Montreal, Viau studied the piano in his youth with Arthur Caron. At the age of 17 he began studying singing seriously. He received his early training privately and only later in life pursued university studies. In 1966 he earned a Bachelor of Music from the Université de Montréal and that same year was awarded a teaching certificate from the Quebec Ministry of Education. His teachers included Victor Brault, Arthur Laurendeau (voice), Conra

Albertine Caron-Legris

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Albertine Caron-Legris (1906–1972) was a Canadian pianist, composer and music educator. Many of her manuscripts and personal papers are held in the collection at the Library and Archives Canada. Early life Born Albertine Caron in Louiseville, Quebec, Caron-Legris began her piano studies with Romain-Octave Pelletier I in Montreal in her youth. She later studied the piano with Michel Hirvy, voice with Rodolphe Plamondon, and music composition with Eugène Lapierre at the Conservatoire national de musique. Several years into her professional career she entered the Université de Montréal where she earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 1942. Career Caron-Legris married Mr. Legris in 1918, after which she taught music in Montreal and toured throughout Quebec as a recitalist. In the 1920s, she began to gain recognition as a composer of vocal songs and piano works in Quebec. Many of her pieces used folksong harmonizations. Her most well-known composition is the 1947 song “La Berceuse de Donalda” which was featured on both the radio and television version of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation program Un Homme et son péché. In 1962, her collection of song melodies for piano, Mes Plus Belles

Albertine Morin-Labrecque

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Albertine Morin-Labrecque (sometimes Labrecque-Morin) (8 June 1886 – 22 or 25 September 1957) was a Canadian pianist, soprano, composer, and music educator. Her compositional output includes 4 ballets, 2 comic operas, the Chinese opera Pas-chu, 2 concertos for two pianos, the symphonic poem Le Matin, numerous symphonic works, and compositions for band. Her works have been published by a variety of companies. A square and a street in Montreal were named after her in 1984. Early education and career Born Albertine Rosalie Odile Labrecque in Montreal, Morin-Labrecque was a child prodigy and began her musical training at the Académie de musique du Québec (AMQ) at the age of five. She gave her first public piano recitals when she was seven and earned her senior class diploma with honours from the AMQ at age 8. She notably was awarded first prize in music theory in her academy class. She pursued further studies in piano privately with Romain-Octave Pelletier I for a number of years. With him she mastered the standard piano repertoire. Studies in Paris and later career Following the end of World War I, Morin-Labrecque went to Paris to study with J. Macaire (composition) and Arthur Plamond

Alcides Lanza

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Alcides Emigdio Lanza (June 2, 1929 – July 17, 2024) was an Argentine-born Canadian composer, conductor, pianist, and music educator. As both a composer and performer he was known as an exponent of contemporary classical music and avant-garde music. His works often utilize a combination of traditional and unusual instruments, and incorporate electronic sounds and extensions. Many of his compositions are published by Boosey & Hawkes, and Lanza himself owned his own publishing company, Shelan Editions. He was an associate of the Canadian Music Centre, a member of the Canadian League of Composers, and an Honorary Member of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community. In 2019 Lanza was named a Member of the Order of Canada. Lanza died on July 17, 2024, at the age of 95. Background Born in Rosario, Santa Fe, Lanza received his initial musical training in Buenos Aires where he was a pupil of Julián Bautista (music composition), Ruwin Erlich (piano), Alberto Ginastera (composition), and Roberto Kinsky (conducting). He received a scholarship from the Torcuato di Tella Institute in 1963-1964 which enabled him to pursue advanced studies in music composition and electronic music. He received furth

Alex Khaskin

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Alex Khaskin (born 1961) is a Russian-Canadian composer living and working in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Early life and education He was born in St. Petersburg. He spent his early years studying music, classical orchestration, and arrangement. Career Khaskin immigrated to Canada in 1981 and later began working as a film composer while residing in Toronto. IN 2015 he wrote the score for the film A Christmas Horror Story by creating spooky adaptations of traditional Christmas carols. Filmography *Fulltime Killer (2001) *Ginger Snaps Back (2004) *Chryzinium (2014) *A Christmas Horror Story (2015) *A change of Heart (Nature of Things - David Suzuki) *Evil Breed: The Legend of Samhain *Nostradamus (2000) *My Opposition: the Diaries of Friedrich Kellner (2007) *Ghost Trackers (YTV Canada) CCI Entertainment *Erky Perky (CCI and Ambience Entertainment.) *The Fifth Estate (CBC) *Driving Dreams (Barna Alper) *Haunter. References External links * * “Alex Khaskin”. WorldCat Identities.

Alex Pauk

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Alexander Peter Pauk (born October 4, 1945) is a Canadian conductor and composer, most noted as the founder of the Esprit Orchestra. Awards and nominations At the Juno Awards of 1996, both Alexina Louie and Harry Freedman received Juno nominations for Classical Composition of the Year, for works they had composed for the Esprit Orchestra album Music for Heaven and Earth, and Harry Somers was nominated at the Juno Awards of 2001 for “The Third Piano Concerto”, from the Esprit Orchestra album Celebration. Pauk and the Esprit Orchestra were themselves nominees for Classical Album of the Year (Large Ensemble or Soloist(s) with Large Ensemble Accompaniment) at the Juno Awards of 1998, for Tabuh-Tabuhan, Music of Colin McPhee. In 1999, Pauk and Louie received a Genie Award nomination for Best Original Score at the 19th Genie Awards, for their work on the film Last Night. In 2007, he was a recipient of the Canada Council’s Molson Prize for distinguished achievement in the arts. In 2014, he was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada for his contributions to Canadian orchestral music and longstanding support and fostering of new music and early career composers. Compositions *Fragmenta

Alexander Brott

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Alexander Brott, , born Joël Brod (March 14, 1915 – April 1, 2005), was a Canadian conductor, composer, violinist and music teacher. Early life and education Brott was born in Montreal, Quebec. He earned degrees from the Schulich School of Music at McGill University and the Juilliard School. Among his teachers were Albert Chamberland and Alfred Whitehead. Career Brott began his career as a concert violinist in the 1930s. He joined the faculty at McGill University in 1939, where he taught orchestration and music history. He founded and directed the McGill Chamber Orchestra. His work was also part of the music event in the art competition at the 1948 Summer Olympics. Brott was leader of the Montreal Orchestra, Les Concerts symphoniques de Montréal and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra from 1945 to 1958. In 1939, he joined the Faculty of Music at McGill University, where he remained until 1980. He was also the founder and musical director of the McGill Chamber Orchestra. He also conducted the Kingston Symphony from 1965 to 1981. In 1967, he conducted the McGill Chamber Orchestra at the official opening of the Centennial Theatre at Bishop’s University in Lennoxville, Quebec, Canada. In 1979

Alexander Chuhaldin

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Alexander Gregorovitch Chuhaldin () (27 August 1892 – 20 January 1951) was a Russian violinist, conductor, composer, and music educator who later emigrated to Canada. He spent his early career working in his native country but after 1927 he was active in Canada. His compositional output includes over 30 works for string orchestra; many of which were published by Carl Fischer Music. He also composed five pieces for solo violin which were published by Paling & Co in Australia and more recently by Thompson Publishing Group in Canada. Life and career Born in Vladikavkaz, Chuhaldin was the son of a Tsarist and White Army officer, Gregory Ivanovitch Chuhaldin, stationed there in a Cossack regiment, and of Maria Ivanovna Chuhaldina (née Rasskazova). He was a child prodigy and began studying the violin with Julius Conus at the Moscow Conservatory at just eight years of age. Chuhaldin gave his first public recital at the age of nine and quickly became active on the concert stage. In 1913 he joined the orchestra of the Imperial Grand Opera at the Bolshoi Theatre. He eventually served as the ensemble’s concertmaster from 1922 to 1924. He joined the faculty of the Moscow Conservatory in 1923 w

Alexandra Fol

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Alexandra Fol (born July 11, 1981 in Sofia, Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian-Canadian composer who resides in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Career Fol has composed more than 40 works in different mediums, which have been performed by ensembles such as Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, the orkest de ereprijs, Ossia New Music, the New Fromm players, the thingNY ensemble, the Young Artists Orchestra, McGill University Orchestra, and others. Fol’s works have been performed by the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, the Sofia Philharmonic, the New Score Chamber orchestra, among others. In 2005 she was one of four composers commissioned to write a children’s work for the 70th anniversary of the Montréal Symphony Orchestra’s Children’s series. “Pegasus”, op. 37 was performed throughout the 2005-2006 season and included in an educational CD for children. Important performances of her works include the premiere of her “Two Songs for Voice and Orchestra” by one of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestras in 1994 and the premiere of her Concerto for Violinon a 16 c. Storioni violin by Leonid Iogansen and the Boston University Orchestra in 2001. Fol teaches composition for the She was a finalist for the 2006 Gaudeamus In

Alexandra Stréliski

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Alexandra Stréliski is a Canadian neo-classical composer and pianist based in Quebec. She has released three albums: Pianoscope (2010), Inscape (2018) and Néo-Romance (2023). Early life Stréliski was born in Montreal, Quebec and is of Polish Jewish descent. After living a few years in Paris, she returned to Montréal where she studied at Collège international Marie de France, McGill University and Université de Montréal. Stréliski is the sister of Montreal-based comedian and writer Léa Streliski and Mathieu Stréliski. Career Stréliski released her debut album, Pianoscope, in 2010. Songs from the album have appeared in several films and movies, specifically those by Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallée. This includes the Dallas Buyers Club, Demolition, and Big Little Lies. She collaborated with Vallée to create new compositions for the HBO miniseries Sharp Objects. Her second album, Inscape, was released in 2018; it was long-listed for the 2019 Polaris Music Prize. Inscape was the number one classical album on Apple Music at the end of 2018 in the United States and two of the tracks have reached over 20 million streams on Spotify. It was named number 9 on Exclaim’s Top 10 Experimental

Alexina Louie

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Alexina Diane Louie, (born 30 July 1949), is a Canadian composer of contemporary classical music. She has composed for various instrumental and vocal combinations in a variety of genres. She has fulfilled a number of commissions, and her works, which have been performed internationally, have earned her a number of awards, including the Order of Canada and two Juno Awards. Early life and education Louie was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. She earned an ARCT in Piano Performance diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music at the age of 17 while under the tutelage of Jean Lyons. Shortly thereafter, Louie received a Bachelor of Music in music history from the University of British Columbia in 1970. In 1974, she completed her M.A. degree in composition from the University of California, San Diego. Career While studying in the Greater Los Angeles Area, Louie was a member of an ensemble, and later she taught piano, theory, and electronic composition at Pasadena College and Los Angeles City College. One of her earliest compositions, completed in 1972, is an electronic piece for 4-channel tape entitled, Molly. The object in this composition, based on the last segment of James Joyce’s

Alexis Contant

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Joseph Pierre Alexis Contant (12 November 1858 – 28 November 1918) was a Canadian composer, organist, pianist, and music educator. Trained as a pianist, he became one of the first Canadians to compose large-scale choral and orchestral works, in spite of the difficulty of finding suitable teachers of musical composition. His younger years were spent mostly in teaching, family, and work as a church organist, and many of his compositions were written later in life. Early life Contant was born in Montreal, the son of two amateur musicians. His father was a violinist who was involved in a number of community ensembles and his mother was a piano and voice student of Emma Albani. His younger siblings, Marie and Joseph-Albert, also became musicians. All three children had their initial musical lessons from their mother. At the age of 11, Contant became a pupil of organist and pianist Joseph-A. Fowler and two years later gave his first public recital. At the age of 17 he became a student of Calixa Lavallée, who had just returned from Paris. Contant himself wanted to pursue studies in Europe, but his father forbade him to go in fear that European society might be detrimental to Alexis’s reli

Alexis Martin (musician)

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Alexis Martin (born November 10, 1981) is a Canadian musician and composer, most noted as a frequent collaborator with Viviane Audet and Robin-Joël Cool on film and television scores. He has previously been a percussionist for artists such as Robert Charlebois, Daniel Bélanger, Jorane, Harry Manx and Damien Robitaille, and is a partner with François Richard in Studio Le Hublot. Filmography *My Daughter Is Not for Sale (Ma fille n’est pas à vendre) - 2017 *Cross My Heart (Les Rois mongols) - 2017 *Shadow Men (Nos hommes dans l’ouest) - 2017 *A Moon of Nickel and Ice (Sur la lune de nickel) - 2017 *Lovebirds (L’amour à la plage) - 2018 *50/50 - 2018 *Polytechnique: Ce qu’il reste du 6 décembre - 2019 *Passage - 2020 *The Paper Man (Lafortune en papier) - 2020 *The Benevolents (Les Bienvaillants) - 2022 *Virage: double faute - 2023 *Death to the Bikini! (À mort le bikini!) - 2023 *Family Game (Arseneault et fils) - 2022 *Tell Me Why These Things Are So Beautiful (Dis-moi pourquoi ces choses sont si belles) - 2023 *Blue Sky Jo (La petite et le vieux) - 2024 Awards References External links *

Alfred De Sève

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Alfred De Sève (May or June 1858 – 25 November 1927) was a Canadian violinist, composer, and music educator. His compositional output includes works for violin and piano, solo piano, and orchestra; many of which were published by Arthur P. Schmidt and Charles H. Ditson. Life and career Born in Saint-Henri, Montreal, De Sève was a child prodigy and began studying the violin with Oscar Martel at the age of seven. After just six months of lessons, he gave his first public recital to critical acclaim. He later studied with Frantz Jehin-Prume in Montreal and in 1876 studied in Paris with Pablo de Sarasate, Hubert Léonard, and Lambert Massart. From 1877 to 1879 he studied with Henri Vieuxtemps in Paris and during that time served as Isabella II of Spain’s court violinist in addition to his active career as a concert violinist with a number of Paris orchestras and musical ensembles. After building his reputation in Europe, he returned to his native country and quickly became active as a concert violinist. He was accompanied in recitals by the pianist Joséphine Bruneau and the two married in 1880. In 1881 De Sève relocated to Boston, Massachusetts in the United States to join the faculty o

Alfred Kunz (composer)

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Alfred Leopold Kunz (26 May 1929 – 16 January 2019) was a German-Canadian composer, conductor, and arts administrator from New Hamburg, Ontario. Early life Kunz was born in Neudorf, Saskatchewan, and grew up in this rural area. He later moved with his family to Kitchener where he took private music lessons. He studied at Toronto Conservatory of Music as well as privately in composition and conducting in Toronto from 1949 to 1955. In 1965 he completed the state examinations in choral conducting at the Musikhochschule Mainz and was assistant conductor of the opera of the Staatstheater Mainz. He directed the Waterloo Regional Police Male Chorus from 1973 to 1984. In 1985 he founded the Millennium Choir, and served as its director until 2015. Throughout his career Kunz composed hundreds of musical works, many for unaccompanied choir. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Waterloo on June 14, 2001. References External links *Official Website of Alfred Kunz

Alfred La Liberté

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Alfred La Liberté (10 February 1882 – 7 May 1952) was a Canadian composer, pianist, writer on music, and music educator. He was a disciple and close personal friend of Alexander Scriabin. He was also an admirer of Marcel Dupré and Nikolai Medtner. Dupré notably dedicated his Variations, Opus 22 for piano to him and Medtner dedicated his Sonata minacciosa, Opus 53 no. 2 and his song The Captive, Opus 52 no. 7 to La Liberté. Most of his own compositions remain unfinished. He also contributed articles to Le Passe-Temps, including one on Scriabin in May 1946. Life and career Born in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, La Liberté was named after the Canadian sculptor of the same name. He began his piano studies as a teenager with a Miss Malsberg. His later piano teachers included J.-B. Denys, Dominique Ducharme, Romain-Octave Pelletier I, and Émiliano Renaud. In 1902 he entered the Stern Conservatory in Berlin where he studied with such teachers as Ernst Baeker (harmony), Paul Lutzenko (piano), and Wilhelm Klatte (counterpoint and composition) through 1906. The expenses of his education in Berlin were paid largely through grants obtained from the German government after winning a series o

Alfred Mignault

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Alfred Joseph Édouard Mignault (8 December 1895 – 10 July 1961) was a Canadian organist, composer, and music educator. A largely self-taught composer, his compositional output includes both vocal and instrumental works such as songs, works for solo piano, choral works, and works for orchestra. Some his compositions were published by Adélard Joseph Boucher and Archambault Musique. His most well known work is his 1944 Messe brève de requiem. Life and career Born in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, Mignault received his earliest musical training from his mother who was an organist trained by Romain-Octave Pelletier I. In 1916 he began studying the piano with Alfred La Liberté. He briefly pursued studies at the Université de Montréal but dropped out to pursue private music studies with pianist Léo-Pol Morin and organists Eugène Lapierre and Émile Lambert. In the early 1920s, Mignault held organist posts briefly at St-Alphonse d’Youville, St-Étienne, Ste-Cunégonde, Ste-Catherine, and St-Georges in Montreal. In 1924 he was appointed organist at St-Enfant-Jésus Church, a position he held through 1957. He also served as that church’s choirmaster from 1944 to 1957. In 1937 he began working as a

Alice Ho (composer)

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Alice Ping Yee Ho (Chinese: 何冰頤; pinyin: Hé Bīngyí; b. 1960) is a Canadian pianist and composer, considered to be “among the most important composers writing in this country”. Ho performed a solo piano recital for CBC Radio 2. Her works have been featured at music festivals including the ISCM World Music Days, Ottawa Chamberfest, the CRUSH New Music Festival in Denmark and Asian Music Week in Japan. Her work has been performed by ensembles and solo performers including the China National Symphony Orchestra, Polish Radio Choir, the Lapland Chamber Orchestra, the Esprit Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Victoria Symphony, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, the Nieuw Ensemble, the Penderecki String Quartet, violist Rivka Golani and percussionists Sumire Yoshihara and Beverley Johnston. She has received awards from the 2014 Prince Edward Island Symphony Composers Competition, the 2014 Kitchener Waterloo Symphony Friendship Orchestral Composition Competition, the 2013 Boston Metro Opera International Composition Competition, the du Maurier Arts Ltd. Canadian Composers Competition, the MACRO (Macro Analysis Crea

Allan Gilliland

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Allan Gilliland (born 1965 in Darvel, Scotland) is a contemporary Canadian composer. Gilliland moved to Canada in 1972 and settled in Edmonton, Alberta. He received a diploma in Jazz Studies (trumpet) from Humber College, and degrees in performance and composition from the University of Alberta. His teachers were Violet Archer, Malcolm Forsyth and Howard Bashaw. He has written music for solo instruments, orchestra, chorus, brass quintet, wind ensemble, big band, film, television and theatre. His works have been performed by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, ProCoro Canada, the Canadian Brass, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the New York Pops, the Hammerhead Consort, and the brass section of the New York Philharmonic. From 1999 to 2004, Gilliland was Composer in Residence with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, composing nine major works, including concerti for violin, and two harps. Dreaming of the Masters I (2003), a jazz concerto written for clarinet soloist James Campbell, is perhaps his most popular work, and received its American premiere by the Boston Pops in 2004. Dreaming of the Masters II - GEB, a jazz rhapsody for piano and orchestra written for William Eddins and jointly

Allan Gordon Bell

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Allan Gordon Bell, (born 24 May 1953) is a Canadian contemporary classical composer. Career Born in Calgary, Alberta, Bell received a Master of Music degree from the University of Alberta where he studied with Violet Archer, Malcolm Forsyth, and Manus Sasonkin, after completing undergraduate studies in philosophy. He also did advanced studies in composition at the Banff Centre for the Arts where his teachers were Jean Coulthard, Bruce Mather, and Oskar Morawetz. He has created works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, orchestra, band, and electroacoustic media. Bell is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre, for which he served as President of the National Board from 1984 to 1988. From 1978 to 1980, and from 1985 to the present, he has been a professor of composition and music theory at the University of Calgary, where he helped to create the Department of Music’s doctoral programme. He served on the jury of the 2002 SOCAN Awards for Young Composers and was a composer-in-residence at the 2001 Cantai Festival in Taiwan. In the works of Bell one can hear the influences of prairie cultures and scenes and the sounds of nature, which he illustrates with orchestration. I

Allan McIver

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Joseph Allan McIver (17 January 1904 – 15 June 1969) was a Canadian composer, arranger, pianist, and conductor. As a pianist he performed with orchestras in the Quebec region in his early career and was the longtime accompanist and arranger for Trio lyrique. He had a long and fruitful relationship with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, serving as a music director, composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist for nearly four decades. Early life, education, and career Born in Thetford Mines, McIver grew up in Sherbrooke. In his youth he studied the violin and the flute and was a piano student of Alfred Whitehead. He later studied harmony with Oscar O’Brien. He started his performance career playing for silent films in Montreal in 1926. He began performing on Canadian radio programs as a pianist and singer (baritone) around 1930. In the early 1930s, he started appearing as a concert pianist with orchestras like the Ottawa Philharmonic Orchestra. The TL continued to perform actively in public concerts and on CBC Radio programs like The Play of the Week, Light Up and Listen. and Serenade for Strings up until the mid-1960s when it disbanded. The group re-united briefly in the autumn o

Allan Rae (composer)

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Allan Rae (born 3 July 1942 in Blairmore, Alberta) is a Canadian composer, conductor, and trumpeter based in Calgary, Alberta. An associate and former board member of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian League of Composers, he is particularly known for his works for the theatre which include several musicals and operas as well as incidental music. He has been commissioned to write music for productions mounted by the National Arts Centre, the Shaw Festival, and the Stratford Festival, as well as Theatre Passe Muraille, Vancouver Playhouse, Theatre Calgary, and the Globe Theatre, Regina. Between 1985 and 2000 he was composer-in-residence at Alberta Theatre Projects. He has also written numerous symphonic and many chamber works, including commissions for the Calgary Philharmonic and the Calgary Youth Orchestra. His music has been performed by Carol McLaughlin, Gloria Saarinen and Cenek J. Vrba among others. Rae studied composition and arranging at the Berklee College of Music. He later studied electronic music and composition with Samuel Dolin at The Royal Conservatory of Music from 1970 to 1973. He began his career as a trumpeter in the Band of Lord Strathcona’s H

Allard de Ridder

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Allard de Ridder (3 May 1887 – 13 May 1966) was a Dutch–Canadian conductor, violist, and composer. He was notably the first conductor of both the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, the latter of which he founded in 1944. As a composer he produced several orchestral works, including a violin concerto, four symphonic poems, a Sketch for flute, violin, and orchestra, Overture in D, and Intermezzo. He also wrote a string quartet, the scherzo Beware of Love for a cappella choir, and a number of songs. Early life and career in Europe and the United States De Ridder was born in Dordrecht, Netherlands, as the son of Eudia Lina Pierson and Willem de Ridder, banker, cellist and president of the Dordrecht Music Society. From 1899 he studied violin in The Hague with Carl Bayer, and between 1903 and 1909 he studied violin and conducting at the Cologne University of Music under Fritz Steinbach and Hermann Abendroth. His conducting career started in Arnhem. Here Willem Mengelberg saw him and was so impressed that he invited him to be guest conductor with his Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. He later conducted the Residentie Orchestra in The Hague, where he took c

Allison Cameron (composer)

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Allison Cameron (born 1963) is a Canadian composer of contemporary classical music. She composes works for conventional classical instruments, early music instruments, and modern electric instruments such as the electric guitar. She is also a performer of free improvisation and experimental music. Early life and education Cameron was born in Edmonton, Alberta, and moved with her family to North Vancouver. She studied at the University of Victoria and York University. She has cited Michael Longton and Rudolf Komorous as significant influences. Career Cameron moved to Toronto in 1989. She founded a six-piece chamber ensemble, Arcana, in 1992, which performs a contemporary composition repertoire. Cameron’s 1998 composition, “Retablo”, was commissioned through the Canada Council for the Arts to be played by the classical music quartet The Burdocks. Her 2000 release, Ornaments, features her compositions performed by violinist Marc Sabat, pianist Stephen Clarke, and clarinetist Ronda Rindone. Cameron has worked with Louis Andriessen, Gilius van Bergeijk, Per Nørgård, and Frederic Rzewski in Europe, and Rudolf Komorous, Michael Longton, and James Tenney in Canada. She was a member of the

Alpha Yaya Diallo

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Alpha Yaya Diallo is a Guinean-born Canadian guitarist, singer and songwriter. He incorporates Guinea’s rich musical tradition into his original compositions. Diallo has won two Juno Awards, shared a third, and was nominated another three times. Biography Diallo was born in Conakry, the capital of Guinea. When Guinea gained its independence from France in 1958, its Marxist first president, Ahmed Sékou Touré, launched a cultural program aimed at the rediscovery and support of “Guinea’s music, arts, dance and languages.” Diallo recalled that, “At the time every family had a member who was being trained in music.” or 12, He won the Best World Artist-Solo at the inaugural Canadian Folk Music Awards in 2006. He plays with Ghanaian guitarist Pa Joe Diallo, Adam Solomo and Mighty Popo in African Guitar Summit. In addition to the guitar, he also plays the balafon and the djembe. * 2005: Djama (Jericho Beach Music) – nominated for a Juno Award * 2010: Immé (Jericho Beach Music) References External links *

Amédée Tremblay

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Pierre-Joseph Amédée Tremblay (14 April 1876 – 14 July 1949) was a Canadian organist, composer, and music educator. A largely self-taught composer, his output includes several motets, two masses, a few patriotic songs, works for solo organ, and the operetta L’Intransigeant (produced in Ottawa in 1906). His organ piece Suite de quatre pièces pour grand orgue is his most well known composition. Dedicated to Joseph Bonnet, it is noted for its “brilliant toccata” at the finale. His works have been published by Orme, Le Passe-Temps, and Ed. Archambault. Composers Guillaume Couture and Vincent d’Indy were admirers of Tremblay’s music. Life and career Born in Montreal, Tremblay, along with Alexis Contant, was one of the first major Canadian composers to be trained exclusively in his native country. At the age of 12 he began studying music with Father Sauvé, the organist at Saint Joseph’s Church in Montreal. He later studied with Alcibiade Béique (piano and organ), Father Cléophas Borduas (Gregorian chant), and Romain-Octave Pelletier I (organ and fugue). Tremblay became the organist at Saint Joseph’s Church in 1892 after having turned down a similar position at the Dominican Church in Sai

Ana Sokolovic

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Ana Sokolovic (; born 1968 in Belgrade) is a Canadian music composer based in Montreal, Quebec, whose contemporary pieces have won several awards in Canada. She is also the artistic director of the Quebec Contemporary Music Society. Career Sokolovic studied composition under Dušan Radić at the University of Novi Sad and Zoran Erić at the University of Arts in Belgrade. She received her master’s in composition from the Université de Montréal studying under José Evangelista. Sokolovic’s repertoire is wide, covering theatrical, chamber, operatic, orchestral, and vocal genres. The Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ) dedicated the “Hommage Series” to Sokolovic for the 2011–2012 season, marking the twenty years since she immigrated to Quebec. Her body of work was celebrated in 200 events taking place across Canada. Sokolovic’s opera, Svadba-Wedding, focused on the day before a Serbian wedding and was produced by the Queen of Puddings Music Theater. The production toured Canada and Europe from 2012 until 2015, as well as returning in March 2018 for a performance at the Opera de Montreal. In 2015, she became the first woman composer to create an operatic work for the Canadian

Analia Llugdar

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Analia Llugdar (born 1972) is an Argentine composer living and working in Montreal, Quebec since 1999. She has created both instrumental and vocal compositions and has won several music competitions. Early life and education Llugdar was born in Argentina. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from the National University of Córdoba in 1999. She then entered the graduate music program at Laval University in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, but soon transferred to the Université de Montréal where she graduated with a Master of Music and a Doctor of Music in composition. Among her teachers at the school were José Evangelista and Denis Gougeon. Career Llugdar won first prize in the chamber music category of the CBC Radio National Competition for Young Composers. She also won the Jeunesses Musicales du Canada Award and the Grand Prix of the Canada Council for the Arts, Llugdar won the 2008 Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music for her work “Que sommes-nous”. Her composition “Tricycle” was performed by the Trio Fibonacci, and included on their 2009 album 5 x 3. In 2010, Llugdar received a $15,000 Canada Council grant. That year her composition “La Machi” was premiered

André Duchesne (musician)

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André Duchesne (born 1949) is a Canadian experimental music guitarist and composer. He was a co-founder of Ambiances Magnétiques, a Canadian musical collective and record label, and formed several experimental music bands, including Conventum, Les 4 Guitaristes de l’Apocalypso-Bar and Locomotive. Duchesne has also released five solo albums. Biography André Duchesne was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1949. As a teenager he learnt acoustic guitar, but was not satisfied with the popular rock music being played at the time. In the mid-1970s he formed an avant-garde folk-rock group called Conventum with René Lussier, Jean Derome, Jean-Pierre Bouchard, Jacques Laurin, Bernard Cormier and poet Alain-Arthur Painchaud. Conventum was described by AllMusic as a mixture of “Quebec’s folk roots with absurd poetry and progressive arrangements”.

André Gagnon

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André Gagnon (2 August 1936 – 3 December 2020) was a Canadian pianist, composer, conductor, arranger, and actor, known for his fusion of classical and pop styles, including compositions Neiges, Smash, Chevauchée, Surprise, Donna, and Mouvements in the disco and pop fields. The youngest of nineteen children, Gagnon began composing at the age of six and according to the Canadian Encyclopedia, “He took theory lessons with Léon Destroismaisons in Ste. Anne-de-la-Pocatière from 1952-53 and studied at the Conservatoire de musique à Montréal with Germaine Malépart (piano), Clermont Pépin (composition), and Gilberte Martin (solfège) from 1957 to 1961.” In 1975, the album Neiges stayed on the American Billboard’s Top 10 for twenty-four weeks and sold 700,000 copies worldwide. while Gagnon’s album Le Saint-Laurent rapidly reached 100,000 sold copies. In 1978, André Gagnon was made an officer of the Order of Canada. In January 1992, Gagnon composed the music for the film The Pianist. In 1999, the album Juliette Pomerleau was released. In 2011, the album Les chemins ombragés was certified a gold album having sold 40,000 copies. Awards and recognition Juno awards * 1978: Instrumental Artist of

André Mathieu

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André Mathieu (18 February 1929 – 2 June 1968) was a Canadian pianist and composer. Life Mathieu was born René André Rodolphe Mathieu on 18 February 1929 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, were received very enthusiastically by the Parisian critics. They unanimously agreed that André Mathieu was a “Canadian Mozart”. Mathieu returned to Montreal for the holidays, but due to the outbreak of war he could not return to Europe. Instead, Mathieu performed in a series of recitals in Canada and the United States of America, and gave a performance at the New York City Town Hall on 3 February 1940. He remained in New York with his family until 1943, studying composition with Harold Morris and fulfilling concert and radio engagements. In 1941 when he was not yet 12 years old, Mathieu won the first prize at the composition competition to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He also played his Concertino No. 2 for piano and orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Mathieu also played his compositions at a concert of the League of Composers. In 1943 he returned to Montreal and gave numerous concerts performing Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy and Ravel, as well as his ow

André Prévost (composer)

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André Prévost, (30 July 193427 January 2001) was a Canadian composer and music educator. He was awarded the Canadian Music Council Medal in 1977 and in 1985 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. He also received the “Trophy for Concert Music” from the Performing Rights Organization of Canada. Early life and education He was born in Hawkesbury, Ontario. He grew up in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec. Prévost was trained at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal where he was a pupil of Isabelle Delorme, Jean Papineau-Couture, and Clermont Pépin. Following graduation, he was awarded grants from the Canada Council and the Government of Québec which enabled him to study with Olivier Messiaen and Henri Dutilleux in Paris. In 1963 he won the Prix d’Europe, an award which provided him with the opportunity to study electroacoustic music under Michel Philippot. Career During the 1960s Prévost taught at the Tanglewood Music Centre with fellow faculty members Aaron Copland, Zoltán Kodály, Gunther Schuller and Elliott Carter. Performances In April 1967, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the Montreal Festival Choir conducted by Pierre Hétu performed Prévost’s major oratorio Terre des h

André Ristic

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André Ristic (born December 19, 1972) is a Canadian composer, pianist, accordion player, and music theorist. He has won several awards, including the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music in 2000 for his work Catalogue de bombes occidentales, the Prix Opus for Composer of the Year in 2002, and the Prix Québec-Flandre in 2003. Life and career Born in Quebec City, Ristic’s parents originated from Poland and Montenegro. He began his professional studies at the Université du Québec à Montréal in mathematics, and at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal, where he studied piano, harpsichord, and musical composition. His background in mathematics has influenced his work as a music theorist, with a particular interest being the mathematical representation of sound. In the early 1990s, he applied himself to research in video synchronisation by the algorithmic numerical analysis of audio data. Later on, the use of mathematical models in his compositions took various forms, usually mixing simple musical material with sophisticated systems such as the Lotka–Volterra equations. In the mid-1990s, Ristic served as the pianist for the Ensemble contemporain de Montréal. In 1998, he co

Andrew Ager

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Andrew Ager (born 12 February 1962) is a Canadian composer of symphonies, operas, chamber, and solo music. He lives in Ottawa, where he composes full-time. Early life Andrew Ager was born to a musical family. His maternal grandfather, Charles Aharan, was a professional musician during the early part of his life, and his parents and sisters all played piano. Ager commenced piano studies as a child and began composing seriously around age fourteen. He did not study music at school, but was an avid private piano and theory student in suburban Ottawa, winning several Ottawa Music Festival classes as a teenager. When he was fifteen the family moved to Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, where Ager dropped out of school a year later and spent much time in a studio on their property studying music and literature on his own. 1990-2010 In the 1990s Ager began to write for larger ensembles and received numerous commissions while living in Halifax and Toronto. He felt that he had waited a certain period of time before doing this in order to “get it right” in terms of technique and structure. He was especially busy as a freelance pianist and composer in Toronto from 1993-2010, writing for many of Toronto

Andrew Culver (composer)

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Andrew Culver (born August 30, 1953) is a Canadian-American composer and software entrepreneur. Culver’s works have included chamber and orchestral music, electronic and computer music, sound sculpture and music sculpture, film, lighting, text pieces, and installations. He performs concerts with sound sources of his invention based on the tensegrity structural principle as elaborated by Buckminster Fuller, a lifelong influence. Career Culver worked as John Cage’s creative assistant for 11 years and was involved in all aspects of Cage’s musical, poetic, operatic, and film work. He wrote the chance operations and compositional process software Cage used during that period and directed Cage’s operas, sound, and light installations. He continued directing Cage installations and operas after the composer’s death, including posthumous premieres. 3 Culver was the founding member of Sonde, a music design and ensemble that grew out of McGill University. Culver’s interests are varied in concept, technique, and media. He has created and directed work in various performance, theatrical, electronic, computer, audio-visual, sculptural, and installation situations. He has written on art, music, a

Andrew Paul MacDonald

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Andrew Paul MacDonald (born 30 November 1958) is a Canadian classical composer, guitarist, conductor, and music educator. Early life and education Born in Guelph, Ontario, MacDonald studied music theory and piano with Rosemarie Hamilton and guitar with Alexandre Lagoya, Michael Lorimer, Ray Sealey and Manuel Lopez-Ramos. He earned a Bachelor of Music from the University of Western Ontario in 1981 where he was a pupil of Arsenio Girón and Alan Heard. He pursued graduate studies in music composition at the University of Michigan (UM) where he earned both a Master of Music (1982) and a Doctor of Musical Arts (1985). At the UM he was a pupil of William Albright, William Bolcom, Leslie Bassett, and George Balch Wilson. At the school he was instrumental in founding the Ensemble Musica Nova, an organization of which he is serves as the Artistic Director. From 1993 to 1997 he served as Vice-President and Council member of the Canadian League of Composers. In addition to teaching and composing, he remains active as a classical and electric guitarist and as a conductor. Compositions MacDonald’s compositions have been performed in many countries including England, Norway, France, Germany, the

Anita Sleeman

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Anita Sleeman (née Andrés) (December 12, 1930 – October 18, 2011) was a Canadian contemporary classical music composer. She was also a conductor, arranger, educator, and performer. Biography Life Born Anita Andrés December 12, 1930, in San Jose, California, to Alejandro Andrés from Salamanca, Spain, and Anita Dolgoff from Stavropol, Russia, Sleeman began taking piano lessons at age three and took up trumpet and French horn at school in San Francisco. While there, her music teachers noted her exceptional abilities at an early age (she began to show a talent for composition at age eight). Sleeman attended Placer Junior College as a music student. She met her future husband, Evan Sleeman, in Placer County and they married in 1951. They purchased a ranch in Elko County, Nevada, and along with their six children immigrated to Canada in 1963. They lived on a ranch in the remote Anahim Lake area near Bella Coola. In 1967, the couple relocated to Tsawwassen, Metropolitan Vancouver. Throughout her life she played the French horn in a variety of stage and concert bands and performed as a keyboardist in jazz ensembles. Career At age 19 Sleeman composed a march that was played at her community

Ann Southam

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Ann Southam, (4 February 1937 – 25 November 2010) was a Canadian composer and music teacher. She is known for her minimalist-influenced style, her work in electronic music, her long-term collaborations with performers and choreographers, her large body of work, and, according to The Globe and Mail, “blazing a trail for women composers in a notoriously sexist field”. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2010. Biography Southam was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on 4 February 1937. She was the great-great-granddaughter of Canadian newspaper baron William Southam, and benefited from the inherited wealth of the family business. In 1966, she began teaching electroacoustic composition at the Royal Conservatory. In 1966, she was introduced to Patricia Beatty, a Canadian choreographer who had just returned from studying modern dance in New York. Shortly afterward, Southam began working on a new score for Beatty’s adaptation of Macbeth and the two became friends. Music Southam’s early works are lyrical atonal pieces written in a Romantic style, and lyricism remained an important element of her later electronic work. She also worked with the twelve-tone technique. (1981) is cons

Anna Höstman

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Anna Höstman (born 1972 in Port Hardy, British Columbia) is a Canadian composer. She currently lives in Victoria, British Columbia. Höstman studied with John Celona, Christopher Butterfield, Gordon Mumma at the University of Victoria and Gary Kulesha at the University of Toronto. From 2005-2008 she was Composer-in-Residence with the Victoria Symphony. and she has since written 6 pieces for the orchestra, including a flute concerto for Mark McGregor. Höstman has written music for film, including the music for From Harling Point, a National Film Board of Canada documentary about a Chinese cemetery in BC, directed by Ling Chiu. Höstman’s opera, What time is it now? was based on an original libretto by P.K. Page, performed by the Victoria Symphony and recorded by CBC Radio. It is a chamber opera for three singers and six players about a woman with dementia. Höstman’s large-scale work, Nuyamł-ił Kulhulmx (Singing the Earth): 11 Pieces about a Place, makes use of historical and contemporary sources in four languages (Nuxalk, Norwegian, English and Japanese) in the creation of an artistic response to the isolated landscape and culture of Bella Coola. The piece was made in collaboration wi

Anne Eggleston

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Anne Elizabeth Eggleston (September 6, 1934 – November 27, 1994) was a Canadian composer and educator. The daughter of Wilfrid Eggleston, a journalism professor, and Magdelana Raškevičiutė, a writer, she was born in Ottawa, Ontario and studied music there, at The Royal Conservatory of Music and at the Eastman School of Music (MMus 1958). Her teachers included Gladys Barnes, Robert Fleming, Pierre Souvairan, Oskar Morawetz, John Weinzweig, Godfrey Ridout, Bernard Rogers and Orazio Frugoni. Eggleston began giving private lessons in piano and composition in Ottawa in 1958. After winning two scholarships in 1965, she studied teaching for voice and piano at the Banff School of Fine Arts. In 1964, her String Quartet won the CBC Radio Ottawa Original Music Competition. Eggleston also composed musical exercises for use in teaching the piano. Some of her pieces for piano students were incorporated into the Royal Conservatory of Music syllabus and examinations. She died in Ottawa at the age of 60. Eggleton’s papers and piano are held at Library and Archives Canada. Selected works * Piano Quartet chamber quartet (1955) * Autumnal Clouds orchestra (1958) * The Woodcarver’s Wife opera (1961) *

Anne Lauber

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Anne Lauber (born 28 July 1943) is a Canadian composer, conductor, and music educator. A member of the Canadian League of Composers and an associate of the Canadian Music Centre, she has been commissioned to write works by the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Music Competitions, the Canada Council, and the Ministère des Affaires culturelles du Québec among many other groups. In 1985 she was awarded first prize for her Arabesque at the International Guitar Competition in Marl, Germany. She became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1972. In 2007 the Eastman School of Music featured her in the school’s Women in Music Festival. Her son Tristan Lauber is a successful concert pianist. Education and work as a teacher Born in Zürich, Switzerland, Lauber studied the violin and piano privately before entering the Lausanne Conservatory in 1964 on a scholarship from the Association des musiciens suisses. She studied there through 1967 where she was a pupil of Andras Kovach and Zoltán Kodály. At the same time she studied music composition privately with Jean Perrin and Darius Milhaud. In 1967 Lauber came to Canada to pursue studies in music composition priv

Anslem Douglas

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Anslem Douglas (born 23 July 1964) is a Trinidadian musician and composer. He is best known for the hit single “Doggie”, which was later covered by the Bahamian junkanoo band Baha Men as “Who Let the Dogs Out”. Biography Douglas was born and raised in the village of La Romaine in the southern part of Trinidad. Douglas started singing at his local Pentecostal Church and, at age 16, along with a few of his friends in the church, formed a band called Exodus. In 1984, Douglas enlisted in the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard where he served for a period of six years. During this time, he performed with the Coast Guard band. Douglas later, after he was introduced to Trinidad’s native genre, soca, performed with some local bands out of Trinidad such as Fire Flight (with whom he recorded his first song in 1988) and Atlantik. During this time he composed Ragga Poom Poom, Good Music To Dance, and the hit single Who Let the Dogs Out? which went on to win a Grammy in 2001, although the most well-known version of the song outside the Caribbean is the cover version of the song sung by the Baha Men. Douglas also wrote Friend on the Soul Island album and Ooh Ahh, the smooth jazz hit produced by Edd

Ari Posner

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Ari Posner (born 1970) is a Canadian film and television composer, most noted as a multiple Gemini Award and Canadian Screen Award winner for his television scores. A native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, he moved to Toronto, Ontario, in 1989 to study music at York University. He is a frequent collaborator with composer Amin Bhatia. He has also been a record producer, most notably on Jen Gould’s album Music Soup, which was the winner of the Juno Award for Children’s Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2008. Filmography Film Television Awards References External links *

Armando Santiago

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Armando Santiago (18 June 1932 – 9 September 2025) was a Portuguese-born Canadian composer, conductor, music educator and university administrator. A member of the Canadian League of Composers, his compositional output includes a considerable amount of orchestral works and chamber works. From 1974 to 1978 he was the director of the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Trois-Rivières and from 1978 to 1985 he was the director of the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Québec. Early life and education Born in Lisbon on 18 June 1932, Santiago became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1972. He studied singing and piano privately in his native city before entering the Lisbon Conservatory where he earned a premier prix in music history (1954) and music composition (1960). He then studied the techniques of musique concrète with Pierre Schaeffer through the research service of the Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française in Paris in 1960. From 1962 to 1964 he studied in Rome with Boris Porena privately and with Goffredo Petrassi at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia through grants awarded to him by the governments of Portugal and Italy. He obtained an advanced studies diploma in

Arne Eigenfeldt

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Arne Eigenfeldt (born 1962) is a Canadian composer and creator of interactive and generative music systems based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Both his music and his research into intelligent systems have been presented internationally. He is currently a professor of music at Simon Fraser University. He also produces electronica under the pseudonyms Raemus and loadbang. Eigenfeldt has composed extensively for contemporary dance, especially in collaboration with choreographer Serge Bennathan. His electroacoustic music is predominantly live, generated or performed in software he has written in Max/MSP. His recent research focusses on encoding knowledge into intelligent performance systems. Eigenfeldt is also known for his goalkeeping skills in the local old-timers league, playing for virtually every team in the Fraser Valley. Works and publications * * Eigenfeldt, Arne. “Multi-agency and Real-time Composition: In Equilibrio.” eContact! 11.4 — Toronto Electroacoustic Symposium 2009 (TES) / Symposium Électroacoustique 2009 de Toronto (December 2009). Montréal: CEC. * Eigenfeldt, Arne. “In Search of Tools for the Laptop Ensemble.” eContact! 13.3 — TES 2010 etc.: Toronto Electroacousti

Arnold Walter

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Arnold Maria Walter, OC (August 30, 1902 – October 6, 1973) was a Canadian musicologist, educator, composer and writer. He founded the Canadian Opera Company, and was Director of Music at University of Toronto. Early life and education Arnold Maria Walter was born in Hanušovice, Moravia, Austria-Hungary (now in the Czech Republic). He studied law at the University of Prague, then musicology at the University of Berlin. In addition, he had private music lessons in piano and composition with Rudolf Breithaupt, Frederic Lamond, and Franz Schreker. Career In the early 1930s, Walter wrote the music column for Die Weltbühne, and was music critic for the Vorwärts magazine. In 1937, he emigrated to Canada and taught at Upper Canada College. From 1952 to 1968, Walter was music director of the music faculty of the University of Toronto. Among his notable pupils were pianist Howard Brown, Phil Nimmons. He received an Honorary Doctor of Music from Mount Allison University in 1966. In 1972, Walter was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada. Death and legacy He died in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His records were donated to the National Library of Canada by his stepdaughter. Works * Sonatina for

Arthur Wellesley Hughes

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Arthur Wellesley Hughes (8 April 1863;18 April 1937) was a Canadian musician and composer. Possibly born in Kingston, Ontario (although his WW1 papers consistently list his birthplace as either Bloomington or Birmingham Illinois, he separated from his family at a young age, spending many years in the United States as an itinerant circus musician. He was a performer on piano, calliope, and alto horn. He enlisted for WW1 service in Toronto in 1915, claiming a date of birth of 1873, but was discharged as medically unfit in 1916 and his age is then noted as 53.5 years. He served as a bandmaster for the 76th Batallion. His circus associations on record include: Mighty Haag Circus, Downie & Wheeler Circus (1912); Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus (1922); Sells-Floto Circus (1923); and Ringling Bros & Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows (1924–26). He was with Robbins Bros. Circus (1928–29) whence his Robbins Bros. Triumphal March arose, and Miller Bros. 101 Ranch Wild West Show, and Walter L. Main Circus (1930–31). Hughes worked as composer and arranger for the Waterloo Music Company of Waterloo, Ontario, from 1932 to 1935. At other times, Hughes worked as arranger in the Whaley, Royce and Cundy-Betton

Augustus Stephen Vogt

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Augustus Stephen Vogt (August 14, 1861 – September 17, 1926) was a German Canadian organist, choral conductor, music educator, composer, and author. Vogt was born on 14 August 1861 in Washington, Oxford County, Canada West, Province of Canada. His father, John George Vogt, was a German Roman Catholic who emigrated to Canada to avoid the German revolutions of 1848–1849. His mother was a Swiss Lutheran woman named Marianna Zingg, who immigrated to Canada with her parents in the 1830s. Vogt grew up in Elmira, Ontario. Vogt’s father was a hotel-keeper and also built organs. Vogt was appointed organist at the local church and later studied in Hamilton. He was appointed organist of First Methodist Church in St Thomas, Ontario. From 1881 to 1884, he studied at the New England Conservatory of Music. From 1885 to 1888, he studied at the Leipzig Conservatory in Germany. In 1888, he returned to Canada and was organist-choirmaster of the Jarvis Street Baptist Church in Toronto, where he would stay until 1906. He taught at the Toronto College of Music and at the Toronto Conservatory of Music. He was a fellow of the Royal College of Organists. Among his notable pupils were W. H. Hewlett and Ernest

Barbara Monk Feldman

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Barbara Monk Feldman is a Canadian composer. She was born in 1953, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Education She studied composition with Bengt Hambraeus at McGill University from 1980 to 1983 where she achieved her MMus and then at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, Germany. Stage * Pyramus and Thisbe (2010) * Io and Prometheus (2019) Orchestra * Design for String Orchestra (1980) * The Northern Shore for Percussion, Piano and Chamber Orchestra (2018) Chamber * Movement for Solo Viola (1979) * Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano (1984) * Variations for Six String Instruments (1986) * Two Flutes and Vibraphone (1987) * Duo for Piano and Percussion (1988) * The Immutable Silence (1990) * Pure Difference (1990) * Shadow (1991) * Three Clarinets and Percussion (1994) * Verses for Metal, Wood and Drums (1994) * Verses for Five (1996) * The Northern Shore (1997) * Verses for Vibraphone (1997) * Pour un nuage violet (1998) * Proche et lointaine…la femme (2001) * Glockenspiel (2004) * The Loons of Black Sturgeon Lake (2004) * String Quartet, ‘Desert-Scape (2004) * The Chaco Wilderness (2005) * The Pale Blue Northern Sky (2007) * Landscape Near La Pocatière, Québec (2007) * A Veil for Time (20

Barbara Pentland

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Barbara Pentland C.M. (January 2, 1912 – February 5, 2000) was one of the pre-eminent members of the generation of Canadian composers who came to artistic maturity in the years after World War II. Pentland’s parents, especially her mother, intended for their daughter to adopt their values and pursue a life spent amongst the upper classes of Canadian high society, rather than a career as a professional composer. Despite her family’s objections, Pentland continued to compose privately as a young teenager. She finally was encouraged in this pursuit by one of her teachers, the organist and conductor Frederick H. Blair, who taught her piano and music theory while she attended boarding school at Miss Edgar’s and Miss Cramp’s School in Montreal from 1927 to 1929. In 1929, Pentland was surprised when her parents finally allowed her to study composition with Cécile Gauthiez, professor of harmony at the Schola Cantorum in Paris. Under Gauthiez’s tutelage, Pentland received a formal, conservatory style music education, including lessons in form, harmony, and analysis by composers such as Cesar Franck, Vincent d’Indy, and Ludwig van Beethoven. Compositional Style One of Pentland’s first known

Barry Truax

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Barry Douglas Truax (born 10 May 1947) is a Canadian composer of electroacoustic music, a writer, and a teacher. He is best known for his association with the World Soundscape Project at Simon Fraser University (SFU) and his development of granular synthesis using sampled sounds to create multi-channel soundscape compositions, such as Riverrun (1986) and Wings of Nike (1987). He is also known for his books Acoustic Communication (1984, 2001) and the Handbook for Acoustic Ecology (1978, 1999). He is the only Canadian recipient of the Magisterium award at the International Competition of Electroacoustic Music, Bourges, France, in 1991. He is a professor emeritus at Simon Fraser University (SFU). In June 2025, SFU awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts. Biography Barry Truax was born in Chatham, Ontario. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and mathematics from Queen’s University in 1969, and a Master of Music degree from the University of British Columbia in 1971. His academic path further led him to the Institute of Sonology at Utrecht University from 1971 to 1973, where he studied electronic and computer composition under the guidance of Gottfried Michael Koe

Ben McPeek

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Benjamin Dewey McPeek (28 August 1934 – 14 January 1981) was a Canadian composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist. Early life McPeek was born in Trail, British Columbia. He earned an associate degree from The Royal Conservatory of Music in 1954 and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Toronto in 1956. He was a pupil of John Beckwith, Gordon Delamont, Talivaldis Kenins, Oskar Morawetz, Godfrey Ridout, and John Weinzweig. Career McPeek began performing as a pianist with dance bands in Toronto during the mid-1950s. In the late 1950s he performed with the Five Playboys with some frequency on CBC Radio. In 1960 McPeek made his first foray into musical theatre when he became music director of the revue Up Tempo 60 at the King Edward Hotel. He went on to compose music for several other theatrical productions between 1963 and 1968, including That Hamilton Woman, Suddenly This Summer, Actually This Autumn, and Spring Thaw. In 1963 he wrote his first opera, The Bargain, which was based on the legend of Faust. The opera was filmed for CBC Television in 1966 and was later staged for the first time in 1978 by the COMUS Music Theatre of Canada. McPeek’s original handwritten piano score fo

Ben Steinberg

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ben Steinberg (22 January 1930 – 10 February 2023) was a Canadian composer, conductor, organist, and music educator. A member of the Canadian League of Composers and an associate of the Canadian Music Centre, he is known for his contributions to Jewish music. He has presented many programs of Jewish music (some featuring his own compositions) for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and has presented similar programs in lecture-recitals throughout Canada, the United States, Australia, and Japan. He has also contributed articles on Jewish music to a number of publications. Several of his original manuscripts and papers are held in the collection at the library of the University of Calgary. Steinberg was a founding member of the Guild of Temple Musicians, an affiliate of the American Conference of Cantors. The GTM named their most prestigious award for young composers of Jewish music after Steinberg, the Ben Steinberg Young Composer Award. Steinberg was an honorary member of the American Conference of Cantors and a featured composer for Transcontinental Music Publications, the largest and oldest publisher of Jewish music. Steinberg died on 10 February 2023, at the age of 93. Early l

Benoît Jutras

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Benoît Jutras (born 1963) is a Canadian composer. Jutras is best known for his work with the Canadian entertainment company Cirque du Soleil, first as music director and later as composer for several of the company’s contemporary circus shows. Jutras’ music often blends eclectic influences, including world beat, classical, rock, trip hop, and electronica. His scores for Cirque du Soleil shows include O, Mystère, Quidam, and La Nouba. His work outside Cirque du Soleil has included original soundtracks for Le Rêve (a show at the Wynn resort in Las Vegas), the Glow in the Park Parade (a nighttime parade at Six Flags theme parks), and The House of Dancing Water (a show at the City of Dreams resort in Macau). He has also composed for film and television. Born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Jutras now resides in Barbados. He has one daughter, Audrey Brisson-Jutras, who performed and sang in Quidam as the principal character Zoé. (Her performance can be seen on the DVD that Cirque du Soleil has released of the show.) Jutras also has a brother, François Jutras. His sister-in-law is Roxane Potvin, lead singer for the Cirque du Soleil show O. “With globalization, a merging of musical styles is

Benoît Poirier

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Benoît Poirier, (17 October, 1882 – 7 October, 1965) was a Canadian organist, composer and music educator. Benoît Fidèle Poirier (17 October 1882 – 7 October 1965) was a Canadian organist, composer, and music educator. He was a church organist and taught at several educational and religious institutions in Montreal, Quebec. He created a number of compositions for organ and piano. Early life and education Poirier was born Benjamin Perry in Tignish, Prince Edward Island. His parents were Laurence Poirier Perry & Emelia Margaret Desroches. His pipe organ study began when he was 13. He studied at the francophone University of St. Joseph’s College, Memramcook, New Brunswick, from which he earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1902 and was granted an honorary Master of Arts in 1928. While an undergraduate there, he was also organist of St Thomas Church, Memramcook. Career In 1903 Poirier relocated to Montreal to study for the priesthood. He taught at the Collège de Montréal and became the organist of the Séminaire de Philosophie. In 1919 he was elected to the board of the Schola cantorum, later serving as its president from 1923 to 1925. He was the director of the Conservatoire national de musiqu

Benoît Verdickt

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Benoît Verdickt (27 September 1884 – 28 April 1970) was a Canadian organist, choirmaster, composer, and music educator of Belgian birth. His compositional output consists mainly of sacred music, some of which he self-published. His most notable works are his Cantique de mariage for soloist and two-part choir (1918) and his Missa pro defunctis for three-part choir and organ (1941). Early life Born in Steenhuffel, Londerzeel, Verdickt studied in Mechelen, first at the Interdiocesan School of Sacred Music, and then at the Mechelen Conservatory where he ultimately graduated with his diploma. Career In 1906 Verdickt immigrated to Canada to assume a church organist post in Victoriaville, Quebec. He remained there until 1912 when he became an organist/choirmaster at a church in Rochester, New York in the United States. After just one year there, he returned to Canada in 1913 to assume a similar role at Sts-Anges Church in Lachine, Quebec near Montreal. He remained there until his retirement in 1963. References

Bill Richards (musician)

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Bill Richards (28 March 1923 – 28 February 1995) was a Canadian musician. His compositional output includes several film scores, a Flute Quartet (1964), and a number of fiddle tunes. He recorded two of his own fiddle compositions for Spiral Records in 1957 and another of his fiddle compositions was featured in the movie The Pyx. He also was active as a musician and concertmaster on a number of studio recordings from the 1950s through the 1990s, and can be heard on recordings by artists Moe Koffman, Catherine McKinnon, Anne Murray, and Gordon Lightfoot among others. In 1962 he and a quartet featuring the organist Lou Snider recorded two LP albums for the Canadian Talent Library Trust. Early life and education Born William Francis Caven Richards in Ottawa, Ontario, Richards began his musical training as a child at the Canadian Conservatory of Music in his native city with Jack Cavill (violin) and Herbert Sanders (piano). He started his performance career at the age of eight working as a violin soloist on radio programs in Ottawa and Hull. He continued with violin studies in Ottawa with David Shuttleworth and then in Toronto with Broadus Farmer in 1939. Career In 1942 Richards joined

Bob Nolan

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Bob Nolan (born Clarence Robert Nobles; April 13, 1908 – June 16, 1980, name changed to Robert Clarence Nobles in 1929) was a Canadian-born American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was a founding member of the Sons of the Pioneers, and composer of numerous Country music and Western music songs, including the standards “Cool Water” and “Tumbling Tumbleweeds.” He is generally regarded as one of the finest Western songwriters of all time. As an actor and singer, he appeared in scores of Western films. Early years Nolan was born April 13, 1908, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada to Harry Nobles and Flora Elizabeth Hussey Nobles. The couple separated in 1915, and Flora raised her two little boys in Winnipeg. In the summer of 1916, Flora temporarily moved her children to her husband’s parents’ home in Hatfield Point, New Brunswick, but due to the machinations of his father, Nolan never saw his mother again. There he attended The Belmont School until 1921, when, at the age of thirteen, he moved to Tucson, Arizona, to live with his father Harry, a United States Army officer. Film career In 1934, Nolan began his career in film as the singing voice for Ken Maynard in the 1934 film In Old Santa

Bob Pritchard (composer)

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Bob Pritchard (born 1956 in Calgary, Alberta) is a composer and teacher. His creative work includes experimental concert music, interactive music and video pieces, sound installations, direct synthesis, video/film, radiophonic works, and software development. His music is represented by AMP. Education Bob Pritchard received a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition and Theory from the University of British Columbia. He subsequently obtained the Master of Music degree from the University of Toronto, where he became active with the Structured Sound Synthesis Project in the U of T Computer Systems Research Group. In the late 1990s, Pritchard returned to UBC to complete his Doctor of Music degree in composition, with a specialty in computer applications. Career Pritchard has taught music at Brock University and Douglas College, and acoustics in the University of British Columbia Dept. of Physics, and is currently an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia School of Music. He is a researcher at the Media and Graphics Interdisciplinary Centre (MAGIC), and the Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems (ICICS) He has received research funding through the

Boleslaw Szczeniowski

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Boleslaw Szczeniowski (20 July 1898 – 1985) was a Canadian aeronautical engineer and composer of Polish descent. A graduate of the school of engineering at Lviv Polytechnic, Szczeniowski made a living as an engineer in Montréal. He published two books: Theory of the siphon jet (published by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, 1955) and Theoretical analysis of combustion gases (Montreal, 1946). As a composer and musician, Szczeniowski was largely self-taught. He composed a significant amount of vocal music and works for solo piano and a small amount of chamber music. Compositions Symphonic *Rustic Dance Vocal music * 1954 The rainbow, - text: Marja Konopnicka * 1954 Will-o’the wisp, - text: Hanna Gross * 1955 Entends tu…/ Do you hear…, text: Mario Gross * 1955 Les tenebres/Dusk, - text: Mario Gross * 1955 Mon chant, - text: Mario Gress * 1955 Poranek/Morning, - text: Marja Konopnicka * 1956 Poeme, - text: Marc Gelinas * 1956 Little Jack Horner * 1958 La lune dans l’eau, - textt: Wilfrid Lemoine * 1958 Le petit lapin de la lune, - text: Cecile Duchene * 1958 Pierrot, - text: Wilfrid Lemoine * 1959 A poor young Sheppard - text: Paul Verlaine * 1959 Un grand sommeil noir,

Boris Berlin

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Boris Berlin (27 May 1907 – 24 March 2001) was a Canadian pianist, music educator, arranger, and composer of Russian birth. He is primarily remembered for his work within the field of piano pedagogy, having published an extensive amount of material in that area and teaching a large number of notable pianists. His more than 20 books on the subject of piano pedagogy sold more than 4 million copies. In 2000 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada with the citation “Known as the teacher of teachers, he profoundly influenced musical instruction in our country. Having taught some of Canada’s most illustrious musicians, he was known for his extensive contribution to pedagogical material and for his piano pieces for young performers.” In February 2026, The Toronto Star published a first-person account by a former student who alleged that Berlin sexually abused her during piano lessons when she was 15 years old while studying at the Royal Conservatory of Music. Life and career Born in Kharkov, Russian Empire, Berlin began his professional musical education at the Sevastopol Conservatory. From 1923 to 1925 he attended the Conservatoire de Genève and then pursued further studies at the

Boris Brott

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Boris Brott, (March 14, 1944 – April 5, 2022) was a Canadian conductor and motivational speaker. He conducted on stages around the world, including Carnegie Hall, La Scala, and Covent Garden. Over his career, he commissioned, performed, and recorded a wide variety of Canadian works for orchestra. Brott was the founder and artistic director of the Brott Music Festival, National Academy Orchestra of Canada and BrottOpera all based in Hamilton, Ontario. He was the founding Music Director and Conductor Laureate of the New West Symphony in Thousand Oaks, CA and artistic director and conductor of the Orchestre classique de Montreal (formerly the McGill Chamber Orchestra). He was a former Principal Youth and Family conductor with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa and Toronto Symphony Orchestra, where he led family and education programs. Early life and emerging career Boris Jeremiah Brott was born in Montreal in 1944 to violinist and composer Alexander Brott and cellist Lotte/Charlotte Brott (née Goetzel). His younger brother is cellist Denis Brott. His mother was born in Mannheim, Germany, a country she had left in 1939 because of the Nazis. His family was Jewish. He studied v

Boyd McDonald (composer)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Boyd McDonald (born 28 September 1932) is a Canadian pianist, fortepianist, composer, and music educator. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, his compositional output includes works for choirs, bands, orchestras, and art songs. His works have been performed throughout Canada and Europe by ensembles like the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, the Renaissance Singers, the Scholars of London, Symphony Hamilton, the Waterloo Chamber Players, and the Wellington Winds among others. A documentary film regarding Boyd’s life, “From the City of Bridges to the City of Lights”, premiered on 27 October 2024 in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Early life and education Born in Tuberose, Saskatchewan, McDonald studied at The Royal Conservatory of Music where he earned an associate diploma in 1951 and a licentiate diploma in 1953. Among his teachers were Murray Adaskin (music composition) and Lyell Gustin (piano). A grant from the Canada Council enabled him to pursue further studies in Paris from 1957 to 1960 with Nadia Boulanger (composition) and Jean Casadesus (piano). He also studied composition in the summers with John Cage, Darius Milhaud, and Stefan Wolpe. Career In 1963 McDonald won the Lescheti

Brent Lee

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Brent Lee (born 1964, Wynyard, Saskatchewan) is a Canadian composer and professor of Music Composition at the University of Windsor. Growing up, he studied guitar and saxophone. He received a Bachelor’s (1986) and Master’s (1990) degree in Music Composition from McGill University in Montreal. Brent showed interest in both computer and electroacoustic music. While still a student, he was awarded several composition prizes through CAPAC and SOCAN, and was one of six young composers to receive a Residency Prize at the Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Festival in 1988. Following his studies in Montreal, Lee had residencies in the Netherlands, Bourges and at the Banff Centre, before settlingin Calgary in 1990. There, he taught at the Mount Royal College Conservatory, as well as working with New Works Calgary, Strictly Plutonic and Modus Vivendi ensembles. He was named an associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre in 1991. He completed a doctoral degree in composition at the University of British Columbia, studying composition with Keith Hamel and Steven Chatman. He also studied orchestration with Nikolai Korndorf in Vancouver. Lee accepted a position at the University of

Brian Cherney

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Brian Cherney (born September 4, 1942) is a Canadian composer, teacher and writer. Cherney was born in Peterborough, Ontario. He studied at the University of Toronto where he was a pupil of John Weinzweig, Samuel Dolin, and John Beckwith. In 1972 he joined the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, where he has taught analysis and composition for over fifty years. His pieces, often characterized by carefully calculated formal trajectories and a rich harmonic language, give the impression of a quiet intensity, usually featuring “stillness” in some manner. Cherney was awarded the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music in 1985 for River of Fire. His works have been played throughout North America, Europe, and elsewhere. His book, Harry Somers, remains one of the most important and detailed studies of this composer. The Cherney portrait in the Canadian Composers Portraits series was released in 2005. Illuminations: Essays in Honour of Brian Cherney, a special edition of the journal, Musical Intersections, was published in 2017. Cherney was made a member of the Order of Canada in 2021. He is the brother of oboist Lawrence Cherney. Works Orchestra * Variations for Orchestra (196

Bruce Carey

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Bruce Anderson Carey (16 November 1876 – 8 May 1960) was a Canadian choir conductor, baritone, and music educator. He began his career in Hamilton, Ontario, where he notably founded the Bach-Elgar Choir in 1905. After directing that ensemble for seventeen years, he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States where he was conductor of two famous choruses: the Mendelssohn Club and The Bach Choir of Bethlehem. Life and career Born in Millgrove, Ontario (now Hamilton, Ontario), Carey was from a prominent family of Canadian musicians. He began his musical education in his native country with J.E.P. Aldous (piano) and Elliott Haslam (voice). In 1900-1901 he studied at the Guildhall School of Music in London with William Hayman Cummings and Albert Visetti. Upon returning to Canada in 1901, Carey held the post of choirmaster at various churches in Hamilton, Ontario through 1922. In 1905 he founded the Bach-Elgar Choir, serving as its first conductor until 1922. From 1926 to 1934 he was conductor of the Mendelssohn Club in Philadelphia, notably collaborating frequently for concerts with Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. From 1933 to 1938 he was conductor of the

Bruce Carlson (composer)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Bruce Carlson (born 1944) is a Canadian composer from Manitoba. Early life and education Carlson was born in Toronto. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Waterloo in 1967 and a teaching certificate from the University of Toronto. He also studied music at the University of Manitoba under Robert Turner. Career Carlson, through the Manitoba Arts Council and other funding bodies, has received numerous commissions to write for groups such as the Festival Quartet of Canada, the Purcell String Quartet, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, the Winnipeg Singers, the Winnipeg Brass and numerous high school and university concert bands and choirs. His symphony, Toledo (1992), premiered by the John Henderson Junior High Wind Ensemble under the direction of Jeff Kula, was the first work to be commissioned by a Manitoba high school band through the Manitoba Arts Council. It was chosen in 2002 to be the first Canadian work to be included in the publication Teaching music through performance in band. Toledo has been performed internationally including performances in the United States, Hong Kong, Germany and Singapore. In 2007, in the MBM Times magazine, Toledo was selected to be

Bruce Holder

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Bruce Edward Holder Sr. (January 8, 1905 – August 27, 1987) was a Canadian composer, conductor, and violinist. He helped to conduct, teach, and found many music groups, including Symphony New Brunswick, the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra, and the Third Field Artillery Band, which earned him his nickname, Mr. Music of Saint John. Early life and education Holder was born in Saint John, New Brunswick. Career Holder worked at the Ocean Steel and Construction Company. In 1948 Holder was a volunteer with the Saint John Salvage Corps. 1945 he opened a record store in Saint John. In 1957 he began teaching music at Saint John Vocational School, and in 1967 he was assistant conductor of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra. References External links * Bruce Holder at The Canadian Encyclopedia

Bruce Mather

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Bruce Mather (born May 9, 1939) is a Canadian composer, pianist, teacher, and writer who is particularly known for his contributions to contemporary classical music. Career One of the most notable composers of microtonal music, he was awarded the Jules Léger Prize twice, first in 1979 for his Musique pour Champigny and again in 1993 for Yquem. Some of his other awards include the Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada’s Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux prize in 1987 for Barbaresco and the Serge Garant Prize from the Émile Nelligan Foundation in 2000. Mather is an associate of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian League of Composers. As a writer he has contributed works to numerous musical journals and publications, including authoring the articles on Serge Garant, François Morel, and Gilles Tremblay in the Dictionary of Contemporary Music. He has taught on the music faculties of the University of Toronto (1964–1966), the University of Montreal (1970–1973), the Paris Conservatoire (1978–1979) and McGill University (1966–2001). His notable pupils include Marc Patch, Peter Allen, John Burke, Paul Crawford, Jacques Desjardins, José Evangelista, Anthon

Calixa Lavallée

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Calixa Lavallée (; December 28, 1842 – January 21, 1891) was a Canadian musician and Union Army band musician during the American Civil War. He was born in the Province of Canada. He is best known for composing the music for “O Canada”, which officially became the national anthem of Canada in 1980, after a vote in the Senate and the House of Commons. The same 1980 Act of Parliament also changed some of the English lyrics. A further alteration to the English lyrics was made again in 2018. The original French lyrics and the music, however, have remained unchanged since 1880. Early life and education Lavallée was born Calixte Paquet dit Lavallée, the son of Jean Baptiste Augustin Paquet dit Lavallée and Charlotte Valentine. He was born near Verchères, a village near present-day Montreal in the Province of Canada (now the Canadian province of Quebec). He was a descendant of Isaac Pasquier, from Poitou, France, who arrived in Nouvelle-France in 1665 as a soldier in the Carignan-Salières regiment. Lavallée’s father worked as a blacksmith, logger, bandmaster, self-taught luthier and bandleader, and also worked for the pipe organ builder Joseph Casavant. Calixa Lavallée’s mother was Charlo

Carleton Elliott

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Carleton Weir Elliott (15 March 1928, Welland, Ontario24 August 2003, Fredericton, New Brunswick) was a Canadian composer, music theorist, choir conductor and music educator. Early life and education Elliott was the son of Weir and Gertrude (née Chrysler) Elliott. He studied at Mount Allison University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Music in 1951. He also served as a music examiner and adjudicator, becoming the Mount Allison Local Centre Examinations in Music supervisor in 1967, and adjudicating at many music festivals in eastern Canada. As an examiner, he “dispelled students’ fears and nervousness by his gentleness and his genuine interest in them as people as well as musicians.” Among his compositions were many choral works and piano pieces for young learners. Works *String Quartet No.1 in C Minor (1951) ms. * Piano Sonata * Toccata for Piano (1961) * Suite for Flute and B♭ Clarinet * Sonatina in one movement for Clarinet and Piano * 17 Canons for Piano (Waterloo Music) See also *Music of Canada *Canadian classical music *List of Canadian musicians *List of Canadian composers References ;Citations

Carly Paradis

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Carly Paradis is a Canadian-British composer, songwriter, and pianist. She composes soundtracks for movies, TV series and solo albums. In 2007, she worked with film composer Clint Mansell arranging piano parts on Mansell’s soundtrack for the film Moon directed by Duncan Jones, and played all piano on the official score and soundtrack. As of 2022, Paradis has been playing keyboards for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Career Background Paradis was born in Hamilton, Ontario and raised in nearby Stoney Creek. She was formerly in a Canadian pop/rock duo called Oceanship. The group released one self-titled album. Film and television scoring She worked alongside Clint Mansell, arranging piano in the 2009 feature film The Rebound starring Catherine Zeta-Jones. She composed the score to the 2010 Steven Seagal film Deadly Crossing and his 2011–2012 television series True Justice. In 2010 she composed the score to the BBC Two documentary Davis v Taylor: The ‘85 Black Ball Final, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 1985 World Snooker Championship final which was hosted by her husband Colin Murray. She composed the theme to BBC’s drama Line of Duty, the ITV prequel series Prime Suspect 1973,

Carmen Lombardo

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Carmen Lombardo (July 16, 1903 – April 17, 1971) was lead saxophonist and featured vocalist for his brother Guy Lombardo’s orchestra. He was also a successful composer. In 1927, Carmen Lombardo was the vocalist of the hit record Charmaine, performed by Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians. Early years Lombardo was born in London, Ontario, Canada. As a child, he took flute lessons, and later learned to play saxophone. He had three brothers who also became musicians: Guy, Lebert, and Victor. Career As a young man played in the Lombardo Brothers Concert Company with Guy on violin and another brother, Lebert, on trumpet or piano. As the band grew, Guy became conductor, and the band developed into The Royal Canadians in 1923, in which Carmen both sang and wrote music. He frequently collaborated with American composers and his music was recorded by Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, and others. Many of his compositions have also been used in Woody Allen films. When singing songs like “Alone at a Table for Two” he would allow his voice to tremble, and seem nearly to break into tears-he was caricatured in Warner Brothers cartoons as “Cryman” Lombardo. In the late 1960s, actor-raconteur Tony Ran

Carol Ann Weaver

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Carol Ann Weaver (born May 6, 1948) is an American-Canadian composer, pianist, and teacher. Biography Weaver was born in Harrisonburg, Virginia, to a Mennonite family. At the time of her birth, her parents belonged to a Mennonite church that banned musical instruments in members’ homes. Fortunately, the ban was lifted during Weaver’s childhood, and her family immediately got a piano. She attended Indiana University (Bloomington), where she earned a B.M. (1970), M.M. (1972), and D.M.A. in composition (1982). During the summer of 1974, she studied theory and composition at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). Weaver studied composition with John Eaton, Bernard Heiden, Juan Orrego-Salas, and Higo Hirado; piano with Gyorgy Sebok, Robert Weisz, and Enrica Cavallo Gulli; and theory with Mary Wennerstrom, Vernon Kliewer, and Elaine Barkin. Currently a Professor Emerita at Conrad Grebel University College/University of Waterloo, Weaver also taught music at Wilfrid Laurier University, Canadian Mennonite University (formerly Concord College), Indiana University, and Eastern Mennonite University. Her Sound in the Land Festival Conferences at the University of Waterloo have brought together

Cassandra Miller

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Cassandra Miller (born Metchosin, British Columbia, Canada, 1976) is a Canadian experimental composer currently based in London, UK. Her work is known for frequently utilising the process of transcription of a variety of pre-existing pieces of music. She has been widely commissioned by international orchestras, ensembles and soloists, and has won the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music twice, in 2016 and in 2011. In 2019, writers of The Guardian ranked her Duet for cello and orchestra (2015) the 19th greatest work of art music since 2000, with Kate Molleson writing, “Miller is a master of planting a seed and setting in motion an entrancing process, then following through with the most sumptuous conviction.” Since 2018, she has been Professor of Composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, UK. Education Miller studied with Christopher Butterfield at the University of Victoria (2005) and at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague (2008) with Richard Ayres and Yannis Kyriakides before studying privately with Michael Finnissy in 2012. Miller returned to academic research in 2014, as a PhD candidate at the University of Huddersfield, supervised by Dr Bryn Harrison a

Cassandra Vasik

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Cassandra Vasik is a Canadian country music singer-songwriter from Blenheim, Ontario. Signed to Epic Records, she released two albums and 11 singles for the label between 1991 and 1994. In 1992, she won the Rising Star award at the Canadian Country Music Association Awards. She also won the 1992 and 1994 Juno Award for Best Country Female Vocalist. In 2000, Vasik released a pop album, Different, on Perimeter Records. Discography Albums Singles Guest singles Music videos References External links *Official website

Célestin Lavigueur

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Célestin Lavigueur (19 January 1831 – 11 December 1885) was a French Canadian musician and composer. Early life and education Lavigueur was born in Quebec City, Lower Canada. He attended the Petit Séminaire de Québec, but left to devote his time to musical pursuits. He studied violin with an amateur musician, François Huot. He learned to play several more instruments with little formal training. Career Lavigueur taught piano, violin, and wind instruments at the Petit Séminaire de Québec from 1853 to 1881. Lavigueur was a composer and a concert artist. He composed three operas: “La fiancée des bois”, “Un mariage improvisé”, and “Les enfants du manoir”. With poet Pierre-Gabriel Huot, he composed a song for the Huron people, “La Huronne, Romance for voice and piano” in about 1861. In 1880 Lavigueur’s patriotic song, “O Canada, beau pays, ma patrie” was published. In 1881, he moved to Lowell, Massachusetts to be with one of his sons. He participated in the local music scene there, presenting a play with musical accompaniment. He died in 1885 in Lowell. Personal life Lavigueur’s mother, Marguerite, was the daughter of General Sir Howard Douglas, 3rd Bt, Governor of New Brunswick. He mar

Chad Klinger

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Chad Klinger is a Canadian country music artist. Klinger recorded his self-titled debut CD in Nashville in 1998, produced by Dean Sams of Lonestar. Two singles released from the project, “Who Needs the Moon” and “Bring It On,” reached the Top 30 of the RPM Country Tracks chart. He took a break from his recording career in 2000 to enroll in the University of Alberta. Klinger returned to the music business in November 2009 with the single “Minivan Man,” which has reached the Top 50 of the Billboard Canadian Country Singles chart. His second album, The Man I Am Inside, was released in April 2010. Discography Albums Singles References External links *

Chan Ka Nin

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Chan Ka Nin (born 3 December 1949) is a Canadian composer and music educator of Chinese descent. He became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1971. He has been commissioned to write works for the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the CBC Radio Orchestra, the Esprit Orchestra, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, New Music Concerts, the Quebec Contemporary Music Society, and Symphony Nova Scotia among many others. He has also been awarded funds to compose works by the Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council, Ontario’s Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration, and the Toronto Arts Council. He has won two Juno Awards for Best Classical Composition. Born and raised in Hong Kong, Chan immigrated with his family to Canada in 1965 at the age of 15. The family settled in Vancouver and after completion of high school, Chan entered the University of British Columbia where he studied music composition with Jean Coulthard while pursuing degrees in both music and electrical engineering. He graduated from the UBC in 1976 and proceeded to enter the graduate composition program at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University where he was a pupil of Bernhard Heiden. He e

Charles A. E. Harriss

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Charles Albert Edward Harriss (16 or 17 December 1862 – 31 July 1929) was a British-Canadian composer, impresario, educator, organist-choirmaster and conductor. Early life and education Harriss was born in London, England, around midnight between 16 and 17 December 1862. He was the son of Edwin Harriss, organist and choir conductor. He studied at St. Michael’s College, Tenbury, with Sir Frederick Ouseley. Upon graduation, his first job was that of choir master at St. John’s church in Wrexham, Wales. Career At the age of 18 Harriss was appointed organist in a church in Welshpool, Wales. Through his teacher Ouseley’s connections in Canada, and after a direct petition from Agnes Macdonald, wife of the Prime Minister of Canada, Sir John Macdonald, Harriss was invited to audition for the job of organist at St. Alban the Martyr in Ottawa, Canada. After moving there in 1882, he became the organist at Christ Church Cathedral in Montreal (1883–1886). In 1886 Harriss succeeded his own father as organist in St. James the Apostle church, also in Montreal. Harriss composed a number of hymns and other choral works. His most famous composition is his opera Torquil, conceived firstly in 1896 as a

Charles Houdret

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Charles Houdret (6 July 1905 – 1965) was a Canadian conductor, cellist, radio producer, and composer. He began his career in Belgium and was highly active as a conductor throughout Europe during the 1940s. In 1952 he immigrated to Canada where he ultimately became a naturalized citizen. He was active as a radio producer, cellist, and conductor in Canada up through 1964, after which nothing is known about his whereabouts or activities. Early life and career in Europe Born in Liège, Belgium, Charles Houdret was trained at the Royal Conservatory of Liège where he was a pupil of Sylvain Dupuis in music composition. He also studied in Paris with André Hekking (cello), in Vienna with Felix Weingartner (conducting), and in Brussels with Eugène Ysaÿe (chamber music). Through Ysaÿe he was introduced to Albert I of Belgium and Elisabeth of Bavaria. Impressed with Houdret, the two monarchs appointed him to the post of director of the royal chapel orchestra. With this ensemble, he notably conducted Franz Schubert Symphony No. 5 in B flat major in a 1942 recording on the His Master’s Voice music label. He spent the 1940s conducting this orchestra and others in concerts throughout Europe. During

Charles Jones (composer)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Charles Jones (June 21, 1910 – June 6, 1997) was a Canadian-born music educator and composer of contemporary classical music who lived and worked mainly in the United States. Early life and education Jones was born in Tamworth, Lennox and Addington County, Ontario, Canada. He moved to Toronto at the age of ten, eventually traveling to New York City in 1928. He studied at the Juilliard School, where his primary instructor was Bernard Wagenaar. Career By 1937 Jones had composed a number of classical works; that year a concert by Francis James and his string quartet, consisting entirely of Jones’ compositions, was held in Toronto at the Eaton Auditorium. Jones began teaching at Mills College in California from 1939 to 1944, and at the Music Academy of the West in 1949 and 1950. He taught at the Juilliard School between 1954 and 1960, and again in 1973. During the 1970s he taught composition at the Mannes College of Music, starting in 1972. His works have been performed by the New York Philharmonic and the National Symphony Orchestra. The music critic Tim Page and composer Walter Buczynski were among Jones’s notable students. Jones lived at 311 East 58th Street, a house in Manhattan de

Charles O'Neill (musician)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Charles O’Neill (31 August 1882 – 9 September 1964) was a Canadian bandmaster, composer, organist, cornetist and music educator of Scottish birth and Irish parentage. Although he wrote many symphonic and choral works, the majority of his compositional output was devoted to band music. Education and early career Born in Duntocher to Irish parents, O’Neill began his musical training in the piano as a young child. He then studied the organ with Albert Lister Peace in Glasgow and music theory with Archibald Evans in London. From 1897 to 1901 he serves as organist at Grimsby, Lincolnshire and was a cornet player in a local band in that city. In 1901, O’Neill moved to the United States, settling first in Boston, Massachusetts and then in New York City in 1903. He moved again in 1905 to Kingston, Ontario in Canada, where he played in the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery Band as a cornet soloist. In 1908, he returned to England to receive training as a bandmaster for at the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall through the support of the Canadian Department of National Defence. After earning a diploma from the RMSM in 1909, O’Neill returned to Canada in 1910 to succeed Joseph Vézina

Charles Sauvageau

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Michel-Charles Sauvageau (October or November 1807 – 16 June 1849) was a Canadian conductor, composer, and music educator. He is believed to be the first native of what is now Quebec to devote his entire life to music. An August 1844 article in the periodical Le Ménestrel described him as the “first national musician of Canada “. Life Born in Quebec City, Sauvageau was a largely self-taught musician, although he most likely received some instruction from Jean-Chrysostome Brauneis I for whose band he played in 1831–1832. In 1833 he founded his own quadrille band, which he conducted until his death 16 years later. He also conducted several other enemies, including the Quebec Militia Artillery Band (1833–1836), the band of the Petit Séminaire (1841–1844), Musique Canadienne (beginning in 1842), the band for the St Jean-Baptiste Society (from 1842), and the Quebec Philharmonic Union (1848–49). Sauvageau was also active as an organizer of concerts and informal evenings of musical entertainment within his native city. Many of these events featured performances by his private students, such as Joseph Lyonnais and Napoléon Aubin; the latter of whom became his brother-in-law. His son Flavie

Charles Wilson (composer)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Charles Mills Wilson (8 May 1931 – 13 June 2019) was a Canadian composer, choral conductor, and music educator. Early life and education Wilson was born in Toronto, Ontario. He began studying piano at age six with Wilfred Powell and later studied organ with Charles Peaker. He studied composition with Godfrey Ridout at the University of Toronto, earning a Bachelor of Music in 1952 and a Doctor of Music degree in Composition in 1956. While at the University of Toronto, Wilson also studied at the Berkshire Music Center, at Tanglewood, during the summers with Lukas Foss, Aaron Copland and Carlos Chávez. He became interested in choral music and spent much of his time studying choral conducting. In 1953, Wilson taught music theory and conducted the University Chorale at the University of Saskatchewan while simultaneously finishing his doctoral thesis/composition, Symphony in A. Career From 1954-1964 Wilson served as the organist and choirmaster at Chalmer United Church in Guelph, Ontario. While there he founded the Guelph Light Opera and Oratorio Company (later the Guelph Opera and Concert Singers) in 1955, conducting their performances until 1974. During these years he conducted choirs

Charles Wugk Sabatier

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Charles-Désiré-Joseph Wugk Sabatier (1 December 1819 – 22 August 1862) was a Canadian pianist, organist, composer, and music educator of French birth. Early life and career in Europe Born Charles Wugk in Tourcoing, Sabatier was the son of an immigrant from Saxony. He enrolled at the Conservatoire de Paris under his birth name in 1838, studying there through 1840. He adopted the last name of Sabatier some time during his early career. An article in the Toronto Globe published on 25 September 1856 claimed that Sabatier was pianist to the Duchess of Montpensier and that he had conducted opera in Brussels. The former account is most likely accurate but music historians largely reject the latter claim. Life and career in Canada Sabatier most likely arrived in Canada in 1848, although an exact year is not definitely substantiated. He first resided in the city of Montreal and then lived in Quebec City from 1854 to 1856. During these years he worked as a music teacher, church organist, and concert pianist for both public and private performances. He played concerts of his own work as a guest artist at St Lawrence Hall in Toronto in 1856. His composition Le Drapeau de Carillon was published

Chris Cummings

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Christopher Allen Thomas Cummings (born August 11, 1975) is a Canadian country music artist. In his career, he has released five studio albums, one compilation album, and one extended play. Several of his singles have charted on the Canadian country charts, including the Number One hits “Sure Enough” and “The Kind of Heart That Breaks”. Biography Chris Cummings began performing in 1980, at the age of five years. In 1990, Chris released an independent CD, which found its way to Reprise Records president Jim Ed Norman, who signed him on in 1992. At age 17, he was the youngest artist they had ever signed. His first single, “I Waited,” was released in Canada in the fall of 1995, and shot into the top 5. Produced by Jim Ed Norman and Rick Scott, Chris released his debut CD, Somewhere Inside, on June 18, 1996. The second single, “Sure Enough,” went straight to No. 1. Follow-up songs “Somewhere Inside” and “Almost Always” also reached the top 5 in Canada reaching No. 3 and No. 4 respectively, and the album was certified gold. Chris’ second CD, Chris Cummings, was released in both the United States and Canada on February 24, 1998. Since 7 of the songs were already on Chris’ Canadian debut,

Christian Calon

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Christian Calon (born 5 September 1950) is a French-born Canadian composer who is active in electroacoustic music. He has worked extensively in large computer-based studios in Canada and Europe and has received commissions from the Canada Council, the Groupe de Musique Expérimentale de Marseille, and the Ministère des Affaires culturelles du Québec. His work is written in an expressionist and narrative style and his pieces are characterized by acousmatic diffusion. Life Born in Marseille, he immigrated to Canada in 1966 and settled in Montréal. Calon is a largely self-taught musician who became interested in electroacoustic music through his friend and mentor, Francis Dhomont. He received his only formal training at McGill University where he pursued graduate studies in computer music for one year. Calon began his composing career in Montréal. In 1986 he co-founded the Canadian Electroacoustic Community with some 100 other musicians, serving as the organization’s vice-president in 1989–90. In 1985 his work Portrait d’un Visiteur won first prize at the 1985 Luigi Russolo International Competition. He moved to Europe in 1990, and in 1991 was appointed music director of the studios of

Christophe Lamarche-Ledoux

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Christophe Lamarche-Ledoux is a Canadian musician and composer from Sherbrooke, Quebec. He began his career as an indie rock and experimental music musician, performing with bands such as Sexyboy, Organ Mood, Chocolat and Rock Forest. and produced Warren Spicer’s debut album with his side project Unessential Oils. Filmography *You’re Sleeping Nicole (Tu dors Nicole) - 2014 *Mutants - 2016 *Gulîstan, Land of Roses (Gulîstan, terre de roses) - 2016 *The Tesla World Light - 2017 *The Twentieth Century - 2019 *Wanted: Strong Woman - 2019 *Saint-Narcisse - 2020 *Chauffer le dehors - 2020 *Archipelago (Archipel) - 2021 *Like the Ones I Used to Know (Les grandes claques) - 2021 *Like a House on Fire - 2021 *Viking - 2022 *Universal Language - 2024 *Tout sur Margo - 2024 *Peak Everything (Amour Apocalypse) - 2025 *I Lost Sight of the Landscape (J’ai perdu de vue le paysage) - 2025 *A Fire There (Un feu au loin) - 2026 Awards References External links *

Christopher Mayo

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Christopher Mayo (born 1980) is a Canadian composer of contemporary classical music. Born in Toronto, Mayo studied at the University of Toronto where he was awarded the Glenn Gould Composition Prize and the William Erving Fairclough Scholarship and earned an Honours Bachelor of Music Degree. Mayo relocated to London in 2003, where he studied with Julian Anderson and in 2004 obtained a Master of Music in Composition from the Royal College of Music. In 2011 Mayo obtained a PhD in composition from the Royal Academy of Music where he studied with Philip Cashian. Mayo has received numerous awards including the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize in 2005 Mayo’s work has been commissioned and performed by numerous ensembles and organizations such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Tête à Tête Opera), Ensemble contemporain de Montreal, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, ACME (American Contemporary Music Ensemble) and L’arsenale, Motion Ensemble, Handel House Museum, Michael Collins and the Dante Quartet, , and the MATA Festival. which won the 2009 Gramophone Contemporary Award. Mayo’s music has been performed at festivals such as B

Christos Hatzis

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Christos Hatzis (; born 1953) is a Juno Award-winning Greek-Canadian composer. Many of his compositions are performed internationally, and he is a professor at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. Early life and education Hatzis was born in Volos, Greece, and received his early music instruction at the Volos branch of the Hellenic Conservatory. He continued his musical studies in the United States, first at the Eastman School of Music (B.M 1976 and M.M 1977) and later at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo (PhD 1982). His composition teachers include Morton Feldman, Lejaren Hiller, Wlodzimierz Kotonski, Samuel Adler, Russell Peck, Joseph Schwantner and Warren Benson. Career Hatzis immigrated to Canada in 1982 and became a Canadian citizen in 1985. He composed music related to Christian spirituality, particularly his Byzantine heritage, and the Canadian Inuit culture. In addition to composing and teaching, Hatzis has written extensively about composition and contemporary music. He won the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music in 1996. In 1998, Hatzis received the Jean A. Chalmers National Music Award. He won two Juno Awards in 2006, including Best Classical

Clarence Lucas

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Clarence Lucas (October 19, 1866 – July 2, 1947), was a Canadian composer, lyricist, conductor, and music professor. Lucas was born at Six Nations Reserve, Ontario and was a student of Romain-Octave Pelletier I. He taught at the Toronto College of Music, taught in Utica, New York, and was the musical director at Wesleyan Ladies College in Hamilton, Ontario. In London, he tutored pupils in composition, proofread music for Chappel publishing, and was a correspondent and then editor for the magazine Musical Courier which he later held in New York and Paris. In Sèvres, just outside Paris, Lucas freelanced as a music transcriber, arranger, lyricist, and translator. He also contributed to Etude, a musical periodical. Lucas conducted works by George Frideric Handel, Michael Costa, Edvard Grieg, George M. Cohan, and others. He toured the British Isles as a conductor for the Irish musical Peggy Machree, and the United States for Grieg’s Peer Gynt. Lucas’ first wife was the English pianist Clara Asher (who had studied with Clara Schumann) and their son was the British composer and conductor Leighton Lucas (1903 - 1982). She died in 1942. His second wife was Gertrude Pidd, a musician. In the

Clark Ross

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Clark Winslow Ross is a Canadian composer, guitarist, and music educator of Venezuelan birth. A composer of mainly works for orchestra and chamber music, he has won first prize in composition competitions held by the Hamilton Philharmonic (1993, for Passage 1), the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (1993, for Passage 3), Symphony Nova Scotia (2002, for Three Lorca Sketches), and the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts and Letters (2002). He has received grants from a number of notable organizations, including the Canada Council, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Bank of Canada among others. His compositions have been performed throughout North America and in Europe. Born in Maracaibo in 1957, Ross entered The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto in 1980, earning an Associate diploma there in 1985. While there he studied music composition with Samuel Dolin. He continued with further studies in music composition at the University of Toronto where he was a pupil of John Beckwith. There he earned a Master of Music in 1986 and a Doctor of Music in 1992. In 1988 he was an artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts and held the same

Claude Léveillée

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Claude Léveillée (16 October 1932 – 9 June 2011) was a Canadian actor, pianist, and singer-songwriter who composed more than 400 songs, instrumental pieces, and musicals. In 1959, Léveillée co-founded Les Bozos, an informal collective of Quebec chansonniers. He notably collaborated with Édith Piaf, writing several songs for her, including “Les Vieux Pianos,” “Ouragan,” and “Boulevard du Crime.” He also composed for a number of Quebec artists, including Julie Arel—“Merci à toi” (1976)—and Nicole Martin, with songs such as “Il est en nous l’amour” (1985), “Mon père et ma mère,” and “On s’aimera” (both 1987). Léveillée performed widely, with appearances in France, the Soviet Union, Belgium, Switzerland, and Japan. His acting credits include roles in the film Line of Demarcation (1966) and the television series Scoop (1991–1994). Biography Youth Joseph Gérard Adolphe Claude Léveillée was born on 16 October 1932 in Montreal. His parents were Pierre Léveillée (1901–1992) and Laurette Lalande (1901–1995). Léveillée’s mother was a pianist and his father was a tenor. In addition to the piano, Claude also played the accordion and harmonica. He began performing with the accordion on the stree

Claude Vivier

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Claude Vivier ( ; baptised as Claude Roger; 14 April 19487 March 1983) was a Canadian composer, pianist, poet and ethnomusicologist of Québécois origin. After studying with Karlheinz Stockhausen in Cologne, Vivier became an innovative member of the “German Feedback” movement, a subset of what is now known as spectral music. Between 1976 and 1977, Vivier travelled to Egypt, Japan, Iran, Thailand, Singapore, and Bali, where he came under the influence of aspects of their respective traditional musics. Despite working at a slow pace and leaving behind a small œuvre, Vivier’s musical language is vast and diverse. His place in the spectral movement of Europe entailed the manipulation of the harmonic series and led to music that incorporated microtones to replicate these frequencies, a compositional technique he would later refer to as the jeux de couleurs. He is also known for incorporating elements of serialism, dodecaphony, musique concrète, extended techniques, surrealism, traditional Québécois folk songs, and more. The themes of Vivier’s pieces are largely seen as autobiographical, often centring around loneliness and ostracization, the search for love and companionship, or voyaging

Claudio Vena

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Claudio Vena is an Italian-born composer for film and television, now living and working in Canada. Compositions Vena has written the score for the feature film, Silver Man and co-written another score for Boy Meets Girl. Two of his arrangements also were featured in the film Only You. He has scored numerous documentaries. He was presented with a Gemini award for Best Original Music Score for a Documentary Program or Series, for his score to T.O. in the series 24. Vena has also written scores for Johnny Lombardi, The Great Communicator, a documentary about the founder of CHIN radio, as well as an original score for the CBC Radio Drama, The Wanderers. From 2001 till 2005, his music was used as the Logo music of the CBC TV News programmes The National, Canada Now & The main network news. He has composed scores for theatre productions including original scores for Romeo & Juliet, directed by Vikki Anderson for Canadian Stage and Peter Pan, directed by Tim Carroll, in 2010 as well as Hamlet, directed by Adrian Noble, in 2008 for The Stratford Shakespeare Festival. For the 2013 season of The Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Claudio wrote a Victorian score for Romeo & Juliet. In 2000 he w

Clifford Ford

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Clifford Robert Ford (born 30 May 1947) is a Canadian composer, editor, music educator, and author. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, he is a founding member of ARRAYMUSIC and a former member of the music faculties of McMaster University and Dalhousie University. He co-founded the Canadian Musical Heritage Society for which he is executive secretary and technical editor. Education Born in Toronto, Ford studied piano, organ, and voice privately in his native city with Eric Lewis from 1957 to 1962. In 1960 he entered The Royal Conservatory of Music where he studied music theory and music composition with John Beckwith through 1964. He later pursued further studies with Beckwith and John Weinzweig at the University of Toronto where he earned a Bachelor of Music in 1970. That same year he won the Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada’s Ernest MacMillan Award which provided him with funds to pursue studies with István Anhalt at McGill University in 1970–1971. He later returned to that school for graduate studies in composition, earning a Master of Music in 1981. He also spent a year studying at the Institute for Sonology at Utrecht University with Gottfried Mi

Colin McPhee

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Colin Carhart McPhee (March 15, 1900 – January 7, 1964) was a Canadian-American composer and ethnomusicologist. He is best known for being the first Western composer to make a musicological study of Bali, and to develop American gamelan along with fellow composer Lou Harrison. He wrote original music influenced by that of Bali and Java, decades before compositions based on world music became widespread. Early life and career Childhood McPhee was born on March 15, 1900, in Montréal, Québec, Canada, to a family of mostly Scottish and German ancestry. His father, Alexander McPhee, was an advertising executive for Bell Telephone Company. His mother, Lavinia McPhee (née Carhart) was originally from New Jersey and settled in Montréal after marrying Alexander. First musical education In 1918 he enrolled in the Peabody Institute at the Johns Hopkins University, studying composition with Gustav Strube and piano with Harold Randolph; subsequently he studied with the avant-garde composer Edgard Varèse before marrying Jane Belo, a disciple of Margaret Mead, in 1931. Career McPhee joined the circle of experimental composers known as the “ultra-modernists” and was among those—along with the grou

Conrad Bernier

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Conrad Bernier (9 May 1904 – 7 November 1988) was a French-Canadian organist, composer, conductor and teacher. For many years he was a professor at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Early life and education Born into a family of musicians in Quebec City, Bernier was the brother of pianist Gabrielle Bernier and cellist/journalist Maurice Bernier, and the uncle of musicians Françoys Bernier, Madeleine Bernier, and Pierre Bernier. His first teacher was his father Joseph-Arthur Bernier, who introduced him to solfège, organ, and piano. He continued his keyboard studies with Berthe Roy, and became proficient enough to inaugurate the organ of the church at Bienville when he was 13 years of age. The following year he performed on the organ of St-Sacrement Church in Quebec City. In this church he served from 1920 to 1923 as principal organist, while he was also assistant organist at St-Jean-Baptiste. In 1923 Bernier won the Prix d’Europe to study organ in Paris. There he studied 1923–1926, taking piano with Sylvia Hérard and Simone Plé-Caussade, Music Theory with Georges Caussade (theory), and organ with the well-known organist from Bordeaux, Joseph Bonnet, for whom he

D. D. Jackson

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Robert Cleanth Kai-Nen “D. D.” Jackson (born January 25, 1967) is a Canadian–American jazz pianist and composer. His work as a leader or co-leader appears on 13 CDs. He won the Juno Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album – Instrumental in 2000 for his solo piano disc …So Far. Jackson has composed operas and has won two Emmy Awards for his work writing for television gaining 5 nominations in all. Early life and education Jackson was born on January 25, 1967, in Ottawa, Ontario. “D. D.” comes from the word for “little brother” in Mandarin Chinese, which was used by his family. He is a dual citizen of Canada and the United States. He also recorded Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue for Summit Records in 2002. Jackson has been one of three main composers on the children’s TV program Peg + Cat for many years, garnering him a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction and Composition in 2016 and a second Emmy in 2019 for Outstanding Original Song, “A World Made By Friends” (shared with lyricist, Billy Aronson). He has received a total of five Emmy nominations during his time on the show. - 1996? Rhythm-Dance Justin Time Trio, with John Geggie (bass), Jean Martin (drums) - 1996 Paired

Dallas Harms

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Dallas Harms (July 18, 1935 – October 12, 2019) was a Canadian country music singer-songwriter. Twenty of Harms’ singles made the RPM Country Tracks charts, including the number one single “Honky Tonkin’ (All Night Long)”. Harms was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989. Harms was born in Jansen, Saskatchewan, but was raised in Hamilton, Ontario, and was awarded the Hamilton Music Awards Lifetime Achievement Award for 2016. He died in Hamilton on October 12, 2019. Discography Albums Singles References External links * * Entry at 45cat.com * 45cat.com as The Nashville Sounds Of Dallas Harms And The Spartons *

Dana Reason

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Dana Reason is a Canadian composer, recording artist, keyboardist, producer, arranger, and sound artist working at the intersections of contemporary musical genres and intermedia practices. She appears on more than 17 commercially released recordings, including as a member of The Space Between trio with American electronic music pioneer Pauline Oliveros. She has also performed with Cecil Taylor, Roscoe Mitchell, George E. Lewis, Tim Berne, Fred Frith, Joelle Leandre, DJ Spooky, and Joe McPhee. She has been featured on National Public Radio (USA), the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Radio Canada. She currently lives in Oregon, United States, where she holds the position of Assistant Professor of Contemporary Music, School of Arts and Communication, at Oregon State University. Early life and career Born in Canada, Reason began lessons on the piano at the age of three. Reason continued to compose throughout her primary school years, earning by age 15 an associate degree in performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Reason started her secondary studies at Barrie Central Collegiate Institute, where she played the trombone. But, after hearing her play the piano, s

Daniel Ingram (composer)

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Daniel Luke Ingram (born June 13, 1975) is a Canadian composer and lyricist, primarily for animated series soundtracks. He has written more than 200 songs for television, in genres ranging from pop and classic rock to large-scale Broadway-style musical theater. His music has been heard in 180 countries. He is mostly known for his work as the songwriter of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and the films based on the series. He has written over 80 songs for My Little Pony during much of the franchise’s fourth generation. Ingram has received several awards for his music. Between 2012 and 2017, he has been nominated for five Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Original Song in a Children’s or Animated Series. “Becoming Popular (The Pony Every Pony Should Know)” and “May The Best Pet Win” from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic were nominated in 2012, while “The Magic Inside” and “Legend of Everfree” were nominated in 2016 and 2017 and “If You’re A Guy” from Littlest Pet Shop was nominated in 2013. He received a 2010 Leo Award for Best Music in an Animated Series for Martha Speaks, the 2008 Leo Award for Best Music in a Variety Television Show for About a Girl, and the 2013 Leo Award

Darcy Hepner

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Darcy Rolston Hepner (born December 22, 1954) is a Canadian saxophonist, composer, and arranger. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, he is the son of professional musicians (conductor Dr. Lee Hepner and pianist Patricia Rolston). His professional career began as a cellist at the age of 15 and transitioned to flute, clarinet, and saxophone during his studies at McMaster University (BMus 1978). While pursuing jazz studies at the University of Miami he performed with Henry Mancini, B. B. King, Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennett, Mel Tormé and many others (MMUS 1980). Moving to New York City in 1983 he studied composition and saxophone at New York University with Lee Konitz and Bob Mintzer. During his second residency in New York from 1996 to 2005, Hepner toured with Blood, Sweat and Tears, played in Broadway and Off-Broadway shows and in clubs with such artists as Buster Poindexter and Tom Wopat. Since 2008, he has recorded and performed with Tom Wilson and LeE HARVeY OsMOND as both a woodwind player and conductor/arranger for his symphony shows, which have included performances with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. He arra

Dave Pierce

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Dave Pierce (born July 10, 1972) is a Canadian songwriter, composer, producer, and arranger. He was the music director for the opening, closing, and victory ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.Pierce received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction for his work on these ceremonies. He has also worked on arrangements for Broadway and Las Vegas productions. Pierce has collaborated with a variety of performers, including Michael Bublé, Loreena McKennitt, Petula Clark, Carrie Underwood, Paul Brandt, Ian Tyson, Jann Arden, Jorane, Bryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan, Nelly Furtado and k.d. lang. In addition, he was commissioned to compose a symphonic work for Queen Elizabeth II. Career Pierce was born in Drayton Valley, Alberta. References External links * * * *

David Campbell (composer)

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David Richard Campbell (born 7 February 1948) is a Canadian-American arranger, composer, musician, and conductor. He has composed and arranged music for many films, including North Country (2005), Brokeback Mountain (2005), August: Osage County (2013), Annie (2014), Foxcatcher (2014), Rock of Ages (2012), Dreamgirls (2006), and Joy (2015). He has also worked on over 450 gold and platinum albums by artists of a wide range of genres, including The Rolling Stones, Neil Diamond, Metallica, Radiohead, Evanescence, Rush, Beyoncé, Muse, Michael Jackson, Aaliyah, Ariana Grande, Harry Styles, Aerosmith, Juanes, Garth Brooks, Green Day, and various albums by his son Beck. Early life and education Campbell was born in Toronto, Ontario. His father, D. Warren Campbell, was from Winnipeg, Manitoba, and was attending seminary in Toronto in order to become a Presbyterian minister. Campbell subsequently was assigned to a church in Pittsburgh, taking his family with him, before settling in Seattle. Campbell took up the violin at age 9. At age 12, he began venturing into orchestration, studying the works of Bartók, Schoenberg and Stravinsky. In the late 1960s, after studying at Manhattan School of Mu

David Kristian

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David Kristian (born November 5, 1967) is a Canadian musician, film score composer, and sound designer. David Kristian has been involved in audio for media since the early 1980s, when he first started work as an animation and experimental filmmaker at a New Brunswick television station. Upon relocating to Montreal, Kristian decided to abandon film-making in order to focus on a music career, first as a solo artist, then as the keyboardist and synthesist for the group Psyche, with whom he recorded “The Influence” in Germany. David Kristian left Psyche in late 1989 and he returned to Montreal to concentrate on more Ambient and instrumental music, citing Tangerine Dream, Robert Fripp and the film scores of Director John Carpenter as longtime influences. Based on his past experience as a filmmaker, it was clear that David Kristian’s path would lead to more soundtrack work. During the 1990s and 2000s, he released several albums on labels as diverse as Crème Organization, Minimal Rome, Ninja Tune, Lo Recordings, Schematic Records, Alien8 Recordings, and Apegenine recordings. Kristian has produced music under aliases, including Gentle Bakemono, Francesco Clemente, and DKMD, a disco duo he

David MacIntyre (composer)

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David MacIntyre (born 1952) is a Canadian composer of opera, music theatre, choral, orchestral and chamber music, and site-specific works in dance and theatre, based in Vancouver. He is a professor of Music Composition at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. His music has been performed in more than thirty countries. Early life and education MacIntyre was born in Yorkton, Saskatchewan; as a child, he studied brass instruments, theatre arts, voice and piano. In 1969, he attended the Banff School for Fine Arts. He attended the University of Saskatchewan (1970–72), where he studied composition with Murray Adaskin, voice with Dorothy Howard, and University of Victoria (73-75 B.Mus and 77-79 M.Mus), where he studied composition with Rudolf Komorous, conducting with George Corwin, voice with Selena James. In 1977, he wrote his first opera Humulus the Mute on a libretto by Jean Anouilh, translation by Michael Benedickt. Humulus the Mute was premiered in 1979 in a production conducted by George Corwin, directed by the composer and featuring Erika Kurth and Richard Margison. 9 Career In 1979, MacIntyre was invited to join the faculty at Simon Fraser University where he co-founded the Conte

David Squires (composer)

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David Squires (born 1957) is a Canadian composer and the dean of the School of the Arts, Media and Culture at Trinity Western University. Early life and education Squires received a bachelor’s degree in music (Performance) from University of Western Ontario in 1979, a masters in music (Composition) University of Toronto in 1981, and a doctorate in (Composition) State University of New York at Buffalo in 1993. Career From 1984 to 1987 Squires was the conductor of the Fraser Valley Symphony. Squires has been on the faculty at TWU music for 15 years and was a worship pastor there for 11 years. His scholarly interest is in Christian spirituality and new music, and he has also taught composition, music history, 20th-century composers and Christian spirituality, and Worship design and leadership. Squires’ composition “Ride” was performed in 1997 by the Lethbridge Community Band. “Where Angels Danced” was premiered in November 2007 by the Trinity Western Orchestra with violinist Brielle Goheen. Squires is the initiator of TWU’s Worship Studies Minor and has been instrumental in developing the program. Beginning in 2003, the program studies contemporary worship music, issues regarding wors

Dean Burry

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Dean Burry (born 1972 in St. John’s, Newfoundland) is a Canadian composer, librettist, and educator. He is best known for his children’s opera “The Brothers Grimm” premiered in 2001 which is likely the most performed Canadian opera with over 600 performances, as well as his operatic adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Early life Burry began his passion in music at age 10. He was inspired by a teacher to compete in piano competitions. He was also interested in theater, writing plays and musicals for his school drama club. College Burry first attended college at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick. While at Mount Allison, he produced and conducted The Resurrection, Joe and Mary Had a Baby, and Unto the Earth: Vignettes of a War. He later went to the University of Toronto and studied composition. Awards *In 2011, Burry was given the Louis Applebaum Composers Award. Music Operas *Unto the Earth: Vignettes of a War *The Brothers Grimm (for the Canadian Opera Company) *The Hobbit (for the Canadian Children’s Opera Company) *The Vinland Traveller *Isis and the Seven Scorpions (for the Canadian Opera Company) *Pandora’s Locker (for The Glenn Gould School at The Ro

Deanna C. C. Peluso

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Deanna C. C. Peluso (born 1979) is a Canadian, educator in Counselling and School Counselling, musician, composer, music educator, author and researcher in Vancouver, British Columbia. Peluso’s work centers on arts-based, relational, and culturally responsive approaches to school counselling and education. She is a Principal Faculty Member and Graduate Supervisor in the Master of Education in School Counselling and Master of Arts in Counselling programs at City University in Canada. Academic and professional work Peluso earned bachelor’s degrees in Music and Psychology and a PhD in Education from Simon Fraser University. She also completed a Master of Education in Educational and Organizational Leadership at the University of Victoria. Since the mid-2010s, Peluso has been a faculty member at City University in Canada, where she serves as a Principal Faculty Member and Graduate Supervisor in the Master of Education in School Counselling and Master of Counselling programs. Her teaching and supervision focus on arts-based, multimodal, and culturally responsive approaches to counselling and education, emphasizing relational practice, student wellbeing, and inclusive pedagogies. Peluso

Denis Bédard

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Denis Bédard (born 13 January 1950) is a Canadian composer of organ works (solo, duet, and with other instruments) and choral pieces (a cappella, with organ, and with piano). He founded Éditions Cheldar, which publishes his works. His compositions are performed internationally. Early life and education Bédard was born in Quebec City, Quebec. He was trained at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Québec where he obtained a deuxième prix harmony in 1966, a premier prix counterpoint in 1970, a premier prix for fugue in 1971, premier prix for organ in 1972, and a premier prix for harpsichord and premier prix chamber music in 1973. Among his teachers at the conservatoire were Tania Krieger (piano), Claude Lavoie (organ), André Mérineau (harmony), Magdeleine Martin (counterpoint and fugue), and Donald Thomson (harpsichord). A series of grants from the Canada Council enabled him to pursue studies in Paris with André Isoir (organ) and Laurence Boulay (harpsichord and figured bass realization) and in Montreal with Bernard Lagacé (organ and harpsichord) between 1973 and 1975. After winning the Prix d’Europe in 1975 for his harpsichord performance, he studied piano, harpsichord, and organ

Denis Gougeon

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Denis Gougeon (born November 16, 1951) is a Canadian composer and music educator. His more than 80 compositions encompass a wide variety of genres, including orchestral works, chamber music, opera, ballet, and pieces for solo instruments and voice. Notable ensembles to have included his compositions in their performance repertoire include the Bavarian State Ballet, the Canadian Opera Company, the I Musici de Montréal Chamber Orchestra, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, New Music America, the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, the Quebec Contemporary Music Society, and the Vancouver New Music Society. Early life and education Born in Granby, Quebec, Gougeon began his career as a primarily self-taught composer. He later entered the Université de Montréal (UdeM) where he studied music composition with Serge Garant and André Prévost. Career From 1984 to 1988 Gougeon taught music composition at McGill University. In 1989 he became the first composer-in-residence of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, holding that post until 1992. In 2000 he won the Opus Prize for Composer of the Year from the Conseil québécois de la musique. In 2001 Gougeon joined the music faculty at the Université de Montréa

Denise Boucher

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Denise Boucher (December 12, 1935 – March 18, 2025) was a Canadian writer from Quebec. Life and career The daughter of Alexandre Boucher, police chief, and Justine Bélair, she was born in Victoriaville, Quebec. She received a teaching certificate from the École normale Marguerite-Bourgeoys in Sherbrooke in 1953. She taught school in Victoriaville until 1961 when she began a career in journalism and broadcasting, moving to Montreal. She contributed to various newspapers and was a freelance journalist for Radio Canada. In 1978, she published the feminist work Cyprine: essai collage pour être une femme, which incorporates prose, poetry and quotations. In 1978, her noted feminist play was presented at the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde in Montreal. The play was met with strong opposition from the Catholic Church for its portrayal of the Virgin Mary. An English translation The Fairies are Thirsty was prepared by Alan Brown. Her play Les Divines was presented at the Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui in 1996. Her collections of poetry include Paris Polaroïd (1990) and Grandeur nature (1993). She participated in numerous poetry festivals around the globe. Boucher also wrote a rock opera Rose Ross (1983) and

Denys Bouliane

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Denys Bouliane (born May 8, 1955) is a Canadian composer and conductor. He is a Professor of Composition at McGill University. Early life and education Bouliane was born in Grand-Mère, Quebec. He is a graduate of Laval University (B.Mus 1977 and M.Mus in 1979). He studied music composition in the Neue Musik Theater class of Mauricio Kagel in Cologne followed by studies with György Ligeti until 1985. Career In 1987 Bouliane was awarded the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music for À propos… et le baron perché. In the 1990s he organized the festivals Montréal Nouvelles-Musiques and MusiMars. In 2003 Bouliane was composer-in residence at the National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa; the orchestra performed his composition “Snow Is White, but Water Is Black” in November that year. Bouliane has received commissions from various ensembles including the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Trio Fibonacci, Bozzini Quartet, Goethe Institute of San Francisco, and Pinchas Zukerman. In 2006 he was composer-in-residence for the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Works Denys Bouliane’s major works include: * Le Cactus rieur et la demoiselle qui souffrait d’une soif insatiable * Concerto for Orchestra (

Derek Charke

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Derek Charke (; born 1974) is a Canadian classical composer and flutist. Career In 2012, Derek Charke won the Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year for his work, “Sepia Fragments.” The following year Charke’s work, “Between the Shore and the Ships” received an ECMA for Classical Composition of the Year. Derek’s compositions increasingly pair electroacoustic elements—many of which are derived from environmental sounds—with acoustic instruments. Ecological sound as an artistic statement on environmental issues has become an impetus for many works, and his interest in the Arctic has like-wise played a role in many of his compositions. His music bridges a divide between this play of pure sound, collecting natural and environmental sound, and a continuation of the Western “classical” tradition—albeit with contemporary and popular influences. Derek Charke earned his bachelor’s degree in composition at the University of North Texas, a master’s degree in composition from the Royal Academy of Music, a master’s degree in flute and a doctorate degree in composition from the University at Buffalo. While at Buffalo he studied composition with David Felder and flute with Cheryl Gobbet

Derek Holman

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Derek Holman, (16 May 1931 – 20 May 2019) was a choral conductor, organist and composer. Life and work Born at Illogan, Cornwall, UK, Holman attended the Royal Academy of Music from 1948 to 1952 and studied with Sir William McKie, Eric Thiman and York Bowen. He held the degree of Doctor of Music from the University of London and was a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal School of Church Music and the Royal College of Organists. He was an instructor in the Royal Army Educational Corps with the British Army of the Rhine from 1952 to 1954, master at Westminster Abbey Choir School from 1954 to 1956, assistant organist at St Paul’s Cathedral from 1956 to 1958, then an organist at Croydon Parish Church from 1958 to 1965. In 1960 he founded the Croydon Bach Society. He also held positions at the Royal School of Church Music from 1956 to 1965. Holman moved to Canada in 1965, working as choirmaster at Bishop Strachan School until 1970 and organist and choirmaster at Toronto’s Grace Church on-the-Hill until 1979. He began teaching music at the University of Toronto in 1966. He directed the Concord Singers of Toronto from 1973 to 1975 and the Canadian Children’s Opera Company (the

Desmond Gaspar

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Desmond Gaspar is a Canadian organist, pianist, conductor, composer and songwriter who works as a freelance concert artist and ballet pianist who won the Associateship and Fellowship diplomas of the Royal Canadian College of Organists in consecutive years while under 30 years of age, thus being one of a very small number of Canadians under that age to achieve that distinction at the time. Gaspar studied under Earle Moss (piano), Molly Sclater (theory), Roman Toi (composition) and Heather Spry (organ and church music) from the University of Toronto and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, during which time he received numerous performance and competition awards. His eclectic career in liturgical music, dance accompaniment, choir-directing and other disciplines has taken him to various venues in Canada, the United States and Europe. A Fellow of the Royal Canadian College of Organists (winning the Associateship and Fellowship Diplomas in consecutive years as well as the Charles Peaker and the Healey Willan Prizes respectively with those attempts, scoring the highest mark in Canada for the latter), Gaspar was one of a very small number of Canadians who won that professional desi

Diane Juster

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Diane Juster, née Rivet (born March 15, 1946) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and composer from Montreal, Quebec. Although she had some success as a performer in her own right, she has been most prominent as a songwriter for other artists, including Julie Arel, Ginette Reno, Robert Charlebois, Johanne Blouin and Céline Dion. After studying piano at the Université de Montréal, she began writing songs in 1971. and in 2023 she was named a Knight of the National Order of Quebec. In 2024 she was named as a recipient of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards. Discography * 1974 - Mélancolie * 1975 - M’aimeras-tu demain * 1976 - Mes plus belles chansons * 1977 - Regarde en moi * 1981 - Tu as laissé passer l’amour * 1984 - Rien qu’amoureuse * 1987 - J’ai besoin de parler * 1993 - Diane Juster * 2002 - Je suis venue vous dire… * 2004 - Ma musique et mes chansons References

Djane Lavoie-Herz

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Djane Lavoie-Herz (20 October 1888– 2 March 1982) was a Canadian pianist and teacher. Life and career According to the Illinois, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1856-1991, Djane Lavoie-Herz was born on 20 October 1888 in Ottawa, Ontario. She studied in Montreal with Alfred La Liberté and then went to Europe where she studied in London, Paris, Berlin (where she studied with Artur Schnabel), and Brussels (where she studied with Alexander Scriabin). Through Scriabin’s influence, Herz became interested in Theosophy, a religious movement. The ideas of theosophy were deeply intertwined with Scriabin’s compositions, in which dissonant harmony was seen as spiritual. In 1918, after having studied with Scriabin for two years, Herz moved to Chicago. In 1920, she founded a salon on Grand Boulevard, where she hosted soirees that featured Scriabin’s music and discussions of theosophy. These salons were attended by musicians including Henry Cowell, Dane Rudhyar, and Carl Ruggles. It was through Herz that Seeger met Dane Rudhyar and Henry Cowell, who also had an impact on her career. Composer Vivian Fine also studied piano with Djane Lavoie-Herz in the 1920s, and later studied harmony and co

Dolores Claman

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Dolores Olga Claman (6 July 192717 July 2021) was a Canadian composer and pianist. She is best known for having composed the 1968 theme song for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) Hockey Night In Canada show, known simply as “The Hockey Theme”, which many consider Canada’s unofficial second national anthem. She is also known for “A Place to Stand”, the tune that accompanied the film of the same name at Montreal’s Expo 67 Ontario pavilion. Early life Claman was born in Vancouver on 6 July 1927. Her mother worked as an opera singer and Claman first learned the piano in her hometown. After graduating from high school by the age of 16, she studied music and drama at the University of Southern California. She later moved to Toronto with her writing partner and husband, lyricist Richard Morris. Together they composed over 3,000 commercial jingles in a 30-year period and won more than 40 awards internationally for their work. Claman’s two best-known compositions, “A Place to Stand” and “The Hockey Theme”, were also orchestrated by Jerry Toth. He, his brother Rudy Toth, and Richard Morris all worked together at Quartet Productions from 1965 until 1970. Claman commenced legal action

Don Wright (composer)

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Don Wright, (September 6, 1908 - June 27, 2006) was a Canadian composer, musician, educator and philanthropist. He was a successful Canadian musician and popular music composer during his career from the 1930s to the 1960s and later became known for his large charitable donations and projects to fund music education in Canada. Early life Wright was born in Strathroy, Ontario, in 1908. His father, James Wright, was a known business man in the area who started the Wright Piano Co., which produced and sold upright and grand pianos. At an early age, Wright began studying the cello and trumpet and quickly started to show talent, winning a national gold medal for trumpet performance at age 14. Wright Brothers’ Orchestra With three of his brothers (Clark on Alto Sax, Ernest on Banjo, and William on Drums) Don organized the Wright Brothers’ Orchestra, which performed jazz and swing music from 1922 to 1935 in dance halls across Ontario. The band played three summers from 1922 to 1925 at Brights Grove Pavilion in Sarnia, Ontario, and during this time Don was beginning to display his talents as arranger and finding out how to produce big band sounds with smaller instrumentation. During the su

Donald Alexander Cochrane

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Donald Alexander Cochrane (born 1928) is a Canadian composer, responsible for compositions, including symphonies, quintets and mixed choral/orchestra pieces. Education and Teaching Donald Alexander Cochrane, Canadian composer and pianist was born in Cornwall, Ontario. After high-school graduation he moved to New York City to study piano under Dr. Alexander Klahr, a former associate of the University of Vienna, Austria. He earned his BSc. degree from Columbia University, NYC. After that, he proceeded to study music composition with Dr. Hans Sachsse of the Munich High School for Music. For twenty-five years Cochrane worked as a high-school music department head in the Toronto area. After retirement, he continued work with computer music software. Composer He is a prolific composer whose oeuvre consists of 12 piano concerti (the last one was written in 2008), 10 symphonies, the last in 2004, 2 albums of piano music, 6 sets of orchestral variations, chamber music, a viola concerto for small Orchestra, 2 string quartets, 2 piano quintets, woodwind quintet, brass quintet, clarinet quartet, saxophone quartet, vocal music, settings from William Blake’s “Songs of Innocence” – a capella – wi

Donald Heins

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Donald Heins (19 February 1878 – 1 January 1949) was a Canadian violinist, violist, conductor, organist, composer, and music educator of English birth. He notably founded the first professional orchestra in Ottawa, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra (no relation to the current orchestra of that name), in 1902, serving as its director until 1927. He also served in a variety of positions with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1927 to 1949, including concertmaster, principal violist, and assistant conductor. He was highly active as an educator, notably founding the instrumental music program at Ottawa’s public school system and teaching on the faculties of the Canadian Conservatory of Music (1902–1927) and the Toronto Conservatory of Music (1927–1948). His compositions include several motets and anthems, some chamber music for string instruments, a small amount of orchestral music, the Saint Ursula Mass for female choir and small orchestra, and two short operettas, An Old Tortugas (1936) and Yellow Back (1939), both of which were commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Early life and education Born in Hereford, Heins was the grandson of a German piano maker who had immigra

Donald Patriquin

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Donald Patriquin (born October 21, 1938, in Sherbrooke, Quebec) is a Canadian composer, organist, and choral conductor. Known internationally for choral and instrumental arrangements of folk music, Patriquin was a member of the Faculty of Music of McGill University from 1965 to 1996. He currently resides in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Musical background Patriquin began composing at the age of 11, winning several awards through his youth while studying composition with Jean Papineau-Couture during summer sessions. He completed a biology degree at Bishop’s University in 1959 before beginning his formal studies in music. He studied composition at McGill University with István Anhalt and at the University of Toronto with John Weinzwig, earning a Bachelor of Music degree from McGill in 1964 and an M.A. from Toronto in 1970. He also holds an A.Mus. degree in organ performance from McGill and an RCCO Music Patriquin’s compositions are best known for the use of folk music elements, and in his instrumental work for abstract noises imitating sounds of nature. This compositional style can be seen in such pieces as the Fantasy for Fiddle and the Hangman’s Reel/Suite Carignan. Some of Patr

Donald Quan

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Donald Quan (born 1962) is a Canadian composer of film and world music, best known for writing the scores to television shows Relic Hunter and Mutant X. Career Born in Toronto, Ontario, and schooled at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Quan was the recipient of the Joe Venuti scholarship for stringed instrument performance. After Quan left college, he ventured into pop/rock music with the Canadian rock band Lighthouse and played with them for three years. In 1988, Quan joined the Canadian rock group Eye Eye as a keyboardist and violist. He also performed as a multi-instrumentalist with the performance artist Meryn Cadell, the Celtic-rock band Enter the Haggis, alt-rock band Cliché Verre and Juno nominated Afro-Canadian pop ensemble Kaleefah. Quan has been a long-time band member of Canadian singer Loreena McKennitt and has assisted in the production of several studio albums and recordings including the acclaimed The Book of Secrets. Quan collapsed onstage on Saturday, August 8, 2009, playing keyboards with Derek Miller in Kitchener, Ontario, for the Kitchener Bluesfest. He has since fully recovered. Since 2007, Donald Quan’s music shop of musical instrument curiosities MUSIDE

Donald Steven

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Donald Steven (born 26 May 1945) is a Canadian-American composer, music educator, and academic administrator. An associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre, he won a BMI Student Composer Award in 1970, the Canadian Federation of University Women’s Golden Jubilee Creative Arts Award in 1972, the 1987 Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year (for Pages of Solitary Delights) and the 1991 Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music (for In the Land of Pure Delight). His musical compositions are characterized by their emphasis on instrumental colour and atmosphere. Perhaps his most well known piece is his Illusions for solo cello, which has been widely performed in concert and on television and radio broadcasts. Life and career Born in Montreal, he attended Selwyn House School, followed by Ashbury College. He began his career performing and arranging folk and rock music in the 1960s (most notably with The Raftsmen) before pursuing professional studies in music. In 1968 he entered McGill University where he was a music composition student of Bruce Mather. After graduating from McGill with a Bachelor of Music in 1972, he entered the graduate music program at Princeton University

Dorothy Dittrich

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Dorothy Dittrich is a Canadian playwright and musical theatre director and composer from Vancouver, British Columbia, who won the Governor General’s Award for English-language drama at the 2022 Governor General’s Awards for her play The Piano Teacher: A Healing Key. Prior to its print publication in 2022, The Piano Teacher had its theatrical premiere at Vancouver’s Arts Club Theatre in 2017, Her other plays have included When We Were Singing, The Dissociates and Lesser Demons. She has also released Short Stories, an album of original piano compositions which was produced by June Millington. Dittrich is out as lesbian, and wrote The Dissociates during a writers’ residency at Buddies in Bad Times. References External links *

Douglas Mews (composer)

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Douglas Kelson Mews (22 September 1918 – 3 August 1993) was a Canadian-born composer, organist and church musician who worked in England and New Zealand. He taught composition at the University of Auckland from 1969 to 1983. Mews was a church organist and Director of Music at Auckland’s Catholic cathedral from 1970 to 1982. He composed a significant body of music for the liturgy as well as choral works, operas, piano and instrumental pieces and works for the accordion, much of it composed after he emigrated to New Zealand in 1969. Early life and education Mews was born on 22 September 1918 in St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada His father Arthur was an organist in the Methodist church and his mother Florence was a pianist and piano teacher. He was called up in 1939 to the British Army, serving in Europe and North Africa in World War II until 1946. He graduated with a DMus in 1961. He was particularly skillful at improvisation on the organ and piano. One of Mews’s sons had recited the poem at his school prize-giving prompting Mews to set it to music played by the sopranino and bass recorder and drum. It has continued to be part of the choral repertoire Other influences on his compositio

Douglas September

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Douglas September (born September 25, 1972, in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia) is a Canadian musician. He is known for his poetic lyrics, as well as his innovative musical style that blends folk and blues with a caustic modern commentary. As a composer, musician, producer and engineer, September’s passion for arranging music from the ordinary every day into a unique auditory experience has evolved into a singular style. His music has been likened to Bob Dylan, Tim Buckley, and Tom Waits. Career September has collaborated with many talented musicians, such as Michael Shrieve (1998 release, Producer-Ten Bulls; Gold Circle/Samson Music), Bill Frisell (1998 release, Lead Guitar-Ten Bulls; Gold Circle/Samson Music), David Torn (2001 release, Producer-Oil Tan Bow; Lupins), Robby Aceto (2001 release, Oil Tan Bow; Lupins and 1999 release, IO; Gold Circle/Samson Music), Rich DePaolo; (1999 release, IO;Gold Circle/Samson Music), Wayne Horvitz (1998 release, Ten Bulls; Gold Circle/Samson Music), David Bearwald and Steve Lindsey (The Runner, 2000). He has four albums as a solo performer with two where he is involved in co-production, and composing music for The Runner and was signed previously with

Eddie Eastman

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Eddie Eastman (born July 15, 1949) is a Canadian country music singer-songwriter. Twenty-five of Eastman’s singles made the RPM Country Tracks charts, including five which reached the Top Ten. Eastman won the Juno Award for Country Male Vocalist of the Year in 1981 and 1983. Discography Albums Singles Guest singles References External links * Eddie Eastmen – Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, v. 1, p. 665 * Eddie Eastman – Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador *

Édouard Woolley

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Édouard Joseph Woolley (31 March 1916 – 22 December 1991) was a Canadian tenor, actor, composer, and music educator of Haitian birth. He became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1958. His compositional output includes masses for three voices and for four voices, a few songs, and some instrumental pieces. The section “Mazoumbel” from his suite for violin and piano Sous les palmiers (c. 1958) was performed in a concert of Haitian music in Montreal in 1979. Life and career Born in Port-au-Prince, Woolley began his studies in his native city with Carmen Brouard (piano and harmony), Élisabeth de Pesquidoux-Mahy (singing), Werner Jaegerhuber (German opera/lieder), Raoul Nargys (acting), and Henriette Perret-Duplessis (singing). After working for a few years as a choirmaster at a church in Port-au-Prince, he moved to Montreal in 1938 at the age of 22 where he studied singing with Salvator Issaurel from the time of his arrival through 1944. He then entered the Conservatoire national de musique where he earned a Doctor of Music in 1947 after writing his thesis “La phonétique appliquée à l’art du chant”. At the conservatoire he was an organ student of Eugène Lapierre and a piano pupil of Edm

Edward Laufer

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Edward Constantin Laufer (25 November 1938 – 7 May 2014 ) was a Canadian music theorist, composer and teacher. Laufer was born in Zürich. His family emigrated to Canada in 1939, settling in Halifax. (He became a naturalized citizen in 1953.) Laufer obtained his bachelor of music degree from the University of Toronto in 1957 and his Masters of Music degree from the same institution in 1960. He studied composition with John Weinzweig, John Beckwith, Oskar Morawetz, and Tālivaldis Ķeniņš. Some time after 1960 he temporarily settled in the New York area, attending the Juilliard School where he studied piano with Eduard Steuermann and composition with Vincent Persichetti. At Princeton University, he studied composition with Milton Babbitt, Earl Kim, and Roger Sessions. While in the New York area, he studied Schenkerian analysis privately with Ernst Oster. Laufer obtained a Masters of Fine Arts from Princeton University in 1964. Before returning to Canada, he taught at Smith College from 1969 to 1971, the State University of New York at Purchase from 1972 to 1974, and the Mannes College of Music from 1973 to 1974. Moving back to Toronto, he was composer-in-residence from 1974 to 1975 at

Edwin Bélanger

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Edwin Bélanger (18 November 1910 – 14 January 2005) was a Canadian conductor, violinist, violist, arranger, and music educator. He had an association with the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec for more than 50 years, including serving as the orchestra’s principal conductor from 1942 to 1951. Education Born in Montmagny, Quebec, Bélanger was the father of musicians Marc Bélanger and Guy Bélanger. He received his general education and violin instruction at the Brothers of the Sacred Heart College in his native city. He then pursued further studies at the Séminaire de Québec where he was a pupil of J.-Alexandre Gilbert (violin) and Omer Létourneau (harmony). He notably married one of the daughters of the latter teacher. After winning the Prix d’Europe for violin in 1933, he pursued further studies with Carl Flesch in Paris (1933–1934, violin) and Ernest Read in London (1934–1935, conducting). Career Bélanger began his performance career in 1928 at the age of 17, as a violinist in the Société symphonique de Québec (Orchestre Symphonique de Québec), remaining with the ensemble through 1931. After completing his studies in Europe he began working as a violinist, violist, conductor, and arr

Eldon Rathburn

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Eldon Davis Rathburn (21 April 1916 – 31 August 2008) was a Canadian film composer who scored over 250 films during his thirty-year tenure as a staff composer at the National Film Board of Canada. Known as “the dean of Canadian film composers”, Rathburn composed music for documentaries, short films, as well as such feature films as Drylanders (1963), Nobody Waved Good-bye (1964), Waiting for Caroline (1969), Cold Journey (1975), and Who Has Seen the Wind (1977). Rathburn was the subject of a 1995 NFB documentary by Louis Hone titled Eldon Rathburn: They Shoot… He Scores. Early life and education Rathburn was born in the community of Queenstown, in Queens County, New Brunswick, Canada. As a child he learned to play the piano. Rathburn attended Saint John High School, and received a Licentiate of Music from McGill University in 1937. The following year, he won the Canadian Performing Rights Society Scholarship Competition, and began performing on the piano for local dance bands and radio broadcasts, including with Don Messer. From 1938–39, he studied at the Toronto Conservatory of Music with Healey Willan (composition), Reginald Godden (piano), Charles Peaker (organ), and Leo Smith

Eleanor Daley (composer)

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Eleanor Joanne Daley (born April 21, 1955) is a Canadian composer of choral and church music, a church choir director, choral clinician and accompanist. She lives and works in Toronto, Ontario. Among her best-known works are The Rose Trilogy and Requiem. Early life and education Daley was born in Parry Sound, Ontario. She earned a bachelor’s degree in organ performance from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and attained diplomas in piano and organ, having studied in both Canada and England. Career As a composer, Daley has been commissioned by choral groups and arts organizations throughout North America and Europe. In Canada, she composed for the Elmer Iseler Singers, the Amadeus Choir, the Bach Children’s Chorus, the Maryland State Boychoir, the Amabile Youth Singers, Toronto Children’s Chorus, the Cantabile Singers of Kingston, the Savridi Singers, the Vancouver Men’s Chorus and the Victoria Scholars. Daley worked under commission to a number of groups in the United States, including the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay, Texas Woman’s University, the Texas Choral Directors Association, and received the 2008 Brock Commission from the American Choral Directors Association. Commis

Elizabeth Raum

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Elizabeth Raum (born 13 January 1945) is a Canadian oboist and composer. Biography Elizabeth Raum was born in Berlin, New Hampshire in 1945, but became a Canadian citizen in 1985. She studied oboe performance with Robert Sprenkle at the Eastman School of Music, graduating in 1966. In 1985, she received a master’s degree in composition from the University of Regina after studies with Thomas Schudel. She played principal oboe for the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra in Halifax, Nova Scotia, from 1968 to 1975, when she moved to Saskatchewan and began playing for the Regina Symphony Orchestra, eventually becoming their principal oboist. In 2010, she received the Saskatchewan Order of Merit for her work as a musician and composer. Selected works Elizabeth Raum’s works have been performed internationally and broadcast on national media. She has produced operas, chamber pieces, choral works, solo vocal works, and ballets. She has also written for film and video. Film *Saskatchewan River *Like Mother, Like Daughter *Sparkle *Evolution: A Theme with Variations *Prelude to Parting *The Green Man Ballet *Symphony of Youth Opera *Sortilegio *The Garden of Alice *Romance of the Gods Recordings *Prai

Émilien Allard

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Émilien Allard (12 June 1915 – 18 November 1976) was a Canadian carillonneur and composer. He composed more than 50 works for carillon and made more than 700 transcriptions of carillon music; many of which are still performed in Europe and North America. In 1958, he won the International Carillonneurs’ Prize at the Brussels World’s Fair. For RCA Victor he released the LP album Carols at the Carillon of Saint Joseph’s Oratory for which he wrote the arrangements. His Marche du maréchal and his Marche H.I.C. were recorded by Howard Cable and his Notule No. 1 and Profil canadien no 2. were included on Gordon Slater’s LP Bells and Brass. Many of his original manuscripts and papers are a part of the collection at the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. Life and career Born in Montreal, Quebec, Allard’s initial musical training was with Antonio Thompson and Father Joseph-Gers Turcotte at the Trois-Rivières seminary where he studied piano and music theory. He was a clarinetist in the city concert band of Grand-Mère, Quebec during his youth and later served as that ensemble’s conductor. He also worked as an organist at a few churches in that town. He earned a lauréat diploma from

Éric Morin

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Éric Morin (born 20 December 1969) is a Canadian composer. He has been awarded several prizes for his compositions, including the 2003 Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music for his D’un Château l’autre and the CBC Radio National Competition for Young Composers which he won twice. His works have been performed by several notable musical ensembles, including the Esprit Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Quebec Contemporary Music Society, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra among others. He has been commissioned to write works by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. Life and career Born in Montreal, Morin is a graduate of the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal where he was a pupil of Gilles Tremblay, He pursued graduate studies at the Conservatoire de Paris from 1996 to 1998 where he earned a Master of Music in composition and was a student of Gérard Grisey. He then entered the doctoral music composition program at the University of Toronto in the Fall of 1998. After completing his degree, he studied at the IRCAM where he took courses in musicology and 20th-century music. In September 2000 he joined the faculty

Eric Wild (conductor)

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Eric Lees Wild (11 February 191029 April 1989) was a Canadian conductor, trumpeter, arranger, and composer. He was the youngest child of Isaac Ashton Wild (18711963) and Sarah Ann Wild () (18741971) who emigrated from Lancashire, England in 1901. Life and career Born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Wild studied conducting and arranging at the University of Michigan where he earned a Bachelor of Music in 1932. From 193336 he worked as an arranger for the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission in Toronto where he frequently collaborated with conductor Geoffrey Waddington. He toured to London as a member of Billy Bissett’s Canadian Band in 193638. During that time, he also served as principal trumpeter and arranger for the BBC Symphony Orchestra 193639, and appeared with his own band on BBC Television. As a member of Billy Bissett’s band, Billy Bissett and His Canadians, Wild travelled to Monaco to perform at the International Sporting Club resort casino in Monte Carlo. The band was then booked at Savoy Hotel, London in 1936 and The May Fair Hotel, London in 1936 and 1937. In 1937 Wild was offered his own programme on the BBC, Eric Wild and the Tea-Timers, which was the first television

Erik Mongrain

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Erik Mongrain (born April 12, 1980) is a Canadian composer and guitarist. Biography Mongrain was inspired early on by the work of Metallica, Jimi Hendrix, and Kurt Cobain. When he was 18, he heard the work of guitarist Don Ross and he thought: “This was a new revelation to me. I finally found my niche.” After that, he was heavily influenced by the work of Michael Hedges, and also began to experiment with a technique known as lap tapping. Mongrain plays live shows in the United States, Japan, Germany, Canada, and England. Erik was featured in Le Journal de Montréal and many other acoustic guitar magazines. His first full-length album, Fates, was released in December 2006 on his website as a series of individually buyable/downloadable songs. The physical CD was released in June 2007 (May for Japan). In 2007, Mongrain went on a tour around the world, particularly in Europe, Asia and America. He performed also at the famous Montreal International Jazz Festival and at the “Studio-théâtre” of the Place des Arts of Montreal where the live performance was recorded. Mongrain was invited for the premiere of the « World Music Heritage », a drive by Gontiti on the national Japanese network (NH

Ernest Gagnon

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Ernest Gagnon (; 7 November 1834 – 15 September 1915) was a Canadian folklorist, composer, and organist. He is best known for compiling a large amount of French Canadian folk music which he published as Chansons populaires du Canada in 1865–1867. He was greatly admired for his virtuoso performances on the organ and was also considered an expert at plainsong accompaniment. Biography Born in Louiseville, Gagnon was from a prominent family of musicians in Québec City. He is the brother of composer Gustave Gagnon and the uncle of composer Henri Gagnon. His sister Élisabeth was married to pianist Paul Letondal. He studied the organ with Charles Wugk Sabatier. From 1853 to 1864 he was the organist of Saint-Jean-Baptiste Church, and held a similar position at the Notre-Dame Basilica-Cathedral from 1864 to 1876. In 1857 he travelled to Paris after obtaining a study leave and became a pupil of Henri Herz and Alexandre Goria. Many of his arts songs, choral pieces, and works for solo piano have been published by the Canadian Musical Heritage Society and by Adélard Joseph Boucher. His piano work Stadaconé (1858) was notably the first notated composition to be based on the music of the aborigin

Ernest MacMillan

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Sir Ernest Alexander Campbell MacMillan (18 August 1893 – 6 May 1973) was a Canadian conductor, composer and organist. He was Canada’s only “Musical Knight”, and is widely regarded as being Canada’s pre-eminent musician from the 1920s through the 1950s. His contributions to the development of music in Canada were sustained and varied, as conductor, performer, composer, administrator, lecturer, adjudicator, writer, humourist, and statesman. Biography Early life and education (1893–1914) Ernest Alexander Campbell MacMillan was born in Mimico (Etobicoke), Ontario, the first-born of Reverend Alexander MacMillan (1864-1961), and Wilhelmina “Minnie” Ross (1870-1932). His parents had moved to Mimico the previous December, when Rev. MacMillan, educated in Edinburgh, Scotland, was called to be the first resident minister of Mimico Presbyterian Church, that had been formed in 1889. His mother, was a third generation of ministers daughters from Scotland, and in her case from Pictou, Nova Scotia. His first musical influences were his parents. From a very young age, he became fascinated while watching his mother play piano and decided to learn music. His father, who became minister at Toronto’s

Ernest Seitz

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Ernest Joseph Seitz (29 February 189210 September 1978) was a Canadian composer, songwriter, pianist, and music educator. He published some of his work under the pseudonym “Raymond Roberts” because he did not wish to be associated with popular music. His most famous work is The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise, which he co-wrote with Gene Lockhart. Some of his other notable songs include Laddie Boy (1932), When Moonbeams Softly Fall (1935), and The Sky’s the Limit (1943). He retired from performance in 1945 and from teaching in 1946. For the rest of his life he served as president of his family’s business, an automobile dealership in Toronto. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in London in 1954, and on 18 July 1984, Toronto acquired a piece of parkland which was dedicated by Ms. Seitz, naming it Sunrise after Ernest’s most famous work. Life Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Seitz received his first musical training from A. S. Vogt in Toronto from 1903 to 1910. He went to Germany in 1910 where he was a pupil of Josef Lhévinne in Berlin for four years. He had initially intended to pursue a career as a concert pianist in Europe, but the outbreak of World War I made this imposs

Eugène Lapierre

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Eugène Lapierre (8 June 1899 – 21 October 1970) was a Canadian organist, composer, journalist, writer on music, arts administrator, and music educator. He was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal in 1935 and the King George VI Coronation Medal in 1937. In 1963 he was named Chevalier of the Order of Malta and in 1966 he received the Bene merenti de patria from the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society. He is the great-uncle of composer Yves Lapierre. Life and career Born in Montreal, Lapierre received his earliest musical education at Saint Brigid’s Church in his native city where he was a pupil of choirmaster Lucien Perreault. He then studied the organ with Étienne Guillet and worked as an accompanist at the Royal Military College Saint-Jean. He entered the École des Hautes Études Commerciales where he earned a degree in 1922. From 1924–1928 Lapierre studied in Paris through a grant from the Canadian government, first at the Institut Grégorien where he earned a diploma in 1926 and then at the Schola cantorum where he earned a diploma in 1928. Among his teachers in Paris were Georges Caussade (composition), Vincent d’Indy (composition), Marcel Dupré (organ and improvisation), Simone

Evalyn Parry

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Evalyn Parry is a Canadian performance-maker, theatrical innovator and singer-songwriter. She grew up in Toronto, Ontario in the Kensington Market neighbourhood. Her music combines elements of spoken word and folk. Biography Evalyn Parry is the daughter of David Parry, an English-born Canadian singer and theatrical director who died in 1995, and performer and author Caroline Balderston Parry. Her brother Richard Parry performs with the bands Bell Orchestre and Arcade Fire. She is married to Canadian writer Suzanne Robertson, and currently resides on farmland outside of Kingston, Ontario. Theatre Parry is a theatre creator, actor, director, collaborator and educator. Her plays and performances have been produced and toured nationally and internationally. From 2015 to 2020, Parry served as the artistic director of Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. Parry’s most recent collaborative work, Kiinalik These Sharp Tools, premiered at Buddies in 2017 and was presented at the Edinburgh International Festival (2019) and Cervantino Festival, Mexico (2019), Toronto’s Luminato Festival, Vancouver’s PuSh Festival (2019) and the GCTC (in collaboration with the National Arts Centre) (2020). Parry and co

F. R. C. Clarke

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Frederick Robert Charles Clarke, known largely by his initials F. R. C. Clarke (August 7, 1931 – November 18, 2009) was a Canadian musician and composer who spent most of his musical career in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Clarke was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1931. He earned the University of Toronto degrees of Bachelor of Music in 1951 and Doctor of Music in 1954. A distinguished Canadian organist, he earned the Royal Canadian College of Organists’ prestigious diplomas of Associate and Fellowship by examination. Among his teachers were George Laughlin, Eric Rollinson, Kenneth Ross, Healey Willan, and S. Drummond Wolff. He served as organist-choirmaster for several Toronto-area churches during his time in the city. From 1957–58, he conducted the St. Catharines Civic Orchestra (now the Niagara Symphony Orchestra), before moving to Kingston and taking up the role of organist-choirmaster at Sydenham Street United Church, a role he served from 1958 until his retirement, after which he served as Organist Emeritus. He began teaching music at Queen’s University in 1964, and was head of the Music Department (which became the School of Music during his tenure) from 1981–1991. Clar

Farangis Nurulla-Khoja

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Farangis Nurulla-Khoja (born 1972) is a Tajik-Canadian composer, who explores timbre within her contemporary compositions of symphonic, chamber, vocal, and electro-acoustic music. Among her many honors is a Guggenheim Fellowship Award in Composition in 2018. Life Farangis Nurulla-Khoja currently resides in Montréal, Quebec, but was born in Dushanbe, Tajikistan and is related to the well-known Tajik composer, Ziyodullo Shahidi. She not only earned a Ph.D. of Fine Arts in Composition (2004) from University of Gothenburg, Sweden, but has also studied at the University of California in San Diego as well as at IRCAM in Paris. Her early education was in piano at the Ziyodullo Shahidi Special Music School (1979–1990). In addition, she was a researcher in ethnomusicology at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford (1992–1993) where she studied both Tajik and Chinese music traditions. Nurulla-Khoja has studied with an international array of composers from Ole Lützow-Holm (b. 1954) to Roger Reynolds (b. 1934) and from Brian Ferneyhough (b. 1943) to Philippe Leroux (b. 1953). She was composer in residence at Fondation Royaumont (2005–06), working on the project Maqam et Créations; at the Bellagio Cen

Frances C. Robinson

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Frances Coster Small Robinson (8 August 1858 - 11 November 1905) was an author, composer, and music educator who was born in Canada and lived most of her life in the United States. She published under the name Frances C. Robinson. Robinson was born in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, to Emma Pheasant and Otis M. Small. Little is known about her education. She married William S. Robinson and gave piano lessons in Wakefield, Massachusetts, from at least 1901 until her death in 1905. Robinson’s articles on music education appeared in The Etude magazine and the New England Conservatory magazine. She composed works for piano and voice through at least opus 45, and William A. Pond & Co. Her publications included: Articles in The Etude magazine *Child Study: The Teacher’s Privilege and Duty (in a collection of essays reprinted from The Etude 1892-1902) *Collateral Summer Reading for Musicians (Jul 1900) *Cultivation of Touch (Oct 1903) *Ear Training and Use of the Damper Pedal (Oct 1902) *Primary Teaching (Oct 1900) Voice *“An Oriole’s Nest” *“Butter Making” (action song) *“Sleigh Song” *“Soldier Song” (action song) *Download free sheet music to “On the Beach” by Frances C. Robinson Refe

François Dompierre

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François Dompierre C.M. (born July 1, 1943) is a Canadian musician, songwriter and composer, best known as a composer of film scores. Early life and education Dompierre was born in Ottawa, Ontario, and grew up in Hull, Quebec (now Gatineau, Quebec). His mother played piano and his father was a choir director. He studied music at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal. Career Dompierre first became known as a performer of jazz-inspired chansonnier pop. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2014. Dompierre composed 24 Preludes, in remembrance of Bob Alain, a jazz pianist who influenced his early career. In 2018 the Sutton Museum mounted an exhibition of Dompierre’s work, including a presentation of his composition, “Petit Concerto de Saint-Irénée”. In 2019 Dompierre published a biography of his longtime friend and collaborator Monique Leyrac. References External links *

François Morel (composer)

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François Morel (14 March 1926 – 14 January 2018 ) was a Canadian composer, pianist, conductor, and music educator. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, he was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 1994 and was awarded the Prix Denise-Pelletier in 1996. He has had his works premiered by the CBC Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Life and career Born in Montreal, Morel studied at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal from 1944 to 1953. His teachers included Claude Champagne (composition), Isabelle Delorme (harmony, counterpoint, fugue), Gérald Gagnier (conducting), Arthur Letondal (piano), Germaine Malépart, Jean Papineau-Couture (acoustics), and Edmond Trudel (piano). He was a founding member of the Canadian League of Composers in 1951. From 1956 to 1979 he worked for CBC Radio as a composer of incidental music, music consultant, and researcher. Morel taught music analysis and composition at the Institut Nazareth from 1959 to 1961. In 1972 he was appointed director of the Académie de musique du Québec, a position he held through 1978. From 1976 to 1979 he taught at the Bourgchemin Cegep in Drummondville a

Françoys Bernier

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Françoys Joseph Arthur Maurice Bernier (12 July 19273 February 1993) was a Canadian pianist, conductor, radio producer, arts administrator, and music educator. He served as the music director of the Montreal Festivals from 1956 to 1960 and was an active conductor and a producer for CBC Radio during the 1950s and early 1960s. He was the General Director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec from 1960 to 1966 and then the orchestra’s Music Director from 1966 to 1968. He was also active as a teacher of conducting at a number of universities, notably serving as the first director of the Music Department at the University of Ottawa. Family background and education Bernier was born into a prominent family of musicians in Quebec City. He was the son of cellist and music critic Maurice Bernier, the brother of cellist Pierre Bernier and pianist Gabrielle Bernier, and the nephew of pianist Gabrielle Bernier and of keyboardist and composer Conrad Bernier. His earliest musical education was with his grandfather, keyboardist and composer Joseph-Arthur Bernier. Bernier received his general education from the Séminaire de Québec, where he also studied music from 1939 to 1947. From 1945 to 1950 h

Frank Davies (music producer)

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Francis William Harding Davies (born November 22, 1946) is a British-born Canadian record producer, music publisher, and founder of the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (Panthéon des Auteurs et Compositeurs Canadiens). Davies has contributed to the growth of Canada’s music industry and its creative community for more than four decades. He is credited with discovering, producing, publishing, and developing the careers of many artists and songwriters, and has advocated for their status. Davies received the Juno Awards 2014 Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award, recognizing individuals who have made a significant impact on the Canadian music industry. Family and early life Born in Northampton, England, to British politician John Davies and Vera Georgina Harding-Davies, the young Davies was educated at Windlesham House School near Brighton, Pangbourne College, and Strasbourg University, in north-east France. On June 1, 1972, he married the Canadian pop singer Lynda Squires, daughter of Ruth Mullen Squires. The marriage produced three children: Meghan Mae Harding Davies, now Ehrensperger; Emily Gwyneth Emerson Davies-Cohen; and Kate Theresa Georgina Davies. Boards Served in Canada *Ch

Frank Marsales

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Frank Alfred Marsales (August 31, 1886 – August 14, 1975) was a Canadian composer best known for his work scoring cartoons by Harman-Ising Productions in the 1930s. He also worked with Walter Lantz Productions in the mid to late 1930s. Cartoon career Having immigrated to the United States for a career as a musician, Marsales was hired by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising to score their Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series for Warner Bros. Pictures. His first credit was for Sinkin’ in the Bathtub, released in May 1930 and animated by Friz Freleng. He composed the music to the 1931 Merrie Melody Lady, Play Your Mandolin!. He left the studio after Harman and Ising terminated their contract with producer Leon Schlesinger. Marsales may also have had a hand injury at that time that precluded his composing any music at all. In the mid-1930s, Marsales began work at Walter Lantz Productions as musical director for the Andy Panda cartoons, among others. Marsales’s last credited musical score at Walter Lantz Studios was for Knock Knock, released on November 25, 1940 (although he may also have scored some parts of Syncopated Sioux, released December 30, 1940, which the musical director wa

Frank Welsman

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Frank Squire Welsman (20 December 1873 – 2 July 1952) was a Canadian conductor, pianist, composer and music educator. He began his career as a concert pianist, but ultimately earned his place in Canadian history for establishing Toronto’s first symphony orchestra of any standing, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (no relation to the current orchestra of that name) which was active from 1906 to 1918. As a composer he wrote a few songs and some instrumental pieces, mostly works for solo piano. His grandson John Welsman is a notable film score composer and his granddaughter Carol Welsman is a successful jazz pianist and singer. Early life and education Born in Toronto, Welsman pursued courses in violin and piano performance at the Toronto College of Music before going to Leipzig in 1894 for further studies. His teachers included Richard Hofmann, Martin Krause, and Gustav Schreck. After completing his education, he returned to Canada in the spring of 1897. Some sources claim he studied the piano privately with Arnold Mendelssohn in Germany Career In 1897 Welsman returned to Toronto and commenced a career as a concert pianist, giving annual recitals in Toronto from 1897 until 1905. He also

Fred S. Stone

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Frederick St. Clair Stone (fr) (January 22, 1873 – January 14, 1912) was an African-Canadian ragtime music composer, born in Chatham, Kent County, Ontario. Works (sources: ) * 1891 - The Detroit Wheelman’s March * 1896 - La Albaceté: Spanish Waltzes. Detroit, MI: Detroit Music Co, 1896. * 1905 - Belinda: March Two Step. New York, NY: Jerome H Remick, 1905. * 1906 - Melody at Twilight. New York, NY: Jerome Remick & Co, 1906. * 1908 - Stone’s Barn Dance. New York, NY: Jerome H Remick, 1908. Sheet Music Fred S. Stone, 1899, “The Bos’n Rag” Charles H. Templeton, Sr. sheet music collection. Special Collections, Mississippi State University Libraries ::https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102350221 * Fred S. Stone, 1902, “Sue” : Fred S. Stone, 1902, “Sue” Charles H. Templeton, Sr. sheet music collection. Special Collections, Mississippi State University Libraries : Fred S. Stone, 1902, “Sue” Charles H. Templeton, Sr. sheet music collection. Special Collections, Mississippi State University Libraries via CORE (research service) :* Fred S. Stone (1902) “Sue” (Sheet Music) with ad for Whitney Warner Collection of Mandolin and Guitar Music by Samuel Siegel :*Sue (Stone, Fred S.) at Inte

Frédéric Pelletier

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Frédéric Pelletier (1 May 1870 – 30 May 1944) was a Canadian choir conductor, music educator, composer, music critic, journalist, civil servant, military officer, and physician. He was one of the principal music critics in Montreal during the first half of the 20th century, having worked in that capacity for every major publication in Montreal at one time or another. He was also a professor of music history at several institutions and worked as a choirmaster in several Montreal churches. His compositional output was mainly dedicated to sacred choral works, including several motets and carols, 2 oratorios, a Requiem Mass, and a Stabat Mater. He also wrote some works for solo organ, some songs, and a number of harmonizations of Canadian folk tunes. Life and career Born in Montreal, Pelletier was part of a prominent musical family in Quebec. He was the son of musician Romain-Octave Pelletier I, the brother of organist, composer and conductor Romain Pelletier, and the father of violinist Romain-Octave Pelletier II. His other brother Victor was a cellist in J.-J. Goulet’s Montreal Symphony Orchestra of which he also served as music librarian. He began his musical education as a boy stud

Gabriel Cusson

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Gabriel Cusson (2 April 1903, Roxton Pond, Quebec - 18 Apr 1972, Montreal) was a Canadian composer and music educator. As a composer, his music was heavily influenced by the style of early 20th-century French composers. Most of his work remains unpublished, although a few of his compositions have been recorded including his Sérénade for orchestra and one of his suites by the Orchestre Métropolitain. The Canadian publishing company La Bonne Chanson has printed a number of his folksong arrangements. His other unpublished works include several motets, the cantata À la gloire de Jeanne Mance (1942), and incidental music for Antigone and the biblical dramas Jonathas and Tobie. Training Cusson was trained at the Institut Nazareth, a music conservatory in Montreal that awarded degrees through the University of Montreal. While there he studied the cello with Gustave Labelle, singing with Alfred Lamoureux, piano and organ with Arthur Letondal, and music theory with both Achille Fortier and Romain Pelletier. He graduated from the school in 1924 with a Bachelor of Music and that same year won the Prix d’Europe for cello performance. That competition win enabled him to study at the École Norma

Garnet Rogers

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Garnet Rogers (born May 1955) is a Canadian folk musician, singer, songwriter and composer. He was born in Hamilton, Ontario with Maritime roots. Early life Rogers was born in Hamilton, Ontario to Nathan Allison Rogers and Valerie (née Bushell) Rogers, who had moved to Ontario from Nova Scotia to find work. Rogers, along with his elder brother Stan, was raised in Binbrook, Ontario, and spent summers in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia. Career Rogers began his professional career working with his brother Stan, arranging Stan’s music. After Stan died in a plane crash on June 2, 1983 (just a few weeks before Stan, Garnet and bass player Jim Morison were to tour the US), Garnet began to pursue his own career. At first, Rogers had difficulty getting a permit from the U.S. Immigration Service, which only granted one after a campaign on his behalf was launched by Odetta, The Boston Globe, and a PBS TV station in New York. While his brother’s style of writing was more traditional and often based on Canadian Maritime styles, Rogers’ style is more modern, utilizing influences from blues, rock, country/bluegrass, and classical. Rogers’ instruments include the guitar, mandolin, violin, and flut

Gary Koftinoff

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Gary Koftinoff is a Canadian film score composer of music for film and television. In 2018 he won an ASCAP Screen Award for Top Cable Television Series and a Socan Award for Domestic Television Series for his score on the medical drama Saving Hope (CTV/ION). Saving Hope (Ion) accumulated the most credits on Amazon, Hulu and Netflix during the 2017 survey year of ASCAP. In 2014 he received a CSA Nomination “Best Score for a Dramatic Series” for Saving Hope. In 2005 he received a Gemini Award for Best Original Score for a Dramatic Series for “Dark Oracle” (YTV), and in 2007 he won a Film & TV Music Award for Best Score for a Non-Animated Children’s TV Program for the 70 episode Disney Channel series “Life With Derek” (Disney/Family Channel). Additionally, Koftinoff has had three other Gemini nominations for his work on over 30 films and over 200 episodes of television, all composed for a client list that includes NBC, CTV, Lifetime/Sony, Chesler/Perlmutter Ent., Shaftesbury Films, Screendoor, Cloud Ten Productions and Peace Arch Entertainment. Recent work includes his scores for Salem Falls (Lifetime), The Devil’s Teardrop (Lifetime/Sony) and Valemont (MTV). For the film Spirit Bear:

Gary Kulesha

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Gary Alan Kulesha (born 22 August 1954) is a Canadian composer, pianist, conductor, and educator. Since 1995, he has been Composer Advisor to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He has been Composer-in-Residence with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony (1988–1992) and the Canadian Opera Company (1993–1995). He was awarded the National Arts Centre Orchestra Composer Award in 2002. He currently teaches on the music faculty at the University of Toronto, where his notable students have included Vincent Ho, Anna Höstman, Abigail Richardson-Schulte, Bekah Simms, and Andrew Staniland. He was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada in 2023. Education Born in Toronto, Kulesha received his musical training at The Royal Conservatory of Music where he earned an associate diploma in piano (1973), a licentiate diploma in music theory (1976), and associate and fellowship diplomas in music composition in 1978. At the conservatory he was a pupil of William G. Andrews and Samuel Dolin. He also studied composition in England from 1978–1981 with John McCabe and in New York City in 1982 with John Corigliano. Selected works Opera * Red Emma (1986–1995); libretto by Carol Bolt * The Last Duel (1999–2000); l

Gayle Young

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Gayle Young (born 22 Mar 1950) is a Canadian composer and author. Young is an adherent of microtonality who has invented a number of musical instruments and notational systems. Early life and education Young was born in St Catharines, Ontario. She graduated from York University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1977. Career Young began writing for Musicworks magazine in 1978, becoming its managing editor in 1987. In 1980 Young designed a 24-stringed musical instrument, the amaranth, which she played in many of her performances and later released an album of music performed on it. Young lectured about the musical creations of Canadian physicist, composer, and instrument builder Hugh Le Caine at the McGill Contemporary Music Festival in 1985, and in 1989 she published a book about him. In 2012 Young’s recorded soundscape, “Avalon Shorelines”, was part of a New York concert by cellist Madeleine Shapiro. She continued to act as editor of the magazine MusicWorks. In 2016 Young performed with her amaranth as part of a deep listening concert in Ottawa organized by composer and accordionist Pauline Oliveros. References * Canadian Music Centre biography External links *Official website

Gena Branscombe

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Gena Branscombe (4 November 1881 – 26 July 1977) was a Canadian pianist, composer, music educator, and choir conductor who lived and worked in the United States. Early life and education Gena Branscombe was born 4 November 1881 in Picton, Ontario. She began studying piano and harmony with local teachers, and her musical talent was apparent from an early age. She was also very skilled in improvisation and sight reading. Gena entered high school at age eleven and graduated at fifteen, and she decided to pursue a music degree in college. Branscombe was accepted to the Chicago Musical College, and moved there with her mother in 1896. While enrolled at the institution, she received the Gold Medal in Composition in 1901 and 1902. During her degree, she studied piano with Rudolph Ganz, a Swiss pianist, composer, and conductor. Her composition lessons were with Felix Borowski, who imparted his deep appreciation of the rich, lush and complex harmonies of the German Romantic era unto Branscombe’s writing style. Career Resigning her position at the Chicago Musical College in 1907, Branscombe became head of the piano department at Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington. This move was prompte

Geoffrey Moull

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Geoffrey Moull is a Canadian professional conductor. He was principal conductor of the Bielefeld Philharmonic Orchestra and music director of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra. Education Geoffrey Moull was born in London, Ontario, Canada and studied conducting with Kirill Kondrashin, Sergiu Celibidache and Martin Stephani. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in performance from McGill University and post-graduate degrees in conducting and piano from the Hochschule für Musik Detmold in Germany. Career Moull was Principal Conductor and coach of the Trier Opera and Symphony Orchestra in Germany from 1986 to 1989, conducting both opera and concert performances, and was additionally responsible for the development of music education programs and school concerts. He was Associate Conductor of the Münster Symphony Orchestra and Opera from 1989 to 1992. The opera magazine Opernwelt presented Moull with their ‘Production of the Year’ award in 1992 for Francesco Cavalli’s “La Calisto”. With his appointment as Principal Conductor of the Bielefeld Philharmonic Orchestra and Bielefeld Opera in Germany in 1992, Moull became a part of the ‘Bielefelder Opernwunder’. He initiated and conducted new

George Tremblay

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

George Amédée Tremblay (14 January 1911 – 14 July 1982) was a Canadian (and later, naturalized American citizen) pianist, composer, and author who was active in the United States. Although his works display a broad range of stylistic influences, he is primarily associated with the twelve-tone technique. He is the author of the musical treatise The Definitive Cycle of the Twelve Tone Row. Tremblay was also noted for his unique capacity to extemporize on the piano and frequently performed as an improviser. Biography Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Tremblay was the son of composer and organist Amédée Tremblay and Rosa Martel Tremblay. As the son of an active composer and performer, young George was exposed to not only the classics, but to more contemporary composers; his father, Amédée, was an early champion of Cesar Franck, Max Reger, and Claude Debussy for Canadian audiences. He was a recurring panel member on the Sunday evening radio quiz show, Are You Musical?, on Los Angeles station KMPC. where he was receiving treatment for cirrhosis. The Definitive Cycle of the Twelve Tone Row The Definitive Cycle of the Twelve Tone Row (1974) is a music theory and composition treatise that is the res

Georges Savaria

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Georges Savaria (27 March 1916 – 1998) was a Canadian pianist, composer, ondist, college administrator and music educator. His compositional output consists of a 1951 piano concerto, several songs and works for solo piano, and music for theatre, television, and radio. Some of his music was published by the periodical Le Passe-Temps. Early life and education Born in Montreal, Savaria is the son of organist Joseph-Élie Savaria with whom he studied the organ and piano. He also studied music theory in his native city with Claude Champagne. After winning the Prix d’Europe for piano in 1937, he studied in Paris at the Schola Cantorum with Daniel Lesur (counterpoint) and Olivier Messiaen (organ). He also studied privately in that city with Louis Aubert (music theory), Lazare Lévy (piano), Marguerite Long (piano), and Pierre Lucas (piano). During World War II he was interned in a Nazi concentration camp near Paris, but managed to escape and return to Canada in 1943. In 1980 he published a book, Hors de portée, which give a descriptive account of these events. References

Georges-Émile Tanguay

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Georges-Émile Tanguay (5 June 1893 – 24 November 1964) was a Canadian composer, organist, pianist, and music educator. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, his compositional output is relatively small; consisting of 4 orchestral works, 4 chamber music pieces, 9 works for solo piano, 2 works for solo organ, and 4 choral works. The library at Université Laval holds many of his original manuscripts and his personal papers. Early life and education Born in Quebec City, Tanquay earned a lauréat diploma from the Académie de musique du Québec where he was a pupil of Léon J. Dessane and Joseph-Arthur Bernier. He also studied with Arthur Letondal and Romain Pelletier in Montreal. From 1912 to 1914 he studied with Louis Vierne (organ) and Félix Fourdrain (harmony) in Paris. He then lived and worked in New York City where he studied the organ with Pietro Yon and Gaston Dethier. Tanquay returned to Paris in 1920 to study with Vincent d’Indy at the Schola Cantorum. He remained in that city for the next five years studying under Georges Caussade (harmony and counterpoint), Édouard Mignan (organ), and Simone Plé-Caussade (piano). Career Tanguay returned to Canada in 1925 to assume the post

Gérald Gagnier

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Gérald Gagnier (14 October 1926 – 14 January 1961) was a Canadian bandmaster, composer, and trumpeter. His compositional output includes the symphonic poem Polyphème, a Prélude for piano, a Suite romantique for strings, and Rolandineries for piano. Life and career Born in Montreal, Gagnier was the son of musician René Gagnier and received his earliest musical training in the trumpet, piano, and music theory from him. His grandfather Joseph Gagnier had 26 children, many of whom also became professional musicians of note; including Armand Gagnier, Ernest Gagnier, Guillaume Gagnier, J.-J. Gagnier, Lucien Gagnier, Réal Gagnier, and René Gagnier. Several of his cousins became notable musicians, including Claire Gagnier, Ève Gagnier, and Roland Gagnier. He attended the Séminaire Saint-Joseph de Trois-Rivières from 1939 to 1945 where he received his general education. In 1945 Gagnier entered the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal where he studied through 1951. During that time he also spent three summers studying under Pierre Monteux. He also spent some time mentoring François Morel in conducting. In 1954 he earned a diploma from the Royal Military School of Music after passing

Germain Gauthier

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German Gauthier (1950 – 28 August 2025) was a Québécois guitarist, songwriter and composer. Biography Gauthier was born in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada in 1950. He then started composing music for other authors. He wrote Le mur derrière la grange for Donald Lautrec, Un gars comme toi for Renée Claude and Tous les jours de la semaine for Pierre Létourneau. He published his first album in 1974, and continued collaborating with other authors; notably, Pierre Létourneau and Luc Plamondon. He died on 28 August 2025. By his death, his discography totalled over 325 songs, 35 of which had reached number one in Quebec. Discography References

Gil Grand

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Gil Grand (born Gilles Lagrandeur, January 8, 1968) is a Canadian country music singer. Since 1998, he has released three studio albums: Famous First Words (1998), Burnin (2002) and Somebody’s Someone (2006). He has charted several singles on the Canadian country singles charts as well, including the RPM top ten single “Famous First Words” in 1998. Career In 1998, Grand signed a record deal with Monument Records’ Nashville division. His debut album, Famous First Words, helped him receive three Canadian Country Music Awards nominations including Male Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year and Wrangler Rising Star. Burnin was released in December 2002. “Cry A Little,” “Break It to Them Gently,” “Run” and the title track were all released as singles. Grand earned five CCMA nominations in 2003 including Single of the Year, SOCAN Song of the Year, Video of the Year, and Best Album Graphics, and won Independent Male Artist of the Year. He released his third album, Somebody’s Someone, in March 2006. In 2006, Grand and his younger brother Jake joined forces for Raise the Roof, a tour that took them from British Columbia to Ontario, raising awareness of Ronald McDonald House Charities. Gra

Gilles Bellemare (composer)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Gilles Bellemare (born 29 March 1952, Shawinigan) is a Canadian composer, conductor, and music educator. He has been commissioned to write music for more than 30 professional ensembles internationally, many of which have been recorded or performed on CBC Radio under his baton. He has also written a number of film scores and is an associate of the Canadian Music Centre. In 1977 he was awarded the William St Clair Low Award by the Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada. In 1978 he assumed the post of principal conductor and artistic director of the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières, a post he held until 2004. Under his leadership, the orchestra produced several commercial recordings and premiered works by such contemporary Canadian composers as Timothy Brady, Jacques Faubert, Anne Lauber, and Myke Roy. Bellerme studied at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Trois-Rivières from 1968 to 1978, where he earned premier prizes in harmony (1972), percussion (1974), and music composition (1978). Among his most influential teachers at the school were percussionist Thomas Cavanagh and music theorist Armando Santiago. In the summer of 1977 he studied composition with

Gilles Gobeil

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Gilles Gobeil (born September 27, 1954) is an electroacoustic music composer from Sorel-Tracy, Quebec, Canada, and currently living in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Gobeil received his musical education at the Université de Montréal (Mmus in Composition). Gobeil is professor for music theory at the Cégep de Drummondville and was guest professor for electro-acoustics at the Université de Montréal and at the Conservatoire de Montréal. His works have been performed in concerts throughout Canada and abroad. Gobeil is a member of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC), Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre (CMC) and co-founder of the concert organization Réseaux des Arts Médiatiques, an organization for the production of media arts events. Gobeil is known for his industrial soundscapes and the incorporation of live instruments (in particular the ondes martenot) deep within the electroacoustic medium. Gobeil has received numerous scholarships and commissions from institutes and festivals including ZKM Karlsruhe, GRM Paris, Ars Electronica Linz, ICMC Beijing, and the Banff Center, and his works have won many awards. His approach is similar to the “cinema pour l’oreille” (cinem

Gilles Tremblay (composer)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Gilles Tremblay, (September 6, 1932 – July 27, 2017) was a Canadian composer and teacher. Early life and education Born in Arvida, Quebec, Tremblay studied at the conservatories of Québec in Montréal and Paris (1954–61), where his teachers included Olivier Messiaen (analysis), Andrée Vaurabourg-Honegger (counterpoint), Yvonne Loriod (piano), and Maurice Martenot (inventor of the ondes Martenot). He also attended Karlheinz Stockhausen’s summer courses at Darmstadt, where he became interested in electro-acoustic techniques. Career Tremblay returned to Quebec in 1961. He taught musical analysis at the and at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec in Quebec City. Beginning in 1962, and for many years, he taught composition at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal. Among his pupils are , Raynald Arseneault, Yves Daoust, François Dompierre, Marc Hyland, Ramon Lazkano, Robin Minard, Éric Morin, Silvio Palmieri, Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux, , André Villeneuve, Claude Vivier, and Wolf Edwards. Early in his career he performed as a specialist on the ondes Martenot. A central figure in Quebec’s contemporary classical music scene, Tremblay was active in many capacities includi

Glenn Gould

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Glenn Herbert Gould was a Canadian pianist and broadcaster. Regarded as one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, he was renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard works of Johann Sebastian Bach. His playing was distinguished by remarkable technical proficiency and a capacity to articulate the contrapuntal texture of Bach’s music. Gould rejected most of the Romantic piano literature—Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and others—in favour of Bach and Beethoven mainly, along with some late-Romantic and modernist composers. Gould also recorded pre-Baroque composers such as Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, William Byrd, and Orlando Gibbons; Classical composers such as Haydn, Mozart, and Brahms; and 20th-century composers including Paul Hindemith, Arnold Schoenberg, Alexander Scriabin, and Richard Strauss. He championed Gibbons, whom he called his favorite composer. Gould was also a writer and broadcaster, and dabbled in composition and conducting. He produced television programmes about classical music, in which he spoke, performed, and interacted with interviewers in a scripted manner. He made three musique concrète radio documentaries, the Solitude Trilogy, about isolated areas

Glenn Schellenberg

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Glenn Schellenberg is a Canadian composer and a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Early life and education Schellenberg studied psychology at University of Toronto, where he received a B.Sc.. He went on to obtain a PhD in 1994 in psychology in Cornell University. Career In the 1980s, Schellenberg played keyboards and was the principal songwriter for the synth-pop band TBA, along with Paul Hackney, Steven Bock and Andrew Zealley. and performed live with Martha and the Muffins. Side-projects included The Beds (with Tony Malone) and Anti-Normal (with Tim Guest, Massimo Agostinelli, and Billy Sutherland). Schellenberg composed music for three films directed by John Greyson. For one of these films, Zero Patience, Schellenberg was nominated, along with Greyson, for a Genie Award for Best Original Song for the song “Just Like Scheherazade”. He also composed the theme song (and approximately 50 other songs) for a children’s television show called The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon. His songs on the show were sung by Jackie Richardson, Jackie Burroughs, Eric Peterson, Graham Greene, and Clark Johnson. Schellenberg joined the faculty of the University of Wind

Godfrey Ridout

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Godfrey Ridout (6 May 1918 in Toronto – 24 November 1984 in Toronto) was a Canadian composer, conductor, music educator, and writer. Life and career Ridout was a descendant of Thomas Ridout, the first Surveyor General of Upper Canada during the administration of Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe. He attended University of Toronto with John Beckwith. During his time at the Toronto University, he was a pupil of Ettore Mazzoleni (conducting), Weldon Kilburn (piano), and Charles Peaker (organ and counterpoint) at its Conservatory of Music. He then taught on the conservatory faculty from 1940 to 1948. He left there to join the faculty at Toronto University, where he taught until 1982. Among his notable pupils were Walter Babiak, Walter Buczynski, Hugh Davidson, Alan Detweiler, Ben McPeek, Welford Russell, Alfred Strombergs, and Charles Wilson. He contributed articles to numerous Canadian music publications, notably serving as the assistant editor of both Canadian Music (1940–1941) and Canadian Review of Music and Art (1942–1943). From 1973 to 1984 he was the author of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s program notes. As a conductor he served as the music director of the Eaton Operati

Gordon Delamont

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Gordon Arthur Delamont (27 October 1918 – 16 January 1981) was a Canadian music educator, author, composer, and trumpeter. He is best remembered for his work as an educator, having helped shape the talents of dozens of notable musicians in Toronto. He also published several books on musical theory topics which have been used widely by schools in North America. As a writer he also contributed articles to Saturday Night, The Canadian Music Journal, and several jazz magazines and newspapers in Canada. As a composer The Canadian Encyclopedia describes him as “a guiding figure in Canada in the third-stream movement” His best-known work, Three Entertainments for Saxophone Quartet (premiered 1969, published by Kendor 1970), was recorded by the New York Saxophone Quartet and has been performed widely throughout North America and Europe. Life Born in Moose Jaw, Delamont was the son of bandmaster and cornetist Arthur Delamont. He grew up in Vancouver where he was a soloist with a boys’ band that his father directed. His father provided him with his earliest musical training. In 1939 he moved to Toronto at the age of 20 where he became principal trumpet of CBC Radio’s orchestra in that city a

Gordon Fitzell

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Gordon Fitzell (born 1968) is a composer, concert organizer, and professor of music. His catalog consists of solo, chamber, and electroacoustic music, including open and improvisatory works. Biography Born and raised in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada, Gordon Fitzell earned a dual-emphasis PhD in Music Theory and Composition from the University of British Columbia (studies with Keith Hamel and John Roeder); a Master of Music degree from the University of Alberta (studies with Howard Bashaw and Malcolm Forsyth); and a Bachelor of Music degree from Brandon University (studies with Kenneth Nichols). As a student, he attended the Darmstadt Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Music, the Yale Summer School, June in Buffalo, the Arraymusic Young Composers Workshop, and the Banff Centre. He has attended masterclasses and short-term instruction with Beat Furrer, Salvatore Sciarrino, Jukka Tiensuu, Aaron Jay Kernis, Roger Reynolds, Martin Bresnick, Joan Tower, Linda Bouchard, and Robert J. Rosen. Career Fitzell’s music has been performed at major international festivals including the Darmstädter Ferienkurse (Germany), Festival Synthèse Bourges (France), the ISCM World New Music Days (Sw

Gordon Monahan

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Gordon Monahan (born 1956 in Kingston, Ontario) is a Canadian pianist and composer of experimental music. He has been active since at least 1978. Along with his own work, he has performed works by other composers such as John Cage, James Tenney, Udo Kasemets and Roberto Paci Dalò. He has also created site-specific sound installations. In 1992-93 he was artist-in-residence with the DAAD in Berlin where he lived until 2006. Life and career Gordon Monahan was born on June 1, 1956 in Kingston, Ontario. He originally was interested in a being a physicist and studied physics at the University of Ottawa from 1974-1976. He transferred to Mount Allison University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Music in 1980 after four years of study. There his teachers included Janet Hammock (piano) and Michael R. Miller (composition). After graduating he lived in Toronto for seven years, and then moved to New York City in 1987. Awards Monahan won first prize at the 1984 CBC National Radio Competition for Young Composers. He is one of six Laureates to receive Governor General’s Awards for Visual and Media Arts in 2013. * 2016: Sound Artist of the City of Bonn, Germany. Notable works *Piano Me

Graham George

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Graham Elias George (11 April 1912 – 9 December 1993) was a Canadian composer, music theorist, organist, choir conductor, and music educator of English birth. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, his compositional output consists largely of choral works, many written for Anglican liturgical use. He also wrote three ballets, four operas, and some symphonic music. In 1938 he won the Jean Lallemand Prize for his Variations on an Original Theme. At first he employed traditional tertial harmony, but the influence of Hindemith led him to introduce quartal-quintal harmony as integral to his style. Successful completion of RCCO/RCO diplomas and external degrees had demanded he attain very considerable expertise in counterpoint, and so his neoclassic deployment of contrapuntal devices such as imitation, canon and fugue is hardly accidental. His archives are part of the collection at the Library and Archives Canada. Early life and education Born in Norwich, he moved to Canada in 1928 at the age of 16. He studied the organ and music composition with Alfred Whitehead. He earned the Associateship (1934) and Fellowship (1936) of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, the Associateship (1

Greg Morrison

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Greg Morrison is a Canadian composer and writer best known for his work on the Tony Award-winning musical The Drowsy Chaperone, written with songwriting partner, Lisa Lambert. The Drowsy Chaperone was their first collaboration. In 1999 Lambert asked Morrison to work on a musical to perform at the wedding stag party of their friends, Bob Martin and Janet Van De Graaff. Also a part of this original writing team was filmmaker, Don McKellar. That was the first incarnation of The Drowsy Chaperone. This was followed by an expanded production of the show at the Toronto Fringe festival, where Martin joined as a co-writer and performer. Greg is a graduate of the Humber College Jazz program in Toronto. He began his theatre career as musical director for the touring company of The Second City in Toronto. As well as working for The Second City, Greg composed and performed scores and musical direction for a variety of Toronto artists, most notably, playwright Karen Hines, powerhouse horror clown duo, Mump and Smoot and Canadian theatre icon Linda Griffiths. He continues to write for theatre as well as writing songs for television and film. Theater credits Composer and lyricist *The Drowsy Chape

Guillaume Couture (musician)

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Guillaume Couture (23 October 1851 – 15 January 1915) was a Canadian choir conductor, composer, music critic, and music educator. Although he never pursued a performance career, he is particularly remembered for his work as a voice teacher, having taught many notable Canadian singers. He is the grandfather of composer Jean Papineau-Couture. Life and career Born in Montreal, Couture was choirmaster at Saint-Jacques Cathedral before studying at the Conservatoire de Paris with Romain Bussine and Théodore Dubois from 1873 to 1875. His Rêverie, opus 2 (notably the only Canadian orchestral work published before 1900) was premiered in Paris in 1875 in a concert that also included original works by Henri Duparc, Gabriel Fauré, and César Franck. That same year he returned to his native city where he began teaching privately and writing as a music critic for La Minerve. He continued to return periodically to France for further studies with Bussine through 1887. In early 1876 Couture returned to Paris to assume the post of choirmaster at the Basilica of St. Clotilde, Paris. César Franck was notably the organist at the cathedral at that time. He left there in late 1877 for Montreal where he to

Gustav Ciamaga

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Gustav Ciamaga (April 10, 1930 – June 11, 2011) was a Canadian composer, music educator, and writer. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian League of Composers, he was best known for his compositions of electronic music, although he produced several non-electronic works. His compositions have been performed throughout North America and Europe. His work Curtain Raiser was commissioned for the opening of the National Arts Centre in 1969. An honorary member of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community, he invented a number of electronic music apparatuses, including the Serial Sound Structure Generator. As a writer he contributed articles to numerous music journals, magazines, and other publications. Biography Born in London, Ontario, Ciamaga studied at the University of Western Ontario from 1951 to 1954 while simultaneously receiving private instruction from Gordon Delamont. He entered the music program at the University of Toronto where he studied music composition with John Weinzweig and John Beckwith from 1954–1956. He then pursued graduate studies in musicology and composition at Brandeis University where he earned an MFA in 1958. His teachers at Brand

Gustave Gagnon

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Gustave Adolphe Mathurin Gagnon (; 6 November 1842 – 19 November 1930) was a Canadian organist, composer, and music educator. Family background and education Born in Louiseville, Gagnon was from a prominent family of musicians in Québec City. He is the younger brother of composer Ernest Gagnon and the father of composer Henri Gagnon. His sister Élisabeth was married to pianist Paul Letondal with whom he studied the piano in Montreal from 1960 to 1964. In 1870 he studied in Paris with Charles-Alexis Chauvet (organ), Antoine François Marmontel (piano), and Marie-Auguste Durand (harmony), and under Félix-Etienne Ledent (piano) and Jean-Théodore Radoux (harmony) in Liège. He pursued further studies in Dresden and Leipzig during the summers of 1871 and 1872 with Benjamin Robert Papperitz (organ) and Louis Plaidy (piano). Career From 1864 to 1876, Gagnon was the organist of Saint-Jean-Baptiste Church in Quebec City, having succeeded his brother in that position. He once again replaced his brother in 1876, taking over the role of organist at the Notre-Dame Basilica-Cathedral in Quebec City where he remained through 1915. He was a founding member of the choral society Union musicale de Qué

Hagood Hardy

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Hugh Hagood Hardy, (February 26, 1937 – January 1, 1997) was a Canadian composer, pianist, and vibraphonist. He played mainly jazz and easy listening music. He is best known for the 1975 single, “The Homecoming” from his album of the same name, and for his soundtrack to the Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea films. Early life Hardy was born in Angola, Indiana. His mother was an American citizen. Hardy came to Canada as an infant settling in Brantford and grew up in Oakville, Ontario. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Trinity College, Toronto, and studied music privately in Toronto with Gordon Delamont. As a young man he participated in bebop jam sessions on Gerrard Street in Toronto. and “The Garden Path” was on the chart in 1972. Hardy’s tune “The Homecoming” was used 1972 as music to a TV commercial for Salada tea. It was later included on an album of the same name. Hardy set up an independent record label, Isis, through his Toronto company, Hagood Hardy Productions, and released “The Homecoming” as a single in 1975. It climbed the charts, rising to 14 in Canada, and in the US number 41 on the pop and number 6 on the easy listening charts, and was certified Gold in

Hal Beckett

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Hal Foxton Beckett is a Canadian composer and music producer. Career Beckett began his musical studies in Halifax, and later moved to Vancouver and attended the University of British Columbia to study composition and electronic music. He helmed the recording of one hundred and ten Olympic national anthems to be used in the 2010 Winter Olympics. He has also written hours of music for television shows, films, and more. Works Films Television Awards In 2016, he received a star on the Granville Street StarWalk in Vancouver. References External links *

Harry Dean (musician)

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Harry Dean (22 February 1879 – 30 October 1955) was a Canadian conductor, pianist, organist, and music educator of English birth. He was a particularly influential figure within the field of music education in Halifax, notably founding the Maritime Academy of Music and the Nova Scotia Registered Music Teachers’ Association. Among his important students were Howard Brown, Harold Hamer, Georges and Carl Little, Gordon MacPherson, Jocelyn Pritchard, and Marguerita Spencer. Life Born in Yorkshire, Dean began his musical education in his native country with Tobias Matthay. He then pursued studies at the Leipzig Conservatory where he was a pupil of Robert Teichmüller (piano) and Paul Homeyer (organ). In 1906 he joined the faculty of the Halifax Conservatory of Music (HCM) as head of the school’s keyboard and theory department. Two years later he was promoted to director of the school, serving in that post for the next 26 years. He also worked as a professor at Dalhousie University from 1909 to 1932. From 1907 to 1917 he was the conductor of the Orpheus Club and from 1919 to 1954 he conducted the Halifax Philharmonic Society. He also was the organist and choirmaster at Fort Massey United

Harry Freedman

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Harry Freedman, (; April 5, 1922 – September 16, 2005) was a Canadian composer, English hornist and teacher. He wrote a range of orchestral works including the scores to films such as The Bloody Brood (1959), Isabel (1968), The Act of the Heart (1970), The Pyx (1973) and The Courage of Kavik the Wolf Dog. He also wrote the music for six ballets, an opera, incidental music for the theatre, vocal art songs and choral works, and a substantial amount of chamber music. Biography He was born on April 5, 1922 in Łódź. At age three, Freedman emigrated with his family from Poland to Canada where the family settled in Medicine Hat, Alberta. His father worked in the fur trade. Freedman was nine when his family relocated to Winnipeg. He enrolled at the Winnipeg School of Art to study painting when he was 14. He also spent the summers at the Tanglewood Music Center where he was a pupil of Olivier Messiaen and Aaron Copland. In 1972–1981, he taught at the Courtenay Youth Music Centre where he was also the composer-in-residence. Among his notable pupils was Gilles Bellemare. In 1977, he was the subject of a radio documentary produced by Norma Beecroft for the CBC. In 1979–1981, he was the preside

Harry Somers

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Harry Stewart Somers, CC (September 11, 1925 – March 9, 1999) was a contemporary Canadian composer. Somers earned the unofficial title of “Darling of Canadian Composition.” He was a founding member of the Canadian League of Composers (CLC) and involved in the formation of other Canadian music organizations, including the Canada Council for the Arts and the Canadian Music Centre. He received commissions from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Canada Council for the Arts. Somers did not become involved in formal musical study until he reached his teenage years in 1939 when he met a doctor and his wife—both pianists—who introduced him to classical works. Somers described this first encounter years later: “A spark was ignited, and he became obsessed with music. Almost from that instant, he knew music would be his life, for better or for worse.” Musical education Somers was 14 when he began his study of piano under the tutelage of Dorothy Hornfelt, the neighborhood piano teacher. Weinzweig set up a program of traditional harmony study for him to study the 12-tone techniques. (Schoenberg had enforced similarly strict lessons in traditional harmony upon his own pupils, even as

Harry Vetro

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Harry Vetro (born August 28, 1995) is a Canadian drummer and composer. He has recording credits with such Canadian jazz players as Mike Murley and Steve Wallace. Vetro has received multiple grants from Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and FACTOR (The Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings). Career Vetro’s band, Harry Vetro’s Northern Ranger has been noted by the Calgary Herald as “some of the top players in Canada, who are very dedicated to bringing jazz to different communities and really trying to expand the art form.” Northern Ranger’s influences range from Gordon Lightfoot, The Band, and Fleet Foxes to Bill Frisell, Kenny Wheeler and Brad Mehldau. The band released a self-titled album in 2018, which reached the National Jazz charts in Canada. In late 2019, Starbucks discovered Vetro’s song “Buffalo Jump” on Spotify. The song was added to the “Starbucks Jazz” Spotify playlist, and Vetro is the only contemporary Canadian Jazz musician featured on that playlist. Vetro is also a member of the Toronto-band Harrison² (pronounced Harrison Squared) with Harrison Argatoff, Mike Murley, and Steve Wallace. That group released the album Trout in Swimwear in 20

Hector Gratton

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Joseph Thomas Hector Gratton (13 August 1900 – 16 July 1970) was a Canadian composer, arranger, conductor, pianist, and music educator. As a composer his music is written in an essentially folkloric and popular style which avoids harmonic sophistication. His compositional output includes several orchestral works, chamber works, and works for solo piano. He also wrote 4 ballets and a considerable amount of music for radio programs. In 1937 his symphonic poem Légende won the Jean Lallemand Prize which led to the work’s premiere performance that year by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under conductor Wilfrid Pelletier. The work was repeated by the orchestra in concerts the following year under conductor Sir Ernest MacMillan. Life and career Born in Hull, Quebec (now Gatineau, Quebec), Gratton studied music theory and composition with Albertine Morin-Labrecque, Oscar O’Brien, and Alfred Whitehead. He was a piano student of Alphonse Martin and Alfred La Liberté. From La Liberté he gained a great appreciation for the works and aesthetics of Nikolai Medtner and Alexander Scriabin, two composers which influenced his own compositional style. During the 1920s, Gratton toured with Charles Mar

Henri Gagnon

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Henri Gagnon (; 6 March 1887 – 17 May 1961) was a Canadian composer, organist, and music educator. He spent 51 years playing the organ at the Notre-Dame Basilica-Cathedral of Quebec City where, according to music historian François Brassard, he earned “a prestige similar to that of the famous organists of Europe.” He was a much-admired teacher and taught at several institutions, notably succeeding Wilfrid Pelletier as the second director of the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Québec. As a composer, he produced mainly works for solo organ and piano; although he did write a few choral works and vocal pieces as well. One of his more popular works was Rondel de Thibaut de Champagne which Edward Johnson and Rodolphe Plamondon often performed in their recitals. Two of his works, Mazurka (1907) and Deux Antiennes, were recorded by the CBC Montreal Orchestra. Early life and education Born in Quebec City, Gagnon was from a prominent family of musicians in Canada. Both his father, Gustave Gagnon, and his uncle, Ernest Gagnon, were prominent organists and composers in Quebec City. He began studying solfège and piano with his father at the age of eight and he remained his principal teache

Henri Miro

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Henri Enrique Miro (13 November 1879 – 19 July 1950) was a Canadian composer/arranger, conductor, pianist, and music critic of Catalan birth. He was a pioneering conductor for Canadian radio and his works were performed in all of Montreal’s major performance venues of the day. He is best known for his operas, although the Montreal Symphony Orchestra did perform some of his symphonic music. Early life and education Born in Tarrega, Spain, Miro began his musical education under Padre Domingo de Guzman at the monastery of Montserrat. In 1895 he entered the Barcelona Conservatory where he was a pupil of Bienvenido Socias y Mercadé. After earning his diploma, he moved to France in 1898 where he was director of an opera troupe for four years. Career In 1902 Miro immigrated to Montreal where he was active as a composer/arranger, conductor, pianist, and pedagogue. His notable students included Lucio Agostini, Fleurette Beauchamp, and Rafael Masella. In 1936 he was the first winner of the Société des concerts symphoniques de Montréal composition competition for his Scènes mauresques and the work was premiered by that orchestra at Plateau Hall under the direction of Wilfrid Pelletier on 3 Ap

Herbert Sanders

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Herbert Sanders (20 September 1878 – 18 May 1938) was a Canadian organist, pianist, conductor, composer, music writer, and music educator of English birth. His compositions include numerous sacred songs, anthems, and organ works. He twice won the American Guild of Organists’s Clemson Gold Medal for composition. The Canadian Musical Heritage Society recently reprinted seven of his hymns and the anthem Light’s Glittering Morn. Several of his compositions are in the Catalogue of Printed Music at the British Library in London, and many of his original manuscripts are in the collection at the Library and Archives Canada. Life and career Born in Wolverhampton, Sanders studied at the Royal College of Music (RCM) with Charles Swinnerton Heap (organ), Charles H. Kitson (theory), and Charles W. Perkins (organ). After graduating from the RCM with an associates diploma in 1896, he served as the organist at Camphill Presbyterian Church in Birmingham. He left there after a few years to work in the same capacity at St Mary’s Methodist Church in Truro, Cornwall. He also played the violin in a number of orchestras while living in England. In 1907 Sanders emigrated to Canada to assume the post of or

Howard Bashaw

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Howard Bashaw (born 1957 in White Rock, Canada) is a composer of acoustic music; and a professor of music at the University of Alberta. Bashaw graduated as a Master of Music in 1984 and a Doctor of Musical Arts in 1989 from the University of British Columbia. He also attended the Banff Centre for the Arts where he won the Banff Centre Concerto Competition in 1992. The Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Canada Council for the Arts, and CBC Radio Music Department have commissioned his work. Further reading *Steenhuisen, Paul (2009); “Sonic Mosaics: Conversations with Composers”; Edmonton: University of Alberta Press *Couroux, Marc (1999); “Corpus Hermeticum - Howard Bashaw”; infinit.net *Poole, Elissa (2004); “Complex structures: Howard Bashaw’s music plays with the organization of time”; Words & Music *Steenhuisen, Paul; “Bashaw – various works” review; paulsteenhuisen.com References External links *“Walter Boudreau : Sax, Drums & Co.” www.scena.org; 2003-11-05 *Art Music Promotion website

Howard Cable

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Howard Reid Cable (December 15, 1920 – March 30, 2016) was a conductor, arranger, music director, composer, and radio and television producer. He was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Biography Cable received an Associate diploma (ATCM) from The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto in conducting and bandmastership 1939. He is also a recipient of an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts (DFA) degree from the University of Lethbridge in 2002. Cable studied piano, clarinet, and oboe, and played in the Parkdale Collegiate Institute orchestra under Leslie Bell. While leading a dance band, the Cavaliers, 1935-41 in Toronto and at southern Ontario summer resorts, he studied at the Toronto Conservatory of Music with Sir Ernest MacMillan, Ettore Mazzoleni, and Healey Willan. He also studied with John Weinzweig in 1945. Cable composed and arranged the original theme for the Hockey Night in Canada television broadcast, Saturday’s Game, which opened the broadcast from 1952 until 1968. His arrangement for solo piano of Dolores Claman’s The Hockey Theme that was the show’s theme from 1968 until the mid-2000s is one of the best selling pieces of sheet music in Canada. (Jerry Toth arranged the broadcast ver

Howard Dyck

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Howard Dyck, CM (born November 17, 1942) is a Canadian conductor, public speaker, and radio broadcaster born in Winkler, Manitoba, now living in Waterloo, Ontario. He is most well known as the longtime host of CBC Radio programmes Choral Concert and Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, which he hosted from 1987 to 2007. Early life Dyck was born and raised in Winkler, Manitoba, in 1942 and later studied at Mennonite Brethren Bible College, now Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg and Goshen College in Indiana. *2002 - Awarded the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal. *2004 - Received the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors Distinguished Service Award. *2007 - City of Waterloo Legacy of Leaders. *2008 - Waterloo County Hall of Fame. *2010 - Artistic Director Emeritus, Grand Philharmonic Choir *2010 - Conductor Emeritus, Bach Elgar Choir *2011 - Waterloo Region Lifetime Achievement Arts Award *2012 - Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal References External links *The Grand Philharmonic Choir

Hugh Davidson (composer)

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Hugh Hanson Davidson (27 May 1930 in Montreal – 14 July 2014 in Victoria) was a Canadian composer, music critic, radio producer, writer, and arts administrator. His compositional output includes works for piano, ballets, chamber music, vocal art songs, choral works, and incidental music for the theatre. Davidson graduated from The Royal Conservatory of Music where he studied from 1945 to 1948. His teachers there included George Crum in piano and Godfrey Ridout in music composition. In 1951, he went to England to pursue further studies in composition with Bernard Stevens and Humphrey Searle. After four years, he returned to Canada where he worked as a composer and studied orchestration with Neil Chotem in Montreal. He is a founder of Hugh Davidson Fund, which is currently administered by the Victoria Foundation. In 2018, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Bramwell Tovey had performed some of his works, along with the violinist Rachel Barton Pine. References

Humfrey Anger

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Joseph Humfrey Anger (3 June 186211 June 1913) was a Canadian organist, pianist, conductor, composer, and music educator of English birth. His compositional output consists mainly of church music and works for solo piano and organ. Some of his more well known works are A Concert Overture for organ (1895), the patriotic song Hail Canada (1911), and Tintamarre, Morceau de Salon (1911), all of which were published by Whaley, Royce & Co. The latter piece was notably the first published classical composition to thoroughly integrate true tone clusters. He also wrote the textbooks Form in Music and A Treatise on Harmony, both of which were widely used in music schools in North America. Life and career Born at Ashbury in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), Anger studied at New College, Oxford where he earned a Bachelor of Music. He began his career as a school teacher and a church organist-choirmaster in his native country. He was notably the conductor of the Ludlow Choral and Orchestral Society for several years. In 1897 his cantata A Song of Thanksgiving was awarded the Jubilee Prize by the Bath Philharmonic Society. In 1890 his madrigal Bonnie Belle won the London Madrigal Society Prize. In 18

Ian Cusson

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Ian Cusson (born August 24, 1981) is a Canadian composer of Georgian Bay Métis and French Canadian descent. He is known for his operas, art songs, chamber works and orchestral music. Career Cusson came to prominence in 2017, when he was awarded one of two prestigious new Carrefour residencies for “culturally diverse or Indigenous composers” with the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada. Notable operatic works include Fantasma, with text by Colleen Murphy, and Of the Sea with text by Kanika Ambrose. In 2021, Cusson was the recipient of SOCAN’s Jan V. Matejcek Classical Music Award and the Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize. The Canadian Opera Company and the National Arts Centre have announced that Cusson has been commissioned to compose an opera based on the novel Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline as part of their 2025 mainstage season. Cusson is a member of the Canadian Opera Company’s Circle of Artists, an advisory board of indigenous artists. In late November 2025, Edmonton Opera announced the cancellation of the premiere of Cusson’s forthcoming opera Indians on Vacation, after concerns were raised by local Indigenous representatives of Treaty 6 Nations about the indigene

Imant Raminsh

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Imant Karlis Raminsh (Latvian: Imants Kārlis Ramiņš, born 18 September 1943) is a Canadian composer of Latvian descent, best known for his choral compositions. He resides in Coldstream, British Columbia. Early life and education Born in Ventspils, Latvia, he came to Canada in 1948 and became a naturalized citizen in 1954. He completed an ARCT (Associate of The Royal Conservatory of Music) diploma in violin at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Ontario, Canada where he was a pupil of Albert Pratz. He then earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Toronto, where he studied with Elmer Iseler. He then spent two years at the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, during which he studied composition, fugue, violin and conducting. Career During his studies in Salzburg, Raminsh played in the professional Camerata Academica orchestra. He established the music department at the College of New Caledonia in British Columbia and was also the founding conductor of the New Caledonia Chamber Orchestra. In 1991, Raminsh’s choral work “Magnificat” was performed by the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir at Roy Thomson Hall. At that time he was the principal violinist in the Okanag

Isabelle Delorme

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Isabelle Delorme (4 November 1900 – 20 February 1991) was a Canadian composer, pianist, and music educator. As a composer, her works are lyrical in nature and follow more traditional ideas of harmony as opposed to the avant-garde music that was in vogue in her day. She was an active recitalist but is best remembered for her impact as a teacher of music theory. Career Delorme was born in Montreal. She began her professional studies at the École supérieure de musique d’Outremont with Sister Madeleine-Marie. She later studied privately with pianist Arthur Letondal and violinists Albert Chamberland and Agostino Salvetti. In 1918 she earned a teaching certificate from the Académie de musique du Québec. Delorme developed an interest in music composition in the late 1920s, and pursued formal training in this area with Claude Champagne from 1929 to 1939. She later studied with Nadia Boulanger at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau during the summers of 1955 and 1956. She wrote a modest body of symphonic works, piano works, and chamber music between 1940 and 1960, all of which remain unpublished. However, several of her pieces were played by the CBC Montreal Orchestra for broadcasts

István Anhalt

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István Anhalt (April 12, 1919 – February 24, 2012) was a Hungarian-Canadian composer and teacher. Anhalt served as a professor of music at McGill University and founded the McGill University Electronic Music Studio. He also served as head of music at Queen’s University, Kingston. His works earned him recognition as one of the pioneers of electroacoustic music in Canada. In 2007, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Early life and education Childhood István Anhalt was born in Budapest, Hungary to a Jewish family on April 12, 1919. He was the son of Arnold Anhalt and Katalin Anhalt (née Herzfeld), When he was still an infant, Anhalt’s parents separated; he lived with his mother until age twelve, attending elementary school from 1925 to 1929. Although she had some interest in music and opera, his mother was not especially musical. However, there was a piano in the home and Anhalt began taking piano lessons at age six with a teacher who lived in his neighborhood and later from a family friend until he was twelve. He also learned to speak four languages: Hungarian, German, French, and English. His father’s financial troubles, his half-sister’s birth in 1935, and tension

Ivan Romanoff

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Ivan Romanoff (8 March 1914 – 14 March 1997) was a Canadian conductor, violinist, arranger, and composer. For three decades he led the “Ivan Romanoff Orchestra and Chorus” on a variety of radio and television programs for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, on commercial recordings, and in live concerts throughout North America. As a composer he wrote a number of jingles for Canadian television and radio and incidental music for several television movies produced by the CBC. He also composed a number of songs that were written in a variety of national styles. Early life and education Born Ivan Pezhuk in Toronto, Romanoff was the son of Ukrainian immigrants. As a child he performed in a mandolin orchestra and was a violin pupil of Alexander Chuhaldin, Chris Dafeff, Broadus Farmer, and Kathleen Parlow at the Toronto Conservatory of Music. He began playing the violin in a number of radio orchestras conducted by Chuhaldin in the early 1930s and was at the same time actively performing in Toronto with Stanley St John’s dance band. Soon thereafter he appeared in the Promenade Symphony Concerts and he became active as a violinist with various orchestras at the Canadian Broadcasting Cor

J. E. P. Aldous

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John Edmund Paul Aldous (8 December 1853 – 23 January 1934) was a Canadian organist, conductor, composer, and music educator of English birth. His compositional output includes many short pieces for piano, organ, choir, and voice. He also composed four operettas: Ptarmigan or A Canadian Carnival (published 1895), A Golden Catch, Nancy or All for Love, and The Poster Girl (published 1902). Some of his better-known works are Prelude and Fugue for organ, the choral works Grant, We Beseech Thee, Merciful Lord and Blessed Are the Dead That Die in the Lord, and the hymn Egypt, all of which have been reprinted several times. Life and career Born in Sheffield, Aldous began his career as the organist at the chapel of the British Embassy in Paris. In 1876, he earned his BA in Trinity College. He emigrated to Canada in 1877 at the age of 23 to assume the post of organist-choirmaster at Central Presbyterian Church in Hamilton, Ontario. He left there a few years later to assume a succession of similar church posts, first in St. Thomas, Ontario and then in Hamilton at St Mark’s and St Thomas’ churches. In 1884 he returned to Central Presbyterian where he remained for several years. Aldous founde

J.-J. Gagnier

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Jean-Josaphat Gagnier (2 December 1885 – 16 September 1949) was a Canadian conductor, composer, clarinetist, bassoonist, pianist, arts administrator, and music educator. His compositional output mainly consists of works for orchestra and band, although he did write some choral pieces, songs, works for solo piano and organ, some incidental music for the theatre, and a work for solo harp. His compositions are written in a wide variety of styles from romanticism to impressionism to 20th century idioms. Life and career Born in Montreal, Gagnier was the son of clarinetist Joseph Gagnier and received his earliest musical training on that instrument from him. His other clarinet teachers included Oscar Arnold, Léon Medaer, Louis van Loocke, and Jacques Vanpoucke. He studied the bassoon with Émile Barbot and Carl Westermeier, the piano with Alexis Contant and Romain-Octave Pelletier I, and theory with Contant, Orpha-F. Deveaux, Romain Pelletier, and Charles Tanguy. He had 26 siblings, many of whom also became professional musicians of note; including Armand Gagnier, Ernest Gagnier, Guillaume Gagnier, Lucien Gagnier, Réal Gagnier, and René Gagnier. A number of his nieces and nephews also bec

Jack Kane (composer)

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Jack Kane (29 November 1924 – 27 March 1961) was a Canadian arranger, conductor, clarinetist, and composer of English birth. He lived in Toronto, Ontario with his wife Clare and their children. His 1958 recording Kane is Able was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Performance by an Orchestra or Instrumentalist with Orchestra. He was highly active as an arranger and music director for Canadian television during the 1950s. His career was cut short by his death from cancer at the age of 36. The Canadian Encyclopedia states, “At the time of his death, Kane was considered one of Canada’s leading arrangers. He later was honoured by a Canadian Talent Library Trust LP of his big band arrangements, under the direction of Bert Niosi.” Life Born John Kane in London, he was the son of British music-hall entertainer Barry Kane. In 1933 he moved with his family to Canada where he began appearing as a singer with his father in vaudeville performances in Toronto at the age of 9. A year later he won a performance contest at the Roxy Theatre. In 1939 Kane entered the Toronto Conservatory of Music where he studied the clarinet with Herbert Pye through 1942. He began performing with the High Timers

Jacobus Kloppers

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Jacobus (Kobie) Kloppers (born 1937) is a Canadian composer, musicologist and organist. Biography Born in South Africa, Kloppers completed his Doctorate in Frankfurt, Germany. In 1966, Kloppers returned to South Africa to teach, compose and perform. He immigrated to Canada with his family in the mid-1970s in protest to the Apartheid policy. Kloppers settled in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and worked as a private instructor and church musician. In 1978, he was interviewed for a part-time position at a small Christian college, The King’s University (Edmonton), that was to open the next year. The college hired him full-time to develop a music program. He taught organ, music history, and musicology and was chair of the music program until his retirement in 2008. Kloppers is also an adjunct professor of organ at the University of Alberta, an honorary fellow of the RCCO, the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian League of Composers. Kloppers was important in Edmonton’s Winspear Centre acquiring the Davis Concert Organ, a world-renowned instrument. In 2009, Kloppers was inducted into Edmonton’s Cultural Hall of Fame. In 2011, the University of the Free State began a project to

Jacques Faubert

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Jacques Faubert (born 30 May 1952) is a Canadian composer, conductor, and music educator, known for founding the Mont-Royal Symphony Orchestra. Early life and education Faubert earned premiers prix in harmony, counterpoint, and fugue from the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal (CMQM) where he studied with Jean-Louis Martinet, Gaston Arel, and Pierre Mollet from 1970 to 1976. He then went to France to study at the Paris Conservatory with Marcel Bitsch and Jacques Castérède from 1976 to 1979, earning premier prizes in fugue and music analysis. Career Faubert served as a professor of music at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Trois-Rivières. In 1985 his choral work “Messe de la Saint-Jean-Baptiste”, commissioned by the Archdiocese of Montreal, was premiered by a 150 voice choir at St-Jean-Baptiste Church. That year joined the music faculty of the CMQM, where he taught harmony until 2005. He also composed two psalms for the vocal group Arioso. IN 1986 Faubert conducted the newly formed choir of the Orchestre Métropolitain. In 1987 Faubert founded the Mont-Royal Symphony Orchestra and its choir. He directed both until 1997, after which he shared some of these responsib

Jacques Hétu

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Jacques Joseph Robert Hétu (August 8, 1938 – February 9, 2010) was a prominent Canadian composer and music educator. Hétu is the most frequently performed of Canadian classical composers, both within Canada and internationally. Education Jacques Hétu was born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec; he began his professional training at the University of Ottawa where he was a pupil of Father Jules Martel from 1955 to 1956. In 1956 he entered the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal and studied there for five years with Melvin Berman (oboe), Isabelle Delorme (harmony), Jean Papineau-Couture (fugue), Clermont Pépin (composition and counterpoint), and Georges Savaria (piano); he also studied at the Tanglewood Music Center during the summer of 1959 with Lukas Foss. In 1961 he won several important awards, including the first prize at the Quebec Music Festivals composition competition, a grant from the Canada Council, and the Prix d’Europe. The latter two awards enabled him to pursue studies in France at the École Normale de Musique de Paris from 1961 to 1963 with Henri Dutilleux and at the Paris Conservatory with Olivier Messiaen in 1962–1963. Teaching Hétu joined the music faculty at Laval

Jake Mathews

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Jake Mathews (born Jacques Lagrandeur born March 14, 1971, in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian country music singer, songwriter and performer. Career Jake’s self-titled debut CD (Jake Mathews) garnered six nationally charted hits: “I’ll Do You One Better,” “Try Again Tomorrow,” “That’s How Long,” “Rush,” “I’m Gone” and “There Ain’t No Such Thing.” His second CD, Time After Time, released in 2004, was voted Best Album by Country Music News. Singles released from the album include the title track, “Signs of You Everywhere,” “Kings for a Day” and “Arizona on My Mind.” Although he is the younger brother of Gil Grand, he has established a music career in his own right. In 2006, Mathews and Grand joined forces for “Raise the Roof,” a tour that took them across Canada, raising awareness of Ronald McDonald House Charities. Discography Albums Singles Music videos Awards and achievements Western Country Music Awards *2005 – Nominated – Outstanding Country Recording for Time After Time *2003 – Nominated – Outstanding Country Recording for Jake Mathews Country Music News 2004 *Time After Time voted Best Album Canadian Country Music Awards *2005 – Nominated – Independent Male Artist of t

James Gayfer

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James McDonald Gayfer (26 March 1916 – 7 April 1997) was a Canadian bandmaster, clarinetist, composer, conductor, organist, military officer, and music educator. His compositional output encompasses several orchestral works, including two symphonies, numerous works for band and solo piano, a modest amount of chamber music, and several songs, hymns, and choral works. In 1944 his string quartet won the CPRS award and in 1947 his Six Translations from the Chinese for tenor and small orchestra won the Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada competition. In 1953, he was appointed to the post of Director of Music of the Band of the Canadian Guards, serving until 1961. From then on, he served as a musical training officers of the Canadian Forces School of Music. In 1960 he wrote The Canadian Infantryman, the official march past of the Royal Canadian Infantry Corps. Although Gayfer’s works remain unpublished, some of them have been recorded by a number of artists, including Howard Cable, David Mills, and the Edmonton Wind Ensemble. The Band of the Royal 22 e Régiment continues to perform his works with some frequency. In 1983 he was awarded the Service Medal of the Order of

James Harley

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James Harley (born 1959) is a Canadian composer, author, and professor of music born in Vernon, British Columbia. His creative output consists of orchestral, chamber, solo, electroacoustic, and vocal music. Studies Harley studied at Western Washington University (B.Mus., magna cum laude, 1977–1982), Royal Academy of Music (1983–1985), Université de Paris (1986–1987), Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music, Warsaw (1987–1988), and McGill University (D.Mus., 1988–1994). Teaching He has taught at the Faculty of Music at McGill University (1989–1995), Wilfrid Laurier University (1995–1996), California Institute of the Arts (1997), University of Southern California (1997), and Minnesota State University Moorhead (1999–2004). In 2004, he took up a tenure-track position in music at University of Guelph, where he is associate professor. Harley is also the author of the book Xenakis: His Life in Music. His areas of expertise and specialization include digital music, composition, contemporary music analysis, and history of electronic/computer music. Music and research by James Harley is represented by Art Music Promotion. List of works Orchestra *Along the Riverrun (1983) 10 min. :Version I: 1111/

James Montgomery (composer)

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James Louis Montgomery (born 6 February 1943) is a Canadian music composer, performer, and arts administrator. For about 20 years he was the artistic director of The Music Gallery. He is also a founding member of the Canadian Electronic Ensemble with whom he performs and records. As a composer he is known for incorporating electronic technology into his works. Early life and education Born in Ravenna, Ontario, Montgomery earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 1966 from Baldwin–Wallace Conservatory of Music. He pursued further studies at Northwestern University with John Weinzweig and at the University of Toronto (UT) with Gustav Ciamaga. From the UT he earned a Master of Music degree in 1972. Career In 1990 Montgomery taught in the Faculty of Education at the UT as a professor of electronic media. In 1971 Montgomery co-founded the Canadian Electronic Ensemble (CEE) with David Jaeger, David Grimes, and Larry Lake. He has performed and recorded with the CEE since then, and served as the group’s managing director from 1976 to 1983. The CEE is currently the oldest continuously active live-electronic performing group in the world. In 1984 they performed at the International Society for Co

James P. Clarke (composer)

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James Paton Clarke (1807/08–1877) was a Canadian organist, conductor and composer. He was the first person to receive a bachelor’s degree in music in North America. He is best known for his work Lays of the Maple Leaf (1853) and for leading several of Toronto’s earliest musical organizations. Early life Clarke was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. As a young man he worked as music dealer’s assistant in Edinburgh and led the singing of psalms in St George’s Church in Glasgow. Career Clarke emigrated to Canada in 1835, taking a job as the organist for St. James Cathedral in York (Toronto). In 1844 he became the organist for Christ Church in Hamilton. Clarke was the first conductor of the Toronto Choral Society, which was founded in 1845. He was a composer of choral music; a collection of his songs about the Canadian landscape, Lays of the Maple Leaf, was published in 1853 by A. & S. Nordheimer. Clarke constructed a new kind of organ for which the pipes were made of glass. In 1872 Clarke became the conductor of the Toronto Philharmonic Society. Clarke taught organ and piano; one of his pupils was his son Hugh, who became a professor of music at the University of Pennsylvania. Works * Lays

James Rolfe (composer)

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James Simon Rolfe (born 1961) is a Canadian composer of contemporary music. Early life and education Rolfe was born in Ottawa, Ontario. He studied composition with John Beckwith at the University of Toronto and Jo Kondo in Japan. Career Rolfe was the President of the Canadian League of Composers (2007–11) and has won awards for his music, most recently the 2006 Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music and the 2009 SOCAN Jan V. Matejcek New Classical Music Award. Rolfe lives in Toronto with his wife Juliet Palmer, who is also a composer. Operas Although Rolfe’s chamber, vocal, orchestral, and piano works are widely performed, he has become most noted for his operas. Beatrice Chancy, an opera set in Nova Scotia during the 19th century (libretto by George Elliott Clarke), was produced in 1998 by Toronto’s Queen of Puddings Music Theatre Company and was subsequently filmed for television by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 2000. Rolfe has since composed the children’s opera Elijah’s Kite (libretto by Camyar Chai), which explores bullying among children, and was co-produced by Tapestry New Opera Works and the Manhattan School of Music in New York City in 2006; Rosa (libretto by C

Jānis Kalniņš (composer)

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Jānis Kalniņš (3 November 1904 in Pärnu – 30 November 2000 in Fredericton) was a Latvian Canadian composer and conductor. Latvia Jānis Kalniņš was the son of composer Alfrēds Kalniņš. He was a student first of Jāzeps Vītols at the Latvian Academy of Music, then with Erich Kleiber, Hermann Abendroth and Leo Blech. His two major operas were Hamlets (1936) and Ugunī (1937). He was chief conductor of the Latvian National Opera 1933–1944. Canada Kalniņš emigrated to Canada in 1948, taking a position as an organist in Fredericton, where he worked until retirement in 1991. He was awarded the Order of Vasa by the King of Sweden and the Order of the Three Stars by the State of Latvia, and received a New Brunswick Award for Excellence in the Arts in 1984, among others. Kalnins died in Fredericton in 2000. Works * Lolita’s Wonder Bird folktale opera (1935) * Hamlets (Hamlet) Opera (1936) * New Brunswick Rhapsody (1967) * New Brunswick Song Cycle (1984) * Requiem (1991) Selected recordings * New Brunswick Rhapsody Symphony Orchestra of the National Latvian Opera. Ave Sol BAF 9611, 1996. * “Potter’s Field” - choral symphony on Biblical texts in Latvian. Jānis Sproģis (Tenor) with the Latvian Na

Jason Frederick

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Jason Frederick (born November 29, 1970) is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist and composer of music for films and television, based in Colchester, UK. Early life and education Frederick was born in Sudbury, Ontario. He was educated in Canada and the United States. He studied under composers Christopher Young, David Raksin, and Elmer Bernstein at the USC Thornton School of Music, as well as receiving private study with Leonard Rosenman and Joe Harnell. Career Frederick performed with the alternative rock band The Walk from 1987 to 1996, and continues to record under the name Lomax!. His film work includes Dawg, starring Denis Leary and Elizabeth Hurley, and 2BPerfectlyHonest, starring John Turturro and Robert Vaughn, as well as contributions to Richard Gibbs’ scores for the films Big Momma’s House, 28 Days, and Like Mike. He composed the music for the television show Darcy’s Wild Life, starring Sara Paxton. Other television credits include Disney’s The Replacements, and the ABC Family network’s Slacker Cats. Frederick also provided additional score for Disney’s 101 Dalmatians II: Patch’s London Adventure, which won the 2003 DVDX award for best musical score. He provided music for the

Jason Gleed

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Jason Gleed is a Canadian musician, songwriter, and producer. Originally from Toronto, Gleed graduated as an Ontario Scholar from Crescent School, studied briefly at McMaster University, but left to attend York Mills Collegiate Institute before later enrolling at the University of Toronto’s science program where he was accepted into Trinity College. He left the program in 1999 to work at the newly formed Grayson Matthews Audio. He has written music and performed vocals for national ad campaigns for Alltel, McDonald’s, Coke, Pepsi, ATT, Allel, KFC, Lexus, Chevy, Ford, Toyota, Sears, Daisy Sour Cream, and Hellmann’s. He has songs featured in many major motion pictures such as Jumper, Speed Racer, American Pie Beta House, What Happens in Vegas, Hotel For Dogs, Hamlet 2, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Hannah Montana, Sex Drive, Spring Breakdown, Cats and Dogs 2, Star Struck, Big Mommas House 3, Hop, Footloose, The Muppets, and The Adjustment Bureau. Gleed spent several years touring with multi-Juno award-winning Canadian House DJ/producer Hatiras as vocalist/performer, Jaxon. Together Hatiras and Jaxon were known as the Electro House duo, Hatjak. They released one full-length album. Gleed is

Jason Nett

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Jason Nett is a Canadian composer, producer, and guitarist born in New Westminster, British Columbia. He was the resident composer for the Vancouver Island Symphony. In 2022, Jason Nett’s orchestral arrangement of composer Modest Mussorgsky’s piano suite “Pictures at an Exhibition” created for VISO’s “The Pictures Project”, premiered at The Port Theatre in Nanaimo BC. He also works as a music producer and performs internationally. Jason Nett’s commissioned works are frequently performed in Vancouver’s “classical” community by orchestras, chamber ensembles, choirs etc.(listed below). Nett fuses the classical styles of composers like Bach and Beethoven with influences from Rock and Jazz. Nett’s music integrates an emphasis on vibrant rhythm in many of his works. About his Vancouver Island commissioned work, Sonic Blue, Jason Nett says, “The piece is very up-tempo, very rhythmic, something you would find in blues-rock guitar today…” One of his largest works is the opera “Legends,” which was written for the Vancouver Island Symphony’s Youth and Education concert series. The show “tell s the story of the last 150 years on central Vancouver Island, including the contributions of First

Jay Semko

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John Peter “Jay” Semko is a singer/songwriter and bassist with Canadian band, The Northern Pikes. He is also a music composer for numerous film and television productions, most notably the successful Canadian television series Due South. Semko has been nominated for a Juno Award eight times as a member of the Northern Pikes, and also been nominated twice for a Gemini Award, and once for a Canadian Screen Award, and received two awards from the Canadian Music Publishers Association for his songwriting. His hometown is Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Discography Albums Singles References External links *Jay Semko – Official Website *Innerviews interview with Jay Semko *Busted Flat Records – Record Label

Jean Chatillon

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Jean Chatillon (13 September 1937 – 16 January 2019 ) was a Canadian composer and music educator. Early life Jean Chatillon was born into a family of musicians on 13 September 1937 in Nicolet, Quebec. In 1951, he began to play piano and to compose. Initially self-taught, he undertook serious musical studies with the master in Montreal. Career In 1969, he founded the Music Section of the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières and taught there until 1981. In 1970, he was a founding member of the “Institut de sciences musicales Conrad Letendre”, along with Michel Perrault. After his retirement from teaching in 1981, he dedicated himself fully to his art. Chatillon wrote more than 300 musical and literary works. He was an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre. In 2003, he was appointed Professor Emeritus by the University of Quebec. In January 2004, he became a founding member of the Delian Society, which is dedicated to the renaissance of tonal music. Chatillon died on 16 January 2019 in Trois-Rivières. References

Jean Coulthard

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Jean Coulthard, (February 10, 1908 – March 9, 2000) was a Canadian composer and teacher. She was one of a trio of women composers who dominated Western Canadian music in the twentieth century: Coulthard, Barbara Pentland, and Violet Archer. All three died within weeks of each other in 2000. Her works might be loosely termed “prematurely neo-Romantic,” as the orthodox serialists who dominated academic musical life in North America during the 1950s and 1960s had little use for her. Life and career Early life and education Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Coulthard was the daughter of Jean Blake Robinson Coulthard, a prominent and influential music teacher in Vancouver. Through her mother, she received her earliest musical training and was introduced at an early age to the work of French composers like Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, both of whom were lifelong influences. In 1944-1945, Coulthard worked for an entire academic year with Bernard Wagenaar of the Juilliard School, New York. In 1948, she met the British composer Elizabeth Poston (who was visiting Canada) and they began a long friendship and an extensive correspondence over the next 30 years. Professional career Beginn

Jean Derome

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Jean Derome (born June 29, 1955) is a French Canadian avant-garde saxophonist, flautist, and composer. A prominent figure in the Montreal musique actuelle (new music) scene, Derome has been a member of experimental, jazz, and rock groups, and has appeared on over 30 albums, including seven solo albums. He has written scores for over 30 films and co-founded Ambiances Magnétiques, a Canadian musical collective and independent record label. In 1992, Derome won the second annual Canadian Freddie Stone Award. Biography Jean Derome was born in Montreal, Quebec on 29 June 1955. He studied music theory in Montreal at Cégep de Saint-Laurent between 1972 and 1975, and flute at Conservatoire de Musique du Quebec between 1975 and 1979. He also taught music theory and flute in Montreal colleges between 1974 and 1983. During his studies, he formed his first band Nébu in 1973, one of Quebec’s first avant-garde jazz groups. A trio with Derome on flute, pianist Pierre St-Jacques and bassist Claude Simard, Nébu played “classically-informed contemporary jazz”. They toured extensively in Quebec, performed at the Festival de Musique Ouverte de Châteauvallon in France in 1977 and at the inaugural Montre

Jean Deslauriers

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Jean Deslauriers (24 June 1909 – 30 May 1978) was a Canadian conductor, violinist, and composer. As a conductor he had a long and fruitful partnership with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; conducting orchestras for feature films and television and radio programs for more than 40 years. He also worked as a guest conductor with orchestras and opera companies throughout Canada and served on the conducting staff of the Opéra du Québec. The Canadian Encyclopedia describes him as “a conductor with a sober but efficient technique, who was always faithful to the written score and equally at ease conducting concerts, opera, and lighter repertoire.” His best-known compositions are his Prélude for strings and the song, La Musique des yeux. He is the father of soprano Yolande Deslauriers-Husaruk. Life and career Born in Montreal, Deslauriers was a child prodigy and began his career as a concert violinist as a young teenager. He studied the violin with Émile Taranto and Camille Couture. He notably gave annual concert tours with singers Paul Dufault and Joseph Saucier in Canada and the United States between 1924 and 1929. He also studied with Claude Champagne (orchestration) Auguste Descar

Jean Vallerand

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Jean Vallerand, CQ (December 24, 1915 – June 24, 1994) was a composer, music critic, violinist, conductor, arts administrator, writer, and music educator from Quebec. As a composer he was active from 1935 to 1969. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, he was appointed a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 1991. Life Born in Montreal, Quebec, Vallerand began studying the violin at age 5 with Lucien Sicotte, with whom he continued to study until he was 20. He entered the Université de Montréal in 1934 where he studied classical literature, earning a diploma there in 1938. While there he pursued private studies in music theory and music composition with Claude Champagne from 1935 to 1942. Vallerand began his career as a music critic in 1941 when he succeeded Léo-Pol Morin as critic for the Montreal newspaper Le Canada. He remained there through 1946, going on to hold posts as music critic at Montréal-Matin (1948–1949), Le Devoir (1952–1961), Le Nouveau Journal (a daily newspaper founded in Montreal by Angélina Berthiaume-Du Tremblay 1961–1962), and La Presse (1962–1966). He also reviewed cultural events for CBC Radio and CBC Television during the 1940s through the 1960s. He

Jean-Baptiste Labelle

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Jean-Baptiste Labelle (September 1825 – 9 September 1898) was a Canadian composer, organist, pianist, and conductor. He is best known for composing the music to the song Ô Canada! mon pays, mes amours (words 1834, music before 1868) with words by George-Étienne Cartier. He also used words by Cartier for the song Avant tout je suis Canadien (1860). Some of his other notable works include the cantatas Cantate: La Confédération (1868) and La Croisade canadienne (1886); the operetta La Conversion d’un pêcheur de la Nouvelle-Écosse (published by the A.J. Boucher Co. in 1868); the piano pieces Marche canadienne (1846) and Quadrille national canadien; and the song Chant des Zouaves canadiens (1881). Life and career Born to Canadian parents in Burlington, Vermont, Labelle was baptized in Montreal on 13 November 1825. He received his earliest musical training in that city from string instrumentalist and instrument maker Joseph Lyonnais. He later studied under Austrian pianist Leopold von Meyer from 1845 to 1847. From 1843 to 1846 he worked as a church organist in Boucherville. He then worked in the same capacity at a church in Chambly, Quebec from 1846 to 1849. He had previously suffered fr

Jean-Chrysostome Brauneis II

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Jean- or John-Chrysostome Brauneis II, (26 January 1814 – 11 August 1871) was a Canadian composer, organist, and music educator. A multifaceted musician, Brauneis instructed students in many musical subjects, including composition, conducting, guitar, harp, organ, piano, violin, voice, and theory. Considered Canada’s first native musician to be trained in Europe, he was a highly influential teacher and figure in the classical music scene in 19th century Montreal. His most well known composition, The Royal Welcome Waltzes (1869), is still performed in concert and was recorded on disc by Symphony Nova Scotia in 1987. Life and career Born in Quebec City, Brauneis was the son of composer and bandmaster Jean-Chrysostome Brauneis I. He began his studies with his father, but went on to become the first native born Canadian to study music in Europe, where he resided from 1830 until 1833. After returning to Canada, he served as organist at Notre-Dame Church from 1833 until 1844, and then in the same position at Saint-Jacques Cathedral until 1857 when he was succeeded by Romain-Octave Pelletier I. In 1837 he founded the short lived ‘Société de Musique’, Montreal’s first music society. Refere

Jeannine Vanier

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Marie Antoinette Jeannine Vanier (21 August 1929 – 7 March 2023) was a Canadian composer and organist who was born blind. Vanier was born in the Laval-des-Rapides neighbourhood of Laval, Quebec, to Émile and Alice Laurin Vanier. Her father was an engineer. She began her studies at the Nazareth Institute for the Blind, then earned a Bachelor of Music (1950) and a Licentiate of Music (1952) at the University of Montreal. Among her teachers were Françoise Aubut, Jean Papineau-Couture, Roger Filiatrault, Conrad Letendre, Georges Lindsay, Clermont Pépin, and Jean Vallerand. Vanier received several awards for her compositions and musical performances, including: *Second Prize, Casavat Organ Society Competition (1948) *First Prize, Royal Canadian College of Organists (1952) Her manuscripts are archived at the Bibliothèque du Quebec. Vanier’s music is published by Waterloo Music Company and Berandol Music Limited/BMI. *Fantasia for Recorder Trio *Salve Regina (chorus and orchestra) References

Jeff Danna

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Jeff Danna is a Canadian film and television composer. He has composed or co-composed scores for a wide range of films and television, including The Boondock Saints (1999), Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Silent Hill (2006), The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009), The Good Dinosaur (2015), Storks (2016), The Breadwinner (2017), The Addams Family (2019), Onward (2020), Guillermo Del Toro’s Tales of Arcadia (2019-2021), My Father’s Dragon (2022), Julia (2022), Churchill at War (2024) and The Hunting Wives (2025). His older brother, composer Mychael Danna, is a frequent collaborator, and the two have received Emmy nominations for their work on Camelot (2011), Tyrant (2014-2016), and Alias Grace (2017). Additionally, Danna has been nominated for six Annie Awards, won five BMI Film & TV Awards, a Gemini Award, a Genie award, two Hollywood Music in Media Awards, and 15 SOCAN Awards. Career Danna’s first foray into film scoring occurred while recovering from his injury. Unable to play for extended periods of time, his brother, Mychael, suggested that he record the guitar parts on some of Mychael’s first scores, figuring that they could take breaks at intervals as necessitated by his

Jeff Fisher (composer)

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Jeff Fisher is a SOCAN award-winning Canadian composer, producer, arranger and musician born in Montreal, Quebec. He is probably best known for composing the soundtrack for the original run of the YTV-CINAR horror anthology series, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, and has composed Proteus 2 scores for the other CINAR-produced programs including The Little Lulu Show, The Baskervilles, and Animal Crackers. Fisher worked on two of Leonard Cohen’s most successful albums, I’m Your Man, arranging and playing all the music on the hit song “First We Take Manhattan”, and its follow up, The Future. He has toured extensively with international recording artists. Career In September 1978, Fisher joined Harmonium, a French-Canadian group from Quebec which had started as a folk band, but quickly developed a progressive and symphonic sound. He played keyboards and synthesizer for a year, during which they enjoyed huge popularity. In 1984, he joined UZEB, a jazz band also based in Quebec, and toured internationally with them for two years. Fisher has collaborated with Leonard Cohen, and in 1988 worked on I’m Your Man, arranging and playing all the music on two tracks, “Jazz Police” and “First We Take

Jeff Toyne

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Jeffrey William Toyne (born January 7, 1975) is a Canadian film composer and recipient of Playback Magazine’s ‘Ten to Watch’ honour. Early life Born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, Toyne earned a bachelor’s degree in music composition from the University of Western Ontario. He pursued graduate studies in composition at the University of British Columbia, graduating with a master’s degree in 1999. Immediately thereafter, he was selected to hold one of the coveted composer-participant positions at the Henry Mancini Institute in Los Angeles. There, while writing and conducting several new works, he had the opportunity to study with such jazz and film artists as Jerry Goldsmith, Jack Smalley, Manny Albam, Michael Abene, Bob Florence, Jim McNeely, John Clayton (bassist), Alf Clausen and Horace Silver. This experience was pivotal in broadening Toyne’s compositional scope to encompass not only a classical twentieth century idiom, but also jazz, blues and popular music. Toyne then enrolled in the Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television post-graduate program at the University of Southern California in August 2000. Following his graduation from the program in May 2001, he began work

Jeff Tymoschuk

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Jeff Tymoschuk is a Canadian composer who writes music for film, television, video games and theatrical productions. His music is often fast-paced and intense to accompany lively action sequences. Early life Tymoschuk grew up in Souris, Manitoba. Career In 2002, Tymoschuk wrote the musical score for the video game James Bond 007: Nightfire from Electronic Arts. He later composed additional music on James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing, supplementing composer Sean Callery’s score. Tymoschuk has also written music for Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice for BigBig Games/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness and DeathSpank from Hothead Games, and additional music on The Simpsons Hit and Run for Radical Entertainment/Vivendi Universal Games. In 2011, he composed the score for Sleeping Dogs from United Front Games, an open world game set in the Hong Kong underworld. In 2010, he composed the score for the supernatural thriller Altitude for director Kaare Andrews and Foundation Features, starring Jessica Lowndes and Julianna Guill. Other films include Below Zero, starring Edward Furlong and Michael Berryman, and the action/horror

Jeffrey Ryan

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Jeffrey Ryan (born 1962) is a Canadian composer based in Vancouver, British Columbia. His compositional style ranges from opera, art song, and choral music to chamber ensemble and orchestral works. Ryan has been commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra, the Windsor Symphony, Esprit Orchestra, Tapestry New Opera Works, the Arditti Quartet, and Elektra Women’s Choir. Repeat performances have been presented by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, the Victoria Symphony, the Canadian Chamber Choir, the Florida Orchestra, and the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, as well as a number of art song teams and chamber ensembles. He is an Associate Composer with the Canadian Music Centre. Early life and education Ryan was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He graduated with an honours bachelor of music degree from the Wilfrid Laurier University and the gold medal in music. After earning a master’s degree in composition from the University of Toronto, he went on to receive his doctor of musical arts degree in composition from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Donald Erb. Previous teachers include Alexina Louie, L

Jerry Toth

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Jaroslav “Jerry” Toth (15 November 1928 – 31 March 1999) was a Canadian saxophonist, clarinetist, flutist, arranger, composer, and record producer. Life and career Born in Windsor, Ontario, Toth was the son of Slovak violinist and cimbalom maker Carl Toth, the brother of musicians Rudy Toth and Tony Toth, and the brother-in-law of violinist and lyricist Josephine Toth. He studied at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto with Frank Hiron and Herbert Pye. In 1953, he pursued further woodwind studies with Dale Eisenhuth in Los Angeles. From 1945–1953 Toth played alto saxophone in numerous dance bands in Toronto, including those led by Stan Patton, Bobby Gimby, and Trump Davidson. From 1952–1957 he co-led a seventeen-piece jazz band with trombonist Ross Culley and saxophonist Roy Smith. From 1956–1974 he studied orchestration with Phil Nimmons and was a member of Nimmons’ jazz bands. From 1970–1990 he was a member of Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass, a big band which often featured him on alto saxophone. He also performed with his own jazz quartet. In the latter part of his career, he was active as a studio musician and record producer. Toth worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Co

Jessie Baetz

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Jessie Baetz (born Jessie Elizabeth Drummer; June 28, 1894 – November 28, 1980) the daughter of John Drummer and Esther Ann Oughtred Drummer. She studied and taught at the Toronto Conservatory of Music. Career She immigrated to New York City, where 1930s census records list her occupation as painter. Her art was included in a Christmas exhibit at the Jumble Shop on West 8th Street. She studied with modernist composer, Johanna Beyer, and played in her concerts for the New York Composers’ Forum. Baetz’s music was influenced by Beyer and Henry Cowell’s use of such techniques as tone clusters, polymeters, string piano, and playing the piano with forearms. Three of her works were performed at the Composers’ Forum on December 15, 1937, where they were part of a program that also included music by Rudolph Forst and Harrison Kerr. Her visual art consisted of “painting sculptures or spatial creations”, including colorful masks. 1966, and 1970. Personal life Jessie Drummer married fellow artist Walter Baetz in 1926. They lived in Shandaken, New York. In 1961 they were both rescued after a carbon monoxide accident in their home. Her husband died in 1978, and she died in November 1980, at a nu

Jim Hiscott

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James Michael Hiscott (born 4 December 1948) is a Canadian composer, radio producer and accordionist. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian League of Composers, his compositions are characterized by their strong rhythmic base, standard harmonic language, and merger of world music with contemporary sounds and instrumentation. His 1973 work Planes was premiered by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in 1986, conducted by Kazuhiro Koizumi. Life and career Born in St. Catharines, Hiscott began his professional studies in mathematics and physics at Brock University where he earned a Bachelor of Science in 1969. It was while pursuing graduate studies in the sciences at Lancaster University in England in 1970 that he decided to switch his career path to music; although he did earn a Master of Science from the University of Toronto in 1971. He studied at The Royal Conservatory of Music from 1970 to 1976 where he was a pupil of Samuel Dolin in music composition. He also studied music at York University from 1973 to 1976 where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in music in 1976. In 1977 Hiscott was awarded a composition prize by the Canadian Federation of Universi

Jimmie LeBlanc

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Jimmie LeBlanc (born 1977) is a Canadian composer specializing in instrumental and mixed music. His music has been performed throughout his native country and internationally, including by the Ensemble Contrechamps, Hwaum Chamber Ensemble, Kore Ensemble, Les Enfants Terribles, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Pentaèdre, Quatuor Bozzini, and the Trio Fibonacci, and many soloists. Early life and education LeBlanc was born in Saint-Étienne-de-Lauzon, Quebec. His initial musical training was as a pop and jazz guitarist. He then pursued studies in classical guitar and music composition at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal. He completed a Doctor of Music degree at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University. LeBlanc is the author of Luigi Nono et les chemins de l’écoute (L’Harmattan, 2010), and of “Xenakis’ Æsthetic Project: the Paradoxes of a Formalist Intuition” (Xenakis Matters, Pendragon Press, 2012), and has contributed two chapters to La création musicale au Québec (PUM, 2014). He is member of the Circuit – musiques contemporaines editorial board, responsible of the cahiers d’analyse section, and regular member of the Observatoire interdisciplinaire de création et de

Jimmy Dale (musician)

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Jimmy Dale (23 October 1935 – 20 May 2017) was a British-born Canadian arranger, composer, conductor, organist, and pianist. He was active as a music director for both Canadian and United States television during the 1970s and 1980s. He has also composed several film and television scores and written a number of TV theme songs and jingles. He has also worked as an arranger and pianist for both performances and recordings with several notable artists. Life Born James Edwin Dale in London, Dale immigrated to Canada with his family in 1947 at the age of 11. He attended The Royal Conservatory of Music for two years where he was a pupil of pianist Alma Allen. He also studied music theory and music composition privately in Toronto with Gordon Delamont. and former professional racing car driver and racing team owner Jeremy Dale. Death Dale died on 20 May 2017 in Naples, Florida, at the age was of 81. Work as a composer and arranger As a composer, Dale has written several film and television score, including the music for B.S. I Love You, Crunch, The Execution of Raymond Graham, and Breakfast with Les and Bess. He has also written music for the theatre, including writing the orchestrations

Joachim Ulric Voyer

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Joachim Ulric Voyer (5 July 1892 – 8 January 1935) was a Canadian opera composer. His L’Intendant Bigot, created in Montreal in 1929, was one of the first Canadian operas. Early life J.-Ulric Voyer was not a professional musician. He worked for 21 years as an advertising agent for J.-B. Renaud. He was artistic director of radio station CHRC. He studied at Wallace. He studied musical composition with M. Lefrançois, organist of St-Roch, and studied the piano with M. Hudson. In Montreal, he studied the organ and harmony with Léon Dessane and Auguste Descarries. L’Intendant Bigot L’Intendant Bigot was created under the patronage of the Honorable Athanase David, provincial secretary, by the Société canadienne d’opérette established by Honoré Vaillancourt, his managing director and M. Albert Roberval, art director, who managed this opera. The opera premiered February 5, 1929 at the Monument National de Montréal “in front of a record attendance”. Three additional sold-out performances were mounted at the Auditorium de Québec in the presence of celebrities including Sir Lomer Gouin, and Madam Louis- Alexandre Taschereau, wife of the Prime Minister. The opera was under the direction of Edmo

Jocelyn Morlock

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Jocelyn Morlock (14 December 1969 – 27 March 2023) was a Canadian composer and music educator based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Her piece My Name is Amanda Todd won the 2018 Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year. Early life and education Morlock was born in Saint Boniface, Manitoba on 14 December 1969. She studied piano with Robert Richardson, Sr. and completed a Bachelor of Music in piano performance at Brandon University (B.Mus. 1994), where her teachers included Gerhard Ginader (electroacoustic music) and T. Patrick Carrabré (composition). She received both a master’s degree and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of British Columbia (M.Mus. 1996, DMA 2002) where her composition teachers included Stephen Chatman, Keith Hamel, and the late Russian-Canadian composer Nikolai Korndorf. Career Morlock was composer-in-residence with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (2014-2019), after completing her term (2012-2014) as inaugural composer-in-residence for Vancouver’s Music on Main, and co-host of ISCM World New Music Days 2017. Her international career was launched at the 1999 International Society for Contemporary Music’s World Music Days with Romanian perfor

Jocelyne Binet

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Jocelyne Binet (27 September 1923 – 13 January 1968) was a Canadian composer, pianist, and music educator. She studied in Montreal and Paris, France, and returned to compose and teach music in Canada. Biography Binet was born in East Angus, near Sherbrooke, Quebec, and obtained two music degrees in Montreal before traveling to Paris, France, for studies in piano. She studied under Claude Champagne, Jean Dansereau and Jean-Marie Beaudet at the École Supérieure de Musique d’Outremont (École de musique Vincent-d’Indy). She continued her studies at the Paris Conservatory in 1948 and 1949 on a grant from the French government and again in 1949 and 1951 on another grant from the Quebec government, where her teachers were Tony Aubin, Noël Gallon and Olivier Messiaen. Binet died in Quebec City in 1968. Music career In 1946 Binet was awarded a CAPAC (Association des compositeurs, auteurs et éditeurs du Canada Ltée) prize for composition. After returning from Paris to Canada, she taught from 1951 to 1957 at the École Vincent-d’Indy, from 1952 to 1961 at the Centre d’arts Orford, and from 1957 to 1959 at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec. From 1952 to 1961, she taught at the Jeunesses mu

Joe Vannelli

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Joe Vannelli (born 28 December 1950) is a Canadian musician, composer and record producer. He is credited on most records of his brother, Gino Vannelli, and in collaboration with youngest brother Ross Vannelli, the three have won many awards. Vannelli studied music theory in Montreal, and learned to play piano. He was influenced by artists like Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck and Erroll Garner. During the seventies he developed an interest in electronic instruments; he was one of the early synthesizer players. He contributed to most of Gino’s albums as a composer, producer, arranger, programmer and engineer. Apart from his work with Gino and Ross, he has been credited by many artists like Chaka Khan, Eartha Kitt, Gary Morris, David Meece, Kudasai, Marilyn Scott, Jimmy Haslip, REO Speedwagon, Brenda Russell, Pat Thomi, Don Sebesky, Kit Chan, Bill Meyers, Gianni Bella, Glenn Jones and Tower of Power. Musical career Gino and Joe moved to Los Angeles in 1972. Desperate and broke, they waited for hours in the parking lot outside A&M Studios, hoping to get a record deal. When Herb Alpert, the co-owner of A&M Records, finally emerged, Vannelli ran towards him and gave him a demo

Joel Hoffman (composer)

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Joel Hoffman (born 1953 in Vancouver) is a Canadian/American composer of contemporary classical music and pianist living in New York, New York. Hoffman’s music draws much of its richness and variety from such diverse sources as Eastern European folk musics, Chinese traditional music and American bebop, yet these sources seem to be seamlessly woven into a unique musical language that is pervaded by a sense of lyricism and rhythmic vitality. Biography Hoffman is a son of conductor Irwin Hoffman and violinist Esther Glazer. Hoffman earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wales and a masters and doctorate from the Juilliard School. His teachers included Elliott Carter, Milton Babbitt, Vincent Persichetti, Alun Hoddinott, Arnold Whittall and Easley Blackwood. For 36 years, he was a professor of composition at the University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music and the founder/director of the Music X festival of new music (1996–2011) which was held for the first thirteen years in Cincinnati and for the last three years at the Hindemith Music Centre in Blonay, Switzerland. He was president of Chamber Music Cincinnati (2008–2011), and has directed an annual summer cour

Johana Harris

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Johana Harris (31 December 1912 – 5 June 1995) was a Canadian pianist, composer, and music educator. She had highly successful career as a concert pianist, making numerous recordings and appearing as a soloist with almost every major American symphony orchestra. She made over 100 solo recordings, working with such labels as Columbia, RCA, Capitol, MGM and Contemporary Records. She also performed on the soundtracks of several Hollywood films and television productions. She was married to composers Roy Harris (died 1979) and Jake Heggie (married 1982). She performed widely with both men in duo piano concerts and was considered to have had a particularly profound effect on Roy Harris’s work as a composer. Life Born Beula Duffey in Ottawa, she was a child prodigy and began her career as a concert pianist at the age of 8. At that time she had already been composing for some years and performed her own works along with works from the standard piano repertoire. She soon after began studying with Bertha Laverde Worden and Harry Puddicombe at the Canadian Conservatory of Music. Harris entered the Juilliard School in 1925 where she was concurrently a student and faculty member. She was appoi

John Abram

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John Abram (born 1959) is an Anglo-Canadian composer best known for his work with electroacoustic music. Born in England, Abram became interested in music when he was six; he began composing in his teenage years. He took composition lessons with Roger Marsh and Peter Dickinson at Keele University, also studying the recorder with Alan Davis; since that time he has also studied composition with Vic Hoyland, Bernard Rands, and Boguslav Schäffer. Abram graduated in 1980 with a Bachelor of Science degree, earning his master’s in composition in 1982. Upon leaving school, he moved to London, where he helped found the new music ensemble George W. Welch. In 1984 Abram was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship. This allowed him to travel to the University of Victoria in Canada, where he studied composition with Rudolf Komorous and electroacoustic music with Doug Collinge. For his PhD, he composed an anti-opera based on The Aeneid. In addition, he directed the music school’s Collegium Musicum for two years and taught composition for one. He was granted awards from the college in 1985 and 1987. From 1986 to 1988 he served as the associate director and conductor of the Open Space Gallery’s Open Sp

John Arpin

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John Francis Oscar Arpin (3 December 1936 – 8 November 2007) was a Canadian composer, recording artist and entertainer, best known for his work as a virtuoso ragtime pianist. Born in Port McNicoll, Ontario Arpin studied piano at The Royal Conservatory of Music, earning his ARCT diploma in 1953. He also studied at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. Arpin performed frequently and toured widely during his musical career, which spanned more than four decades. He continued to perform until shortly before his death . He died of cancer on 8 November 2007 in Toronto, Ontario. Recording career Arpin recorded more than sixty albums, mostly of ragtime, but also played Broadway music, pop music, and classical music. In 2002, he recorded seven CDs of piano solo music on the April Avenue record label. These albums consisted of favorite Broadway themes and familiar pop tunes. While just two compilations are still available in CD format, most of the other tracks can still be found on iTunes. Here is a complete list: *A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square *All The Way *An Affair To Remember *Any Dream Will Do *As Time Goes By *Bewitched *Blue Moon *Brian’s Song *Cabaret *Call Me Irrespons

John Bayley (musician)

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John Bayley (circa 1847 – 1910) was an English bandmaster, clarinetist, violinist, and organist who was active in his native country and North America. Cornetist Herbert L. Clarke described him in his autobiography as “a finished musician of high order; he was a remarkable organist… and one of the best clarinetists I have ever heard in my life.” Life and career Born in Windsor, Berkshire, Bayley was named after his father, John Bayley (d 1871), a cornet soloist and conductor who was trained in Chelsea (London) at the Royal Military Asylum for boys. In 1850 the family immigrated to the United States, settling in Philadelphia. The family moved to San Francisco in 1857 and then a year later left there for Victoria, British Columbia in the enthusiasm of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. In Victoria, Bayley Sr served as the city’s inspector of police and was the first conductor of the Victoria Philharmonic Society (VPS). For the VPS’s first concert on 6 May 1859 the younger Bayley performed as both a violinist and clarinet soloist. A 10 May 1859 Victoria Gazette review stated that his clarinet solo was “enthusiastically encored”. In 1861 the family returned to England, partly to provide Ba

John Beckwith (composer)

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John Beckwith (March 9, 1927 – December 5, 2022) was a Canadian composer, writer, pianist, teacher, and administrator. Born in Victoria, British Columbia, he studied piano with Alberto Guerrero at the Toronto Conservatory of Music in 1945. Beckwith received a Bachelor of Music (Mus.B.) in 1947 and a Master of Music (Mus.M.) in 1961 from the University of Toronto. Education In 1945, after several years of studying piano at the Royal Conservatory of Music, Beckwith received a Conservatory scholarship that allowed him to study piano with Alberto Guerrero at the University of Toronto where he obtained his Mus.B. he wrote for the Toronto Star from 1959 to 1965 as an arts critic and columnist, and was a writer and associate producer of documentaries and music series for CBC Radio. Beginning in 1981, he worked as a director for the Canadian Musical Heritage Society, which he had co-founded that same year. He prepared two of the society’s 25-volume series of pre-1950 Canadian-composed music. The Beckwith portrait in the Canadian Composers Portraits series was released in 2003. A collection of 25 of his music articles and talks was published by Golden Dog Press in 1997 under the title Music

John Burge

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John David Bryson Burge (born 2 January 1961) is a Canadian composer, music educator, and pianist. He has won a number of awards for his compositions, including the Alberta Culture Award (1982), the William Erving Fairclough Scholarship (1983), second prize in the Ithaca College Choral Composition Contest and Festival (1984), and five PROCAN Young Composers’ Competition prizes between 1985 and 1988 among others. In 2009 he won the Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year for his Flanders Fields Reflections. Some music critics have likened his compositional style to that of Benjamin Britten and Maxwell Davies. Born in Dryden, Ontario, Burge earned an associate degree from The Royal Conservatory of Music in 1979. He remained at the school, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1983 and a master’s degree in 1984. He earned a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of British Columbia in 1989. Among his teachers in music composition were John Beckwith, Stephen Chatman, Walter Buczynski, John Hawkins, and Derek Holman. In 1987 Burge joined the music faculty at Queen’s University where he taught music theory, analysis and composition. He formerly served as the director of the Queen’s

John Burke (composer)

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John Joseph Burke (10 May 1951 – 18 January 2020) was a Canadian composer and music educator. As a composer he wrote mainly works for chamber ensembles, and his music displays an acute sensitivity to instrumental balance and timbre. In his early career he won the CBC National Radio Competition for Young Composers several times, including in 1978 for both Six Regions for piano (composed 1975) and Spectre for tenor instruments (composed 1976), and in 1980 for Firewind for two pianos (composed 1978) and Diffusa est gratia for a cappella choir (composed 1979). In 1995 he won the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music for his String Quartet. Many of his compositions have been recorded, including Firewind by pianists Bruce Mather and Pierrette LePage, …ascends at full moon by guitarist Michael Laucke, and À la source d’Hypocrène by the ensemble of the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec among others. Burke was born in Toronto, and earned a Bachelor of Music in 1974 from McGill University, where he was a pupil of Bruce Mather and Alcides Lanza. Immediately following he entered the graduate music composition program at the University of Michigan (UM) where he obtained a Master of

John Cozens (musician)

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John Cozens (27 April 1906 – 5 April 1999) was a Canadian arts administrator, arranger, choir conductor, and tenor of English birth. He became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1950. Early life and education Born in Tottenham, London, Cozens moved with his family to Canada in 1913 at the age of 7. At the age of 12 he began singing on the radio and performing as a church soloist; pursuits he was actively involved in from 1918 to 1950 in Toronto. At the age of 18 he entered the Toronto Conservatory of Music where he was a voice and conducting student of Francis Combe from 1924 to 1929. After graduating he pursued further studies privately with Nina de Gedeonoff from 1930 to 1935. Career During the Great Depression, Cozens and his wife, singer Winnifred Pitman, founded and directed the Toronto’s Council Choir. He served as the conductor of several other Toronto-based choirs, including the Tallis Choir, which specialized in polyphonic music, from 1935 to 1965. In 1951 he and S. Drummond Wolff co-founded the Orpheus Choir of Toronto which performed for four seasons. In 1972 he began conducting the Ontario Civil Service Choir with whom he was still active in the 1990s. Cozens was secreta

John Estacio

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John Estacio (born April 8, 1966) is a contemporary Canadian composer of opera, orchestral and choral music. TOC Life and career Estacio was born in Newmarket, Ontario. Raised in the farming community of the Holland Marsh, Ontario, Estacio took piano and accordion lessons, and played church organ every Sunday. As a teenager, he created soundtracks for short student films, played trumpet, and performed in high school productions of Broadway musicals. He majored in composition at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario studying with Glenn Buhr and Peter Hatch. He earned his post-graduate degree at the University of British Columbia where he studied composition with Stephen Chatman. In 1992, his first major orchestral work, Visoes da Noite, won second-prize in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s Canadian Composers Competition. Saudades for orchestra was premiered at the WSO’s New Music Festival in 1993. From 1992 to 2000, Estacio was Composer in Residence of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. During his residency, Estacio created several orchestral works, participated in novel audience outreach programs, and created the Young Composers Project. A Farmer’s Symphony (1994), Bore

John Fodi

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John Fodi (22 March 1944 – 2 November 2009) was a composer and music librarian. Born in Hungary, he became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1961. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, he was a founding member of ARRAYMUSIC, an organization which premiered several of his compositions. Life Born in Nagytevel, John Fodi moved to Canada with his family in 1951 at the age of 7. His father played both the accordion and concertina and John began performing music at an early age; but it was at the public library in Hamilton, Ontario, that he discovered the resources to develop his understanding of music. Finding the accordion increasingly unsatisfactory as a means of exploring classical music he decided to learn to play the piano. This was the instrument which he would use for both the study and composition of music throughout his life. During this period he composed over 40 pieces which reflected the progress of his studies, in particular his fascination with the music of the baroque period. In 1964, while working as a laboratory technician for Firestone, he began studying music privately with Lorne Betts in the city of Hamilton, Ontario. It was Betts who encouraged and mentored Joh

John Hawkins (Canadian composer)

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John Hawkins (26 July 1944 in Montreal – 14 January 2007 in Toronto) was a Canadian composer, conductor, music educator, and pianist. He notably won the 2nd-century Week Composition Competition in 1967 for his Eight Movements for Flute and Clarinet and received the Jules Léger Prize in 1983 for Breaking Through which was commissioned by ARRAYMUSIC. In 1971, he helped found the New Music Concerts in Toronto and was frequent performer there during his lifetime. He also frequently performed in concerts presented by the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, notably appearing as a soloist on the organization’s recording of Jacques Hétu’s Cycle. Hawkins began his professional education at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Québec where he was a pupil of Lubka Kolessa. He transferred to McGill University in 1965 where he went on to earn a Bachelor of Music (1967), a Concert Diploma (1968), and a Master of Music (1970). At McGill he studied music composition with István Anhalt through a grant from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. He also studying conducting with Pierre Boulez in Basel in 1969. In 1970, Hawkins became a member of the faculty of the University o

John Korsrud

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John Korsrud (born 1963) is a Canadian composer and jazz trumpeter. Life John Korsrud was born in 1963. He graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1990. Korsrud studied composition with Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Amsterdam from 1995 to 1997. Korsrud has received commissions from the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, The CBC Radio Orchestra, and Dutch ensembles such as Ensemble LOOS, the Tetzepi Bigtet, the Zapp String Quartet, De Ereprijs, among others. in 2010, Korsrud performed on his own trumpet concerto, Come to the Dark Side at Carnegie Hall in with The American Composers Orchestra. Since 1990, he has led the 18-piece new music/jazz ensemble Hard Rubber Orchestra, with which has appeared in Europe and across Canada, recorded five albums, and in 2005 won the Alcan Arts Award. The Hard Rubber Orchestra has commissioned over 50 works from composers such as Kenny Wheeler, Darcy James Argue, John Hollenbeck, Brad Turner, Christine Jensen, Scott Good, Linda Bouchard, Rene Lussier, Anna Webber (musician), and many others. Korsrud has also created large multimedia projects like The Elvis Cantatas (1994, 1996), The

John Landry

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John Landry (born December 22, 1969) is a Canadian country music artist. Landry’s debut album, Forever Took Too Long, was released in 1999 by Spin Records. Its first two singles, “There You Were” and “Bit by Bit,” both reached the Top 10 of the Canadian Country Singles chart. Landry was nominated for a 2000 Juno Award for Best Country Male Artist. Landry entertained on the country stage at the 2003 Palmer Rapids Twin Festival in Ontario. Discography Studio albums Singles Guest singles Music videos References External links *Official Site

John McCarthy (composer)

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John McCarthy (born June 27, 1961) is a Canadian composer for film and television. His music has been described as a hybrid of acoustical and electronic elements. McCarthy’s background includes extensive experience in classical, jazz, rock, and world music. Life and career McCarthy studied at The Royal Conservatory of Music and Humber College. He has recorded and toured with many bands including Ian Hunter (Mott The Hoople) and Frozen Ghost. McCarthy’s first film, Love and Human Remains, was directed by Academy Award winner Denys Arcand. The film is a dark comedy about a group of GenX twenty-somethings (one of whom is a serial killer) who are looking for love and meaning in a big city during the 1990s. McCarthy scored a pair of episodes of the 2015 David Shore/Vince Gilligan show Battle Creek (CBS). His other work in television includes scoring the CBS series Due South (created by Academy Award winner Paul Haggis) and the NBC series My Own Worst Enemy, starring Christian Slater. In 2010, McCarthy scored the short film Local Change, Global Impact. The film was produced by the International Peace Institute, a division of the United Nations, and narrated by Patrick Stewart. McCarthy i

John Oswald (composer)

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John Oswald (born May 30, 1953 in Kitchener, Ontario) is a Canadian composer, saxophonist, media artist and dancer. He is best known for coining the term “plunderphonics”, the practice of making new music out of previously existing recordings. Early life Oswald was introduced to sampling from a young age having been gifted a reel-to-reel player from his parents at age 9. He then attended Simon Fraser University in the 1970s, becoming part of World Soundscape Project while on campus. It was there that Oswald became familiar with recorded sounds from different environments and applying them to new work created. Philosophy Oswald coined the term “plunderphonics” to describe his craft in a paper called “Plunderphonics, or Audio Piracy as a Compositional Prerogative” which he presented at the Wired Society Electro-Acoustic Conference in Toronto in 1985. Inspired by William S. Burroughs’ cut-up technique, Oswald had been devising plunderphonic-style compositions since the late 1960s. In an interview with Norman Igma following the release of the Plunderphonics EP in 1988, he described the concept as follows: A plunderphone is a recognizable sonic quote, using the actual sound of something

John Rea (composer)

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John Rea (born 1944) is a Montreal-based composer who won the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music in both 1981 and 1992. He obtained his bachelor’s degree at Wayne State University (1967), his Master of Music degree at the University of Toronto (1969), and his PhD at Princeton University. His children’s opera The Prisoners Play from 1972 uses serial techniques. His works have been played by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, the Arditti Quartet, the Esprit Orchestra and others. He is the previous dean and head of the composition department at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University, from which he has finally taken his retirement. Among his notable students are composers Robin Minard and John Oliver. Music Stage: The Days/Les Jours, ballet. 1969. Ms The Prisoners Play, opera (Paul Woodruff). 1973. Ms Com-possession ‘Daemonic afterimages in the theatre of transitory states.’ 1980. 2 chamber ensemble (tape). Ms. McGill University Records 83019 (Laucke) Une Fleur du mal. 1992. Sop, clarinet, violoncello and percussion Canto di Beatrice. 1992. For two sop and two violoncelli, melodrama Alma & Oskar (melodrama from b

John Roby (composer)

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John Roby is a Canadian film and theatre composer and pianist. A native of Windsor, Nova Scotia, he began writing music for theatre projects in Halifax in the 1970s, and served as the pianist on Noel Harrison’s television variety show Take Time with Noel Harrison, before moving to Toronto, Ontario, in 1976. He composed music for several of George F. Walker’s plays, including Zastrozzi, The Master of Discipline, Filthy Rich, Rumors of Our Death, Theatre of the Film Noir, Science and Madness, In 1984 he composed music for Jim Betts’s The Mystery of the Oak Island Treasure. Girls in the Gang, and The Dreamland. In 1990 he collaborated with Tim Wynne-Jones on Mischief City, a musical for kids based on Wynne-Jones’s 1986 book. In 1993 he premiered The Old Man’s Band, his first show written entirely on his own rather than with a collaborator. He has also had credits as a composer of film scores, most notably on Thom Fitzgerald’s films The Hanging Garden and Beefcake. He married actress Patricia Vanstone in 1981. Awards References External links *

John Weinzweig

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John Jacob Weinzweig (March 11, 1913 – August 24, 2006) was a composer, teacher, and advocate of contemporary Canadian concert music. Born in Toronto, Weinzweig went to Harbord Collegiate Institute, then studied music at the University of Toronto. In 1937, he left for the United States to study under Bernard Rogers. During the Second World War, he began composing film music, and in 1952 he became a professor at the University of Toronto. In the previous year he had co-founded the Canadian League of Composers, and he was actively involved in several other organizations representing musicians and composers. In 1948 he won a silver medal in the art competitions of the Olympic Games for his Divertimento no 1 for solo flute and strings. In 1974, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1988, he was awarded the Order of Ontario. In 2004, Weinzweig was the recipient of the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual SOCAN Awards in Toronto. Early life John Jacob Weinzweig was the eldest child of Joseph and Rose (Burstyn) Weinzweig, Polish Jewish immigrants. His younger siblings were named Morris and Grace Weinzweig. In Russian-occupied Poland, his father was temporarily im

John Welsman

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John Joseph Welsman (born 1955) is a Canadian composer known for his work in film and television. He has written film and television scores for production companies in both Canada and the United States. Some of the films he has worked on are The Peace Tree, A Winter Tale, and Nurse.Fighter.Boy and Lantern Hill. He has been nominated for the Gemini Award ten times, winning four times for his work on the television series Road to Avonlea, and once for the short film ‘The Bellringer’. Early life and education Welsman was born in Toronto. He is the grandson of conductor Frank Welsman and the brother of jazz singer Carol Welsman. He studied piano and theory at the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, and attended the University of Western Ontario in 1974 and 1975. He studied music composition with Samuel Dolin and Milan Kymlicka. Career In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Welsman was a member of the folk and roots band Available Space with Cherie Camp and Jeff Kahnert. Welsman conducted and created arrangements for the string orchestra which recorded on Loreena McKennitt’s 1994 album The Mask and Mirror. Also in the 1990s Welsman composed and arranged extensively for the television seri

John Wyre

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John Harvey Wyre (17 May 1941 – 31 October 2006) was a U.S.-born Canadian percussionist, composer, and music educator. He worked as percussionist with a number of important orchestras in North America, notably serving for many years as the principal timpanist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He was a founding member of the percussion ensemble Nexus, with which he performed for over 30 years. He was also artistic director of World Drums with whom he organized and directed performances at several major international events. His music compositions have been performed by ensembles throughout the world, including the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the CBC Radio Orchestra, and the Japan Philharmonic among others. Biography Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Wyre began studying the percussion at age 15 with Fred Hinger, a percussionist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He remained Hinger’s student until 1959 when he entered the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester. He studied under William Street at Eastman, earning a Bachelor of Music there in 1964. Wyre began his performance career as a percussionist with the Oklahoma City Symphony Orchestra in 1964-

Jonathan Goldsmith (musician)

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Jonathan (Jon) Goldsmith is a Canadian musician, arranger, producer, and composer. Best known as a composer of film and television scores, he has also been associated with various projects as a musician, including Nick Buzz and the Art of Time Ensemble, and production of albums by artists including Bruce Cockburn, Jane Siberry, Martin Tielli, Hugh Marsh, Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, and Sarah Slean. Career In 1992, Goldsmith, along with Hugh Marsh, Martin Tielli and Rob Piltch, provided backup for a track on the album Back to the Garden; these four later formed the band Nick Buzz and produced two albums and an EP. Goldsmith played piano in the group. For his work as a composer Goldsmith won four Gemini Awards, for his work on Pit Pony, Dead Silence, Trudeau II: Maverick in the Making and The Nativity, a Canadian Screen Award for Titanic, and a BAFTA Award for Sex Traffic. He has also received nine other Gemini Award nominations, and four Genie Award nominations for Best Original Score. His other film and television credits include Global Heresy, Such a Long Journey, Scorn, Away from Her, October 1970, Take This Waltz, Rare Birds, Visiting Hours, Casino Jack, Compulsion, Lost Souls, Ab

José Evangelista

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José Evangelista (5 August 1943 – 10 January 2023) was a Spanish composer and music educator who was based in Montreal, Canada. He was professor of composition at the Université de Montréal from 1979 to 2009. A member of the Canadian League of Composers, the Sociedad General de Autores y Editores, and an associate of the Canadian Music Centre, Evangelista was known for his commitment to contemporary classical music and non-Western music. Life and career Born in Valencia on 5 August 1943, At the same time he pursued music courses at the Valencia Conservatory and earned a premier prix in music composition there in 1967. In 1969 Evangelista moved to Canada and settled in the city of Montreal. From 1970 to 1973 he was a pupil of André Prévost at the Université de Montréal where he earned a Master of Music in composition. From 1979 he taught on the music faculty of the Université de Montréal; among his students were composers Simon Bertrand, Analia Llugdar, Samy Moussa and Ana Sokolovic. Awards In 1974 Evangelista was awarded first prize in the Confederación Espanola de Cajas de Ahorros Contest in Madrid for his En guise de fête. * Sonatine for flute and piano, 1971 * Un mur à peine for

Joseph Allard (fiddler)

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Joseph Allard (February 1, 1873 – November 14, 1947) was a Canadian fiddler and composer. He occasionally recorded under the pseudonym Maxime Toupin. Allard made many popular recordings, including Reel de l’Aveugle, Reel de Chateauguay, Reel de Jacques Cartier, and Reel du voyageur. During most of his life he was rarely in the public eye, and worked much of his life as a fisherman. Childhood Allard’s birthplace is reported both as 1 February 1873 in Woodland now Lery, Quebec and as 1 July 1873 in Châteauguay, Quebec. His family was living in Quebec when he was quite young. Allard’s father was a fiddler, and when Allard reached the age of nine he was instructed in fiddling. Allard remained in Quebec until the age of sixteen, when he moved back to the United States, where he began to enter fiddling competitions. Fiddling Allard entered fiddling competitions throughout the New England, winning competitions in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut. While in the United States, he met and married Alexina Couillard. Scottish and Irish musicians he met there taught him a number of Reels and Gigues. He continued to travel and play in the United States until 1917, when h

Joseph Beaulieu

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Joseph Beaulieu (21 May 1895 – 1 October 1965) was a Canadian composer, folklorist, and music educator. He traveled extensively throughout Canada collecting folk songs, which he compiled in several published books. As a composer, his works reflect his strong interest in folk music in there structure and melody. He wrote over 200 works, most of them folk-inspired songs or sacred songs. Also of note is his operetta Le Trésor du pauvre and his mass for four mixed voices, the Vatican II Mass, which was written for ceremonies held during the Second Vatican Council. A number of his pieces have been published by La Bonne Chanson and Thompson. Life Born in Mattawa, Ontario, Beaulieu began his musical training at the relatively late age of 20, studying piano with Oscar O’Brien and Amédée Tremblay in Ottawa. He soon after began performing in evening entertainments with his teachers and baritone Charles Marchand. With Marchand he traveled throughout the provinces of Ontario and Quebec giving concerts of folk music. During these travels, he began collecting Canadian folksongs which became a lifelong passion of his. In the early 1920s, Beaulieu pursued further training at the Canadian Conservat

Joseph-A. Fowler

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Joseph-A. Fowler (14 November 1845 – 4 January 1917) was a Canadian composer, organist, choirmaster, pianist, and music educator. His compositional output mainly consists of sacred music, although he did compose some secular songs for voice and piano and a number of works for solo piano. He wrote two masses for choir and orchestra: Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary (published by I. Suckling & Sons, 1893) and Mass of the Sacred Heart (published by Whaley Royce, 1898). Life and career Born in Montreal, Fowler was the son of an Irish father and a French-Canadian mother. He studied the piano with Paul Letondal and was notably one of his first students. He visited Europe three times during his life, experiences which enriched his musical life. At the age of 16 he began teaching at the Collège Sainte-Marie de Montréal where he worked for seven years. From 1868 to 1890 he taught at the Sacré-Coeur Convent at Sault-au-Récollet just outside Montreal. Among his notable pupils were Alexis Contant and Arthur Pépin. He also occasionally organized concerts and promoted artists in Montreal, notably bringing Irish baritone William Ludwig to the city among other performers. An active recitalist and a

Juliet Palmer

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Juliet Palmer is a contemporary composer living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Career Juliet Kiri Palmer was born in New Zealand in 1967, where she completed a Masters of Music in performance, composition, and time-based art at the University of Auckland. She moved to New York City in 1990 to work with interdisciplinary pioneer Meredith Monk and obtained her PhD at Princeton University in 1999. Now living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, she is an active composer and interdisciplinary artist. Her compositions cover a wide range from chamber music and dance theatre to orchestral and opera. Palmer’s music has been featured in festivals in US, UK, New Zealand, Netherlands, Japan, Italy, France, Austria and Canada. Her work has been broadcast widely, including radio networks in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, US, Canada and Japan. A detailed catalogue of her work, including streaming audio and video samples may be found at both the Centre for New Zealand Music and the Canadian Music Centre websites. Further reading *Steenhuisen, Paul. “Interview with Juliet Palmer”. In Sonic Mosaics: Conversations with Composers. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2009. References External links * SOUNZ

Kati Agócs

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Kati Ilona Agócs (born January 20, 1975) is a Canadian-American composer and a member of the composition faculty at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Education Agócs attended the Juilliard School in New York where she earned a Master’s and Doctoral degrees under the guidance of Milton Babbitt. She was a composition fellow at the Aspen Music Festival and School and the Tanglewood Music Center, where she held the ASCAP Leonard Bernstein Composer Fellowship in 2007. She was a voice student of Adele Addison. Career From 2005 to 2006, she lived in Budapest and wrote on the new-music scene in Hungary for the journal The Musical Times. She had previously organized an exchange program between the Juilliard School and the Liszt Academy. The Hungarian-language weekly, Bécsi Napló (Vienna Journal) acknowledged her contribution to the visibility of Hungarian composers abroad. She served as Composer in Residence for the National Youth Orchestra of Canada in 2010. Agócs was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2013. In 2014 the American Academy of Arts and Letters named her as recipient of the Arts and Letters Award in Music. She maintains a work studio in Flatrock, N

Keith Bissell

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Keith Warren Bissell (12 February 1912 in Meaford, Ontario – 9 May 1992 in Newmarket, Ontario) was a Canadian composer, conductor, and music educator. He was particularly known for his choral music, which often implemented elements of Canadian folk music. A passionate educator, he was a pupil of Carl Orff and was influential in popularizing the Orff Schulwerk methodology within North America. From 1957 to 1958 he was President of the Ontario Music Educators’ Association. He was conductor and artistic director of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada in 1970–1971. He also was vice-president of the Canadian Music Council for several years and president of the Canadian Music Centre from 1975 to 1977. Bissell began his career as a public school teacher in Toronto from 1934 to 1948. During this time he began his professional music studies at the University of Toronto where he earned a Bachelor of Music in 1942. He was particularly influenced by his professor in music composition, Leo Smith. In 1948 Bissell was appointed the assistant supervisor of the music program for the Edmonton school district. After just one year he was made supervisor of the program, serving in that capacity for

Keith Hamel

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Keith Hamel (born 1956 in Morden, Manitoba, Canada) is a composer, software designer, and professor of music. His music consists of orchestral, chamber, solo, and vocal music, often focussing on live electronics and interactivity between acoustic instruments and the computer. Education Keith Hamel studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Queen’s University (Kingston, Ontario, 1981), and A.M. and PhD degrees from Harvard University (1984, 1985). Between 1981 and 1984, he also studied Computer Music at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, under the supervision of Barry Vercoe. Hamel also received composition instruction from Istvan Anhalt, Donald Martino, Peter Maxwell Davies, Earl Kim and Leon Kirchner. He was a finalist in the 1986 CBC Young Composers Competition (percussion category), and also received four awards in the P.R.O. Canada Young Composers Competition. Career Hamel has been on the faculty at the UBC School of Music since 1987, and has been a full professor since 1997. He is also an Associate Researcher at the Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems (ICICS), a Researcher at the Media Graphic

Kelsey Jones

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Herbert Kelsey Jones (June 17, 1922 – October 10, 2004) was a Canadian composer, pianist, harpsichordist, and music teacher. Early life Jones was born in South Norwalk, Norwalk, Connecticut; he grew up in Portland, Maine and moved to New Brunswick in 1945. Career In 1950, as a young man, Jones founded the Saint John Symphony Orchestra, now known as Symphony New Brunswick, and served as its conductor until 1953. Jones moved to Montreal, Quebec in 1954, where he became a member of the faculty of McGill University’s Faculty of Music. He composed “Songs of Experience” for the Montreal Bach Choir in 1955. He also performed as a solo pianist and duo pianist with his wife Rosabelle Jones (née Smith) from the early 1950s until an accident that rendered her paraplegic in 1974. At McGill Jones taught a variety of courses through the years, including History, Harpsichord and Piano, and Theory. he was best known as a teacher of Counterpoint (Modal, Tonal, Fugue & Canon). He became a Canadian citizen in 1956. In Montreal, he was active as a teacher, performer and composer. He was a founding member of the Baroque Trio of Montreal, along with Mario Duschenes (flute) and Melvin Berman (oboe). He r

Kenneth Peacock

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Kenneth Howard Peacock (7 April 1922 – 22 November 2000) was a Canadian ethnomusicologist, composer, and pianist. He was a leading authority in Canadian enthnomusicology, and his research and publications in that field had a profound impact on the folk music revival in Canada of the mid to late 20th century. He was an associate of the Canadian Music Centre, a founding member of the Canadian Music Council, and a member of the Canadian League of Composers. In 1982 he was named a Member of the Order of Canada, and in 1998 was awarded the Marius Barbeau Medal by the Folklore Studies Association of Canada. Life and career Born in Toronto, Peacock earned as associate diploma from the Toronto Conservatory of Music (TCM) in 1937 where he was a piano student of Alma Cockburn. From 1937 to 1946 he was active as a private tutor in piano and music theory in Toronto. In 1939-1940 he pursued further piano studies privately with Mona Bates. In 1941 he entered the University of Toronto where he studied music theory with Healey Willan and Leo Smith. After earning a Bachelor of Music in 1943, he continued with graduate studies in composition at the UT with John Weinzweig from 1944 to 1946. Peacock r

Kenny Wheeler

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Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC (14 January 1930 – 18 September 2014) was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards. Most of his performances were rooted in jazz, but he was also active in free improvisation and occasionally contributed to rock music recordings. Wheeler wrote more than one hundred compositions and was a skilled arranger for small groups and large ensembles. Wheeler was the patron of the Royal Academy Junior Jazz course. Early life Wheeler was born in Toronto, Ontario, on 14 January 1930. Growing up in Toronto, he began playing the cornet at age 12 and became interested in jazz in his mid-teens. Wheeler spent a year studying composition at The Royal Conservatory of Music in 1950. In 1952 he moved to Britain. He found his way into the London jazz scene of the time, playing in groups led by Tommy Whittle, Tubby Hayes, and Ronnie Scott. Career In the late 1950s, he was a member of Buddy Featherstonhaugh’s quintet together with Bobby Wellins. From 1959 until 1965 he was a member of John Dankworth’s orchestra, during which time he also studied composition with Richard Rodney Bennett (1962-3) and Bill Russo (1963-4).

Kevin James Maher

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Kevin James Maher (born April 20, 1988), better known as Kevvy Mental, is a Canadian musician, producer, film composer and remix artist most notable for his work in Fake Shark as lead vocalist and programmer. Early life Maher was born an only child in Edmonton, Alberta, and raised in Langley, British Columbia, by a single mother. Maher attended Langley Fine Arts School majoring in visual art. Maher was kicked out of Langley Fine Arts in his grade 12 year. Maher attended Walnut Grove Secondary to finish his high school education. Musical career Maher is primarily a vocalist in the band Fake Shark, but also plays guitar, piano and programs electronics. He has done a variety of remixes, listed below. He has also programmed electronics and contributed vocals to Jakalope, as well as working alongside Dave Ogilvie coproducing the debut album by former Lillix bass player Louise Burns. The record was nominated for the Polaris Music Prize. In 2008, Maher teamed up with writer/director CJ Wallis to score the Sarah Slean short film Last Flowers. The film received a pair of Leo Awards nominations in 2009. In 2012, co-wrote and produced part of Carly Rae Jepsen’s new record, Kiss, and wrote the

Kirk MacDonald (musician)

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Kirk MacDonald (born 1959) is a Canadian jazz musician and composer. He has been nominated for four Juno Awards, with his album The Atlantic Sessions winning the 1999 Juno Award for Best Mainstream Jazz Album. He has performed on over forty albums as leader and sideman and has participated in national broadcast recordings for CBC Radio. In addition to performing extensively throughout Canada, he has performed in the U.S., France, Spain, Italy, Holland, Monaco, Australia, Korea, Bermuda, and the Bahamas. He has worked with Walter Bishop Jr., John Clayton, Rosemary Clooney, Brian Dickinson, Glenn Ferris, Sonny Greenwich, Eddie Henderson, Pat LaBarbera, Lorne Lofsky, Harold Mabern, Ron McClure, Jim McNeely, Vince Mendoza, James Moody, Bob Mover, Phil Nimmons, Sam Noto, Chris Potter, Bernie Senensky, Mike Stern, John Taylor, Kenny Wheeler, André White, and the Humber College Faculty Ensemble. As a composer, he has recorded over fifty of his own compositions. His compositions have been arranged for large ensembles by Canadian and American arrangers. He has been active as an educator for almost 25 years at the college and university levels. Awards and nominations As leader or soloist * 2

Kristi Allik

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Kristi Allik (born 6 February 1952) is a Canadian music educator and composer. Biography Born Kristi Anne Allik on 6 February 1952 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and received a Bachelor of Music from the University of Toronto, a Master of Fine Arts degree from Princeton University and doctorate from the University of Southern California. She studied composition under John Weinzweig, Oskar Morawetz, Lothar Klein, Gustav Ciamaga, James Hopkins, Frederick Leseman and Milton Babbitt. After completing her studies, Allik taught at the University of Victoria (1980–81) and the University of Western Ontario (1982–87) before she settled in Kingston, Ontario, and took a position as Associate Professor of Music at Queen’s University where she taught electronic music, composition and jazz until her retirement in July 2013. She was also the Director of the Electronic Music Studios and the Computer Laboratory of Music Applications at Queen’s University. Allik’s compositions have been performed in Canada, the United States, Europe, Cuba and South America. She has also published articles and essays in professional publications. Awards and honours *Grants and awards from the Canada Arts Council, Ontari

Larry Crosley

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Lawrence Crosley (May 19, 1932 - January 24, 1998) was an American-Canadian composer. He was most noted as a two-time Canadian Film Award winner for his film scores, winning at the 23rd Canadian Film Awards in 1971 for Seasons in the Mind and at the 24th Canadian Film Awards in 1972 for Journey to Power. A native of Oaklandon, Indiana, he was educated at the Eastman School of Music before moving to Ottawa, Ontario, as a staff composer for Crawley Films; He also later worked for the National Film Board of Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and other companies, composing music for over 200 films and television shows over the course of his career. played jazz clarinet, and taught music as a sessional instructor at Northern Arizona University and the University of Ottawa. and received a Gemini Award nomination for Best Original Music Score for a Program or Mini-Series at the 5th Gemini Awards in 1990 for The Teddy Bears’ Picnic. Filmography *St. Lawrence North - 1970 *Amanita Pestilens - 1963 *The Johari Window - 1970 *The Man Who Skied Down Everest - 1970 *The Tenth Decade - 1971 *Cry of the Wild - 1972 *Whistling Smith - 1975 *I’ll Find a Way - 1977 *The Way It Is - 1985 *

Larry Lake (musician)

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Larry Ellsworth Lake (2 July 1943 – 17 September 2013 ) was an American-born Canadian composer, trumpeter, freelance writer on music, radio broadcaster, and record producer. As a composer, he was primarily known for his electronic music. His musical compositions are characterized by their integration of acoustic instruments with electronic ones in live performance. From 1985 until his death he served as artistic director of the Canadian Electronic Ensemble, a group of which he was a founding member. For nearly 30 years he hosted and served as music consultant for the CBC Radio program Two New Hours. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre (CMC), he was the chair of the CMC’s Ontario Region Council and was an executive member of the CMC’s national board. He was a member of both the Canadian Electroacoustic Community and the Canadian League of Composers. His compositions received multiple awards from the CMC (1982, 1984, 1987) and from the Major Armstrong Foundation. He received three Juno Award nominations for his work as a record producer. Life and career Larry Lake was born on 2 July 1943 to Mennonite parents in Greenville, Pennsylvania. He grew up in Florida and Georgia. In 196

Larry Nickel

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Larry Nickel (born March 12, 1952) is a Canadian composer, conductor, music publisher and singer who devotes much of his focus to choral music. He is an associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre. He has composed for a wide spectrum of genres; electronic and computer music, string quartet, woodwind and brass quintet, symphony orchestra, symphonic wind ensemble and choral ensembles, including both secular and ecclesiastical music. Primarily, he has written and arranged hundreds of compositions for choirs. Nickel also works as a choral clinician, occasional university professor, music minister, guest conductor and music festival adjudicator. Nickel sang professionally with the Vancouver Chamber Choir for six years, directed the award winning Jubilate Vocal Ensemble for five years, and also sang 2nd bass with the acclaimed Vancouver Cantata Singers for many years. In 2010 Nickel became the owner of Cypress Choral Music Publishing. Nickel’s music has been published by 12 companies including Oxford University Press, G. Schirmer, Shawnee Press, Pavane Publishing, Morton Music, Cypress Choral Music, Classica and Canadian International Music. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - CB

Larysa Kuzmenko

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Larysa Kuzmenko (born 1956) is a Juno Awards-nominated Canadian composer and pianist based in Toronto, Ontario. She currently teaches on the music faculties of The Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Toronto. Early life Kuzmenko was born and raised in Mississauga, Ontario, to Ukrainian parents. She studied music at the University of Toronto, earning a master’s degree in composition. Career Kuzmenko has been commissioned to write pieces by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Hannaford Street Silver Band, the International Women’s Brass Conference, the Laidlaw Foundation, the Oberlin Choristers, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Royal Canadian College of Organists. In 2003 her work “Impromptu and Toccata” was premiered in Toronto. Kuzmenko’s oratorio “Golden Harvest” was first performed by the Winnipeg Symphony in 2016. For Canada’s 150th Anniversary, she collaborated with Newfoundland playwright Robert Chafe to create a choral adaptation of Brahms Intermezzo. The work was performed by the National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Shallaway Youth Choir of St. John’s, Newfoundland. Many of Kuzmenko’s works have been published by Boosey and Hawkes. Her composition “My

Laura Lemon

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Laura Gertrude Lemon (15 October 1866 – 18 August 1924) was a Canadian composer and songwriter who lived and worked in England. She also used the pseudonyms Austin Fleming and Ian Macdonald. Lemon was mostly known for composing pieces for violin and piano such as “Three Moravian Dances”, which was dedicated to the Canadian violinist Kathleen Parlow. However she also noted for her songs. was at one time one of the best-known songs by a Canadian composer. Early life Lemon was born in Guelph, Ontario. Her father was Andrew Lemon, Queen’s Counsel, with a job as a partner in the law firm Lemon and Peterson. Her mother was Laura Armstrong, after whom she was named. In 1881, when she was five years old, the family moved from their Arthur Street home to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Lemon grew up there with an appreciation and skill for music. In her early 20s Lemon moved to England, enrolling in the Royal Academy of Music in London. Musical career Lemon was a skilled pianist and many of her early works were written for piano. In the 1890s, her compositions began to be published as on sheet music. These titles included “Slumber Songs” and “Three Moravian Dances”. Her works were performed by local si

Lauri Conger

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Lauri Conger is notable primarily as the keyboardist and one of the principal co-writers of most of the songs of The Parachute Club. History Conger is a native of Thunder Bay, Ontario, where she began her professional music career in the 1970s. She received early piano and dance training in Port Arthur, Ontario, prior to its merger into Thunder Bay, and was a graduate of Hillcrest High School. Conger moved to Toronto, where she and Lorraine Segato were members of Mama Quilla II. In 1982, Conger and Segato, along with percussionist Billy Bryans, formed the nucleus of what would become The Parachute Club. Conger and Lorraine Segato, together with other band members and lyricist Lynne Fernie, wrote of most of the group’s songs, including the song for which the group is best known, “Rise Up”. Conger was a band member during the production of its three albums, released between 1983 and 1986, but left the group in mid-1987. Her final performance was before the Duke and Duchess of York in Toronto. at Toronto’s Ontario Place. Following her departure from the group and despite her significant contributions to music, Conger did not continue in a prominent role as a professional musician or s

Lawnie Wallace

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Lawnie Wallace (born April 15, 1977) is a Canadian country singer. Wallace recorded one studio album for MCA Canada, Thought I Was Dreaming, in 1996. Four singles from the album charted on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada, including the number 8-peaking title track. Biography Wallace was born in Stouffville, Ontario, Canada. At age seven she began performing and writing songs. At the age of fifteen Wallace signed a publishing deal with TMP Publishing, and an artist development deal with Warner Chappell. After relocating to Nashville she began co-writing songs. Before the age of seventeen Wallace had signed a major record deal with MCA Records and began touring to promote her first album Thought I was Dreaming. Following this tour she took a break from the stage, working with students wanting to get into the Radio and TV business. In 2015 Wallace released her second album, The Lost Years, and has returned to performing live with her band The Chosen Ones. Discography Albums Singles Music videos References

Leah (musician)

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Leah McHenry, mononymously known as Leah (pronounced ) (born November 4, 1984), is a Canadian heavy metal musician who records both as a solo artist and, since around 2015, as a member of Dragonlord. Sometimes called the “Enya of heavy metal”, she performs a mixture of symphonic and Celtic metal with folk and world music. As a solo artist, she has released five full-length albums Of Earth & Angels in 2012, Kings & Queens in 2015, The Quest in 2018, Ancient Winter in 2019, and The Glory and the Fallen in 2024; two EPs, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence in 2012 and Otherworld in 2013; and twenty singles, both as part of album releases and as stand-alone recordings. She is a frequent artistic collaborator with Eric Peterson of Testament and Dragonlord, Timo Somers from Delain and Vengeance, Sander Zoer from Delain, Barend Courbois from Blind Guardian and Vengeance, and Troy Donockley of Nightwish. McHenry and Peterson released a collaborative single, “Winter Sun”, in 2015. She joined Dragonlord for its 2018 studio album Dominion. She also has participated in the charity group Project Aegis. Biography McHenry is from the Vancouver area of British Columbia, Canada, and has English, Iris

Len Blum

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Leonard Solomon Blum (born December 29, 1951) is a Canadian screenwriter, filmmaker and film composer. Early life Blum was born into a Jewish family. He attended Westdale Secondary School in Hamilton, Ontario. He later graduated from McMaster University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1975. Career He has written many films, specializing in comedy, including Meatballs, The inaugural resident was Stephen Dunn. In 2016, Andrew Cividino was announced as the new resident. Accolades He won the Genie Award for Best Original Screenplay, in 1980, for the film Meatballs. Personal life He has been married to Heather Munroe-Blum since 1970, with whom he has a daughter, Sydney. Filmography *Meatballs (with Dan Goldberg and Harold Ramis) (1979) *Stripes (with Dan Goldberg and Harold Ramis) (1981) *Heavy Metal (with Dan Goldberg) (1981) *Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (with Dan Goldberg) (1983) *Feds (with Dan Goldberg) (1988) *Beethoven’s 2nd (1993) *Dream Tower (with Ron Mann and Bill Schroeder) (1994) *Private Parts (1997) *The Pink Panther (with Steve Martin) (2006) *Over the Hedge (with Lorne Cameron, David Hoselton, and Karey Kirkpatrick) (2006) *Altman (2014) *Summer of Love (201

Leo Marchildon

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Leo Marchildon (born May 30, 1962) is a Canadian organist, music director, film/theatre music composer and producer based in Prince Edward Island. Early life and education Marchildon was born in Toronto, Ontario. He has French-Canadian ancestry. Career Marchildon’s first commercial album, To Each is Given, based on inspirational poetry, was released in 1998. He and co-writer Adam-Michael James teamed up to create the stage musical The Nine Lives of L.M. Montgomery based upon the life of the Canadian author. In 2014 Marchildon premiered a symphonic tribute to Canada entitled “Canada, Our Dear Home”, a 20-minute work for voice and orchestra celebrating the various cultural influences and indigenous Island fiddle music which helped to shape and support PEI’s role as the Birthplace of Confederation. In 2016 he was hired to compose underscore music for the Watermark Theatre summer productions of “The Glass Menagerie” and “Blithe Spirit” in Rustico, PEI, and again in 2018 for their production of “Dial M for Murder”. Marchildon has performed as a guest soloist with the PEI Symphony. He was also conductor for the Strathgartney Chamber Orchestra, which later became PEI Pops!. References Ext

Leo Smith (composer)

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Joseph Leopold Smith (26 November 1881 – 18 April 1952) was an English composer, writer, music critic, music educator, and cellist who was primarily active in Canada. His compositional output consists of works for cello, piano, choir and orchestra (most notably An Ancient Song and A Summer Idyll) and a considerable amount of chamber music (most notably String Quartet in D, Sonata in E Minor and A Horse Race Ballad). Early life in the UK Smith was born in Birmingham. A child prodigy, he began studying cello at a very young age with W.H. Priestley in Birmingham and then later with Carl Fuchs in Manchester. His first professional cello recital was given at the Birmingham Town Hall in 1890 when he was just 8 years old as part of the Harrison Concert series. Since then he performed actively in concerts as both a soloist and a chamber musician. Eventually he pursued further training at the Royal Northern College of Music and the University of Manchester (UM) where he was a pupil of Henry Hiles. While at the UM, he became a member of the Hallé Orchestra and eventually played in the orchestra at the Royal Opera House for five years. He notably performed under the batons of Béla Bartók, Cla

Léo-Pol Morin

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Léo-Pol Morin (13 July 1892 – 29 May 1941) was a Canadian pianist, music critic, composer, and music educator. He composed under the name James Callihou, with his most well known works being Suite canadienne (1945) and Three Eskimos for piano. He also composed works based on Canadian and Inuit folklore/folk music and harmonized a number of French-Canadian folksongs. Victor Brault notably transcribed his Inuit folklore inspired Chants de sacrifice for choir and 2 pianos. As a writer, Morin displayed a heavy interest in the music of Canada and the use of various folklore traditions within music composition. He wrote musical criticism for several Canadian publications and also published a book and a collection of essays. As a pianist, he played a major role in advocating music by French composers in his native country; notably performing the Canadian premieres of works by Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, Maurice Ravel, Albert Roussel, and Erik Satie among others. He likewise was an exponent of works by Canadian composers in France, including pieces by François Brassard, Claude Champagne, Henri Gagnon, Émiliano Renaud, Léo Roy, and Georges-Émile Tanguay.

Leonard Enns

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Leonard Jacob Enns (born 1948) is a Canadian composer of classical music. He is professor emeritus of the University of Waterloo. Early life and education Enns was born on 2 February 1948 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He has undergraduate degrees in music from Canadian Mennonite Bible College and Wilfrid Laurier University, and an M.Mus. in choral conducting and Ph.D. from Northwestern University, where his doctoral thesis (1982) was “The sacred choral music of Harry Somers : an analytical study”. He is an Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Musical career Enns was musical director of the United Mennonite Educational Institute in Leamington, Ontario from 1969 to 1972, and joined the teaching faculty of Conrad Grebel College of the University of Waterloo in 1977. He has composed some 65 works, mostly of choral music. His “Nocturne” was nominated for the Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year in 2010. His A Little More Time won the Chronos Vocal Ensemble’s fourth annual composition competition in 2020. References External links *

Leonard Woods (sculptor)

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Leonard Archibald Woods (1919–2014) was a Canadian sculptor, art historian, musician, composer, and author. He is best known for his sculptures The Angelic Symphony, as well as for being a co-founder of Langley Community Music School. Biography Woods was born on 13 November 1919 in Stonewall, Manitoba. His father worked at the nearby Stony Mountain Penitentiary. He studied under LeMoine Fitzgerald at the Winnipeg School of Art, where he also learned sculpture, graduating in 1940. During World War II he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force before being discharged in 1943. After his service, he further trained in sculpture with Emmanuel Hahn at the Ontario College of Art. Woods moved west to British Columbia where he re-opened the sculpture department at the Vancouver School of Art. In 1946, Woods exhibited three works with the British Columbia Artists Exhibition held at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Two years later, he created four bas-relief sculptures for the chancel of St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church in Vancouver. They were entitled The Angelic Symphony. Inspired by Psalm 150, the angels are represented playing modern musical instruments: a flute, a cello, a trumpet, and a pair

Lesley Barber

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Lesley Barber (born 1962) is a Canadian composer of music for film, theatre, chamber and orchestral ensembles and she is also a conductor, pianist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. Barber is best known for composing the film scores for Manchester by the Sea, Late Night, You Can Count on Me, Mansfield Park, Irreplaceable You, Hysterical Blindness, When Night Is Falling, and composing music for the animated television series Little Bear. Early life and education Born in 1962 in Toronto, Ontario, Barber started composing at age 10. She won several young composer awards and graduated with a master’s degree in music composition from The University of Toronto in 1988, studying with electro-acoustic music pioneer, composer Gustav Ciamaga and composer Lothar Klein. Career After university, Barber spent several years scoring for the alternative theatre scene in Toronto, creating music for over 20 theatre productions. Notable theatre works include Brad Fraser’s Unidentified Human Remains and The True Nature of Love George F. Walker’s Love and Anger, Nothing Sacred, Escape from Happiness, and Michel Garneau’s The Warriors. The latter two productions received Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Ou

Linda Bouchard

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Linda Bouchard (born 21 May 1957) is a Canadian composer and conductor. She is also an active conductor, teacher and producer. Biography Bouchard was born in Montreal, Quebec, and was raised in Montreal, Quebec. She has a BA in music (Bennington College, Vermont, 1979) and an MMus in composition (Manhattan School of Music, New York City, 1982). Her teachers were Ransom Wilson, Sue Ann Kahn, Harvey Sollberger (flute), David Gilbert and Arthur Weisberg (conducting), and Elias Tanenbaum, Ursula Mamlock and Henry Brant (composition). She has cited Henry Brant as a major influence in her music. She has experimented with different spatial placements of performers, both as a composer and as a conductor. Her music is characterized by timbral explorations and percussive explosions. Bouchard went to the U.S. in 1977 to study composition with Henry Brant. She lived in New York City from 1979 to 1990, where she composed, led new music ensembles, and made orchestral arrangements for The Washington Ballet, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and various churches in the New York metropolitan area. She was Assistant Conductor for New York Children’s Free Opera from 1985 to 1988 and guest-conducted the Orches

Lionel Daunais

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Noël Ferdinand Lionel Daunais, (December 31, 1901 – July 18, 1982) was a French Canadian baritone and composer. Life Born in Montreal, Quebec, Daunais studied singing with Céline Marier and harmony and composition with Oscar O’Brien. In 1923, he won first prize at the Montreal Musical Festival. He made his professional opera debut in January 1926 as Ourrias in Charles Gounod’s Mireille at the Orpheum in Vancouver. The following March he gave his first recital at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Daunais was also awarded the Prix d’Europe in 1926 which provided him with the opportunity to pursue studies in Paris with Émile Marcellin at the Opéra-Comique. In 1929, he joined the roster of principal artists at the Opera of Algiers. With that company he sang several leading roles, including Escamillo in Carmen, Figaro in The Barber of Seville, Giorgio Germont in La traviata, Lescaut in Manon, and Valentin in Faust. In 1933, the TL was engaged by CRBC for its network series One Hour with You, on which the group performed for 87 weeks. In 1934, the TL released the LP album Chansons de Lionel Daunais for Radio Canada International. In 1936, the group performed for the CBS radio network in New York w

Lisa Conway

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Lisa Conway-Bühler, also known as LCON, is a Canadian musician, vocalist, composer and producer. She has performed as part of The Owle Bird, Chrome and the Ice Queen, and is the former singer and lyricist of Toronto-based Del Bel. Early life and education Conway grew up in northern British Columbia where she started playing music as a child. She began playing the violin at the age of four and learned to play the guitar before developing an interest in songwriting. Her father worked as an elementary school music teacher and at the age of 13 she used his recording equipment to record and produced an album for her high school band. Influenced by Canadian composer Oliver Schroer while attending camp as a teenager, she later moved to Ontario to attend York University in Toronto, where Schroer had studied. She completed a residency with the Canadian Film Center in 2016. Toronto Star reviewer Ben Rayner called the band’s release Oneiric “one of the most accomplished albums, Canadian or otherwise, released in 2011.” During the mid-2010s Conway co-owned and operated Wildlife Sanctuary Sound, a recording and production studio in Grey County, with musician and producer Andrew Collins. They me

Lisle Ellis

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Lisle Ellis (born November 17, 1951) is a Canadian jazz bassist and composer who is known for his improvisational style and use of electronics. Biography Ellis was born in Campbell River, British Columbia. Ellis began playing electric bass in his teens and worked professionally from an early age in numerous environments including studios, radio & TV shows, and strip clubs. He was born Lyle Steve Lansall, but used his initials L. S. as his stage name Ellis; he also used the name L. S. Lansall-Ellis professionally. Ellis studied at the Vancouver Academy of Music with Walter Robertson and attended Douglas College in Vancouver. He later studied at the Creative Music Studio in New York City from 1975-1979. Ellis lived in Toronto, Ontario, Canada from 1982 until 1983 and then Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1983 until 1992. In 1986 Ellis was the first recipient of Canada’s Fred Stone Award, given annually to a musician for integrity and innovation. In the early 1980s in Vancouver, and the late 80’s in Montreal, Ellis was a conspicuous activator of musician alliance organizations, performance venues, and concert series presentations. One collective in particular, Vancouver’s New Orchestra W

Lloyd Blackman (musician)

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Lloyd Edgar Blackman (5 January 1928 – 16 September 2014) was a Canadian violinist, conductor, composer, and music educator. Life and career Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Blackman studied violin with John Waterhouse and George Bornoff and music theory with W.H. Anderson. He earned a Licentiate from The Royal Conservatory of Music in 1944 at the age of 16. He later studied violin privately in New York City with Theodor Pashkus and with Ottokar Čadek at the University of Michigan from 1948 to 1949 and 1959–1960. He also studied conducting with Allard de Ridder. Blackman began his performance career playing in several different orchestras for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation when he was just 15 years old. He quickly began performing in a variety of other ensembles, including travelling shows and ballet orchestras. In 1947 he was appointed principal violinist of the CBC Winnipeg Orchestra, a post he held for two years. He served in the same position for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in 1948–1949, during which time he was also an instrumental instructor in Winnipeg schools. From 1955–1975 he was concert master and associate conductor of the Regina Symphony Orchestra. He also worked

Loreena McKennitt

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Loreena McKennitt (born February 17, 1957) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer who writes, records, and performs world music with Celtic and Middle Eastern influences. McKennitt is known for her refined and clear soprano vocals. She has sold more than 16 million records worldwide. Early life and education McKennitt was born in Morden, Manitoba, of Irish and Scottish descent to parents Jack McKennitt (died 1992) and Irene née Dickey (1931–2011). In Morden, she developed her love for music, influenced, in part, by the musical traditions of the local Mennonite community. McKennitt enrolled at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg to become a veterinarian. While in Winnipeg she discovered folk music, including fellow Canadians Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and Gordon Lightfoot. After performing at the inaugural Winnipeg Folk Festival in 1974, McKennitt developed an interest in Celtic music and visited Ireland to hear it for herself. She learned to play the Celtic harp and began busking at various places, including St. Lawrence Market in Toronto to earn money to record her first album. In 1981, she moved to Stratford, Ontario to join the Stratford Festival

Lorne Ryder

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Lorne Ryder (born Lorne MacMillan September 1970 in Mississauga, Ontario) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. In his thirty six years in the Canadian music scene, he has received three Canadian Country Music Association top-ten nominations for Keyboard Player of the Year, two nominations for Best Country Artist at the Ontario Independent Music Awards, and was nominated for a 2009 Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards for Best Original Composition for his song, “Beautiful Feeling.” Career 80s–90s In 1985, while still at (Cawthra Park Secondary School) Lorne co-founded the all original progressive rock band Revision. Lorne played his first gig at the age of 15 in Etobicoke with Revision co founders guitarist frontman George Sheffield, drummer Leo Di Giovanni and guitarist Rob Sanderson. Lorne has credited Di Giovanni for getting him started in bands. In 1988, Lorne co-founded the band First & Last with his brother Kent (Max Bent) and Ralph Herzig. After a horrific accident Herzig was replaced by drummer Harold Vassell. Later they were joined by Bassist and Songwriter Steve Russell aka Psycopath (Infernal Majesty) and later Manitoba Guitarist Mark Grysiuk. They toured Ont

Lorraine Desmarais

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Lorraine Desmarais C.M. (born August 15, 1956) is a French-Canadian jazz pianist and composer. Early life and education Born in Montreal, she earned a Bachelor of Music (1977) and Master of Music (1979) in classical piano at Université de Sherbrooke. She studied with Armas Maiste at McGill University in 1978 and 1979, and later took lessons from Kenny Barron in New York. She has also been influenced by Chick Corea and Oscar Peterson. Career Desmarais has recorded ten albums as a solo performer and musical director, including several with well-known artists such as Michel Cusson and Michel Donato (Vision), Tiger Okoshi (Lorraine Desmarais), Don Alias (Andiamo), André Moisan, Jean Gaudreault and Ted Baskin from the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Michel Bettez from the Orchestre Métropolitain (Bleu Silence), in addition to her long-standing team of Frédéric Alarie (double bass) and Camil Bélisle (drums). She has composed a number of pieces for herself and for other performers, including Oliver Jones and Angèle Dubeau. Discography *Trio Lorraine Desmarais (Radio Canada, 1985) *Andiamo (Radio Canada, 1986) *Pianissimo (Radio Canada, 1987) *Vision (Les Disques Scherzo, 1991) * Lorraine

Louis Applebaum

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Louis Applebaum (April 3, 1918 – April 19, 2000) was a Canadian film score composer, administrator, and conductor. Early life He was born in Toronto, Ontario, and studied at the Toronto Conservatory of Music with Leo Smith and the University of Toronto with Boris Berlin, Healey Willan and Ernest MacMillan. He also studied composition privately in New York. Film composition Applebaum composed approximately 250 film scores for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) between 1942 and 1960, serving as its music director from 1942 to 1948, then as a consultant from 1949 to 1953. His NFB credits include Royal Journey (1951), The Stratford Adventure (1954) and Paddle to the Sea (1966). He was nominated, along with co-composer Ann Ronell, for an Academy Award for the score of the 1945 war film, The Story of G.I. Joe. He won a 1968 Canadian Film Award for his non-feature music score of Athabasca. He resigned from his administrative duties at Stratford in 1960 though he continued until 1999 to provide incidental music for festival productions. He was composer, music director or sound designer for 70 productions over 46 years. His fanfares have been played prior to every performance at Stratford

Louis Dufort

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Louis Dufort (born July 29, 1970) is a composer of electroacoustic music from Montreal, Canada. His work includes music for fixed media, mixed music with processing, and visual music. Over his career, he has fulfilled numerous commissions for various ensembles and musical organizations, including the Association pour la création et la recherche électroacoustiques du Québec (ACREQ ), Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ ), Réseaux/Akousma, Chants libres, Codes d’accès, Ensemble contemporain de Montréal (ECM+ ), EMPAC, Quasar saxophone quartet, Bozzini string quartet, Sixtrum percussion ensemble and Centre d’art et de technologie des médias de Karlsruhe. Particularly notable among his many collaborations is his long-standing partnership with choreographer Marie Chouinard, with whom he has worked since 1996 in composing the music for a great many of her works. In 2023, an entire edition of the journal Circuit, musiques contemporaines was dedicated to the subject of their collaborative work. The composer has also written music for the original soundtracks of the films The Fall of the American Empire (French: La chute de l’empire américain) (2018) and Denys Arcand’s Testamen

Lubomyr Melnyk

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Lubomyr Melnyk (born December 22, 1948) is a composer and pianist of Ukrainian origin. Melnyk is noted for his ‘continuous music’, a piano technique featuring extremely rapid notes and complex note-series, usually with the sustain pedal held down to generate harmonic overtones and sympathetic resonances. “This is a completely-completely different piano universe from everything that has existed before”, Melnyk explains. Music Melnyk links his piano technique to his national identity. “This music would not exist at all if I were not Ukrainian. Our distinguishing feature is that we tend to sacrifice ourselves. Ukrainians are self-sacrificing for things that are important to them”. These overtones blend or clash according to harmonic changes. Most of his music is for the solo piano, but he has also composed chamber music and orchestral works where he plays the continuous piano and is accompanied by musicians with other instruments, for example: “The End of the World” or “Vocalises and Antiphons”. Some pieces are performed for two pianos, where he plays over a recording of himself, for instance “Niche-Nourish-Niche-Xon”. Of his technique, he has said: There’s an act of creation. For thi

Lucien Martin

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Lucien Martin (30 May 1908 – 29 October 1950) was a Canadian violinist, conductor, and composer. Only one of his compositions was published, the art song La Chanson des belles, which was performed by Jeanne Desjardins in its premiere on the CBC Radio program Sérénade pour cordes. Life and career Born in Montreal, Martin was the son of violinist and string-instrument maker Cyrice Martin. He began his musical training with his father before entering the Conservatoire national de musique at the age of 7. He excelled at the school and earned a gold meld just a couple years later. He was named “the champion young violinist of the world” by the American press after a triumphant concert at the Central Theater in Biddeford, Maine in 1916. Martin continued his violin studies in Montreal with Albert Chamberland (1917–1920), Alfred De Sève (1920–1923), and Camille Couture (1923–1925). He also studied harmony with Georges-Émile Tanguay. From 1925–1928 he toured the United States as a concert and recital violinist. He won the Prix d’Europe in 1931 which enabled him to pursue further studies in France at the École Normale de Musique de Paris with Maurice Hayot. He earned a ’licence de concert’ f

Lucio Agostini

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Lucio Agostini (30 December 1913 (Fano, Italy) – 15 December 1996 (Toronto)) was an Italian-born composer, arranger, and conductor who established his career in Canada. Life At age three, Agostini moved with his family to Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His father, Giuseppe Agostini, was a composer and conductor and it is from him that he had his initial musical training beginning at age five. He later pursued further studies in harmony and composition with Louis Michiels and Henri Miro and in cello with Peter Van der Meerschen. At 16, Agostini was playing with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra as a cellist and was a part-time band player in a nightclub band playing saxophone and clarinet. From 1932 to 1943, he composed film music for the Associated Screen News of Canada newsreels, and in 1934 he began working as a conductor for the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (the forerunner to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). In Toronto, where he moved in 1943, he composed and conducted the incidental music for drama series and variety programs on the CBC radio and television, and for over 20 years he held the position as conductor and arranger on the popular weekly series Front Page Ch

Luna Pearl Woolf

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Luna Pearl Woolf (born 1973) is a Canadian-American composer, producer, and dramaturg. Her oeuvre includes opera, chamber music, orchestra, and choral compositions including works for dramatic chamber music, silent film scores, and musical story-telling. Her works have been commissioned Carnegie Hall, Washington National Opera, Tapestry Opera, Minnesota Sinfonia, Salle Bourgie, ECM+, Perelman Performing Arts Center, Concours Musical International de Montréal, among others, with collaborations with artists including Jeremy Irons, Cornelia Funke, Joyce DiDonato, Frederica von Stade, Royce Vavrek, David Van Taylor, Matt Haimovitz, and Dame Evelyn Glennie amongst many others. In 2014 she was an inaugural recipient of Opera America’s first grant for female composers. Biography Luna Pearl Woolf was born in 1973 in Western Massachusetts. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University, graduating Summa Cum Laude in music composition in 1996, and a Master of Arts from Smith College in music composition. Woolf’s principal composition teachers have been Mario Davidovsky, Augusta Read Thomas, Lewis Spratlan and Don Wheelock. Woolf was awarded the Ellen Taafe Zwilich Prize from the IAW

Lydia Boucher

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Lydia Boucher (28 February 1890 – 5 March 1971) was a Canadian composer, music educator, and nun. She was active as a composer from 1923 to 1971, producing several choral works and pieces for solo piano and organ. Most of her works are sacred and many of them were published by L’Édition Belgo-Canadienne, Musica Enrégistré, and Éditions canadiennes. Her first composition was Ave Maria (1923) and her last work was Hommage à Mère Marie-Anne (1971). Of particular note is her oratorio L’Oeuvre d’Esther Blondin which premiered in 1949. Some of her other notable pieces include the piano works Trois Préludes (1928–30) and La Ronde des aiguilles (1950), and the Alleluia for organ (1958). Life and career Born in Saint-Ambroise-de-Kildare, Quebec, Boucher studied music with Claude Champagne (music composition), Fleurette Contant (singing), J. Alexandre Delcourt (violin), Auguste Descarries (piano and composition), Rodolphe Mathieu (piano and harmony), Louis Michiels (composition), and Raoul Paquet (organ). She became a novitiate at the Sisters of Saint Anne in 1907. She took her vows in 1909 Composer Alice Vinette (Sister Marie-Jocelyne) was a contemporary of Boucher’s. Boucher was active as

Magali Babin

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Magali Babin (born 1967) is a Canadian musician, composer and sound artist based primarily in Montreal, Quebec. Active since the mid-1980s, she has received several commissions from many new music festivals and organisations. Artistic career Magali Babin is an interdisciplinary artist with a practice in sound art. Exploring space as sound material, Babin draws her materials from haptic proximities, acoustic landscapes, and real-life contexts to create environments composed of sequences, textures, and perspectives. Her works explore imperceptible aspects that create alertness and attention through listening. In recent projects, Babin has examined perception and memory by investigating the ways we identify sounds. Babin has performed in international festivals in Canada, USA, and Europe. Her installations have been presented at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (MAC), as part of the 2011 Quebec Triennial (MTL), at Mois Multi 2012 (QC), and at La Fabrique in 2013 (Nantes, France). Babin has a doctorate in art studies from UQAM. Babin’s sound work occurs through the massive amplification of tiny resonances in different objects. In her solo work, she usually produces dense and br

Malcolm Forsyth

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Malcolm Forsyth, CM (December 8, 1936 – July 5, 2011) was a South African-Canadian composer, teacher, and trombonist. Biography Born in Pietermaritzburg, Forsyth attended Maritzburg College, South Africa. He studied trombone, conducting, and composition at the University of Cape Town where he received a Bachelor of Music in 1963. He played trombone with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra while studying for a Master of Music degree in 1966 and a doctorate in 1969. In 1968, he emigrated to Canada to join the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra where he played bass trombone, then principal trombone, for 11 years. He was a music professor at the University of Alberta for 34 years, including as composer-In-residence from 1996 until his retirement in 2002. His students included composers Allan Gilliland, Allan Gordon Bell, Jeff McCune, and Allan Bevan. In 1970, Forsyth wrote Sketches from Natal for the CBC. The Forsyth portrait in the Canadian Composers Portraits series was released in 2002. Forsyth died in Edmonton on July 5, 2011. His daughter is the cellist, Amanda Forsyth. Further reading * * * * * * * References External links * Malcolm Forsyth Canadian Music Centre * * Malcolm Forsyth Tribut

Marc-André Hamelin

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Marc-André Hamelin, OC, OQ (born September 5, 1961) is a Canadian virtuoso pianist and composer who has received 11 Grammy Award nominations. He is on the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music. Biography Education Born in Montreal, Quebec, Hamelin began his piano studies at the age of five. His father, a pharmacist who was also an amateur pianist, introduced him to the works of Charles-Valentin Alkan, Leopold Godowsky and Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji when he was still young. He studied at the École de musique Vincent-d’Indy in Montreal with Yvonne Hubert and then at Temple University in Philadelphia with Harvey Wedeen. In 1989, he received the Virginia Parker Prize. Performances and recordings Hamelin has given recitals in many cities. His festival appearances have included Bad Kissingen, Belfast, Cervantino, La Grange de Meslay, Husum Piano Rarities, Lanaudière, Ravinia, La Roque d’Anthéron, Ruhr Piano, Halifax (Nova Scotia), Singapore Piano, Snape Maltings Proms, Mänttä Music Festival, Turku and Ottawa Strings of the Future, as well as the Chopin Festivals of Bagatelle (Paris), Duszniki and Valldemossa. He appears regularly in both the Wigmore Hall Masterconcert Series a

Marcel Gagnon (musician)

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Marcel Gagnon (born 2 May 1950) is a Canadian composer, singer, guitarist, and substance abuse counsellor. Career Born in Prince George, British Columbia, a member of the Lheidli T’enneh Band and the 16th of 20 children in his family, Gagnon was involved in music from his youth, playing for dances, weddings and private functions in central British Columbia, as well as for radio shows in Alberta and British Columbia. His career was interrupted by severe alcoholism, but after undertaking a recovery program, he recorded his breakthrough album Crazy Maker at the Banff Centre for the Arts in 2001. The album was nominated for a Best Music of Aboriginal Canada award in the Juno Awards of 2002. He has produced three other albums. In 1997, he graduated with a degree in addictions counselling. Acknowledging himself as a recovering alcoholic and a person affected by fetal alcohol syndrome disorder, Gagnon became a member of the Board of Directors of the Whitecrow Village FASD Society upon its inception in 2002. He has become a prominent advocate and counsellor for persons affected by the Canadian Indian residential school system. Currently, he is an elder of the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation.

Margaret Drynan

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Margaret Isobel Drynan (December 10, 1915 – February 18, 1999) was a Canadian composer, musician, writer and educator. She was born Margaret Isobel Brown in Toronto. She received a BMus from the University of Toronto in 1943. She studied with Arthur Benjamin, Madeline Bone, Michael Head, E. Kelvin James, James Campbell McInnes, Molly Slater and Healey Willan. She was a long-time member of the choir at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Toronto, also singing with the Tudor Singers and the Toronto Bach Choir. She was choirmaster and organist for Holy Trinity Church in Oshawa. From 1960 to 1969, she was music supervisor for the Oshawa elementary school board and, from 1969 to 1981, was music consultant for the Durham District School Board. From 1983 to 1990. she was choirmaster and organist for t. Matthew’s Anglican Church in Oshawa. Drynan died in Oshawa at the age of 83. References

Marian Grudeff

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Marian Grudeff (April 18, 1927 – November 4, 2006) was a Canadian concert pianist music teacher and musical theatre composer of Bulgarian origin. Early life and education Born in Toronto, Ontario, Grudeff studied piano under Mona Bates and performed Liszt’s Hungarian Fantasy with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at the age of 11. Career Grudeff gave her first solo recital at the Eaton Auditorium. She performed extensively in Canada and the United States in the 1940s, and taught at the Royal Conservatory of Music from 1948 to 1952. In 1950 she was the musical director of the Toronto theatrical revue Spring Thaw; she continued to be involved with the show during the 1950s and early 1960s, directing, writing songs for the show with Ray Jessel, Grudeff and Jessel subsequently collaborated on songs for the Broadway musical Baker Street; they moved to New York City, where the show ran more than 300 performances and received mixed reviews. They also worked together on music for a new version of Hellzapoppin, which was staged in Montreal during Expo 67, and they cowrote the musical Life Can Be - Like Wow, which was produced at the Charlottetown Festival in 1969. Grudeff returned to the Royal Co

Marie Bottrell

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Marie Diane Bottrell (born 1961) is a Canadian country music singer and songwriter. Bottrell released many singles which appeared on Canadian country music charts, and has received multiple Country Female Vocalist of the Year nominations. Early life and education Bottrell was born in London, Ontario. She began singing in her family’s band at age eleven. At age 17 she left school to start a career as a singer. Career Bottrell sang and wrote songs for the Whitestone Country Band as a teenager. In 1978 she recorded an album, Just Reach Out and Touch Me, on the MBS label. A single from this album, “This Feeling Called Love”, was her first hit. Bottrell won the Canadian Country Music Association award for Female Vocalist of the Year in 1983 and 1984. Later in the 1980s her recording career stalled because of management and label problems, but she began recording again in the 1990s. Bottrell was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2010. That year she played the lead role in the tribute show “Patsy Cline: The Legend”. In 2016 Bottrell performed at the Bluegrass in the Country Festival on Manitoulan Island. Discography Albums Singles References External links * *

Mario Duschenes

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Mario Duschenes, CM, LL.D. (27 October 1923 – 31 January 2009) was a Canadian flautist, recorder player, music educator and conductor. Early life Mario Duschenes was born in Altona, near Hamburg, Germany in 1923, the son of Franz and Grete Duschenes. He studied the recorder, sight singing and the piano before the age of twelve. In 1935, he began studying the flute with his father and brothers. Escaping Germany just prior to World War II, and his work was also influenced by his marriage to a child psychologist, Ellyn Simons, whom he wed in 1951, and with whom he had five children. Between 1954 and 1970 he also taught at McGill University, and subsequently at the University of Montreal between 1970 and 1973. His gracious, avuncular contribution to the musical education of youth was much praised: the music critic for The Globe and Mail wrote that “For all the simplicity of Duschenes’s language, he manages to achieve an intellectual level that patronises neither the children nor their parents,” while that of the Montreal Gazette noted that Duschenes was “probably doing more for the image of young people’s concerts than anyone else in Canada”. Duschenes also conducted regular orchestral

Marjan Mozetich

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Marjan Mozetich (born 1948) is a Canadian composer who has written music for theatre, film and dance, as well as symphonic works, chamber music, and solo pieces. He has written compulsory competition pieces for the 1992 Banff String Quartet Competition (Lament in the Trampled Garden) and the 1995 Montreal International Music Competition (L’esprit Chantant for violin and piano). Co-founder of Arraymusic in Toronto, Mozetich served as their artistic director from 1976 to 1978. After his work with Array, he worked for some time at the University of Toronto music library, and then became a freelance composer. Mozetich discovered classical music on CBC Radio, which inspired him to compose romantic music through listening to Chopin, Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninoff. He also first heard on the radio what was then considered “super-modern pieces”, which presented him with a totally different, almost science-fiction perspective. He then started improvising some of his own “super-modern pieces” rather than practicing the classics. At this point, he had not yet learned how to record his compositions. and a Bachelor of Music degree in 1972 in composition and piano. With the help of the Canada Cou

Mark Korven

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Mark Korven is a Canadian musician and composer for film and television. Works Film * 1987 – I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing * 1990 – White Room * 1991 – Sam & Me * 1992 – The Grocer’s Wife * 1992 – Voices from the Shadows * 1994 – Henry & Verlin * 1994 – The Michelle Apartments * 1995 – Curtis’s Charm * 1996 – Lyddie (TV) * 1996 – Joe’s Wedding * 1996 – Giant Mine * 1997 – Cube * 1999 – Win, Again! (TV) * 1999 – The Sheldon Kennedy Story (TV) * 2000 – Falling Through * 2000 – Saint Jude * 2001 – Tagged: The Jonathan Wamback Story (TV) * 2014 – Cruel and Unusual * 2015 – The Witch * 2017 – Awakening the Zodiac * 2018 – Our House * 2019 – The Lighthouse * 2021 – No One Gets Out Alive * 2021 – Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City * 2022 – The Black Phone * 2024 – Night Swim * 2024 – The First Omen * 2024 – Don’t Move Television * 1988 – The Twilight Zone * 1991 – Grand Larceny * 1993–1994 – Destiny Ridge * 1997 – Michael Grey Eyes * 1997 – The New Ice Age * 1997–1999 – A Scattering of Seeds * 1999–2003 – The Nature of Things * Love Is Not Enough * 2002 – New Year’s Resolutions * 2002 – Friday the 13th: The Devil in Dover * 2003 – The Ex-Factor * 2003 – Talk Mogadishu: Media Under F

Martin Léon

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Martin Léon (born April 26, 1966) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and composer from Quebec, most noted as a three-time winner of the Prix Jutra/Iris for Best Original Music. Background Originally from the Saint-Roch quarter of Quebec City, he studied contemporary music at the Université de Montréal, and subsequently had a seven-week apprenticeship under Ennio Morricone in 1995. With Geneviève Bilodeau he formed the jazz-pop duo Ann Victor, who won CKOI-FM’s L’empire des futures stars competition in 1997 and were nominated in several categories at the 21st Félix Awards in 1999 for their album Ciné-parc. - Canadian Screen Awards 2016 Best Original Song “Red and Yellow” from Our Loved Ones (Les Êtres chers) - rowspan=6 Jutra/Iris Awards 2011 rowspan=6 Best Original Music Aurelie Laflamme’s Diary (Le Journal d’Aurélie Laflamme) - 2012 Monsieur Lazhar - 2016 My Internship in Canada (Guibord s’en va-t-en guerre) - 2017 Kiss Me Like a Lover (Embrasse-moi comme tu m’aimes) - 2021 My Salinger Year (Mon année Salinger) - 2023 You Will Remember Me (Tu te souviendras de moi) References External links *

Marvin Duchow

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Marvin Duchow (June 10, 1914 – May 24, 1979) was a Canadian composer, teacher and musicologist who lived and worked in Montreal, Quebec. He was an expert on Renaissance music and the music of eighteenth century France. The McGill University Music Library in Montreal is named after him, as is the Duchow String Quartet. Early life and education Duchow was born in Montreal, Quebec. He began studying music theory in 1933 with Claude Champagne at the McGill Conservatory, and took private lessons in composition. After graduating with a Bachelor of Music, from 1937 to 1939 he attended the Curtis Institute, where he studied composition with Rosario Scalero and music criticism with Samuel Chotzinoff. He then attended New York University, while supporting himself by teaching. Career Duchow taught music at several schools while completing his education at New York University. He then returned to Montreal, where he taught at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and, beginning in 1944, at McGill University. From 1957 to 1963 he was the dean of McGill’s Faculty of Music. Among his notable students was composer Alan Belkin and Andrew Homzy https://homzy.ca - a jazz musician/musicologist who w

Matthew McCauley (producer)

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Matthew McCauley (born 1954) is a Canadian composer and record producer based in Los Angeles. In 1977 Matthew produced Dan Hill’s song “Sometimes When We Touch”. His film scores include Between Friends (1973), City on Fire (1979), Middle Age Crazy (1980), In the Custody of Strangers (1982) and Thunder Run (1986). Early life McCauley was born in Ottawa, Ontario, the son of composer William McCauley and Patricia McFarlane, daughter of author Leslie McFarlane. In 1973 he composed the score for the film Between Friends. He also composed the music for the 1975 film Sudden Fury, which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1977 McCauley and Fred Mollin produced Ronney Abramson’s album Stowaway at True North Records. That year McCauley travelled to Egypt, where he and anthropology student Mark Lehner began to study and map the Giza Plateau, near Cairo. A year later McCauley and Mollin produced the album Alibi for the band America. In 2000 McCauley was music director of the television series Andromeda; in 2001 he won a Leo Award for his composition for the series, “Music from a Distant Drum”. In 2002 he was presented with a Cleveland Regional Emmy award for his composition “Squeakers

Matthew Ricketts (composer)

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Matthew Ricketts (born 1986) is a Canadian composer of contemporary classical music. He is a 2019 Guggenheim Fellow as well as the recipient of the 2020 Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the 2016 Jacob Druckman Prize from the Aspen Music Festival, the 2015 Salvatore Martirano Memorial Composition Award, a 2013 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award, and eight prizes in the SOCAN Foundation’s Awards for Young Composers. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. Biography Matthew Ricketts was born in Victoria, British Columbia. He attended McGill University’s Schulich School of Music, where he studied composition with Chris Harman, Brian Cherney, and John Rea. He earned a doctorate in music composition from Columbia University, where he studied with George Lewis and Fred Lerdahl. Ricketts’s music has been performed by the Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra, Esprit Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, as well as by ensembles and soloists including JACK Quartet, Quatuor Bozzini, the Chiara String Quartet, FLUX Quartet, soprano Tony Arnold, and the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (NEM). He was Composer-Collaborator-In-Residence

Maurice Blackburn (composer)

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Joseph Albert Maurice Blackburn (22 May 1914 – 29 March 1988) was a Canadian composer, conductor, sound editor for film, and builder of string instruments. He is known for his soundtracks for animated film. Personal life Blackburn was born in Quebec City, Quebec. He was a graduate of the Université Laval and the New England Conservatory in Boston. Blackburn composed the music for McLaren’s animation film Blinkity Blank (1954) which won twelve prizes, including the Short Film Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1969 he created an animated film of his own, Ciné-Crimé. He composed the opera Une mesure de silence, whose libretto was written by his wife Marthe. In 1983 he was awarded the Albert-Tessier Prize by the Quebec government. Discography Compilations * Filmusique-Filmopéra with Yves Daoust (Analekta, AN 7005/06, 1996) (2CD) References

Maxime Goulet (composer)

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Maxime Goulet (born June 7, 1980) is a Canadian composer, who writes concert music for orchestra and scores for video games. Early life and education Maxime Goulet was born and raised in Montreal, Canada to a French speaking family. He studied music composing at Université de Montréal with Alan Belkin. He earned his B. Mus. in 2005 and his Master’s degree in 2007. Later, he attended several trainings and master classes, namely at the Festival international du film d’Aubagne in 2007, and the ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop, with Richard Bellis in Los Angeles in 2009. Career Concert music The concert music of Maxime Goulet has been performed by a wide range of ensembles and musicians in countries around the world, including the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Opera, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, the Houston Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and many others. Maxime Goulet’s works often explore themes of daily life and playfulness: Symphonic Chocolates evokes various chocolate flavours, Symphonic Aerobic Dance is a workout for orchestra, On Halloween Night evokes creatures assoc

Maya Badian

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Maya Badian (born 18 April 1945 in Bucharest) is a Romanian-born Canadian composer, musicologist, and professor. Biography Badian began to compose at five years of age, and later attended the Bucharest National University of Music in Bucharest, where she studied with Tiberiu Olah, Aurel Stroe, Zeno Vancea and Tudor Ciortea, graduating with a master’s degree in Composition in 1968. She continued her studies in orchestral conducting in Weimar, Germany during 1972. Since 1970, Badian has been a member of the Union of Romanian Composers and Musicologists. She was music director at the Radiophonic Theatre Department of the Romanian Broadcasting Corporation from 1968 to 1972 and a music professor at the George Enescu School of Music in Bucharest between 1973 and 1985. Emigrating with her family to Canada in 1987, she settled in Montreal. In 1990 she took Canadian citizenship, and moved to Ottawa, Ontario, in 1995. Badian is now a professor of theoretical studies, examiner, proof reader, and exam maker for the Canadian Royal Conservatory of Music Examinations and also a member of the Canadian League of Composers, and an Associate member with the Canadian Music Centre. In 1992, after two y

Mel Atkey

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Louis Melville Atkey (born June 16, 1958, in Vancouver, British Columbia - December 16, 2022 ) was a Canadian-born, English-emigrated musical theatre composer and lyricist. He began to write musicals while still in high school. After college he became a theatre critic in Canada, and continued to write musicals and songs while serving as director of Cabaret and Musical Theater Alliance until he moved to London in 1991. He is a member of the Writers’ Union of Canada and Mercury Musical Developments. He was a finalist for the Musical of the Year competition in Aarhus, Denmark, and his work has been short-listed for the Vivian Ellis Prize, the Quest for New Musicals, the Ken Hill Prize and Musical Stairs. Life and career Atkey was born to Ken (1927-2014) and Marion (1928-2022) Atkey (née Holmes),a commercial artist and a teacher respectively, in Vancouver, British Columbia, and grew up in neighbouring Ladner where he attended Delta Secondary School. During his high school years, Atkey began writing musicals, and continued to do so while attending Langara College in Vancouver. He gained his MA in Musical Theatre at Goldsmiths, University of London. In 1977, Atkey co-produced a jazz conc

Melissa Hui

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Melissa Hui is a Chinese-Canadian composer and pianist. She was born in 1966 in Hong Kong and currently resides in Montreal where she has been a faculty member at McGill University since 2010. Notable works by this artist include and blue sparks burn(2002) for violin and piano, Common Ground (1993) for orchestra, and San Rocco (1991) for oboe d’amore, SATB chamber choir, and chimes. Biography Early life and education Hui was born in the year 1966 in British Hong Kong (Now Hong Kong, China). In 1974, at the age of eight years old, she immigrated to Canada where she was raised from then on in Vancouver, British Columbia. Hui’s college education began at the University of British Columbia, where she earned her undergraduate degree in piano performance. For her graduate studies, Hui pursued and earned both her master’s and doctoral degrees in composition from the California Institute of the Arts and Yale University, respectively. Mentors to Hui during her collegiate studies in composition are noted as Jacob Druckman, Mel Powell, Martin Bresnick, Earl Kim, and Morton Subotnick. From 1994 to 2004, Hui served as a faculty member at Stanford University before moving back to Canada. In 2010

Michael Brook

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Michael Brook (born 1951) is a Canadian guitarist, inventor, music producer, and film music composer. He plays in many genres, including rock, electronica, world music, minimalism and film scores. His collaborations with musicians around the world have made him “one of the most sought-after producers in the music industry.” Career Brook studied music and electronics at York University and worked as an engineer at the Grant Avenue studios, then owned by the Lanois brothers. Here he worked with Brian Eno, The Edge, Jon Hassell and Harold Budd. In 1985 he released his first solo album Hybrid, containing instrumental tracks with Indian and African elements. He also opened the concerts with a solo set, featuring the Infinite Guitar with effects and sequencer backing. In 1998, he produced the album “Volcán: Tributo a José José”, a tribute album to singer Jose Jose. In 2006, the solo album RockPaperScissors was released, with an ambient remix version following in 2007. Brook toured small venues in Canada and the United States in late January/early February, 2007. In writing about his score for the film 2015 film Brooklyn, Variety said the film was “buoyed along by a beautiful Michael Broo

Michael Conway Baker

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Michael Conway Baker (born March 13, 1937) is an American-Canadian composer and music teacher. He became a Canadian citizen in 1970 and lives in North Vancouver. Life and career Baker was born in West Palm Beach, Florida, and taught himself basic music theory as a child. His father is comedian Phil Baker. one Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year (for his Concerto For Piano and Chamber Orchestra), and an ACTRA Award for Best Television Score (for A Planet for the Taking). He has composed for the National Ballet of Canada, Expo 86 in Vancouver, and two episodes of Road to Avonlea. In 1997, Baker was awarded the Order of British Columbia. He is known for having composed the Vancouver Variations, References External links * Official website

Michael Matthews (composer)

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Michael Matthews, born August 28, 1950, is a Canadian composer and photographer. He completed a Ph.D. in composition at North Texas State University in 1985. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and works in Victoria, British Columbia. Matthews’ abstract photographs have been exhibited in Germany and the US. Canadian publisher At Bay Press has published Gibbous Moon, a book of photography and poetry created in collaboration with poet Dennis Cooley. Early life Michael Matthews was born in Gander, Newfoundland in 1950. At that time his father John Matthews was working for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines as a ground operations manager. Matthews was still an infant when his family moved to Miami, Florida, where his father took a job with Pan Am. Growing up, Matthews lived in Miami, Kingston, Jamaica, Managua Nicaragua, Port of Spain and Piarco, Trinidad, and Karachi, Pakistan, where he attended and graduated from the Karachi American School (KAS). A year at Purdue University studying aeronautical engineering followed, and then a move to Los Angeles, where he changed his focus to music. After earning his Ph.D. in composition and conducting, Matthews took a nine-month teaching appointm

Michael McCann (composer)

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Michael Anthony McCann is a Canadian composer for television, video games and film. He is best known for composing the scores to the video games Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Borderlands 3. McCann’s music incorporates elements of electronic, orchestral and traditional acoustic instruments, and often includes the use of world, choral, and solo vocals (primarily female, and primarily lyric-less). His scoring work, as well as solo and production work, bridges multiple genres including ambient, world, jazz, break-beat, post-rock, trip-hop, drum and bass, industrial, rock and pop. McCann has received award nominations for his work in television, games & film, from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, IGN, Spike TV Video Game Awards, G.A.N.G., Hollywood Music In Media Awards, and G4TV X-Play. His sound-design work on the film It’s All Gone Pete Tong also earned him two Genie Award nominations for Best Overall Sound Editing and Best Overall Sound. Past projects include original composition work for MTV, VH1, Discovery Channel, The Gap / Old Navy, Par

Michael Vincent (music journalist)

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Michael Vincent (born 1976) is a music journalist, media executive, and composer, who splits his time between Toronto, Ontario and Moncton, New Brunswick. Since 2014, he has been publisher and editor-in-chief of Ludwig Van (formally Musical Toronto), and CEO of Museland Media Inc. He was a freelance music critic for the Toronto Star, and also a composer of works which combine electronic and traditional instrumentation, as well as his work with spoken word, which includes a full-length opera Generation X with text by the Canadian Author Douglas Coupland. His company, Museland Media (Ludwig Van) was acquired by ZoomerMedia for $1.1 Million in June 2023. Headed by Canadian media mogul Moses Znaimer, Ludwig Van joins other ZoomerMedia properties, which include BlogTO, Daily Hive, The Peak, and Curiosity. Michael Vincent has written and edited for Ludwig Van, The Toronto Star, La Scena musicale, Norman Lebrecht and was a contributing author for the book, Playing With Words: the spoken word in artistic practice, a collection of responses from over 40 leading contemporary composers and artists who have been invited to represent aspects of their creative practice with words, and in particu

Michel Corriveau

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Michel Corriveau (born June 29, 1962) is a Canadian composer of film and television scores from Quebec. He has received multiple nominations and awards throughout his career for Canadian and international films and TV productions Biography Based in Montreal, Michel Corriveau was raised in Grand-Mère, Quebec. His maternal grandfather, Philippe Filion, was an orchestral conductor for whom the main concert hall at the Centre des arts de Shawinigan in Shawinigan is named, His musical career started in 1986 when he joined Luba’s band as a keyboardist and accordionist. At the same time, he worked on multiple projects with keyboardist Jean-Alain Roussel, including albums by Céline Dion, Corey Hart and Martine St-Clair. Over the years, he composed the music for international advertising campaigns, including for McDonald’s, and for over 50 Canadian and international movies and television series. He has received multiple nominations for his work at the Genie and Canadian Screen Awards, the Quebec Cinema (Jutra/Iris) Awards, the Gemini Awards and the Prix Gémeaux, as well as winning awards from the Société professionnelle des auteurs et des compositeurs du Québec and the Society of Composers,

Michel Longtin

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Michel Longtin (born 20 May 1946) is a Canadian composer and music educator based in Montreal. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian League of Composers, he won the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music in 1986 for Pohjatuuli. Early life and education Longtin was born in Montreal, Quebec. He studied theatre arts, earning a Bachelor of Arts from the Collège des Eudistes in 1967. During the summers of 1963-1964 he also studied theatre at the Banff School of Fine Arts. He then pursued studies in computer science, stage directing, and music at the Université de Montréal (UM) from 1968 to 1973, ultimately earning a Bachelor of Music in composition. His mentor at the school was composer André Prévost. In the summer of 1971 he studied for a short time with Samuel Dolin at The Royal Conservatory of Music. That year he won a BMI Student Composer Award. He continued studies in the graduate composition program at the UM with Prévost and Serge Garant, earning a Master of Music in 1975 and a Doctor of Music in 1982. Career Longtin’s early compositions were mainly electronic music. From 1971 to 1975 Longtin worked at the electronic music studio of McGill Univer

Michel Perrault

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Michel Brunet Perrault (20 July 1925 – 6 February 2010) was a Canadian composer, conductor, music educator, and percussionist. As a composer, his work largely pulls on Canadian folk melodies and his compositions include classical of harmony and counterpoint. Perrault has been commissioned to write works for such notable organizations as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, and the Victoria Symphony Orchestra. From the late 1970s through the 1990s he wrote a considerable amount of music for the Gerald Danovitch Saxophone Quartet. Much of his music has been published by his own publishing company, Les Publications Bonart. Early life Born in Montreal, Quebec, Perrault studied at McGill University under Louis Decair from 1941 to 1943. He then entered the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal where he was a pupil of Réal Gagnier from 1943 to 1944. He also studied privately with Gabriel Cusson between 1943 and 1946. He then studied in France at the École Normale de Musique de Paris with Nadia Boulanger, Georges Dandelot, and Arthur Honegger from 1946 to 1947. After returning to Canada he studied privately with Conrad Letendre. In 1950 he was awarde

Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux

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Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux (9 August 1938 – 2 February 1985) was a Canadian composer and music educator who played an important role in the contemporary classical music scene of Canada and France from the late 1960s through the mid-1980s. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, she was commissioned to write works by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Broadcast Corporation, and the Quebec Contemporary Music Society. Life and career Born in La Doré, Quebec, Saint-Marcoux studied at the École de musique Vincent-d’Indy, the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal (CMQM), and the Conservatoire de Paris. Her teachers included Gilbert Amy, Françoise Aubut, François Brassard, Claude Champagne, Jean-Pierre Guézec, Yvonne Hubert, Clermont Pépin, Pierre Schaeffer, and Gilles Tremblay. In 1967, she was the first woman to be awarded the Prix d’Europe for composition with Modulaire for orchestra. References

Milan Kymlicka

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Milan Kymlicka (Czech: Milan Kymlička; 15 May 1936 – 9 October 2008) was a Czech-Canadian arranger, composer and conductor. He was known for his composition of film and television scores, including those for the animated television series Rupert, Babar, Anatole, The Busy World of Richard Scarry and The Adventures of Paddington Bear and the live-action television series Lassie and Little Men. He received a Genie Award in 1996 for his work on Margaret’s Museum. Early life Kymlicka was born in Louny, Czechoslovakia. He earned degrees from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and the Prague Conservatory. At the latter institution he was a pupil of Emil Hlobil. Career Kymlicka began his work as a composer in his native country and by 1967, he had produced 20 film scores, a ballet, a cello concerto, several works for solo piano, a number of string quartets, and created the theme for an animated television series. After the Prague Spring in 1968, Kymlicka emigrated to Canada, where he settled in Toronto, Ontario. By the early 1970s, he was working as a studio arranger/conductor at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In 1974, Kymlicka became a naturalized Canadian citizen. That year

Milton Barnes (composer)

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Milton Barnes (16 December 1931 – 27 February 2001) was a Canadian composer, conductor, and jazz drummer. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, his music is noted for its frequent use of Jewish themes, its rejection of the avant garde in favor of tonality, and its blend of classical, jazz, and pop elements. His music has been labeled by some critics as “eclectic fusion”. He was commissioned to write works by Robert Aitken, Liona Boyd, Paul Brodie, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Erica Goodman, Joseph Macerollo, the Harbord Bakery, the New Chamber Orchestra of Canada, the Ontario Federation of Symphony Orchestras, John Perrone, and Trio Lyra among others. He remained active as a composer up until his sudden death of a heart attack in 2001. He is the father of singer/songwriter Micah Barnes, cellist Ariel Barnes, and drummer/producer Daniel Barnes. Life Born in Toronto, Barnes entered The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) in 1952 where he was a pupil of Samuel Dolin (piano), Victor Feldbrill (conducting), Ernst Krenek (composition), Boyd Neel (conducting), Walter Susskind (conducting), and John Weinzweig (composition). He graduated from the RCM in 1955 after which he ente

Minuetta Kessler

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Minuetta Shumiatcher Borek Kessler (September 5, 1914 – November 30, 2002) was a Russian-born Canadian and later American concert pianist, classical music composer, and educator. A child prodigy, she performed her first composition at a recital at the age of 5 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and went on to study at the Juilliard School in New York City. She composed hundreds of pieces, including music for piano, violin, voice, flute, clarinet and cello, as well as for chamber ensembles. She performed all over Canada and in Boston and New York, including performances at Carnegie Hall and The Town Hall, and with the Boston Civic Symphony and the Boston Pops. The New York Times called her “a rare phenomenon among the younger pianists of today – more musician than pianist”. the eldest child of Abraham Isaac Shumiatcher, a lawyer who attended the University of Alberta Faculty of Law and was appointed a Queen’s Counsel, and his wife, Luba Lubinsky, a graduate of the University of Warsaw who worked as a tutor for children in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Her parents had moved to Calgary before her birth, but her mother was visiting her native country when Minuetta was born. Her paternal grandfat

Morris Davis (composer)

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Morris Cecil Davis (1 March 1904 – 13 November 1968) was a Canadian composer, arranger, and conductor. He was sometimes referred to as “Rusty Davis”. A largely self-taught composer and orchestrater, he wrote more than 200 jingles for Canadian radio and television. He also contributed incidental music to more than 100 radio and TV programs and composed more than 30 scores for feature films; including the scores to Whispering City (1947), La Forteresse (1947), Le Curé de village (1949), and Tambour battant (1952). He also composed a number of orchestral works, songs, and jazz pieces. His jazz concerto Blues and Finales in G (1942) is written in the style of Rhapsody in Blue, and his Serenade for Trumpet in Jazz (composed before 1948) was played often in concerts by Maynard Ferguson. Life and career Born in Ottawa, Davis began his musical education in Montreal where he studied the piano with such teachers as Nicholas Eichorn, Alfred La Liberté, and A.E.J. MacCreary. He studied law at McGill University (MU) where he earned of Bachelor of Arts in 1930. While a student there he notably wrote the MU’s annual Red and White Revue in 1926 and 1927. In 1927 he co-wrote the review The Little R

Murray Adaskin

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Murray Adaskin, (March 28, 1906 – May 6, 2002) was a Canadian violinist, teacher, and composer. Biography Born in Toronto to Latvian Jewish immigrant parents, Adaskin was introduced to the violin by his brother, Harry; he also studied in Paris with Marcel Chailley (1929), and in Toronto with Luigi von Kunits, William Primrose (1937), and Kathleen Parlow (1941-43). During the 1940s, he commenced compositional studies with John Weinzweig, Charles Jones and Darius Milhaud at the Music Academy of the West. Among his notable pupils were composers Boyd McDonald, Paul Pedersen, Rodney Sharman and Timothy Williams, and violinist Andrew Dawes. A founding member of the Canadian League of Composers, Adaskin composed more than half of his oeuvre of 130 compositions after retiring to Victoria in 1973. The Order of Canada was conferred on him in 1980. The Adaskin portrait in the Canadian Composers Portraits series was released in 2002. He died in Victoria on May 6, 2002. Compositional style Adaskin’s works encompass orchestra, band and chamber ensembles, solo and duo instruments, voice, and student and occasional pieces. He also wrote the chamber opera, Grant, Warden of the Plains (1967). His tr

Mychael Danna

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Mychael Danna (born September 20, 1958) is a Canadian composer of film and television scores. He won both the Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Original Score for Life of Pi. He has also won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Original Dramatic Score) in his work on the miniseries World Without End. Personal life Danna’s family moved to Burlington, Ontario, when he was four weeks old. He is the brother of fellow composer Jeff Danna. He studied music composition at the University of Toronto. He has two children with his wife, Aparna. Career Danna served for five years as composer-in-residence at the McLaughlin Planetarium in Toronto (1987–1992). Works for dance include music for Dead Souls (Carbone Quatorze Dance Company, directed by Gilles Maheu 1996), and a score for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Gita Govinda (2001) based on the 1000-year-old classical Gita Govinda, with choreographer Nina Menon. In June 2014, Danna was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Toronto, for his career achievements in the field of music. He has been scoring films since his 1987 feature debut for Atom Egoyan’s Family Viewing, a score which earne

Myke Roy

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Myke Roy (born 2 July 1950) is a Canadian composer and recording engineer. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community, his compositional output includes a substantial amount of electroacoustic music, instrumental music, multi-media works, and music for the theatre. In 1976 he was awarded the Sir Ernest MacMillan Award/Fellowship by the Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada for his works Sveln (piano and synthesizer), Dra-men Dzunkt (8 performers or more) and Tsé Tnant/Te Deum (17 amplified instruments and tape). In 1987 he won the Robert Fleming Prize. Education Born in Trois-Rivières, Roy began his musical education at the École supérieure de musique de Nicolet where he studied from 1970 to 1972. He pursued further studies at the Université de Montréal where he earned a Bachelor of Music in 1975, a Master of Music in 1980, and a Doctor of Music in 1989. One of his principal teachers at the UM was Serge Garant. Career Roy began his career as a recording engineer in 1972. In 1974-1975 he worked with Alcides Lanza and Mario Bertoncini at McGill University’s Electronic Music Studio. He was also employed at the Uni

Nancy Telfer

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Nancy Telfer (born May 8, 1950) is a Canadian choral conductor, music educator and composer. Biography Nancy Ellen Telfer was born in Brampton, Ontario. She began piano lessons at age six and later played French horn in bands, orchestras and chamber ensembles. She graduated from the University of Western Ontario and worked as a music and drama teacher in the public schools. In 1977 she continued her studies at the University of Western Ontario under Jack Behrens, Kenneth Bray, Peter Paul Koprowski, and . She graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a bachelor’s in music in 1979 and began composing. Works Telfer has composed more than three hundred works for orchestra and solo instruments, with concentration in choral ensembles and solo voice. She is well known for her work for CNCM (Canadian National Conservatory of Music) and RCM (The Royal Conservatory of Music), contributing many pieces to their graded piano repertoire. Selected works include: * Trampoline (Northern Lights by CNCM) * Dancing In The Garden (Northern Lights by CNCM) * Sun and Rain (Northern Lights by CNCM) * Spring Break (Northern Lights by CNCM) * Delivering Newspapers (Northern Lights by CNCM) * Chi

Ned Bouhalassa

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Ned Bouhalassa (born 25 August 1962 in Le Mans, France) is a composer of film scores, television scores, and electroacoustic music. Bouhalassa is a Canadian citizen, and has been living in Montreal since 1967. In 1993, he began composing television soundtracks, and has been writing music for image full-time since 1997. His music has been heard in international television series such as 18 to Life, 15/Love, and Dogs with Jobs, as well as in independent feature films including Jack & Ella, Evil Words, These Girls, starring David Boreanaz, and On the Verge of a Fever (Le Goût des jeunes filles). A student of composer Francis Dhomont at l’université de Montréal, and professor Kevin Austin at Concordia University, Montreal, he has been composing electroacoustic music since 1987. Regularly programmed at Montreal’s Elektra and Réseaux festivals, his concert music has also been heard around the world. Since the late 1990s, he has been exploring hybridization by combining electronic beats with electroacoustic soundscapes, and more recently, he has been interested in collaborating with video artists and writing works for surround-sound systems. Bouhalassa received first prize in the electroa

Neil Bartram

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Neil Bartram is a musical theatre composer/lyricist based in New York. Bartram is the composer and lyricist of Disney’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Theory of Relativity and Broadway’s The Story of My Life with book writer Brian Hill. Awards include a Jeff Award nomination for his score for Shakespeare in Love at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, the ASCAP Foundation’s Yellen Award, a Jonathan Larson Foundation Award, a Dramatists Guild Fellowship and a Dora Award. Music Theatre International licenses The Story of My Life and The Theory of Relativity. Concord Theatricals licenses The Adventures of Pinocchio. The Story of My Life and The Theory of Relativity cast albums were produced by PS Classics. Bartram is a Dramatists Guild member, ASCAP member, and an alumnus of the BMI Lehman Engel Music Theatre Workshop. His work is published by Warner/Chappell Music. Works *The Story of My Life with Brian Hill, directed by Richard Maltby Jr., starring Will Chase and Malcolm Gets *The Adventures of Pinocchio with Hill, commissioned by Chicago Shakespeare Theater *Something Wicked This Way Comes with Hill *Belles Soeurs, Canadian National Tour *The Theory of Relativity with Hill, Goodspeed Musica

Neil Chotem

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Neil Chotem (9 September 1920 – 21 February 2008) was a Canadian composer, arranger, conductor, pianist, and music educator. Works Chotem’s compositional style is tonal, and often incorporates elements of jazz and popular music. He composed a considerable body of works for television and radio and also wrote music for a number of leading Canadian performers like Maureen Forrester, Paul Piché, and Michel Rivard. In 1968 he, Paul de Margerie, and Marcel Lévêque were awarded a Montreal Festival du disque prize for 3-12, an LP for which the three men all worked together as conductors and arrangers. He received another prize from that same organization that same year for Renée Claude’s recording of his arrangement of Jacques Brel’s song Ne me quitte pas. For the progressive rock band Harmonium he wrote, arranged and conducted the orchestral score for their critically acclaimed double album L’Heptade (1976). In 1993, he received the Prix de la Guilde from the Guilde des musiciens du Québec. Biography Chotem was born in Saskatoon, and began studying the piano at the age of 5 at the Palmer School of Music. He became a pupil of Lyell Gustin in 1930 with whom he studied for almost the next n

Nic Gotham

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Nicholas Ivor Gotham, known as Nic Gotham, (27 September 1959 – 25 July 2013) was a Canadian jazz saxophonist and composer. His 1992 chamber opera, Nigredo Hotel, won two Dora Awards and was nominated for the Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award. Biography Life and career Gotham was born in Eastleigh, England and grew up in Ancaster, Ontario where his family emigrated when he was four years old. He studied at the University of Western Ontario and at York University, Toronto under the saxophonist David Mott and composer James Tenney. In the mid-1980s he played with Fred Stone’s improvising ensemble (known informally as Freddie’s Band). He went on to form his own ensembles which were active in the Canadian jazz scene during the late 1980s and 1990s, including his first band “Gotham City”, “Hemispheres” (a fifteen piece “big band” specialising in jazz and new music), and “40 Fingers” (an improvising saxophone quartet). In 1988 Gotham approached Canadian playwright Ann-Marie MacDonald to write the libretto for his first opera, Nigredo Hotel after having composed the incidental music and sound effects for her play Goodnight Desdemona. The opera, a commission by Tapestry New Opera Works

Nicole Carignan

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Nicole Carignan (born 1952) is a Canadian composer and music educator living in Quebec. She is a professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal. Early life and education Carignan was born in Plessisville and earned a bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), a B.Mus. and a M.Mus. in composition and a PhD in comparative and intercultural education from the Université de Montréal. Career Carignan has written articles about music education, and has led seminars and workshops on composition in South Africa, Europe, Russia and the United States. She is a researcher at the Faculty of Education of the Université de Montréal, the Department of Education of UQAM and at Cleveland State University. She has also taught at the University of Port Elizabeth in South Africa. She has earned honourable mentions from the Canadian Race Relations Foundation for two of her projects: Intercultural encounters between immigrants learning French and pre-service teachers at UQAM and the development of a teacher’s guide for the DVD A lesson in discrimination Selected compositions *“Quiebra” (1994) * “Time, Space and Context: The Last 23 Days” References

Nicole Lizée

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Nicole Lizée (born 7 April 1973) is a Canadian composer of contemporary music. She was born in Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan and received a MMus from McGill University. She lives in Montreal, Quebec. She was a member of Montreal indie rock band The Besnard Lakes. Career Lizée has been described as a “brilliant musical scientist.” She takes her inspiration from various sources including early MTV videos, rave culture, films by Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick, and 1960s psychedelia. She has composed pieces for the Kronos Quartet, the San Francisco Symphony, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Gryphon Trio, the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, the Australian Art Orchestra, So Percussion and Eve Egoyan. Her music has been performed at international venues including Carnegie Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, the Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, and the Cité de la Musique. In 2024, she received a Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year for Don’t Throw Your Head in Your Hands. Discography Solo studio albums * This Will Not Be Televised (2008), Centrediscs * Bookburners (2014), Centrediscs Collaborative albums * Gr

Nicole Rampersaud

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Nicole Rampersaud is a Canadian trumpeter and composer. A 2024 Guggenheim Fellow, she has been a member of several bands, and her solo debut album Saudade was nominated for the 2024 East Coast Music Award for Instrumental Recording of the Year. Biography Nicole Rampersaud was born in Toronto and raised there. She attended the University of Toronto, where she graduated from the Jazz Performance Program, and the New England Conservatory of Music, where she was awarded a Master of Music degree in jazz performance in 2006. She is founding trumpeter for the trio c_RL, formed in 2009. In 2019, she was the first composer-in-residence for the OBEY Convention. In 2021, she formed (with Parmela Attariwala and Germaine Liu) Understory, an improv project centered on virtual performance. She performed at the 2022 Guelph Jazz Festival. She also formed the duo Brass Knuckle Sandwich with pianist Marilyn Lerner, playing as trumpeter. In November 2023, she released Saudade, her debut solo trumpet Saudade was nominated for the 2024 East Coast Music Award for Instrumental Recording of the Year, losing to Flying Pooka!’s The Ecstasy of Becoming. She, Liu, and Matana Roberts headlined the final act of

Nikolai Korndorf

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Nikolai Sergeevich Korndorf (, January 23, 1947 – May 30, 2001) was a Russian and Canadian (from 1991) composer and conductor. He was prolific both in Moscow, Russia, and in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Biography Born in Moscow, (Russian SSR,Soviet Union), Korndorf studied composition with Sergey Balasanian at the Moscow Conservatory from 1965 to 1970. During these years, he wrote a one-act opera A tale on… () based on the work of Semyon Kirsanov. In 1973 Korndorf completed post-graduate studies with his opera Feast in the Time of Plague based on the play of the same name by Alexander Pushkin. He studied conducting with Leo Ginsburg from 1967 to 1979 and taught composition and orchestration at the Conservatory from 1972 to 1991. In 1973 he became a member of the Union of Composers and the Moscow Presidium of the Soviet Composers’ Union. He was a co-founder and deputy president of the New Association for Contemporary Music (ACM). His early works were written in a traditional and academic manner until he adopted an atonal post-expressionist style. Later, he turned to a kind of minimalist repetitive aesthetic, notable in his Confessiones (1979) for double bass and twelve win

Norma Beecroft

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Norma Marian Beecroft (1934–2024) was a Canadian composer, producer, broadcaster, and arts administrator. Early years Born in Oshawa, Beecroft was the daughter of Julian Beecroft, a musician, machinist, and inventor who pioneered the development of magnetic tape, and actress Eleanor Beecroft (née Norton). She received her earliest musical education from her parents, both of whom had musical training. Her father had originally intended to pursue a career as a pianist and had given concerts in his early 20s. His career, however, was cut short when he lost three of his fingers in a woodworking accident. Her parents married in 1931 and their marriage produced four other children (including the poet and painter, Jane Beecroft) besides Norma. The couple divorced in 1947 when Norma was 13 years old. Education In 1950 Beecroft began taking private piano lessons with Aladar Ecsedy until she entered the Royal Conservatory of Music in 1952. She attended classes at the Conservatory through 1958 where her teachers included Gordon Hallett (piano), Weldon Kilburn (piano), and John Weinzweig (music theory and composition). In 1957-58 she studied the flute privately with Keith Girard and in the sum

Norman Orenstein

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Norman Orenstein is a Canadian composer, record producer, and musician. Career Orenstein is the co-founder of the rock/soul band Infidels, and Alta Moda, and was previously associated with the bands Michaele Jordana and the Poles, among others. As of 1996, Orenstein split his ties with I.R.S. Records / Capitol Records, and is now an independent, unsigned artist. Orenstein began creating music early in his life and cites his mother’s blues and jazz record collection and Jimi Hendrix as inspirations. After being involved with multiple rock and R&B bands in the 1970s, Orenstein collaborated with singer Molly Johnson in Toronto and they began creating their own music under the moniker Alta Moda. Alta Moda’s first album release was on the Epic label for CBS Records, and had some commercial success. In 1990, Orenstein and Johnson signed with Miles Copeland III’s I.R.S. Records. They recorded and released the first album as Infidels, which saw worldwide release and again some commercial success as well as a Juno Award in 1991. While still keeping a hand in songwriting and record production, Orenstein began composing for film in 1994, scoring Steve Di Marco’s Spike of Love. Orenstein conti

Norman Symonds

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Norman Alec Symonds (23 December 1920 – 21 August 1998) was a Canadian composer, clarinetist, and saxophonist who lived and worked in Toronto, Ontario. A leading figure in the third-stream movement in Canada, he composed several jazz works which employed classical forms. Early life and education Symonds was born in Nelson, British Columbia. He grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, where he began playing the clarinet as a teenager. He served in the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II from 1938 to 1945. While stationed in Halifax he played with a dixieland band under the direction of saxophonist Charles “Bucky” Adams. The ensemble performed at the Stratford Festival in 1956. In 1967 the orchestra performed his Democratic Concerto along with the Fred Stone Quartet. In 1968 Symonds travelled about rural Canada on a fellowship from the Canada Council, writing and composing; his work became a 13-part radio series titled Travelling Big Lonely. Symonds’ composition “A Gift of Thanksgiving” was performed in 1980 by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. In 1987 his work was included on the National Arts Centre Orchestra recording Canadian Classics Vol. 2. Selected compositions *“Concerto Gros

Normand Roger

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Normand Roger (born 1949) is a Canadian composer, sound editor and sound designer. He is particularly known for his work as a composer of soundtracks for animated films, having composed more than 200 such works since 1970. He has also worked on the creation of music for documentaries, feature films, television dramas, children’s series, commercials, and new technologies with 3D and virtual reality. He is the composer of many original soundtracks for Frédéric Back, Paul Driessen, Michaël Dudok de Wit, Caroline Leaf and Aleksandr Petrov. Thirteen of his works have been nominated for Academy Awards, of which six have won. He also notably wrote the theme for the PBS’s Mystery!. Roger lectures throughout the world on music and sound for animation. Roger has spent nearly 40 years creating soundtracks for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) in his hometown of Montreal, after first being hired for its animation department at the age of 22. His extensive NFB credits include Every Child and The Sand Castle, both winners of the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. He is married to animation film director and producer Marcy Page, whom he met while working with on her film, Paradisia

Oliver Haze

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Oliver Haze is a Montreal-based Canadian composer-songwriter and performer, having shared the stage with the likes of Nelly Furtado, David Usher, The Tea Party, Big Sugar and many more. His hit single, “Holy Water” reached number one on the BDS charts in Canada. He also made a cover of Duran Duran’s “Save a Prayer”, another song from his debut album Wandering Trip (2001). Collaborators on his album included producers John Webster (who has worked with Aerosmith and Tom Cochrane), Terry Brown (Rush), and Al Sutton (Kid Rock). ;Charted songs in Canada *“My World Is you” (2000) reached No. 2, 11 weeks in the charts *“Holy Water” (2001) reached No. 1, 15 weeks in the charts *“Save a Prayer” (2001) reached No. 14, 12 weeks in the charts * top 10 in Europe charts (Portugal, England, Germany …) Sources *Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, Palmarès anglophone et allophone – Compilation des succès par ordre alphabétique d’interprètes (Compilation of rankings in Anglophone and Francophone Record charts in alphabetical order by performer), p 497 *Drouin, Serge, , Journal de Québec 11 March 2010 *MuchMusic Playlist for week ending 30 June 2001, Billboard, 30 June 2001, p. 68 *Perei

Omar Daniel (composer)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Omar Daniel (born 1960) is a Canadian composer and pianist, and an associate professor of composition at the Western University. Early life and education Daniel was born in Toronto, Ontario, of Estonian descent. He earned a Doctor of Music from the University of Toronto where he was a music composition pupil of John Beckwith. Career In 1997 he won the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music for his Zwei Lieder nach Rilke, a work for soprano and chamber ensemble. At about that time he created a number of compositions for guitar which were performed at the Winnipeg New Music Festival and recorded by classical guitarist Rachel Gauk. In 2003, he taught musical theory and practice at The Glenn Gould School in Toronto. In 2007 he received the K.M. Hunter Artists Award for classical music. He served on the faculty of Wilfrid Laurier University, and later became an associate professor of composition at the Western University. Daniel was commissioned to create a non-verbal choral work for the Latvian Radio Choir, who performed it in Toronto in 2018. That year Daniel performed at Chamberfest in Ottawa. In October 2020, Daniel released a CD Omar Daniel: Chamber Works, a collection of chamber

Omer Létourneau

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Joseph Hercule Omer Létourneau (13 March 1891 – 14 August 1983) was a Québécois pianist, organist, composer and orchestra conductor from Saint-Sauveur. Early life and education Though born in Québec proper, Létourneau studied organ and piano with of Joseph-Arthur Bernier in Saint-Sauveur, Quebec. Career Létourneau won the Prix d’Europe in 1913, and travelled to Paris, France to perform on piano and organ. At the beginning of World War I, he returned to Quebec and became organist of the St-Sauveur of Quebec Church, a position he held for many years. In 1917 he directed the production of L’Accordée de village in the Auditorium de Québec in Quebec City which included performances from singers such as baritone Joseph Fournier de Belleval. After the war he went once more to Paris to complete his studies, then returned to Quebec. He founded a magazine, La Musique, and opened a music store, La Procure musicale. During the 1930s he taught at l’Ecole de Music; one of his notable students was Edwin Bélanger. During this time he also led the Laurentian Quartet. In 1981 he was the subject of a television documentary, M. Omer Letourneau: La Vie musicale a Quebec depuis trois generations. Person

Oscar O'Brien

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Oscar O’Brien (7 September 1892 – 20 September 1958) was a Canadian folklorist, composer, pianist, organist, music educator, and Roman Catholic priest. A large portion of his compositions were based in folklore and he also arranged and harmonized roughly 400 French and Canadian folksongs; many of which were written for his collaborations with Charles Marchand and the Alouette Vocal Quartet. He worked as an arranger or accompanist on numerous 78 rpm recordings for such labels as Bluebird, Brunswick, Columbia, Starr, and Victor. He contributed numerous articles on folklore to publications like Le Canada français and was a frequent lecturer on folklore subjects. In 1978 CBC Radio recognized O’Brien in a series of six broadcasts featuring his harmonizations. Life and career Born in Ottawa, O’Brien was a pupil of Amédée Tremblay with whom he began studying both the piano and the organ as a young teenager. At the age of 16 he was appointed Tremblay’s deputy organist at the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica, Ottawa. He continued to study with Tremblay while taking courses as De La Salle Academy and the University of Ottawa. In 1917 he moved to Montreal where he lived and worked for the rest o

Oskar Morawetz

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Oskar Morawetz, (January 17, 1917 – June 13, 2007) was a Canadian composer, teacher and pianist. Biography Morawetz was born in Světlá nad Sázavou, Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic), into a Jewish family. He studied piano and theory in Prague and, following the Nazi takeover of his country in 1938, studied in Vienna and Paris. At age 19 he was recommended by George Szell for the assistant conductor’s post with the Prague Opera. In 1940 he left Europe for Canada where he began teaching at the Royal Conservatory of Music in 1946, and in 1952 was appointed to the University of Toronto where he was professor of composition until his retirement in 1982. His work was also part of the music event in the art competition at the 1948 Summer Olympics. Morawetz’s 1971 piece From the Diary of Anne Frank won a Juno Award for Best Classical Composition in 2001. His Concerto for Harp and Orchestra also won a Juno in 1989. On three occasions, Morawetz was awarded a Canada Council Senior Arts Fellowship (1960, 1967, 1974) for his contribution to Canadian music. In 1987, Morawetz received the Order of Ontario and in 1989 he received the Order of Canada. The Society of Composers, Authors and Music P

Owen Underhill

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Owen Underhill (born January 26, 1954) is a Canadian composer, flutist and conductor based in Vancouver. He is currently a professor of music at Simon Fraser University. He has been an active contributor to the new music scene on the West Coast, as a flutist, as co-music director of Western Front New Music (1982-3), as the artistic director (1987–2000) of the Vancouver New Music Society, and as a conductor in Magnetic Band and the Turning Point Ensemble, for which he is also currently the Artistic Co-Director. Early life and education Underhill studied composition at the University of Victoria with Rudolf Komorous. He completed his master’s at Stony Brook University under Bülent Arel. He studied analysis at the Darmstadt Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in 1978, and computer sound synthesis at MIT in 1979. Career Underhill was a visiting composer 1976-7 at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo where he taught from 1977–81, creating a composition program and founding an electronic music studio. Since 1981, he has taught at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby. In 1994 Underhill won first prize in the Winnipeg Symphony’s Canadian Composer Competition. In 2000 he released an album of his own

Pat Carrabré

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T. Patrick Carrabré is a Canadian composer, teacher, and radio personality based in Manitoba. He is currently a professor of music at the University of British Columbia, where he serves as Director of the School of Music. Carrabré was formerly Dean of Music and Vice-President (Academic and Research) at Brandon University. Early life and education Carrabré is of Métis heritage. Born during the Sixties Scoop, Carrabré was taken from his birth parents and subsequently adopted by a white family. Carrabré studied music composition with Peter Paul Koprowski at The University of Western Ontario, where he received his Masters in Music degree. He went on to complete a PhD degree at The City University of New York. Career After moving to Winnipeg, Carrabré was for many years a member of the Manitoba Composers Association. He began working with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra as associate composer in 1994. He was composer-in-residence at the WSO from 2001 to 2007. In March 2007, Carrabré became the weekend host of The Signal, a new program on CBC Radio 2 devoted to contemporary music. The program was cancelled as part of a raft of English radio cuts in March 2009. Carrabré has been a jury mem

Patricia Blomfield Holt

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Patricia Blomfield Holt (15 September 1910 – 5 June 2003) was a Canadian composer, pianist and music educator. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Association of Canadian Women Composers, her compositions have been performed by notable musical ensembles throughout North America and Europe. Life Born Patricia Blomfield in Lindsay, Ontario, Blomfield Holt began her career in her teenage years as a largely self-taught composer and pianist. She studied with Norah de Kresz privately before she entered The Royal Conservatory of Music at the age of 19 in 1928. She studied and taught concurrently for the next ten years. She was a pupil there of Norman Wilks, Hayunga Carman, Leo Smith, Ernest MacMillan and Healey Willan. She was a self-taught composer until she began studying with Willan in 1936. In 1938 she won the Vogt Society Award for the best music composition for her Suite No. 1 for Violin and Piano. Her Suite No. 2 was described by London’s Musical Times: “The language is frankly of the 19th century, and the forms are reminiscent of Schumann, but the material is handled with certainty and a nice sense of texture”. She also left her teaching position at The R

Patricia Conroy

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Patricia Conroy (born January 30, 1964) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. In her career, she has released five studio albums, and one compilation album. She has also released 25 singles, including the RPM Country Tracks number one singles “Somebody’s Leavin’” (1994) and “What Else Can I Do” (1995). As a songwriter, Conroy has written singles for several artists including Steel Magnolia (“Just By Being You (Halo and Wings)”), Emerson Drive (“She Always Gets What She Wants”), and Lady A (“Champagne Night”). Conroy was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2021. Biography Early life Patricia Conroy was born on January 30, 1964, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Conroy was born to musical family which was influenced by her mother’s Maritime country background and her father’s Irish roots. As a young girl her musical interests led to piano and vocal lessons and performances in a local church and with her family band, the Shamrock Ceili Band. In the late 1980s, Conroy hooked up with local musicians in Vancouver, British Columbia and eventually entered a Battle of the Bands contest. Conroy ultimately won and received $10,000, which gave her the opportunity to record demos of

Patrick Saint-Denis

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Patrick Saint-Denis (born 1975) is a Canadian composer based in Montreal. His works have been performed at music festivals in North America, Europe, and Asia. His composition, Les dits de Victoire, was awarded first prize in the SOCAN young composers competition in 2003 and the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music in 2004. He also won the SOCAN competition in 2002 for his orchestral work, Le discours aux animaux and received honors for his Berceuse pour enfants perdus for chamber orchestra and female voice in 2003. Born in Quebec City, Saint-Denis is a graduate of the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal, the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Québec, and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. Among his principal teachers are Louis Andriessen, Clarence Barlow, and Serge Provost. His works combine music, live audio-visual processing and robotics. References External links *Patrick Saint-Denis his website *Biography of Patrick Saint-Denis at the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec *Complete Catalogue Holdings for Patrick Saint-Denis at Canadian Music Centre

Paul Ambrose

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Paul Ambrose (11 October 1868 – 1 July 1941) was a Canadian organist, conductor, composer, and music educator who was primarily active in the United States. His compositional output includes more than 200 songs, choral pieces, and works for solo piano and organ. He is particularly remembered for his anthems, which have been performed widely in North America. Some of his better-known works include the anthems Saviour, Breathe an Evening Blessing, O Little Town of Bethlehem, and Come unto Me; and the song Rose-Bud. Life and career Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Ambrose was the son of composer and organist Robert Ambrose and the grandson of organist Charles Ambrose. His cousin, pianist Ellen Ambrose, founded the Duet Club of Hamilton in 1889. He began his musical training in the piano and the organ as a young child with his father. In 1886, at the age of 18, Ambrose moved to New York City to assume the post of organist-choirmaster at Madison Ave Methodist Episcopal Church where he remained for nearly 5 years. While in New York he pursued further musical studies with Dudley Buck (orchestration), Kate Sara Chittenden (piano), Bruno Oscar Klein (composition), and Albert Ross Parsons (piano).

Paul Baillargeon

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Paul Baillargeon (born 1943) is a Canadian composer, known for his music for television shows. He contributed music to 41 episodes of Star Trek shows, and won the 2002 ASCAP Award (Top TV Series) for Enterprise, shared with the series’ other regular composers. Early life Baillargeon was born in Montreal, Quebec. Career Baillargeon began creating arrangements for the group Les Baronets in the 1960s. He released three albums, including Viens, Mon Amour in 1970 and 1971’s Soleil with Jean-Pierre Ferland. Baillargeon composed music for television shows in Quebec, and in 1989 he and Ferland created a musical, Gala, about the artist Salvador Dalí and his wife. Baillargeon began composing music for the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and later Star Trek: Enterprise and Star Trek: Voyager. In 2007, Baillargeon was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Francophone SOCAN Awards held in Montreal. References External links * *Paul Baillargeon at Star Trek Soundtracks

Paul Dolden

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Paul Dolden (born January 23, 1956, in Ottawa, Canada), is an electroacoustic music composer, currently living in Montréal, Canada. Paul Dolden began his career at age 16 as a professional electric guitarist, violinist, and cellist. Since age 29 he has won over twenty international awards for his music which is performed in both Europe and North America. His approach to audio technology is to use it as a platform to launch otherwise impossible musical performances, thereby making his computer behave like a virtual orchestra. His compositions are characterised by a maximalist aesthetic in which hundreds of digitally recorded instrumental and vocal performances are combined in multiple layers. Dolden’s early works employed a unified approach to timbral and harmonic variation, but under the influence of postmodernism, his concerns shifted to include the juxtaposition and superimposition of disparate musical styles. His Resonance Cycle of works (1992–96) are an example of this. In his Twilight Cycle Dolden investigated contemporary new music-melody and dance rhythms, genres not normally associated with electroacoustic music. Dolden’s 2-CD set, L’Ivresse de la Vitesse (empreintes DIGITA

Paul Pedersen (composer)

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Paul Richard Pedersen (born August 28, 1935) is a Canadian composer, arts administrator, and music educator. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian League of Composers, he is particularly known for his works of electronic music; a number of which utilize various forms of multi-media. In 2014 he was made an Honorary Member of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community. Early on in his career, he wrote non-electronic compositions which exhibited a free atonal style. Life Born in Camrose, Alberta, Pedersen entered the University of Saskatchewan in 1953 where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in music in 1957. At the school he was mentored in music composition by Murray Adaskin. He matriculated to the University of Toronto (U of T) where he studied composition with John Weinzweig; receiving a Master of Music in 1961. He later returned to U of T to pursue doctoral studies in musicology which focused on research in acoustic and musical psychology. Part of his research was published in the Winter 1965 edition of the Journal of Music Theory in an article entitled The mel scale. He earned a PhD from U of T in 1970 after completing his doctoral dissertation, The percep

Paul Pratt

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Paul Pratt (25 November 1894 – 8 May 1967) was a Canadian clarinetist, pianist, conductor, music educator, composer, and public administrator. His compositional output includes marches, waltzes, a Fantaisie-Impromptu for band, and some works for solo piano. Life and career Pratt was a clarinetist in the Symphonie Dubois in 1916–1917 and in the Canadian Grenadier Guards Band from 1919 to 1939. He was the Montreal Orchestra’s bass clarinetist from 1931 to 1941 and played the contrabass clarinet for the CSM orchestra from 1935 to 1946. He also played the clarinet in the Little Symphony of Montreal and the Van der Meerschen band in St-Lambert. From 1950 to 1967 he was music director of the Metropolitan Concert Band of Montreal and from 1956 to 1957 he was president of the Canadian Band Association’s Quebec and Ontario divisions. He also served for some years as the music director of the South Shore Band of Longueuil and the Gais Longueuillois Quartet. In 1935 Pratt was elected the mayor of Longueuil. He enjoyed wide popularity in that post, and remained mayor for the next 31 years, stepping down in 1966. He was decorated twice while in office, once by George V the United Kingdom in 193

Paul Steenhuisen

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Paul Steenhuisen (born 1965 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a Canadian composer working with a broad range of acoustic and digital media. His concert music consists of orchestral, chamber, solo, and vocal music, and often includes live electronics and soundfiles. He creates electroacoustic, radio, and installation pieces. Steenhuisen’s music is regularly performed and broadcast in Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America. He contributes all audio content and programming to the Hyposurface installation project, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Education Steenhuisen obtained his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition from the University of British Columbia, where he studied with Keith Hamel. Between academic degrees, he studied with Louis Andriessen and Gilius van Bergeijk at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. While living in Amsterdam, he worked with Michael Finnissy in Hove, England. He was one of ten composers selected to take part in the Cursus de Composition et Informatiques at IRCAM (Paris, 1996/97), where he had lessons with Tristan Murail. He attended master classes and individual lessons with Mauricio Kagel, Helmut Lachenmann, Jean-Claude Risset, Luciano Berio

Paul Tobey

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Paul Tobey (born September 7, 1962) is a Canadian jazz pianist, as well as a producer, arranger, composer, and director. He has toured and recorded with Terry Clark, Jim Vivian, Pat Labarbera, and Alex Dean. He has headlined in 16 countries and toured Canada several times, including a University bound tour to promote jazz education. In 2006, Tobey made his debut with symphony, launching the Road to Santiago Suite, 9 movements for piano and symphony. He was the first Canadian to sign with Arkadia. Tobey has been nominated for a Juno Award for Best Jazz Contemporary Album, and has won several awards including Jazz Album of the Year, Pianist of the Year, and the IAJE Award for Service to Jazz Education. He has also been awarded several cash awards for touring, composition, recording etc. from prestigious entities such as Canada Council for the Arts, The Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent on Record, Ontario Arts Council and Canadian Heritage. Partnered with the Expositor (an Osprey Media Newspaper) in 2006, Tobey lends his talents to an annual “Christmas Traditions” songbook and sing-a-long CD in support of the Sunshine Dreams for Kids. Tobey is also a strong advocate creating awaren

Percy Faith

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Percy Faith (April 7, 1908 – February 9, 1976) was a Canadian-American bandleader, orchestrator, composer and conductor, known for his lush arrangements of instrumental ballads and Christmas standards. He is often credited with popularizing the “easy listening” or “mood music” format. He became a staple of American popular music in the 1950s and continued well into the 1960s. Early life Faith was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Beginning with stations CKNC and CKCL, he was a staple of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s live-music broadcasting from 1933 to 1940, when he resettled in Chicago, Illinois. From 1938 to 1940 on the MBS radio network, and from 1948 to 1949 on the CBS radio network, he also served as the orchestra leader on The Coca-Cola Hour (also called The Pause That Refreshes). The orchestral accordionist John Serry Sr. collaborated with Faith in some of these broadcasts. Faith also led the orchestra on The Woolworth Hour on CBS radio (1955–1957). He moved from Canada to Great Neck, New York, and became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1945. *“I Cross My Fingers” Vocal: Russ Emery US No. 20, 1950 *“All My Love” (US No. 7, 1950) *“Christmas

Peter Allen (composer)

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Peter Allen is a Canadian composer, organist, and keyboard player. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian League of Composers, his compositions encompass a broad repertoire from film scores and commercial jingles to sacred music and avant-garde electroacoustic music. He has composed numerous works for CBC Radio and CBC Television. Education and career Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Allen was a pupil of Boyd McDonald and Robert Turner at the University of Manitoba where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 1975. Between 1976 and 1977 he pursued graduate studies at McGill University where his teachers included Bengt Hambraeus, Alcides Lanza, and Bruce Mather. During the 1970s he was a founding member of the contemporary concert series IZ Music, along with three other Manitoba composers; Bruce Carlson, William Pura and James Hiscott. Their concerts were regularly recorded by the CBC and broadcast on Two New Hours, CBC Radio Toronto. Allen also worked as a pianist with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and was active as a keyboardist with a number of local club and rock bands. In 1980 he became organist at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Winnipeg and in 1984 was appointed m

Peter Hannan (composer)

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Peter Hannan (born 19 March 1953) is a Canadian composer, opera director and recorder player based in British Columbia. Hannan has composed music for the recorder, and is known for his work in the field of electro-acoustics. and sampled music as well as his compositions for modern opera. Early life and education Hannan was born in Montreal, Quebec. He studied initially at the University of British Columbia, where he received a Bachelor of Music (BMus) in 1975. He pursued advanced studies in recorder performance at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, who awarded him a Certificate of Advanced Studies in 1978. In 1979–80 he studied recorder with Kees Boeke at the Sweelink Conservatory under a Netherlands Government Scholarship. Career Hannan taught music at the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, and at Vancouver Community College. In 1986 he performed and recorded with a baroque ensemble on the album Baroque sonatas and canzonas for recorder, harpsichord, and gamba, published the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Hannan began composing music for recorder; many of these compositions were written for his own use as a performer, and included real-time

Peter Togni

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Peter Anthony Togni (born September 12, 1959) is a freelancer Canadian composer and broadcaster based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Biography Togni was born in Pembroke, Ontario in 1959, and is the son of organ master Victor Togni. He spent his early years in Toronto, where he attended St. Michael’s Choir School. He later went on to study at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, studying organ with Frederick Geoghegan and composition with Stephen Chatman. He went on to study organ and improvisation in Paris, France, with the great French organist Jean Langlais. Togni also studied composition with Allain Gaussin at the Schola Cantorum in Paris where he was awarded first prize in composition. Musical career Togni’s music has been heard at Toronto’s Roy Thompson Hall, the Moscow Conservatory, the Oriental Arts Centre in Shanghai, to the Vatican in Rome for Pope John Paul II. His music is broadcast regularly in Canada on the CBC, as well as internationally, on the BBC, Classic FM, Deutsche Welle and Radio France. Togni’s works have been released on XXI Records, CBC Records, Hänssler Classics, and Warner Classics UK. In 2010, he recorded his concerto, Lamentatio Jeremiah Prophetae

Philippe Brault

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Philippe Brault (born 1981) is a Canadian record producer and film score composer from Montreal, Quebec. He is most noted as a two-time Prix Iris winner for Best Original Music, winning at the 21st Quebec Cinema Awards in 2019 for The Fireflies Are Gone (La disparition des lucioles) and at the 24th Quebec Cinema Awards in 2022 for Drunken Birds (Les Oiseaux ivres). He has received two other nominations in the category, alongside Pierre Lapointe at the 14th Jutra Awards in 2012 for The Salesman (Le vendeur) and in 2022 for Maria Chapdelaine, and was a Canadian Screen Award nominee at the 7th Canadian Screen Awards in 2019 for The Fireflies Are Gone. His other film credits include All That We Make (Fermières), The Procession (Le Cortège), A Revision (Une révision), Norbourg and The Origin of Evil (L’Origine du mal). He is a regular collaborator with Lapointe, and has produced albums for Émile Bilodeau, Koriass, Patrice Michaud, Laurence Nerbonne, Ariane Moffatt and Safia Nolin. References External links *

Philippe Leduc

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Philippe Leduc (born 1951 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada) is a Quebecois composer, conductor, author and arranger. Discography Albums Source: * Diginada (2010) * The Wings of Fire, Volume I: Blood (1995) * The Wings of Fire, Volume II: Toil (1997) * Splendeur & Misère (Previously released as “Éclair de Lune”) (1993) Compilations * Mes Grands Classiques (2009) Books * Les Ailes du Feu (1997, Éditions STANKE) Children’s Albums/books * Chabicouin au Marais long (CD) * Chabicouin à la ferme (CD) * Chabicouin au Marais long (Livre-CD) * Shubiquack (CD) Concerts * The Wings of Fire (Montreal, Canada) Videos * No Pasaràn * Anastasia Élégie * The Wings of Fire, Volume II: Toil * The Wings of Fire, Volume I: Blood Awards * 2005 **SOCAN Award Movie and television music **Triple platinum (300,000 albums sold) Marie-Hélène Thibert, self-titled album, arrangements, orchestration, and production of the song “Le Ciel est à moi” * 2004 **SOCAN Award Movie and television music * 2003 **GEMINI Award Best Musical Theme, Television, “Zone Libre” * 2001 **Grand Prize Concours Grafika, “Docs en Stock” * 1998 **Harmony Award 42nd Competition for Films and Videos (Japan) **Silver Award New York Festival TV P

Philippe Tatartcheff

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Philippe Tatartcheff (born in Geneva, Switzerland) is a Canadian poet and songwriter. He is best known as the lyricist who wrote French language songs recorded by folk duo Kate & Anna McGarrigle. Origins and early life Tatartcheff’s family was originally from the Swiss Cantons of Geneva, Vaud, Neuchatel and Fribourg. After moving to Montreal in the early 1950s, they eventually settled in Timmins, Ontario, where his father, Dr. Michael Tatartcheff, was a physician and surgeon, and the town doctor. While at McGill, he met Anna McGarrigle, who was studying at Beaux-Arts at the time (1964-1968). * “Naufragée du Tendre” * “Mais quand tu danses” * “Excursion à Venise” * “Arbre” * “Forever and the Same” ;with Kate McGarrigle * “Side of Fries” * “Entre Lajeunesse et la sagesse” * “Hang Out Your Heart” * “Ah tournesol” * “Approaching Montreal” (2011) * “Cows in Snow” (2008) * “Dogs in Snow” (2008) * “Frelighsburg morning” (2008) Bibliography References

Pierre Brabant

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Pierre Brabant (26 August 1925 – 28 August 2014) was a Canadian composer and pianist. He appeared in concerts and recitals throughout Canada and performed numerous times on Canadian television and radio. He wrote music for a number of programs for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and worked as a composer, arranger, and music director for numerous recordings by a variety of Canadian artists. Starting in 1987 he performed regularly in concerts and recitals as the accompanist for opera singer Joseph Rouleau. Life and career Brabant was born in Montreal, Quebec, he began his studies in piano as a child and gave his first public recital while a teenager. In 1942 he appeared on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation program Young Artists of Tomorrow. The following year he was awarded first prize in the CBC radio competition Les Talents de chez-nous. From 1942 to 1943 he was a piano student of Raymond David and Joseph-Élie Savaria. In 1949 Brabant studied the organ with Marcel Dupré in Paris. That same year his ballet La Gaspésienne, which was choreographed by Ruth Sorel, premiered in Montreal. The ballet was given performances in Toronto, New York City, and at the Great Theatre, Wars

Pye Dubois

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Pye Dubois is a Canadian lyricist and poet. He has worked mainly with Kim Mitchell and Max Webster (with whom he was considered an unofficial fifth non-performing member), and occasionally Rush. Career Dubois accompanied Max Webster in the studio and wrote lyrics for each of their albums. He was given lyric-writing credits on several Rush songs, most notably “Tom Sawyer”, which has been included on the soundtrack of several films. Dubois wrote the poem “There is a Lake Between Sun and Moon”, which inspired Rush to write many of the lyrics for the album Counterparts, including a song of the same name for which Dubois received co-writing credit. He is also credited as a co-writer on the Rush songs “Force Ten” and “Test for Echo”. After Max Webster dissolved, Dubois continued his writing relationship with singer and guitarist Kim Mitchell on his solo songs. This included all but one of the songs on Kim’s platinum Akimbo Alogo, every song on the triple platinum Shakin’ Like a Human Being, and double platinum Rockland. Dubois had a falling-out with Mitchell during the sessions for Rockland, caused by Mitchell’s decision to record the album in the US without Dubois present in the studio

R. Murray Schafer

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Raymond Murray Schafer (July 18, 1933 – August 14, 2021) was a Canadian composer, writer, music educator, and environmentalist perhaps best known for his World Soundscape Project, concern for acoustic ecology, and his book, The Tuning of the World (1977). He was the first recipient of the Jules Léger Prize in 1978. Biography Born in Sarnia, Ontario, Schafer studied at the Royal Schools of Music in London, with Alberto Guerrero at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and at the University of Toronto, where he was a pupil of Richard Johnston. His innovative approach to music education repeatedly challenged and transcended orthodox approaches through explorations of the relationships between music, performer, audience, and setting. He started soundscape studies at Simon Fraser University in the 1960s. His 1977 book, The Tuning of the World, popularized the concept of soundscape (Schafer attributes the invention of the term itself to city planner Michael Southworth). Reviewing the book in The Musical Quarterly, Laske commented that it “is one of those rare texts which simultaneously broaden our notion of musical science and of music itself”. He also coined the term, schizophonia

Rachel Laurin

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Rachel Laurin (), born on 11 August 1961, in Saint-Benoît (Québec), and deceased on 13 August 2023, in Ottawa (Ontario), was a Canadian organist, composer and educator. Musical training It was in her hometown, with her mother Madeleine Brunet, who played both the piano and the organ, that Rachel Laurin began studying piano at age 9, and then organ at 14. Her interest in composition emerged at 15, and at 17, she moved to Montréal to pursue her studies. From 1978 to 1980, she attended Collège Marguerite-Bourgeoys (now Marianopolis College) where she studied organ with Lucienne L’Heureux-Arel. Admitted to the Montreal Conservatory of Music in 1980, she studied organ with Gaston Arel and Raymond Daveluy, piano with Raoul Sosa, and jazz with Nick Ayoub. During her studies, she won the McAbbie Foundation Scholarship (1985), the Wilfrid-Pelletier Scholarship of Excellence (1986), and the Conrad-Letendre Scholarship (five times). In a review of a 2016 recording, Choir & Organ magazine commended her “imaginative and demanding scores”, “well crafted in a kind of New World fusion of musical styles from France, Germany and England.” Although several works require virtuosity from the performer,

Randolph Peters

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Randolph Peters (born 28 December 1959) is a Canadian composer who is known for his output of roughly 100 film scores made mostly for Canadian films. Early life and education Peters was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He graduated from the University of Winnipeg and the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. Career Peters wrote a large amount of music for Canadian television, radio, dance and theatre. From 1996 to 2001 he was the composer-in-residence and curator for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra; he also served as the director of that symphony’s annual New Music Festival. Peters composed several operas for the Canadian Opera Company, The opera premiered in Toronto at the Hummingbird Centre in April, 1999. * Dancing on wings of fire : for diatonic button accordion (A/D) and orchestra (1994) * Guiltless blood (1990) * Sonata for violin and piano (1990) * The golden ass (1999) * Survivors : a mass for mezzo-soprano and string quartet (1994) Sources *“Randolph Peters”. The Canadian Encyclopedia. External links * *https://www.musiccentre.ca/node/37612 on Canadian Music Centre *https://www.composers21.com/compdocs/petersr.htm on The Living Composers Project

Randy Raine-Reusch

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Randy Raine-Reusch (born 1952) is a Canadian composer, performer, improviser, and multi-instrumentalist specializing in New and Experimental Music for instruments from around the world, particularly those from East and Southeast Asia. Research Raine-Reusch studied at the Creative Music Studio in the 1977 with artists such as Frederic Rzewski, Jack Dejohnette, and Karl Berger, playing only an Appalachian dulcimer. In 1984, he received funding from the Canada Council for the Arts to undertake study overseas in Indonesia, Burma, and Thailand. He studied khaen in Mahasarakham, Thailand with master musicians Nukan Srichrangthin and Sombat Sinla. After meeting famed Samul Nori drumming Kim Duk Soo in 1986, Raine-Reusch remained in Korea after a concert performance in 1987 to study kayageum with Living National Treasure (South Korea) Park Gwii Hi. He studied didjeridu in Australia while performing at World Expo 88 in Brisbane. 1n 1989, Raine-Reusch returned to Thailand to study khaen, then undertook research on traditional mouth organs in the upriver regions of Sarawak, in southern China, and finally studied the sho in Kyushu, Japan, including lessons with Living National Treasure (Japan)

Randy Vancourt

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Randy Vancourt is a Canadian composer and entertainer. A Juno Award nominated composer, he has written music for television series such as Man Alive, Hello Mrs. Cherrywinkle, Carmen SanDiego and Dudley the Dragon. He is also a writer of stage musicals including Chutzpah a Go-Go, Born Lucky, Boardwalk! and The Rocky Road To Dublin. His recordings have received international airplay, with his Radio Freaks songs appearing on the syndicated Dr. Demento radio show. He is a founding member of the comedy troupe Radio Freaks notable for his popular poem Just A Common Soldier. Works * Forever For Now (1992) * Chutzpah a Go-Go (1993) * Boardwalk! (2007) * Smashed (2008) * Born Lucky (2008) * The Rocky Road To Dublin (2010) * The Bonnie Banks (2012) * Bring The Piano (2016) * Tuned (2018) References External links * * RandyVancourt.com * Boardwalk! The Doo Wop Musical * Born Lucky * Radio Freaks Comedy Show * Chutzpah à Go-Go

Ray Griff

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John Raymond David Griff (April 22, 1940 – March 9, 2016) was a Canadian country music singer and songwriter, born in Vancouver and raised in Toronto. His songwriting credits reached over 2500 songs, many of which were recorded by Nashville’s top recording artists. and raised in Winfield, Alberta. He began songwriting in the early 1960s and had early cuts by Johnny Horton, Jim Reeves, and others. Griff had battled throat cancer in his later years, Discography Albums Singles * A “Weeping Willow Tree” also peaked at number 39 on the Canadian RPM Top 40 chart. References External links *Ray Griff website

Raymond B. Egan

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Raymond Blanning Egan (November 14, 1890 – October 13, 1952) was a Canadian-born American songwriter of popular music. Many of his songs have appeared in films and musical theatre. He often collaborated with composer Richard A. Whiting. Early life and education Egan was born in Windsor, Ontario. He moved with his family to the United States in 1892 and settled in Michigan, where he attended the University of Michigan. Career Egan’s first job was a bank clerk, but he soon moved on to be a staff writer for Grinnell’s Music Co. in Detroit. Beginning in the 1910s, he and Whiting wrote many popular songs, including “Till We Meet Again”, “The Japanese Sandman” and “Ain’t We Got Fun”. Egan wrote songs for Vaudeville As well as Whiting, he later went on to write songs with Walter Donaldson, Ted Fiorito, Harry Tierney, and Gus Kahn. His song “I Never Knew” was included on Judy Garland’s 1950 Second Souvenir Album. Egan died in Westport, Connecticut, aged 61. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. One of his works (co-written with Richard A. Whiting) named Hands In Hand Again was remixed and covered by the dark ambient band Midnight Syndicate in their 2005 album The 13th

Raymond Daveluy

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Joseph Eugène Raymond-Marie Daveluy (; 23 December 1926 – 1 September 2016) was a Canadian composer, organist, music educator, and arts administrator. An associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre, his compositional output consisted mainly of works for solo organ. He had an active international career as a recitalist and concert performer from 1946 through the 1990s. He held a number of church posts in Montreal, including serving as organist of St-Jean-Baptiste Church (1946–1951), Immaculée-Conception Church (1951–1954), and St-Sixte Church (1954–1959). In 1980, he was named a Member of the Order of Canada. He was married to pianist Hilda Metcalfe. Career Born in Victoriaville, Quebec, Daveluy was the son of organist and bandmaster Lucien Daveluy, with whom he began his initial musical studies at the age of 11. His sister Marie Daveluy had a successful career as a classical soprano. From 1939–1946 he studied music theory privately with Gabriel Cusson in Montreal and was also a pupil of organist Conrad Letendre from 1942–1948. He was awarded the Prix d’Europe in 1948 which enabled him to pursue further studies in organ performance with Hugh Giles in New York City. Daveluy assum

Raymond Luedeke

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Raymond Luedeke (born 1944) is an American / Canadian composer of contemporary classical music. Praised for his idiosyncratic instrumental writing and for his orchestration, Luedeke has more recently concentrated on works for music theatre. Although born in New York City, he spent 29 years as Associate Principal Clarinet with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, a position he left in 2010. A dual citizen of the United States and Canada, Ray Luedeke is artistic director of Voice Afire Opera-Cabaret in New York City. Biography Son of Otto Luedeke, an officer in the US Army and a competitor in the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games, Raymond Luedeke had a peripatetic childhood. Between the ages of 5 and 8, he lived in Japan. He alludes that his first concert of classical music was heard in Tokyo and that the music was Japanese classical music. He began piano lessons in Japan but did not continue this until the family was living in Massachusetts, where he took up the clarinet at the age of nine. He was soon composing his first pieces, something he continued when the family moved to New Jersey. In 1966 Luedeke received his bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music, majoring in Mus

Raynald Arseneault

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Raynald Arseneault (9 June 1945 – 27 January 1995) was a Canadian composer and organist. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, his compositional output consists of more than 50 works. His style was particularly influenced by Ivan Wyschnegradsky and Giacinto Scelsi; both of whom he met with in Europe during the 1970s. He served for many years as the organist and director of sacred music at Saint-Marc Church in Rosemont. Born in Quebec City, Arseneault studied with Françoise Aubut and Gilles Tremblay at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal where he graduated with a premier prix in composition in 1973. That same year he won the Prix d’Europe which enabled him to pursue studies in France. He remained for eight years in that country where he studied composition with Tony Aubin, Claude Lefebvre, Claude Ballif, Ivo Malec and Michel Philippot. Raynald Arseneault’s music has been performed in numerous music festivals around the world, and has been recorded by the RTBF, the ORTF and the CBC. Some of the principal performers of his music are, notably, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Nouvel Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France (Edgar Cosma), the Orchestre Métropolita

René Dupéré

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René Dupéré (born 1946) is a Canadian composer from Mont-Joli, Québec, Canada. Biography Dupéré is best known as the composer and arranger of music for contemporary circus productions by the Canadian entertainment company Cirque du Soleil. Among the Cirque du Soleil stage shows he has scored are: Le Grand Tour du Cirque du Soleil (1984), La Magie Continue (1986), Le Cirque Réinventé (1987), Nouvelle Expérience (1990), Saltimbanco (1992), Mystère (1993), Alegría (1994), Kà (2004), and Zed (2009). According to press releases from Cirque du Soleil, “René Dupéré played a key role in shaping the artistic universe of Cirque du Soleil during its first ten years.” Dupéré’s album of music from Cirque du Soleil’s Alegría was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1995 and spent 65 weeks on Billboard’s World Music Chart. The albums Mystère and Kà also spent several weeks at the top of the Billboard charts. As of 2009, Dupéré has sold over 3 million CDs. His work outside of Cirque du Soleil has included writing music for various TV and film productions (see Filmography below). In 1997, he wrote part of the music for the ceremony marking the handover of Hong Kong to China. He also composed the soundtr

René Gagnier

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René Gagnier (30 May 1892 – 25 May 1951) was a Canadian conductor, composer, euphonium player, violinist, and music educator. His compositional output includes several marches, waltzes, works for solo violin, and some chamber and symphonic music, all of which remains unpublished. Life and career Born in Montreal, Quebec, Gagnier was the son of clarinetist Joseph Gagnier and received his earliest musical training from him. His later teachers included violinists Saul Brant, Albert Chamberland, and Alfred De Sève. He had 26 siblings, many of whom also became professional musicians of note, including Armand Gagnier, Ernest Gagnier, Guillaume Gagnier, J.-J. Gagnier, Lucien Gagnier, and Réal Gagnier. A number of his nieces and nephews also became notable musicians, including Claire Gagnier, Ève Gagnier, Gérald Gagnier, and Roland Gagnier. From 1918 to 1929, Gagnier served as the assistant conductor of Loew’s Theatre in Montreal. He was also active as a violinist in a number of orchestras during the 1910s through the 1930s, including the Montreal Orchestra, the Little Symphony of Montreal, the CSM Orchestra, and a number of theatre orchestras. In 1936-1937 he was the second violinist in t

Richard Gibson (composer)

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Richard Gibson (born December 13, 1953) is a Canadian composer of contemporary classical music, and Professor of Composition at the Université de Moncton in New Brunswick. He is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre, and a member of the Canadian League of Composers. Gibson has also been active as a producer for classical recordings. One of these – the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra’s Forbidden City Tour CD – won an East Coast Music Award (ECMA) in 2008 for Classical Recording of the Year. Education * B.Mus., Dalhousie University (Steve Tittle, composition) * M.Mus., University of Western Ontario (Peter Paul Koprowski, composition) * PhD, King’s College London (David Lumsdaine, composition) Awards * 1983 – First Prize, Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) competition for young composers * 1992 – New Brunswick Award for Excellence in Arts Compositions Solo works * Nightingales for Katy (flute) 1982 * Cantilena (guitar) 1984 * Sonate (saxophone) 1984 * Resonances (percussion) 1985 * Sept Miniatures (guitar) 1986 * Hemispheres (bass guitar) 1987 * Prélude, Fugue et Allegro Vivace (piano) 1987 * 25 Préludes (piano) 1996 * Cora (percussion) 200

Richard Grégoire

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Richard Grégoire (May 18, 1944 – December 10, 2025) was a Canadian film and television composer from Montreal, Quebec. He was most noted for his work on the film Being at Home with Claude, for which he won the Genie Award for Best Original Score at the 13th Genie Awards in 1992. Grégoire was a graduate of the Université de Montréal, where he was a student of Serge Garant. Awards In addition to his Genie win in 1992, he was a nominee on three other occasions, receiving nods at the 8th Genie Awards in 1987 for Exit, at the 10th Genie Awards in 1989 for The Heat Line (La ligne de chaleur), and at the 16th Genie Awards in 1996 for Water Child (L’Enfant d’eau). He was also a two-time Jutra Award nominee for Best Original Music, receiving nods at the 1st Jutra Awards in 1999 for Streetheart (Le Cœur au poing) and at the 2nd Jutra Awards in 2000 for Memories Unlocked (Souvenirs intimes). At the 6th Jutra Awards in 2004, he was the recipient of the Jutra Hommage lifetime achievement prize. References External links * *

Richard Johnston (composer)

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Richard Johnston (7 May 1917 – 16 August 1997) was a Canadian composer, conductor, editor, folklorist, music critic, music educator, music producer, and university administrator of American birth. He became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1957. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in February 1997. The library at the University of Calgary holds a substantial amount of his papers, manuscripts, and transcripts in its “Richard Johnston Canadian Music Archives Collection”. His original fieldwork tapes and transcripts made during his research as a folklorist are part of the collection at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Early life and education Born Albert Richard Johnston in Chicago, he began his musical education with Ruth Crazier-Curtis. He entered Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois in 1934 but left the school after just one year. He later matriculated to Northwestern University where he earned a Bachelor of Music in 1942. He briefly taught on the music faculty of Luther College in Wahoo, Nebraska before beginning private studies with Nadia Boulanger in Madison, Wisconsin in 1943–1944. With her he performed the worl

Richard Link

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Richard Link is a Canadian composer, musical director, teacher, and performer presently living in London, England. An accomplished pianist, he often music directs, conducts, and plays for his own productions. Personal history and education Link was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. After graduating from high school, he moved to Edmonton, Alberta, where he attended the University of Alberta and graduated with a bachelor of music degree. He worked professionally in Edmonton as a composer, musical director, and teacher until 1996 when he moved to San Francisco, California. He studied kinesiology and taught musical theatre at San Francisco State University. He attended John F. Kennedy University where he completed a master’s degree in Holistic Health Education. In his masters thesis Art as a Spiritual Practice, he developed a new methodology for teaching performing arts. His thesis asserts that honoring the individual—and focusing on the process, not the product—creates the best possible performance, and ironically, the best final product. In 2006, Link moved to London, where he continues to compose, teach, music direct, and perform. As a teacher of musical performance and composi

Rick Tippe

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Ricky Clarence “Rick” Tippe (born December 21, 1958) is a Canadian country music artist. Tippe has released seven albums on Moon Tan Music, including a greatest hits collection in 2000. His highest-charting single, “The Craziest Thing,” peaked at No. 9 in 1996. He has won more than 25 awards from the British Columbia Country Music Association, including three consecutive Entertainer of the Year wins from 2001 to 2003. Tippe has toured across the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, and opened for artists such as Tracy Byrd, Terri Clark, Mark Chesnutt and Sawyer Brown. Biography Rick Tippe is the son of Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame and British Columbia Country Music Association Hall of Fame inductee Elmer Tippe. He released his first EP, After All These Years, on Ric’n’Rol Music in 1992. Two years later, he released his first studio album, 1994’s Should’a Seen Her Comin. The album produced six charting singles, including Tippe’s first Top 20 song, “Two Broken Hearted Fools.” Its follow-up, 1996’s Get Hot or Go Home, produced another five Top 20 singles, including Tippe’s highest-charting single, “The Craziest Thing.” Tippe was named Male Vocalist of the Year by th

Rick Wilkins (musician)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Rick Herbert Richard Wilkins (born 1 February 1937) is a Canadian composer, conductor, and tenor saxophonist. He is primarily known for his work as an arranger. He has worked extensively for CBC and CTV arranging, rehearsing, and often conducting music for television and radio programs of pop-music and variety entertainments. He has arranged music for television specials featuring Julie Amato, Tommy Ambrose, Guido Basso, the Canadian Brass, Burton Cummings, Anne Murray, and Wayne and Shuster among others. In 1976-1977 he worked as a music director for CBS in Los Angeles, where among his projects was directing music for a number of specials starring the Jackson Five. Early life and education Wilkins was born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario. While still in his teens he worked as a saxophonist and arranger with Jack Ryan’s dance band in the mid-1950s in Hamilton. In 1957, he moved to Toronto where he studied privately with Gordon Delamont and at the Advanced School of Contemporary Music with Phil Nimmons. Career Wilkins performed with a number of dance bands in Toronto, including Benny Louis’s band. In 1960, he started arranging music for Jack Kane and his orchestra with the Canadian

Ricky Hyslop

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Ricky Hyslop (26 April 1915 – 2 June 1998) was a Canadian violinist, conductor, composer, and arranger. He was commissioned to write works by the Buffalo Philharmonic (the symphonic poems Toronto 1830 and Mizu Uni), clarinetist Avrahm Galper (Peanut Suite for solo clarinet), and guitarist Gregory Alliston (Barca for guitar and soprano). Several of his works for violin have been published by The Frederick Harris Music Co, Limited, including three graded volumes for teaching purposes between 1987–1989. Life and career Born in Vancouver, Hyslop began his violin studies as a child in his native city with Allard de Ridder and Jean de Rimanoczy. He began his performance career as a teenager performing as a soloist on CNRV radio. Early on in his career he served as concertmaster or as a member of various orchestras associated with the CRBC and CBC in Vancouver. In 1941 Hyslop became music director for CBC Vancouver’s Harmony House, a program featuring the singers Pat Morgan and Suzanne and the pianist Bud Henderson. He continued in that position up through 1953, during which time he also worked as a conductor for CBC Radio on such variety shows as Here’s Juliette, String Along, and Scored

Robert Ambrose (composer)

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Robert Steele Ambrose (March 7, 1824 – March 31, 1908) was a British-Canadian organist and composer. He was notable for his evangelical music compositions. Life Ambrose was born on March 7, 1824, to Charles Ambrose and Sophia Stoneham in Chelmsford, England. Robert’s father was the organist at Chelmsford Cathedral, where Robert most likely received his early musical training. The family emigrated to Upper Canada in 1837, where Charles purchased a farm. However, lacking the experience to do work on the land, Charles moved to Hamilton, Ontario, in 1845, leaving Robert to work the land himself. Robert made it clear that he did not like farming as it damaged his hands, interfering with his musical abilities. In 1847, the young Ambrose left the farm to join his brother in Kingston, Ontario, teaching music. It is thought that around 1857-1858 Ambrose served as the organist of St. George’s Church. In 1862, Ambrose led the choral service at the consecration of John Travers Lewis. In 1863, Ambrose moved to Hamilton to take up a position as organist and choir director for the Church of the Ascension. The very next year, he was appointed the musical director of what is now Hamilton Ladies Col

Robert Farnon

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Robert Joseph Farnon (24 July 191723 April 2005) was a Canadian-born composer, conductor, musical arranger and trumpet player. As well as being a composer of original works (often in the light music genre), he was commissioned by film and television producers for theme and incidental music. In later life he composed a number of more serious orchestral works, including three symphonies, and was recognised with four Ivor Novello awards and the Order of Canada. Life Robert Farnon was born in Toronto to Robert and Elsie Farnon (née Menzies). He was commissioned as a captain in the Canadian Army and became the conductor/arranger of the Canadian Band of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force sent overseas during World War II. This was the Canadian equivalent of the American Band of the SHAEF led by Major Glenn Miller. He was noted as a jazz trumpeter – his longtime friend Dizzy Gillespie once stated that he was pleased that Farnon took up composing, arranging and conducting, because Robert was the better jazz trumpeter. He married Joanne Dallas, a singer from the SHAEF band, whom he later divorced. At the end of the war Farnon decided to make England his home, and he later m

Robert Fleming (composer)

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Robert James Berkeley Fleming (November 12, 1921 – November 28, 1976) was a Canadian composer, pianist, organist, choirmaster and teacher. Robert was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. At a young age his family settled in Saskatoon where he first studied with his mother. Between 1937 and 1939 he studied under Arthur Benjamin, and Herbert Howells in England at the RCM. When he returned to Saskatoon he taught piano before making his formal debut in 1940 at Darke Hall in Regina and later toured Saskatchewan as a recitalist. While studying piano with Lyell Gustin in 1941-2 he became the assistant organist at the Church of St Alban the Martyr in Saskatoon. In 1941 and 1945 he attended The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM), to which in later years he contributed music. While at RCM he studied under Healey Willan for composition, Norman Wilks for piano, Ettore Mazzoleni for conducting, and John Weatherseed and Frederick Silvester for Organ. Between 1945 and 1946 he taught at Upper Canada College before joining the National Film Board, where he worked in Ottawa and Montreal as a staff composer between 1946 and 1958 before becoming music director between 1958 and 1970. Between those years

Robert Lemay

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Robert Lemay (born February 13, 1960) is a Canadian composer of solo, chamber and orchestral works. Early years and education Born in Montreal, Lemay studied at Laval University, where he received his Master’s degree (M.Mus.) under François Morel. He completed a doctorate (D.Mus.) at the Université de Montréal under Michel Longtin in 1994. He also spent a year at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he studied with David Felder and attended seminars given by Brian Ferneyhough, Louis Andriessen, and Donald Erb. During this time, he met his wife, the pianist Yoko Hirota. From 2004 to 2018, Lemay was President and Artistic Director of the 5-Penny New Music Concerts in Sudbury, where he worked extensively with the Silver Birch String Quartet. Lemay was Composer-in-Residence of the Sudbury Symphony Orchestra from 2008 to 2010. Compositional style Lemay is an atonal composer who has been influenced by the spectral techniques of Tristan Murail and Gérard Grisey, the modal approaches of Olivier Messiaen and Iannis Xenakis, and the rhythmic modulation of Elliott Carter. Lemay has also written pieces for students including 6 Ushebtis (piano), Train miniature (clarinet), and Bea

Robert Marcel Lepage

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Robert Marcel Lepage (born 5 July 1951) is a Canadian musician and film score composer. Born in Montreal, Lepage trained in music at the age of 20, and learned to play the clarinet and saxophone. He went on to write the scores for 150 films. of La Presse positively reviewed Lepage’s score for Iqaluit (2016) as “lyrical”. In 2017, Lepage also received a Prix Iris nomination for Best Music for Before the Streets. In his personal life, he has three children, Félix; , a playwright; and Florence, an artist. References External links *Robert Marcel Lepage at the Internet Movie Database *Official website

Robert Nathaniel Dett

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Robert Nathaniel Dett (October 11, 1882 – October 2, 1943), often known as R. Nathaniel Dett and Nathaniel Dett, was a Canadian-American composer, organist, pianist, choral director, and music professor. Born and raised in Canada until the age of 11, he moved to the United States with his family and had most of his professional education and career there. During his lifetime he was a leading Black composer, known for his use of African-American folk songs and spirituals as the basis for choral and piano compositions in the 19th century Romantic style of Classical music. He was among the first Black composers during the early years after the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) was organized. His works often appeared among the programs of Will Marion Cook’s New York Syncopated Orchestra. Dett performed at Carnegie Hall and at the Boston Symphony Hall as a pianist and choir director. Early life Robert Nathaniel Dett was born in 1882 in Drummondville, Ontario (now part of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada), to Charlotte (Washington) Dett and Robert T. Dett. Descended from previously enslaved people who had escaped and travelled North, his mother was a native of D

Robert Talbot (conductor)

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Jean Robert Talbot (2 December 1893 – 24 August 1954) was a Canadian conductor, violinist, violist, composer, and music educator. For more than 25 years, he was the conductor of the Société symphonique de Québec (now the Quebec Symphony Orchestra). A member of the Société française de musicologie, the International Musicological Society, the Musical Association of London, and the Diocesan Commission for Sacred Music, he was the author of several books on music theory. He also contributed music articles to a variety of periodicals. His compositional output includes one symphony, a string quartet, several songs, many pieces for solo organ, the oratorio Évangéline, the opera Celle qui voit, and several other orchestral works. Many of his manuscripts, writings, and personal papers are part of the collection at the library of the Université Laval. Life and career Born in Montmagny, Quebec, Talbot initially intended to become a lawyer and earned a law degree from the Université Laval in 1915. He then entered the Académie de musique du Québec, where he was a pupil of J.-Alexandre Gilbert, Berthe Roy, and Joseph Vézina. From the academy, he earned a diplôme supérieur (1917), a lauréat dipl

Robert Turner (composer)

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Robert Comrie Turner, (June 6, 1920 – January 26, 2012) was a Canadian composer, educator, and radio producer. Biography Born in Montreal, Turner graduated in 1943 with a bachelor’s degree in music from McGill University, following studies with Douglas Clarke and Claude Champagne. While enrolled briefly at Colorado College in 1947, he met the percussionist, Sara Scott, whom he married in 1949. In 1947, Turner transferred to Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee, where he studied with Roy Harris. He graduated in 1950 with a master’s degree. During this period, Turner spent summers studying with Herbert Howells and Gordon Jacob at the Royal College of Music, then at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood with Olivier Messiaen. Returning to McGill in 1951, he graduated with a doctorate in 1953. From 1952-68, Turner worked as a CBC Radio producer in Vancouver, where he championed the music of Canadian composers and oversaw broadcasts of the CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra. Turner’s music has been described as reflecting a variety of influences including jazz, folk music and dance. The composer himself described his music as lyrical and tonal; it also has been noted that Turner coul

Roberta Geddes-Harvey

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Anne Catherine Roberta Geddes-Harvey (née Geddes; 25 December 1849 – 22 April 1930) was a Canadian organist, choirmaster and composer. Early life and education Roberta Geddes was born in Hamilton, Ontario, and studied music with Arthur E. Fisher, Humfrey Anger and Edward Fisher, graduating with a Bachelor of Music degree from Trinity College, Toronto, in 1899. Career After completing her studies, Geddes-Harvey worked as an organist in Hamilton, and then took a position in 1876 as choirmaster and organist at St. George’s Anglican Church in Guelph; she continued in this position for more than fifty years. Works Geddes-Harvey wrote hymns, anthems, songs, and instrumental works bearing copyright dates from 1897 to 1919. Selected works include: *La Terre Bonne (The Land of the Maple Leaf) libretto by A. Klugh (lost) *The Old Boys Welcome, single remaining song from La Terre Bonne *Salvator, oratorio to words from the scriptures References

Robin Minard

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Robin Minard (born 1953) is a Canadian composer and installation artist. Minard was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He began his studies of composition at the University of Western Ontario, then at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal, studying under Gilles Tremblay. He then continued his studies with John Rea at McGill University. He was a member of the music design and performance ensemble Sonde from 1979 to 1988. In 1988 he undertook doctoral studies in environmental music at the University of Paris VIII studying under composer Horacio Vaggione. From 1992 to 1996 he taught at the studio for electronic music at the TU Berlin. Since 1997, he has been Professor of Electro-Acoustic Composition at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt and the Bauhaus-Universität in Weimar, Germany. Artistic work Minard has concentrated his work on electro-acoustic composition and sound installations in public since the early 1980s. One primary area of interest in his work is dealing with acoustic space in an urban world increasingly polluted with noise, and redefining the concept of functional music in that context. He points out that, with the exception of concert halls, theaters and s

Roddy Ellias

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Roddy Ellias (born 1950) is a Canadian guitarist, composer and improviser. He performs contemporary new music, jazz, and classical repertoire. Career Ellias was born in 1950 in Val-d’Or, Quebec and moved to Ottawa as a child, where he began learning classical guitar. He played in an amateur R&B band in high school. Reviewers have described Ellias as “genius (Bud Freeman), “positively brilliant” (Bill McBirnie) and “exquisite …the kind of subtlety you don’t often hear…anywhere."(Mark Miller). He has performed with Lee Konitz, Kenny Wheeler, Tom Harrel, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Nat Adderley, Slide Hampton, Cleo Laine, Pepper Adams, Lew Tabakin, Michel Donato, Mel Tormé, Bud Freeman, PJ Perry, Rob McConnell, the Montreal Symphony, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and Michel Legrand. As an improviser, “Canadian guitarist and writer Matthew Warnock describes him this way: “as close to being a Zen master on the guitar as he can be.” The Ottawa Citizen reviewed a “concert by pianist Marc Copland, guitarist Roddy Ellias and bassist Adrian Vedady”, calling it “deeply lyrical and personal original music.” “Ellias has had two concert series at Paradiso with local and imported musicians including

Rodney Sharman

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Rodney Sharman (born 24 May 1958) is a Canadian composer and flutist based in Vancouver. His music has been performed in over 30 countries worldwide. He has won several international and national awards, including First Prize in the 1984 CBC Competition for Young Composers. His chamber opera, Elsewhereless, a collaboration with Atom Egoyan, premiered in 1998 and has been staged 35 times internationally. Biography Sharman earned degrees from the University of Victoria School of Music (Victoria, B.C.) and the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik (Freiburg, Germany). In May 1991, he earned a PhD from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Sharman studied under Murray Adaskin, Rudolf Komorous, Brian Ferneyhough, Morton Feldman, David Felder, Frederic Rzewski, Louis Andriessen and Lucas Foss. Sharman was guest composer at the Institute of Sonology (Utrecht, Netherlands) in 1983-84. He taught at Wilfrid Laurier University, the University of British Columbia School of Music, the School for the Contemporary Arts and Faculty of Graduate Liberal Studies, Simon Fraser University. Sharman was the Vancouver Symphony’s (VSO) Composer-in-Residence from 1997 to 2000 and its Composer/Music Advisor

Rodolphe Mathieu

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Joseph Rodolphe Mathieu (10 July 1890 – 29 June 1962) was a Canadian composer, pianist, writer on music, and music educator. The Canadian Encyclopedia states, “Considered too avant-garde for his time because of Debussy’s influence on his music, Mathieu gained recognition too late to inspire the generation that followed.” The pianist Léo-Pol Morin was one of the few important exponents of his work, notably including Mathieu’s Chevauchée and Trois Préludes in his concert repertoire. Mathieu’s song Un peu d’ombre (1913) was included in a number of recitals given by Marguerite Bériza and Sarah Fischer in Europe. Early life and career in Canada Born in Grondines, Quebec, Mathieu’s parents were farmers. In 1906 he moved to Montreal where he began to study the piano with Alphonse Martin and singing with at the age of 16. Through Marier he met pianist and composer Alfred La Liberté who instilled within him an admiration for the works of Alexander Scriabin. He soon began composing music. His first major work was the choral piece Le Poème de la mer (1908) which he dedicated to Marier. Many of his early piano compositions display a strong influence of Scriabin, including Chevauchée (1911) and

Roger Matton

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Roger Matton OC (18 May 1929 – 7 June 2004) was a Canadian composer, ethnomusicologist, and music educator. As a composer his works are characterized by their association with folklore and folk music. Early life and education Born in Granby, Quebec, Matton was trained at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal where he was a pupil of Claude Champagne (composition), Isabelle Delorme (music theory), and Arthur Letondal (piano). He pursued further studies in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, Olivier Messiaen, and Andrée Vaurabourg. He then studied ethnology at the National Museum of Canada with Marius Barbeau. Career Matton started his career working for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a composer in both radio and television. In 1956 he joined the staff of Université Laval where he worked as a researcher and ethnomusicologist in the UL’s folklore archives through 1976. He transcribed roughly 300 Acadian songs between 1957 and 1959. Among his students was composer Alain Gagnon. In 1965 he was awarded the Prix de la création at the Congrès du spectacle. In 1966 the Montreal Symphony Orchestra included his Mouvement symphonique II in their concert repertoire for their 1966 t

Rom Di Prisco

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Rom Di Prisco (born August 30, 1972), sometimes known as Morphadron, is a Canadian electronic composer. He has provided music for over 30 video games, including the Need for Speed series (second through sixth games), the NHL series (2000–2002), Spy Hunter 2, Guacamelee!, Fortnite, and Anvil Empires. Di Prisco also produces remixes for other artists, including Christopher Lawrence, Unit:187, 3kStatic, and Count Your Curses. In addition, he also works on music for films and television programs. His music has appeared in film and television including Saw 2, The Oprah Winfrey Show, America’s Next Top Model, and The Sopranos, among many others. In December 2010, Di Prisco released his debut solo album, Cryptidalia. The album is currently available as a choose-your-price (including free) download from his website. Discography References External links * Official website

Romain-Octave Pelletier I

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Romain-Octave Pelletier I (sometimes spelled Peltier) (9 September 1843 – 4 March 1927) was a Canadian organist, pianist, composer, writer on music, and music educator. Early life and career Born in Montreal, Pelletier was a member of a prominent musical family. Three of his sons had successful musical careers: Frédéric Pelletier, Romain Pelletier, and Victor Pelletier. His grandson, Romain-Octave Pelletier II, was a well known violinist. His elder brother, Orphir Pelletier, was a composer and organist at St. Patrick’s Basilica, Montreal. Largely self-taught, it is from Orphir that he received his only early music lessons. He later studied for two years in Europe during the early 1870s after having worked for almost 15 years as a church organist. In 1857, at the age of 15, Pelletier succeeded Jean-Chrysostome Brauneis II as organist at Saint-Jacques Cathedral. He remained there for the next ten years, during which time he studied law and obtained certification as a notary. He notably officiated the marriage license of violinist Frantz Jehin-Prume, whom he accompanied numerous times in recital, and mezzo-soprano Rosita del Vecchio in 1866. In 1866–1867 Pelletier spent some months in

Roman Toi

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Roman Toi (18 June 1916 – 7 May 2018) was an Estonian-Canadian composer, choir conductor, and organist. Influenced by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Toi’s music is melodic, lyrical, and melancholic in style. His compositional output includes nine cantatas (composed 1953–77), three symphonies (1969, 1972, 1974), and more than 80 choral works. Many of his compositions have become part of the standard Estonian choral repertoire. Life and career Born in Kõo Parish, in the Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire (now Estonia), Toi became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1957. He began his professional education at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Montreux, Switzerland and then studied at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg from 1942 to 1943 where he was a pupil of Clemens Krauss. He spent the next six years conducting and writing music for choirs, theatre, and radio in Europe. and died in May 2018 at the age of 101 in Toronto, Canada. References

Ron Collier

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Ron Collier, (July 3, 1930 – October 22, 2003) was a Canadian jazz trombonist, composer, and arranger. He performed in and led a number of jazz groups, and created orchestrations for and recorded with Duke Ellington. Early life and education A native of Coleman, Alberta, Collier began his musical training in Vancouver. He was a member of the Kitsilano Boys’ Band. He studied music privately in Toronto with Gordon Delamont. The first jazz musician to receive a Canada Council grant, he studied orchestration in New York in 1961 and 1962. and on CBC’s Tabloid with Portia White, and in 1963 with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Duke Ellington performed with the Ron Collier Orchestra on the 1969 album North of the Border in Canada. The album included compositions by several Canadian composers, including Collier. Collier created orchestrations for a number of Ellington’s concerts and recordings. Collier composed the scores to the films Face-Off (1971), A Fan’s Notes (1972), and Paperback Hero (1973). In the 1970s, he began directing a student orchestra at Toronto’s Humber College. His band won the big Band Open Class at the Canadian Stage Band Festival in 1982 . In 2003, he was made an Off

Ron Korb

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ron Korb is a multi Grammy-nominated and Juno Award winning Canadian flutist (flautist) and composer. Musical style Korb is best known for writing culturally diverse music and his mastery of a wide array of world music wind instruments. His work spans a range of genres including Classical, Jazz, Latin, Asian, Celtic music, and Middle Eastern. Many of his songs are program music based on stories themes that form concept albums. The concepts often come from his exploration of his multi-cultural ancestry and extensive travel experience. Education Ron Korb started on the recorder in grade school and later joined an Irish fife and drum band in his teens. While attending the Royal Conservatory of Music, he won several local music competitions. He attended York University for a year to broaden his experience of playing jazz but later earned a scholarship to study classical flute at University of Toronto where he graduated with a degree in Music Performance. His primary teacher was Douglas Stewart but he also participated in master classes with Paula Robison, Robert Aitken in Shawnigan, Raymond Guiot in Domaine Forget and Michel Debost in Assisi, Italy. After graduating with honors from Un

Rory Viner

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Rory Viner (born May 31, 1983) is a Canadian sound artist, experimental composer and installation artist, based in Tokyo, Japan. Career His works focus on interpreting data, either gathered by the artist or publicly available, into musical arrangements: “Mapping them to music allows data that is usually cold, distant and sterile to become more emotionally felt and immediate. In a way, it is a type of synesthesia, allowing a mixing of senses, or in this case, ways of thinking and experiencing the world.” His first data sonification work to receive international press attention was 2014’s One Year of Suicides in Japan on Piano, which The Japan Times has called a “provocative composition” and Wired magazine has called “a haunting piano score”. Viner’s second work to achieve widespread recognition was the more personal Sex, Sensors & Sound, called “melancholic and beautiful” by Motherboard, Vices online magazine and video channel. Sonification of kinetic data created by “strapping movement sensors across his and his partner’s bodies during intercourse, feeding the signal to software programmed to respond with synthesizer notes, and playing the output back live.” Works * One Year of Sui

Rosario Bourdon

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Joseph Charles Rosario Bourdon (March 6, 1885 – April 24, 1961) was a French Canadian cellist, violinist, conductor, arranger and composer. He was a child prodigy skilled with many musical instruments. Bourdon worked much of his life for the Victor Talking Machine Company where he exerted considerable influence. Childhood Bourdon was born in Longueuil, Quebec into a family with musical talents. His father was an amateur singer. Louis-Honoré Bourdon, his half-brother was a renowned impresario. Caroline Derome, his mother, began Bourdon’s musical instruction with the cello when he was seven. She would later marry Jean-Baptiste Dubois, a professional cellist who would further instruct Bourdon in the instrument. Around this same time Bourdon learned to play the piano. In 1897, Bourdon was invited to attend the Ghent Conservatory in Belgium. In 1920, he was promoted to musical co-director at Victor, a position he shared with Josef Pasternack. In 1922, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Bourdon left RCA Victor in 1931. He worked as a musical director at Muzak, Brunswick Records, and the Thesaurus radio transcription service. Bourdon was hired to conduct the newly forme

Rudy Toth

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Rudy Toth (16 December 1925 – 9 July 2009) was a Canadian composer, arranger, conductor, pianist, and cimbalom player of Slovak birth. As a composer he wrote works mainly for television and the radio, working frequently for the Canadian Broadcasting Company for over three decades. As a pianist he performed in a number of jazz and dance bands in Toronto and played for radio productions at the CBC. For many years he was active as a concert cimbalom player, appearing as a soloist with symphony orchestras in both Canada and the United States. Early life and education Born in Stare Karasnow, Czechoslovakia, Toth was the son of violinist and cimbalom maker Carl Toth and the elder brother of musicians Jerry Toth and Tony Toth. He was the only child in the family not born in Canada as the family emigrated to Windsor, Ontario, shortly after his birth. As a child he studied the cimbalom with his father. He studied at The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) during the 1940s where his instructors included Boris Berlin (piano), John Weinzweig (harmony), and Ettore Mazzoleni (conducting). He pursued further studies in conducting with Walter Susskind in Toronto and at the Tanglewood Music Center wi

Ruth Lomon

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Ruth Lomon (7 November 1930 – 26 September 2017) was a Canadian-American classical composer. Life and career A native of Montreal, Canada, she was born in Montreal and died in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She attended le Conservatoire de Quebec and McGill University. She continued her studies with Francis Judd Cooke at the New England Conservatory of Music and later with Witold Lutosławski at Dartington College in England. In 1951, she moved to the United States and became interested in the music of the American Southwest and the Indigenous peoples from that region. In 1998, Lomon became Composer/Resident Scholar at the Women’s Studies Research Center, Brandeis University. She composed an oratorio, Testimony of Witnesses, for vocal soloists, chorus and orchestra. She was the recipient of a grant from the Hadassah International Research Center (now the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute) for this work. She was commissioned by the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Boston to compose a trumpet concerto, Odyssey, for Charles Schlueter, principal trumpet of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. During 1995-96, Lomon was a fellow of the Bunting Institute, Radcliffe College, where she composed “Songs of Remembra

Ryan Shore

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Ryan Shore is a Canadian composer, songwriter, conductor, music producer, and music director for film, television, virtual reality, records, games, concerts, and theater. He is often known from his scores for Star Wars, Scooby-Doo!, Elmo, and Go! Go! Cory Carson. He is the nephew of Academy Award winning film composer Howard Shore. Shore’s accolades include three Emmy Award nominations, a Grammy Award nomination, two Hollywood Music in Media Awards, two Telly Awards, an ASCAP Award, and a Thailand Academy Award. He is a Yamaha Artist and a graduate of the Berklee College of Music. Music career Shore attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston on a full-tuition scholarship, receiving a Bachelor of Arts major in Film Scoring. Shore was Assistant Music Director and Contributing Composer/Arranger/Orchestrator for the 87th Academy Awards, where he worked with Lady Gaga, John Legend, Adam Levine, Anna Kendrick, Common, Tim McGraw, Jack Black, Neil Patrick Harris, and Jennifer Hudson. Shore’s 100+ composing credits include the Lin-Manuel Miranda movie musical In the Heights (additional music), Mark Steven Johnson’s romantic comedy features Champagne Problems (Netflix), Love in the Vil

Samuel Andreyev

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Samuel Andreyev (born Samuel Curnoe Andreeff; 15 April 1981) is a Canadian-French composer, singer-songwriter, poet and educator. As of 2021, he had completed about 30 works, nearly all of which have been recorded commercially. His YouTube channel, his videos, interviews and podcasts have been viewed extensively. He has resided in France since 2003 and currently teaches at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg and at the Strasbourg Center of the University of Syracuse. Life and career Andreyev was born and raised in Kincardine, Ontario, moving with his family to Toronto in 1988. There he enrolled in The Royal Conservatory of Music, studying cello and oboe, as well as composition. Additionally, he experimented on his own, fascinated by rare instruments and the possibilities offered by recording technology. While living in Toronto, he recorded 8 albums of songs, ran a small publishing house devoted to experimental poetry, performed with a troupe of local musicians, and completed his first acknowledged composition, Le malheur adoucit les pierres for wind trio. He settled in Paris in 2003 to study composition, initially with Allain Gaussin, then with Frédéric Durieux at the Paris Conservat

Samuel Dolin

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Samuel Joseph Dolin (22 August 1917 – 13 January 2002) was a Canadian composer, music educator, and arts administrator. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre and a founding member of the Canadian League of Composers (CLC), he served as the CLC’s vice president from 1967 to 1968, and president from 1969 to 1973. He was also vice-president of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) from 1972 to 1975, and chairman of the ISCM’s Canadian Chapter from 1970 to 1974. From 1945 to 2001, he taught music composition, music theory, and piano at The Royal Conservatory of Music, where he trained dozens of notable Canadian composers. Early career and education Born in Montreal, Dolin received his early musical training in his native city, where he studied piano and music theory with Tania and Vladmir Elgart, Vladimir Emenitov, and Stanley Gardner. In the late 1930s, he entered the University of Toronto, where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 1942. From 1942 to 1945, he taught music at Trinity College School and was also music supervisor for the public schools in Durham and Northumberland counties in Ontario. In 1945, Dolin began graduate studies in music composition un

Samy Moussa

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Samy Moussa (born June 1, 1984) is a Canadian conductor and composer of classical music, living in Berlin. His works have been performed internationally. Early life and education Moussa was born and grew up in Montreal. He completed his undergraduate studies at the Université de Montréal with José Evangelista and postgraduate studies at University of Music and Performing Arts Munich with Matthias Pintscher and Pascal Dusapin, also participating in conducting master classes with Pierre Boulez, Péter Eötvös, and Royaumont Voix Nouvelles courses with Salvatore Sciarrino. Career In 2010, Moussa became music director of the INDEX Ensemble in Munich, and since that time worked with a number of ensembles and orchestras among which were: MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, hr-Sinfonieorchester, CBC Radio Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra among others. He conducted the premiere of his second opera, Vastation, with a libretto by Toby Litt, at the Munich Biennale in 2014. His first symphony, titled Concordia, was premiered by Kent Nagano conducting the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in May 2017. That year the Dallas Symphony Orchestra gave the United S

Scott Irvine

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James Scott Irvine (born 30 December 1953) is a Canadian composer, arranger, and tuba player based in Owen Sound, Ontario. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian League of Composers, he has been commissioned to compose works by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Laidlaw Foundation, and the Ontario Arts Council. His works have been recorded on a number of commercial releases, including CDs by Joan Watson, Jack Grunsky, the Canadian Chamber Ensemble, and the Berlin Philharmonic. Most of his compositions are written for concert band and brass instruments. Early life and education Irvine grew up in Toronto, Ontario. He studied tuba with Charles Daellenbach at the University of Toronto. He is a graduate of The Royal Conservatory of Music where he studied music composition with Samuel Dolin. Career Irvine was a member of the Hannaford Street Silver Band with whom he performed, composed, and recorded for more than 20 years. He played the tuba music featured on the children’s television program The Elephant Show. Irvine has been the principal tubist for the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra since 1984 and currently holds the same post with the Esprit

Scott Wilson (composer)

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Scott Wilson (born November 26, 1969, in Vancouver) is a Canadian composer. He studied music and composition in Canada, the U.S., and Germany, and his teachers include Barry Truax, Wolfgang Rihm, Christos Hatzis, Gary Kulesha, Ron Kuivila, Alvin Lucier, Owen Underhill, Neely Bruce and David Gordon Duke. Since 2004 he has lived in Birmingham, UK, where he is Reader in Electronic Music and Director of Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre and the Electroacoustic Studios at the University of Birmingham. His works include pieces both for instrumental and electroacoustic forces. He is the Director of Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre, for which he has developed custom software, and an active developer of the SuperCollider computer music language. He was the lead editor of The SuperCollider Book published by MIT Press, was a co-author of Electronic Music with Nick Collins (composer) and Margaret Schedel published by Cambridge University Press, and has published in journals including Organised Sound and the Computer Music Journal. His music has been performed internationally, with performances at the Huddersfield Festival, the Mouvement Festival, the Trash Festival, Open Ears, t

Sean Hogan

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Sean Hogan is a Canadian country music singer-songwriter. Biography Born in Sarnia, Ontario, Hogan attended Fanshawe College in London, Ontario, studying music. In 2003 he won the Roots Artist of the Year at the Canadian Country Music Awards and he has also won the Independent Male Artist of the Year award in 1997. Hogan engages in charity work and in 2005 the Saskatchewan Country Music Association named him Humanitarian of the Year. Discography Albums Singles 1996–2000 2001–present ;Notes *A^ Featuring Gord Bamford, Duane Steele, Jake Mathews, Diane Chase, Jamie Warren, Brad Johner, Lisa Hewitt, Colin Amey, Val LeRoy and Tracey James. *B^ Featuring Beverley Mahood, Patricia Conroy, Bobby Wills, Amber Marshall, Wildflower, Angela Harris, Shane Yellowbird, Jake Mathews, Jamie Warren, Tenille, Pear and Leonard Bearshirt & Spirit Horse. Guest singles Music videos References External links * Sean Hogan’s Webpage * Sean Hogan’s MySpace Page * Sean Hogan’s YouTube Page * Sean Hogan’s Canadian Country Christmas

Serge Garant

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Albert Antonio Serge Garant, (September 22, 1929 – November 1, 1986) was a Canadian composer, conductor, music critic, professor of music at the University of Montreal and radio host of Musique de notre siècle on Radio-Canada. In 1966, with Jean Papineau-Couture, Maryvonne Kendergi, Wilfrid Pelletier and Hugh Davidson, he co-founded the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec. In 1979, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. The Prix Serge-Garant award was created in his honor by the Fondation Émile Nelligan. Among his notable pupils were Walter Boudreau, Marcelle Deschênes, Denis Gougeon, Richard Grégoire, Anne Lauber, Michel Longtin, Nicole Rodrigue, and Myke Roy. Early life Serge’s interest in music came from his mother. He attended the Sacred Heart of Jesus Elementary School in Quebec City for three consecutive years (1936–1939). Because of the Great Depression, the Garant family moved from Quebec to L’Ancienne-Lorette in 1940, then to Verdun in 1941, and eventually settled in Sherbrooke in 1941. Continuing his schooling over these relocations, Serge Garant finished his ninth year at St. John the Baptist School in Sherbrooke in 1945. During his studies, Garant develop

Serouj Kradjian

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Serouj Kradjian (born in 1973) is a Canadian Grammy-nominated and Juno-winning pianist and composer. Early life and education Born in 1973, at fourteen earned a scholarship to study in Vienna, and was gaining accolades by the age of seven. He later studied with Marietta Orlov at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Piano Performance in 1994. He studied with Einar Steen-Nökleberg at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hanover, Germany, receiving a Solo Performance degree in 2001. Performances Kradjian has appeared with the Toronto, Vancouver and Edmonton Symphonies, Göttingen Symphony, Russian National Orchestra, the Armenian Philharmonic and the Thailand Philharmonic under the baton of conductors such as Bramwell Tovey, Peter Oundjian, Stéphane Denève, Eduard Topchjan, Gudni Emilsson and Raffi Armenian. Solo recitals, chamber music concerts and premieres of his compositions have taken Mr. Kradjian from all major Canadian cities, via the U.S – New York (Carnegie Hall), Boston (Jordan Hall), San Francisco, Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles – to European concert halls in London (Wigmore Hall), Paris (Salle Cortot), Munich, Salzb

Shirley Myers

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Shirley Myers is a Canadian country music singer-songwriter. Signed to Stony Plain Records in the 1990s, she released her debut album, Let It Rain, in 1997. The first single, the title track, reached the top five of the RPM Country Singles chart in Canada. Myers was nominated for a Juno Award for Best Country Female Vocalist in 1998. Discography Albums Singles Music videos Notes References External links *

Sonia Paço-Rocchia

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Sonia Paço-Rocchia (/so.ˈnja ˈpa.so ˈrɔ.kja/), born in 1982 in Montreal, is a composer, multidisciplinary artist, improviser, bassoonist and creative coder. Biography After graduating in mixed music composition from the Université de Montréal in 2005, she began her career in Europe, where she was based mainly in London. She later moved to the Laurentides region England In 2019, she became the first woman to receive the in the “Creation of the Year” category. Sonia Paço-Rocchia’s approach focuses on sounds, timbres and open musical forms. Her research includes the exploitation and expansion of the sound palettes of instruments through playing techniques or live electronics, inventing her own instruments and instrument automatons. Her pieces frequently involve a visual or theatrical aspect. Sonia Paço-Rocchia is bassoonist-improviser with the . She regularly improvises with chamber ensembles, such as The Fantastique Quintet, VibraLib and ZzCc or as a soloist. Work Compositions * Justine et les machines, opera on a libretto by Marie-Ève Bouchard, commissioned by the 3 FEMMES prize by Mécénat Musica (2021-2022) a Stemsaw * Ode au métal is a work for saxophone quartet performing inside

Sophie Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté

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Sophie Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté (; in Moscow, Russia – 2 December 1974 in Stuttgart, Germany) was a Russian-born Canadian composer, virtuoso pianist, and violinist. Biography Early life She was born as Sofia (Sonia) Fri e dman-Kochevskaya in Moscow, where her mother worked as a governess in the Tolstoy household. She began to learn piano in 1904 and wrote her first piano compositions in 1905. She studied at the Conservatoire de Paris from 1908 to 1913, where her teachers included Alfred Brun and Guillaume Rémy for violin, S. Chenée for piano, and Vincent d’Indy and Camille Chevillard for composition. She made her début in 1910, and her first composition, an Etude de Concert, was published in Paris that year. She moved to Berlin in 1914, where she studied violin with Bronisław Huberman; by 1919 she had undertaken several concert tours of Western Europe, on which she performed her own works. Career In 1920, she married the painter Walter Gramatté in Berlin, and from 1924 to 1926 lived in Spain, where Pablo Casals was her mentor. During this time she wrote her first piano concerto. She toured with Edwin Fischer in Germany in 1925. Following her husband’s death in 1929, she toured the

Srul Irving Glick

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Srul Irving Glick (September 8, 1934 – April 17, 2002) was a Canadian composer, radio producer, conductor, and teacher. Life and career Born in Toronto, Ontario, Glick was the son of David Glick, a Russian born cantor in Toronto. Clarinetist Norman Glick is his brother. He was named an honorary Fellow of the Royal Canadian College of Organists in 1993. The Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee Medal was conferred in 2002. As one of Canada’s composers, Glick’s music continues to be performed regularly at home and abroad. His unique integration of contemporary music, Hebraic lyricism and classical composition techniques, formed into character-filled music that is both dramatic and lyrical, has won him considerable acclaim. His works have been published in Canada, the USA and the United Kingdom. In 1989, a four-CD set of Glick’s music was included in the Anthology of Canadian Music series. The Glick portrait in the Canadian Composers Portraits series was released in 2006. Glick married Dorothy Sandler in 1957. They had three children together: Julie, Stefan, and Paula. They were married 32 years. He married Sara Wunch-Glick in 1996; they were married until his death in 2002. He died in

Steffan Andrews

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Steffan Andrews is a Gemini-nominated Canadian film, television, and video game music composer known for animated series soundtracks. Steffan has composed music for hundreds of episodes of television including series such as Littlest Pet Shop, Pound Puppies, and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. His work has also reached triple-A video game titles and feature films. Steffan’s skills cover a diverse palette of genres and styles, from orchestral to acoustic, from comedy to drama, and beyond. Andrews described both John Williams and Michael Giacchino as an influence of his work. Film and television scores * Littlest Pet Shop – composer (seasons 1–3) * My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic – song orchestrator and composer, additional music (seasons 1–4) * Pound Puppies – composer * Martha Speaks – composer, additional music (seasons 1–5) * Voltron Force – composer * League of Super Evil – composer * Rated A for Awesome – composer * Edgar & Ellen – composer, additional music (episodes 14–26) * Kung Fu Magoo – composer * Battle of the Bulbs – composer, additional music * Endangered Species – composer * Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs – composer * Mega Man: Fully Charged – composer * L

Steph Copeland

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Steph Copeland is a Canadian musician and composer, known principally for her work on horror films. Her credits have included the films Antisocial, Ejecta, The Drownsman, Bite, The Heretics, Vicious Fun, The Retreat, Laced, Outpost and Cascade. Awards References External links *

Stephan Moccio

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Stephan Moccio is a Canadian composer, producer, pianist, arranger, conductor and recording artist. He co-wrote and co-produced the two end credit songs for Fifty Shades of Grey and its soundtrack: “Earned It” (The Weeknd) and “I Know You” (Skylar Grey), with the former being nominated for Best R&B Song and Best Song Written For Visual Media at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, and Best Original Song at the 88th Academy Awards. He also was a producer on the Weeknd’s album Beauty Behind the Madness, which was nominated for Album Of The Year at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards. father and a French-Canadian mother. Moccio is fluent in English and French. Growing up in Niagara Falls, Moccio began his piano studies at the age of 3. His musical style and vocabulary are influenced by the musical genres of classical, jazz, pop, hip hop, blues, and dance. Career Moccio enrolled at the University of Western Ontario where he studied performance and classical piano studies under instructors John Paul Bracey and Jack Behrens. After completing a Bachelor of Arts degree in composition and piano performance in 1994, he was accepted into Berklee College of Music. However, he chose to focus on developing

Stéphane Roy (composer)

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Stéphane Roy is an acousmatic composer. His works have been programmed throughout Europe and the Americas. His latest album, L’inaudible, received the 2019-2020 Prix Opus — Album of the year, Electroacoustic Music. Born in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Roy earned both a doctorate degree in electroacoustic composition and a PhD in musicology from the Université de Montréal. He is the author of L’analyse des musiques électroacoustiques: Modèles et propositions (published 2003, Paris; 2003-04 Prix Opus — Book of the Year), a book on electroacoustic music analysis. He has taught composition, auditory perception and electroacoustic music analysis in various universities and music conservatories, in Québec and abroad. Once in a while he gives lectures on electroacoustic music analysis. Stéphane Roy is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre (CMC), and his works have been published on audio support by various labels, including empreintes DIGITALes (Kaleidos, 1996; Migrations, 2003; L’inaudible, 2019). He lives in Rimouski, Quebec, Canada. * Ondes / Arborescences (1987) * Paysages intérieurs (1988) * Récit pour cordes (1998) * Résonances d’arabesques (1990) * Trois petites histoires

Stephanie Martin (composer)

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Stephanie Martin (born 1962) is a Canadian composer, conductor, and associate professor of music at York University’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design. Biography Martin was born in Tillsonburg, Ontario. She began to learn music as a child, and once said “When I was a kid I listened obsessively to Machaut’s Messe de Nostre Dame, written in the 14th century.” Martin holds a Bachelor’s Degree in music from Wilfrid Laurier University, a Master of Arts degree from the University of Toronto, and an Associate Diploma from the Royal Canadian College of Organists. As of 2019, Martin is an associate professor in the music department at York University. She is founder and director of the medieval music ensemble Schola Magdalena, spent 20 years from 1997 to 2017 as artistic director of Pax Christi Chorale, and worked as the music director and organist of the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene in Toronto. Partial list of works Regarding her composition practices, Martin said in an interview “I don’t have a very healthy composition practice. I am a binger. I carve out blocks of time when I don’t do anything but compose. That means I neglect some other important things, but it does m

Stephen Chatman

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Stephen Chatman (born 28 February 1950) is an American-born Canadian composer residing in Vancouver. His compositions have been performed across Canada and in the United States. Early life and education Chatman was born in Faribault, Minnesota. He studied with Joseph R. Wood and Walter Aschaffenburg at the Oberlin Conservatory. At the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, he studied with Ross Lee Finney, Leslie Bassett, William Bolcom, and Eugene Kurtz, completing a D.M.A. degree in 1977. A Fulbright grant enabled him to study with Karlheinz Stockhausen at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne in 1974. Career In 1976, Chatman joined the faculty of the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver. He composed a number of musical works in the 1980s, including the suite There Is Sweet Music There for chorus and oboe, and the choral work Due North. Chatman became Head of the Composition Division of the UBC School of Music in 1977 and was promoted to Professor in 1987. He was named a Member of the Order of Canada in July 2012. In 2010 his composition “Magnificat” was his third nomination for a Juno Award. He has received three BMI Awards to Student Composers and four Western Canadian Music

Stephen Codman

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Stephen Codman (c. 1796 – 6 October 1852) was a Canadian composer of English descent. His known compositions all date from before 1835, and mainly consist of works for solo voice or vocal ensembles. Early life and education Codman was born in Norwich, England. He was a pupil of John Christmas Beckwith and William Crotch. Career In 1816 Codman came to Canada to assume the post of organist at Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral in Quebec City, most likely succeeding John Bentley. He remained in that post up until his death in Quebec City 36 years later. and They Are Not All Sweet Nightingales, were published by Goulding, D’Almaine, and Co in 1827, placing them among the oldest published Canadian compositions. He also wrote an instrumental piece for the organ, titled “Invocation”. Codman died in Quebec City on 6 October 1852. References

Steve Barakatt

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Steve Barakatt (born May 17, 1973) is a Lebanese-Canadian composer, music producer, pianist, singer and creative director. He was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 2020 and a National Ambassador of UNICEF Canada (2007-2016). Early years When he was four, he began piano lessons. Over the next 10 years he studied classical music, and then switched to jazz. Barakatt enjoyed many challenging musical experiences from an early age, including that of guest soloist with l’Orchestre symphonique de Québec when he was 13. When he was 16, he became fascinated by composition, arranging and production. He studied the new technology available and soon mastered all the intricacies of music programming. So much so that the Japanese firm Roland invited him to present their new products at the 1992 NAMM Show in Anaheim, California. Barakatt has been invited to appear on various recordings and live performances with many artists and ensembles from the Alexandrov Ensemble (Red Army Choir) to the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. A true passionate artist, Barakatt enjoys meeting musicians and exploring all styles of music. Recording artist Barakatt recorded his first solo album, Double Joie,

Steve Fiset

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Steve Fiset (15 December 1946 – 7 November 2015) was a Québécois singer-songwriter, composer and actor. Biography Steve Fiset was born in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada In 1965, Fiset founded the duo Jean et Steve with Jean Lévesque, which sang French and American folk songs and some of their own compositions while playing the guitar. They relocated to Montreal in 1966 and performed as the opening act at the Patriote for one year and a half. In early 1967, they won a trophy for the best band having performed in the Patriote during the year. They recorded their first disc under Yvan Dufresne. Their song “C’est ainsi que va l’amour” won an award at the 1968 Festival du disque. On the same year, their song La banda was successful and they performed as the opening act for Èva’s show at the Place des Arts. from 1970 to 1973. His singing career reached its pinnacle in summer 1970 with the very successful song “Les chemins d’été” written by Luc Plamondon and André Gagnon. from cardiac arrest. Discography Filmography Footnotes References

Steve Tittle

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John Stephen Tittle (20 May 1935 – 25 September 2024) was a Canadian composer and music educator. Biography Tittle was born in Willard, Ohio on 20 May 1935. He studied composition at Kent State University with Harold Miles, John White and Fred Coulter, and at University of Wisconsin–Madison with Hilmar Luckhardt, Robert Crane and Burt Levy. He was a school music teacher 1962–65 in Ohio, and his early performance experience was as a trumpet player in US Navy bands (including the USS Iowa BB-61 ship’s band) and in ensembles in Ohio and Wisconsin. In 1970 he joined the faculty of Dalhousie University, where until 1994 he was associate professor of composition and theory. Founder and co-designer of the Dalhousie Experimental-Electronic Sound Studio, he also inaugurated an improvisation ensemble, Murphy’s Law ensemble, which has evolved into the new music ensemble. He was a 1971 charter member, secretary and artistic director (1981–6) of NOVA MUSIC(“inNOVAtions in MUSIC”, an ensemble which preceded Murphy’s Law by two years) and in 1989, together with several other Halifax professional musicians, created its successor, Upstream. In these enterprises, and in numerous solo and ensemble ap

Steven Gellman

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Steven Gellman (born 16 September 1947) is a Canadian composer, pianist and professor. He has been commissioned to write works for the Besançon International Music Festival, the CBC Symphony Orchestra, the Hamilton Philharmonic, McGill University, Musica Camerata, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, Opera Lyra, the Pierrot Ensemble, the Stratford Festival, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra among others. Since 1976 he has taught music composition and theory at the University of Ottawa. Early life He was born in Toronto. Gellman began his musical training there with Samuel Dolin with whom he studied piano and music composition. He began his career as a concert pianist while still a teenager, first drawing acclaim for his 1964 performance of his own piano concerto with the CBC Symphony Orchestra. For that composition he won the BMI Student Composer Award. A performance later that year at Expo 86 in Vancouver, featured the Vancouver Symphony. Further performances followed, at the Festival de Lanaudiere with the Orchestre Metropolitan de Montreal and in Ottawa with the Ottawa Symphony. Composed with funding from the Canada Council and the Ontario Arts Cou

Stu Phillips (country singer)

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Stu Phillips (January 19, 1933 – December 25, 2025) was a Canadian-American country singer from Montreal, Quebec. Stu and his wife Aldona operated Long Hollow Winery in Goodlettsville, near Nashville. He was also an ordained Minister in the Episcopal Church. He was a long-time host of CBC’s Red River Jamboree. He was also a standing member of the Grand Ole Opry. Stu Phillips was part of RCA and featured on their The Best of Country and West volumes 1 and 2 with “Bracero” and “The Last Thing on My Mind”. Phillips was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993. He was ranked #29 in RPM Magazine’s top 57 Canadian Country artists from 1964 to 1994. Prior to his death, he had been the oldest living member of the Grand Ole Opry for nearly a year. He died in Nashville on December 25, 2025, at the age of 92. Discography Albums Singles References External links * Stu Phillips’ Grand Ole Opry member page * * Entry at thecanadianencyclopedia.ca *

Susan Frykberg

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Susan Frykberg (10 October 1954 – 7 April 2023) was a New Zealand author, electroacoustic composer, and sound artist. She also composed acoustic music in a variety of genres. Life Susan Frykberg was born in Hastings, New Zealand, and studied at the University of Canterbury and the University of Otago, studying under, among others, John Rimmer, Barry Vercoe, Barry Conyngham, and Iannis Xenakis. She moved to Canada in 1979 and worked as a freelance composer in Toronto until a move to Vancouver in 1986, to complete a master’s degree at Simon Fraser University with Barry Truax. She taught in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University for seven years. Frykberg was a long-time member of the Association of Canadian Women Composers, and helped to found both the World Forum of Acoustic Ecology and the Canadian Electroacoustic Community. She published a variety of papers on subjects related to electronic music, including computer music, and also wrote poetry. The Audio Birth Project The Audio Birth Project, a suite of four movements, was one of Frykberg’s most important projects. Funding was granted by the Canada Council, and revolved around concepts of giving birth and going int

Susie Frances Harrison

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Susie Frances Harrison née Riley (February 24, 1859 – May 5, 1935) (a.k.a. Seranus) was a Canadian poet, novelist, music critic and music composer who lived and worked in Ottawa and Toronto. Life Susie Frances Riley was born in Toronto of Irish-Canadian ancestry, the daughter of John Byron Riley. She studied music with Frederic Boscovitz, at a private school for girls in Toronto, and later in Montreal. who was the organist of St. George’s Church in Montreal. The couple had a son and a daughter. The Harrisons lived in Ottawa in 1883, when Susie Harrison composed the song “Address of Welcome to Lord Lansdowne” to celebrate the first public appearance of the new Governor General, the Marquess of Lansdowne. Her String Quartet on Ancient Irish Airs, is likely the first string quartet composed in Canada by a woman. In 1896 and 1897, she presented a series of well-received lectures in Toronto on “The Music of French Canada. During the 1900s she contributed to and edited the Conservatory’s publication Conservatory Monthly, and contributed to its successor Conservatory Quarterly Review. She wrote the article on “Canada” for the 1909 Imperial History and Encyclopedia of Music. The Dictionary

Taylor Brook

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Taylor Brook (born 1985) is a composer of contemporary classical music who currently resides in Victoria, BC, Canada. Education Brook was born in Edmonton but grew up in Toronto, where he attended Etobicoke School of the Arts, a specialized arts-academic public high school. His studies included guitar and violin. He then studied at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, where he completed his Bachelor of Music degree in 2007 and earned his Master’s Degree in Music Composition. For his thesis he composed Mitya, a piece for solo clarinet with 18 musicians and live electronics. It premiered on April 14, 2010, with Mark Bradley of the Portmantô Ensemble as soloist and Denys Bouliane conducting the McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble. His teachers included Brian Cherney, Denys Bouliane, Luc Brewaeys, Ana Sokolović, John Rea, and Sean Ferguson. Career and compositions In 2008, he spent two months in Kolkata studying at Bhattacharya School of Universal Music with Hindustani musician Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya, studying raga on the chaturangui, a many-stringed slide guitar of Bhattacharya’s invention. The piece won the 2010 Lee Ettelson Composer’s Award from Composers, Inc.,

Terry Danko

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Terry Danko (June 25, 1949 - May 25, 2026) was a Canadian musician and songwriter active from childhood. He wrote, performed and recorded his own material as a solo artist and as a member of a number of groups, such as Tin Pan Alley, Bearfoot and Terry Danko, Marty Grebb and Friends. Danko also worked as an accompanist and/or session musician for several notable acts, such as Ronnie Hawkins, Eric Clapton, Stephen Stills, George Harrison, The Rolling Stones and his brother, former member of The Band, the late Rick Danko. Citations References *Danko, Terry. Canadian Pop Encyclopedia. Great White Noise. Retrieved 2010-12-31. *Caffin, Carol. “Terry Danko – Authorized Biography”. theband.hiof.no. Retrieved 2010-12-31. *Terry Danko – Credits. allmusic.com. Retrieved 2010-12-31. *http://sipthewine.blogspot.com/2009/01/terry-dankos-lost-tapes-new-interview.html *http://theband.hiof.no/articles/TerryDankoBandBite1vol2.html

Thomas Wade (singer)

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Thomas Wade (born May 9, 1961) is a Canadian country artist. He was the lead singer of the group Thomas Wade & Wayward, who released their eponymous debut album in 1996. The album produced seven singles on the Canadian country music chart, including the top 10s “Zero to Sixty” and “She’s Getting Serious”. Between 1997 and 1999, Thomas Wade & Wayward received seven CCMA awards, winning best group or duo three times, and both independent single and song awards for ‘97 and ‘98. The group was also nominated for three Juno Awards for Best Country Group or Duo in 1997, 1998 and 1999. Between 1996 and 2001, Wade placed twelve videos in the top twenty on CMT, including the number one “Lying Here with You’”. Wade launched a solo career in 2000 when he signed to Shoreline Records and released his debut album, Lucky 13. Five singles were released from the album, including the top 10 “Running Away with You”. Following the release of a career retrospective in 2001, So Far, Wade was diagnosed with oromandibular dystonia. While he was forced to end his recording career, he has continued his career as a songwriter. Celine Dion included one of Wade’s songs, “Come to Me”, on her 2004 album Miracle.

Tibor Polgár

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Tibor Polgár (1907–1993) was a Hungarian composer of film scores. After working for several decades in the Hungarian film industry, spanning both the Horthy era and the Communist period, he emigrated to Canada. Selected filmography * The New Landlord (1935) * The Golden Man (1936) * Sensation (1936) * Beauty of the Pusta (1937) * Deadly Spring (1939) * Rózsafabot (1940) * Haunting Spirit (1940) * The Gyurkovics Boys (1941) * A Bowl of Lentils (1941) * Magdolna (1942) * The Perfect Family (1942) * Sirius (1942) * Beautiful Star (1942) * Devil Rider (1944) * Something in the Water (1944) * The Schoolmistress (1945) * Song of the Cornfields (1947) * The Siege of Beszterce (1948) * Gala Suit (1949) * Singing Makes Life Beautiful (1950) * Déryné (1951) * Relatives (1954) * Keep Your Chin Up (1954) * Accident (1955) * Sunday Romance (1957) * Don Juan’s Last Adventure (1958) * Up the Slope (1959) * Red Ink (1960) * In Praise of Older Women (1978) References Bibliography * Petrucci, Antonio. Twenty Years of Cinema in Venice. International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art, 1952. * Rîpeanu, Bujor. (ed.) International Directory of Cinematographers, Set- and Costume Designers in Film: Hungary

Tim Brady

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Timothy Wesley John Brady (born 11 July 1956) is a Canadian composer, electric guitarist, improvising musician, concert producer, record producer and cultural activist. Working in the field of contemporary classical music, experimental music, and musique actuelle, his compositions utilize a variety of styles from serialism to minimalism and often incorporate modern instruments such as electric guitars and other electroacoustic instruments. His music is marked by a synthesis of musical languages, having developed an ability to use elements of many musical styles while retaining a strong sense of personal expression. Some of his early recognized works are the 1982 orchestral pieces Variants and Visions, his Chamber Concerto (1985), the chamber trio …in the Wake… (1985, 1988), and his song cycle Revolutionary Songs (1994). He is internationally recognized as one of the world’s leading experimental/new music guitarists (1997, Guitar Player: “One of the 30 Most Important Guitarists for the Future of the Instrument”), and in recent years has gained a strong reputation as one of Canada’s leading composers of chamber, orchestral and music theatre works (2003 Prix OPUS Composer of the Y

Tobin Stokes

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Tobin David Stokes (born 1966) is a Canadian composer and theatre creator, notable for his work in opera, theatre, choral music and television. His works have been performed by New York City Opera, Long Beach Opera, City Opera of Vancouver, the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, and the Victoria Symphony. He also composes for television, including scores for documentaries by the BBC, ABC, and PBS. Life and career Stokes was born in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He studied the piano from the age of three and became a charter member of the Powell River Boy’s Choir at age seven, performing, competing and touring internationally with them until he was fourteen. He holds a BMus in percussion from the University of Victoria and an MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia. Stokes was resident composer at the biannual International Choral Kathaumixw Festival in Powell River, British Columbia, B.C. from 1994 to 2014. He was resident composer with the Victoria Symphony from 2005 to 2008, at the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, and with the Urban Youth Choir Festival in Örebro, Sweden from 2011 to 2012. Stokes has composed several operas: Fallujah, with li

Tom Third

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Tom Third is a Canadian film and television composer. He is most noted as a two-time Gemini Award and Canadian Screen Award recipient, winning Best Original Music Score for a Dramatic Program, Mini-Series or TV Movie at the 25th Gemini Awards in 2010 for The Summit, and Best Original Music Score for a Program at the 2nd Canadian Screen Awards in 2014 for Borealis. He has also received two Gemini nominations for his work on the television series ReGenesis at the 21st Gemini Awards in 2006 and the 22nd Gemini Awards in 2007, and three CSA nominations for Original Music, Fiction for his work on the television series Coroner at the 8th Canadian Screen Awards in 2020, the 9th Canadian Screen Awards in 2021, and the 10th Canadian Screen Awards in 2022. In 2022, he received two nominations for the Screen Composers Guild of Canada’s inaugural Canadian Screen Music Awards, garnering nods in Best Original Score for a Series or Limited Series for Coroner and Best Original Score for a Non-Fiction Series or Limited Series for BLK, An Origin Story. He is the partner of documentary filmmaker Christy Garland. References External links * *

Tommy Banks (musician)

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Thomas Benjamin Banks (December 17, 1936 – January 25, 2018) was a Canadian pianist, conductor, composer, television personality, and senator. He was appointed to the Senate of Canada on the advice of prime minister Jean Chrétien in 2000 and served as a member of the Liberal caucus until 2011. Early life Banks was born in Calgary, Alberta on December 17, 1936. He was born to Benjamin and Laura Banks. He had three brothers: Jim, Terry, and John, and one sister, Wendy. In 1949, the Banks family moved to Edmonton, Alberta. Banks provided musical direction for the ceremonies of the XI Commonwealth Games, EXPO ’86, the World University Games, the XV Olympic Winter Games, and for several radio and television shows. He produced and/or conducted command performances for Her Majesty the Queen and the Royal Family, and for President Ronald Reagan. He was a member of the A. F. of M., ACTRA, the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (U.S.), the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, and of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. Banks made his jazz-playing debut in 1950 in the touring band of saxophonist Don (D. T.) Thompson. At the age of 15, he performed at Varsity Hall.

Tracey Brown

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Tracey Brown is a Canadian country music artist. Brown, a former member of Family Brown, was nominated for a 1999 Juno Award for Best Country Female Vocalist. Her first solo studio album, Woman’s Work, was released in 1998 and produced a Top 20 single with the title track. Biography Brown began performing at 10 years old as a member of Canada’s most awarded country band, Family Brown. During the group’s 22-year career, they recorded 17 albums and hosted a syndicated television show. Tracey Brown released her first solo CD in 1998. Three singles were released from the album, including the title track, which peaked at No. 12 on the RPM Canadian country singles chart. Brown was nominated for Best Country Female Vocalist at the 1999 Juno Awards and Independent Female Vocalist of the Year at the 1999 Canadian Country Music Association Awards. In 2000, Brown was featured in the photo book Dare to Dream – A Celebration of Canadian Women. The following year, she performed at the YWCA Women of Distinction Awards and co-wrote and performed a song for the award-winning short film, Charlie Noir. Brown completed work on her second solo studio album, Alone, which was released in 2008. Its first

Udo Kasemets

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Udo Kasemets (November 16, 1919 – January 19, 2014) was an Estonian Canadian composer of orchestral, chamber, vocal, piano and electroacoustic works. He was one of the first composers to adopt the methods of John Cage, and was also a conductor, lecturer, pianist, organist, teacher and writer. Kasemets was born in Tallinn, Estonia, and trained at the Tallinn Conservatory and the Akademie der Musik in Stuttgart. In 1950, he attended the Kranichstein Institut für neue Musik in Darmstadt, where he became familiar with the music and philosophies of Ernst Krenek, Hermann Scherchen and Edgard Varèse. He emigrated to Canada in 1951, and became a Canadian citizen in 1957. From the 1950s, Kasemets was active in Hamilton and Toronto in Canada. He taught at the Royal Hamilton College of Music and served as conductor of the Hamilton Conservatory Chorus until 1957. He was music critic for the Toronto Daily Star 1959–63 and taught at the Brodie School of Music and Modern Dance 1963–67. In 1968, he directed the first Toronto Festival of Arts and Technology entitled SightSoundSystems and founded and edited a new music publication series, Canavangard. In 1971, Kasemets joined the Faculty of the Depa

Veronika Krausas

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Veronika Judita Krausas (born 1963) is a Canadian composer who lives and works in the United States. Biography She was born in Sydney, Australia but grew up in Canada after the age of four. Her diplomas in music education and performance were completed at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Ontario. She also completed a Bachelor of Commerce (marketing) degree at the University of Calgary (1985), a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Toronto (1991), a master’s degree at McGill University in Montreal (1995), and a doctorate from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles (2001), where she received the outstanding DMA in Composition award. In 2004 she won the Theodore Front Prize for her Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, one of the “Search for New Music awards” presented by The International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM). She is currently an Assistant Professor of Composition at the University of Southern California at the Thornton School of Music. She is also the Assistant Director of Undergraduate music theory at USC, on the advisory board of Jacaranda Music, an associate director of The Industry, a pre-concert lecturer at the Los Angeles Philharmoni

Vic Vogel

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Victor Stefan Vogel (August 3, 1935 – September 16, 2019) was a Canadian jazz pianist, composer, arranger, trombonist, and conductor. Biography Vogel was born in 1935 to Hungarian parents living in Montreal. He began playing the piano at the age of five after watching his older brother play. He also taught himself to play trombone (from age 19), tuba, and vibraphone, and to arrange music. At 14, he began working occasionally in Montreal nightclubs, and did a CBC radio broadcast, while repairing cars to earn money. In the mid-1950s he studied piano and music theory with Michel Harvey in Montreal, and took lesson from Lennie Tristano in New York City. Vogel became a full-time professional musician in the late 1950s, and through the 1960s worked as both a sideman and bandleader in nightclubs, and eventually in radio and TV studios. He played in a Montreal big band and later a nonet led by Steve Garrick, and honed his arranging skills by writing for various bands, including Garrick’s and Al Nichols’s. In 1961, he accompanied on piano the Double Six of Paris, for concerts in the province of Quebec, and, in 1966 led a group of Montreal jazz musicians on a tour of Europe organized by Radi

Victor Bouchard

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Victor Bouchard OC CQ (April 11, 1926 – March 22, 2011) was a Canadian pianist and composer. Bouchard received his first musical training from 1941 to 1946 at the Collège de Lévis with Father Alphonse Tardif. Then he studied at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec under Tardif (harmony), Hélène Landry (piano) and Françoise Aubut (theory). In 1950 he married pianist Renée Morisset. From 1950 to 1953 Bouchard studied in Paris, where he was a student of Alfred Cortot and Antoine Reboulot. From 1952 he performed with his wife as a piano duo. They toured Canada, Belgium, Holland and Italy starting in the mid-1950s. After debuting at Carnegie Hall, they made many appearances in the United States between 1965 and 1970. Several composers wrote pieces for the duo. These include Clermont Pépin’s Nombres for two pianos and orchestra (1963), Roger Matton’s Concerto (1964) and a sonata by Jacques Hétu. For a recording of Matton’s concerto, they were awarded the Prix Pierre-Mercure. Bouchard was President of the Jeunesses musicales du Canada from 1957 to 1959 and in 1961 became vice president of the Académie de musique du Québec. From 1967 to 1971 he worked for the Ministry of Education of Que

Victor Davies

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Victor Albert Davies is a Canadian composer, pianist, and conductor, best known for his opera Transit of Venus and The Mennonite Piano Concerto. Biography Davies was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1939. As a child and teenager, he studied the piano and violin, sang in church choirs, played in jazz and rock bands, and took courses with Ronald Gibson and Peggie Sampson at the University of Manitoba. He studied composition at Indiana University where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in music in 1964. Between 1968 and 1970 he led and composed for a ’third stream’ jazz ensemble and attended Pierre Boulez’s 1969 conducting class in Switzerland. In 1959 he became organist-choirmaster at Wesley United Church, Winnipeg where he served for many years. He became the music director at the Manitoba Theatre Centre in 1964 and from 1966 to 1970 he worked as a composer, arranger, and conductor for CBC Radio and television. In 1970 he began to work as a freelance composer and arranger, and in 1977 he moved to Toronto where he still resides. He was president of the Canadian League of Composers 1979-82 and began to sit on the board of directors of SOCAN in 1997. He was honored with an honorary d

Victoria Banks

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Victoria Wenonah Banks (born February 8, 1973) is a Nashville-based Canadian singer and songwriter who has penned songs for a variety of artists including Reba McEntire, Sara Evans, Jessica Simpson, Lauren Alaina, Carly Pearce and Mickey Guyton. Her songs have earned 2 ASCAP Country Music Awards, a SOCAN International Achievement Award, a Covenant Award, and a Grammy nomination (for co-writing Mickey Guyton’s album Remember Her Name). Banks’ own self-produced debut album When You Can Fly, released on the On Ramp/EMI Canada label in April 2009, earned her a 2010 Canadian Indie Award nomination and six nominations at the 2009 Canadian Country Music Awards (CCMAs) including Album of the Year, Producer of the Year, Single of the Year (“The Wheel”), Songwriter of the Year (“The Wheel”), Female Artist of the Year and Rising Star, making Banks the most nominated female artist of 2009. “The Wheel,” the album’s first single, reached the Top 20 on the Radio & Records Country Singles chart earning her a 2010 Canadian Radio Music Award nomination. Music videos for “The Wheel” and “When You Can Fly” received airplay on CMT Canada. Banks was named both Female Artist of the Year and Songwriter(s)

Vincent Ho (composer)

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Vincent Ho is a Canadian composer. Both his Arctic Symphony and The Shaman: Concerto for Percussion & Orchestra were nominated for Juno Awards. Early life and education Ho was born in Ottawa, Ontario, and grew up in Calgary, Alberta. He studied at The Royal Conservatory of Music, and later at the University of Calgary, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in composition. He earned a Master of Music Degree (M.Mus.) from the University of Toronto, then later earned his Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in composition from the University of Southern California. * Sandman’s Castle (solo tam-tam) - 2015 * Kickin’ It 2.0 (violin, cello, piano, and drum set) - 2017. This work was nominated for a Juno Award, for Classical Composition of the Year, in 2020. In 2017 Ho brought together a group of Canadian composers to create True North: Symphonic Ballet, commissioned by the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday. Ho composed Arctic Symphony, which was performed at the True North Festival in Calgary. References

Violet Archer

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Violet Archer (24 April 191321 February 2000) was a Canadian composer, teacher, pianist, organist, and percussionist. Education and teaching career Born Violetta Balestreri in Montreal (the family changed its name to Archer in 1940), Archer earned a Licentiate in music from McGill University in 1934, and a Bachelor of Music from McGill in 1936; she studied composition with Claude Champagne and Douglas Clarke. From 1953-61, she taught at the University of Oklahoma. Returning to Canada in 1961 as a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto, she set her studies aside when, in 1962, she joined the Faculty of Music at the University of Alberta, where she taught until her retirement in 1978; during this time she was chair of the theory and composition department. Her notable students included Larry Austin, Jan Randall, Allan Gilliland, and Allan Gordon Bell. Musical career Archer built a career as a musician and composer in addition to teaching. She played percussion in the Montreal Women’s Symphony Orchestra from 1940-47 during the era when women had no access to positions in major professional orchestras. In addition to percussion, Archer played clarinet and strings, and worked i

Vivian Fung

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Vivian Fung (born 1975) is a JUNO Award-winning Canadian composer who writes music for orchestras, operas, quartets, and piano. Her compositions have been performed internationally. Early life and education Fung was born in Edmonton, Alberta. She wrote her first compositions at age 7. She began studies with Violet Archer and later studied with Narcis Bonet in Paris. She received her bachelor’s degree, masters, and doctorate from The Juilliard School in New York City in 1996, 1997, and 2002, respectively. Her composition mentors included David Diamond and Robert Beaser, piano mentors included György Sándor and Ernesto Lejano, and conducting mentor was Miguel Harth-Beyoda. Career NPR calls Fung “one of today’s most eclectic composers,” and The Philadelphia Inquirer said she has a “stunningly original compositional voice” through her use of blending Western musical forms with musical ideas from many cultures, including Balinese and Javanese gamelan, and folk songs from minority regions of China. Fung travels often, exploring the diverse cultures of North Vietnam, Spain, and Bali, Indonesia. In 2012, Fung traveled to Southwest China for ethno-musicological research to study minority mu

W. H. Anderson

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William Henry Anderson (21 April 1882 – 12 April 1955) was a composer, choir director, tenor, and voice teacher of English birth. He produced a large amount of vocal music, including more than 150 songs and 40 anthems as well as a significant amount of carols and other choral works. He also produced a large number of choral arrangements of Ukrainian, Czech, and Icelandic folksongs; mainly written for Winnipeg choir director Walter Bohonos and his choirs. He used the pseudonyms Hugh Garland and Michael Bilencko for some of his published ballads and folksong arrangements, however, most of his works were published under the name W.H. Anderson. 1982 Some of his more well known compositions include the anthem Come, I Pray Thee; the songs Hospitality and To Immortality; the trio for female voices Sea Blue Gardens; and the Christmas pieces Ane Song for the Birth of Christ, Lullaby of the Little Angels and The World’s Desire. Life and career Born in London, Anderson studied singing privately in his native city with Mattia Battistini and Manuel García and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He served as a lay tenor at several notable churches in London, including St Paul’s Cathedral

W. H. Hewlett

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William Henry Hewlett (16 January 1873 – 13 June 1940) was a Canadian organist, conductor, composer, and music educator of English birth. Early life and education Born in Batheaston, Hewlett was a treble in the choir at Bath Abbey as a boy. In 1884, at the age of 11, he emigrated to Canada where his family ultimately settled in Toronto, Ontario. As a teenager he studied at the Toronto Conservatory of Music (TCM) where he graduated with the gold medal for organ performance in 1893. Among his teachers were Francesco D’Auria (orchestration), Arthur Elwell Fisher (music theory), Albert Ham (music theory), and A. S. Vogt (piano and organ). He later went to Europe to pursue advanced studies with pianist Ernst Jedliczka and composer Hans Pfitzner in Berlin, and in London with pianist Vladimir Cernikoff. In 1907 he, along with J. E. P. Aldous and Bruce Carey, became co-director of the Royal Hamilton College of Music. He became sole director in 1918, a position he held until 1939. often leading the ensemble in performances with the Cleveland Orchestra. In 1927 he conducted a concert celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation with a 1000-voice choir. In 1928 to 1929 he wa

W. O. Forsyth

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Wesley Octavius Forsyth (January 26, 1859 – May 7, 1937) was a Canadian pianist, composer and music educator based in Toronto, Ontario. Most of his compositions were written for the piano and voice. Early life and education Forsyth was born in Markham Township, York County, Canada West. As a child Forsyth studied piano with Edward Fisher (musician). As a young man he studied at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig He made his debut that year as a solo pianist, but did not achieve success as an instrumental performer, and returned to Toronto to teach. In 1892 he travelled to Vienna and Ischl to study with Julius Epstein In the 1890s he wrote music reviews and other articles for the publications The Musician and The Week. By 1913 his compositions had been published internationally, By 1923, his pupils had formed a “Forsyth Club”, and a number of his works were performed on the radio. Select works *“Love took me softly by the hand” : op. 30, no. 2 *“Showers are falling” *“The homelight” *Prelude and fugue : no. 1 in C minor : for the organ", op. 18 *“No. 2 : Song of the silver night (romance)” *‘Frülingsabend = Spring evening : Alt oder Mezzo-Sopran mit Pianofortebegleitung", o

Wade Hemsworth

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Albert Wade Hemsworth (October 23, 1916 – January 19, 2002) was a Canadian folk singer and songwriter. Although he was not a prolific composer, having written only about 20 songs during his entire career, several of his songs – most notably “The Wild Goose”, “The Black Fly Song” and “The Log Driver’s Waltz” – are among the most enduring classics in the history of Canadian folk music. Life and career Hemsworth was born and raised in Brantford, Ontario, Canada and learned to play guitar and banjo in his youth. After the war, he worked as a surveyor in the wilderness areas of Northern Ontario, Quebec and Labrador, the job which provided Hemsworth with the subject matter for many of his songs. He subsequently moved to Montreal in 1952, where he worked as a draftsman for the Canadian National Railway, and performed in the city’s folk music clubs at night. He released his first album, Folk Songs of the Canadian North Woods, in 1956. That album included both original compositions by Hemsworth and traditional songs he had learned in his various jobs. In 1957 Hemsworth recited and sang the narration of Log Drive, a National Film Board of Canada documentary about the annual spring log drive

Walter Boudreau

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Walter Boudreau, (born 1947 in Sorel) is a Canadian composer, saxophonist and conductor. In 1969, he founded the group L’Infonie with Raoul Duguay, which dissolved in 1973. Since 1988, he has been the artistic director of the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec in Montreal. He was a principal collaborator in the Symphonie du Millénaire which took place in Montréal in 2000. In May 2015 Boudreau received a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, Canada’s highest honour in the performing arts. Teachers * Serge Garant * Mauricio Kagel * György Ligeti * Bruce Mather * Karlheinz Stockhausen * Gilles Tremblay * Iannis Xenakis Films * La Nuit de la poésie 27 mars 1970, 1971 * Ultimatum, 1973 * Unfinished Infonie (L’Infonie inachevée…), 1973 * Fanfares, 1988 Awards * 1982 - Prix Jules-Léger * 1998 - Prix Opus : compositeur de l’année * 2003 - Molson Prize * 2004 - Prix Denise-Pelletier * 2013 - Knight of the National Order of Quebec * 2013 - Member of the Order of Canada * 2015 - Governor General’s Performing Arts Award * Grants from the Canadian Arts Council * National Young Composers Competition (Radio-Canada) See also * Music of Canada * List of Canadian composers References

Walter Buczynski

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Walter Joseph Buczynski (born 17 December 1933) is a Canadian composer, teacher, and pianist. Born in Toronto, Buczynski earned an Associate diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music in 1951 and a Licentiate in 1953. While there he studied music composition with Godfrey Ridout and piano with Earle Moss. He studied under Darius Milhaud and Charles Jones at the Aspen Music Festival and School in 1955. He pursued further studies in piano with Rosina Lhévinne in New York in 1958–1959. He received grants from the Polish government that enabled him to study with Zbigniew Drzewiecki in Warsaw in 1959 and 1961. Likewise, grants from the Canada Council made it possible for him to study under Nadia Boulanger in Paris in 1960 and 1962. In 1951 and 1952 Buczynski was awarded second prizes at the Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada composition competition, going on to win first prize there in 1954 with his Piano Trio. In 1955 he won the Fromm Foundation Award with his Suite for Woodwind Quintet. That same year he made his debut as a concert pianist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra playing Chopin’s F minor Concerto. Among his notable pupils were John Burge, Mychael Dann

Walter MacNutt

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Walter Louis MacNutt (2 June 1910 – 10 August 1996) was a Canadian organist, choir director, and composer. His compositional output includes numerous choral works, songs, pieces for solo organ, and works for orchestra, many of which have been published by companies like Broadcast Music Incorporated, Frederick Harris Music, the Waterloo Music Company, and the Western Music Company. In 1938 his Suite for Piano was awarded the first Vogt Society prize for Canadian composition. One of his more popular works, the secular song Take Me to a Green Isle, is taken from a poem by H.E. Foster. He also composed many songs to the poems of William Blake. In his later years, he composed music mainly for the Anglican church, include two Missae breves and the Mass of St James (1974). Life and career Born in Charlottetown, MacNutt began his music studies with W.E. Fletcher and Roberta Spencer Full on Prince Edward Island. In 1929 he entered the Toronto Conservatory of Music (TCM) where he studied through 1932 with Reginald Godden (piano) and Healey Willan (organ and composition). He notably won the TCM’s Vogt Memorial and Marion Ferguson scholarships and won a national competition in 1931. In 1931 Ma

Warren Cohen (composer)

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Warren Cohen is a Canadian composer, conductor and pianist is the musical director of the MusicaNova Orchestra, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, which is identified by its mission statement (‘musica nova’ means ’new music’), rather than a geographical location. The organisation specialises in works that are newly composed or unjustly neglected, as well as new interpretations of standard repertoire. Cohen, who has so far had a two-decade career as a musical director, and who has significantly developed every organisation with which he has been involved, studied conducting with Gustave Meier and Paul Vermel. Biography Born in Montreal, Cohen studied piano with his father, Philip Cohen, and composition privately. Cohen performed frequently as a solo pianist from 1980 to 1990 by performing over 200 works including 20 world premiere performances. At the time, he was living in Hawaii, and held the position of music director of the Kumu Kahua Theatre Group, which specialised in locally-themed productions. He composed music for numerous theatre productions, including ones based on the life of Princess Ka’iulani and the Aristophanes farce Ecclesiazusae (translated as either “Women in Parliamen

Wilfrid Pelletier

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Joseph Louis Wilfrid Pelletier (sometimes spelled Wilfred), (20 June 1896 – 9 April 1982) was a Canadian conductor, pianist, composer, and arts administrator. He was instrumental in establishing the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, serving as the orchestra’s first artistic director and conductor from 1935 to 1941. He had a long and fruitful partnership with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City that began with his appointment as a rehearsal accompanist in 1917; ultimately working there as one of the company’s conductors in mainly the French opera repertoire from 1929 to 1950. From 1951 to 1966, he was the principal conductor of the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec. He was also a featured conductor for a number of RCA Victor recordings, including an acclaimed reading of Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem featuring baritone Mack Harrell and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and chorus. Pelletier was one of the most influential music educators in Canada during the 20th century. It was largely through his efforts that the Conservatoire de musique et d’art dramatique du Québec (CMADQ), an organization which has established and oversees nine different schools of higher education in music and theatre in

William Beauvais

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William Eugene Beauvais (born October 9, 1956) is a Canadian classical guitarist and composer who has performed in the United States, Europe, and across Canada. Early life Beauvais completed a Bachelor of Music in Music Performance at the University of Toronto. Shortly after graduation he won first prize both at the Canadian Music Competition and in the Carrefour Mondial de Guitare in Martinque. Career Beauvais is best known for his work as a teacher at York University, The Royal Conservatory of Music, Queen’s University and the University of Windsor, and for his recordings, most notably, his 1991 recording of The Bulgarian Dances on the Musica Viva 1071 . In over three decades, Beauvais has accumulated many diverse performing and recording credits. The artists he has worked with include: Brian Katz, The Evergreen Club, Arraymusic, New Music Concerts, Alan Hetherington, The Canadian Chamber Ensemble and Les Amis Concerts. He has also worked with choreographers Terrill Maguire and Hedy Minton, as well as poets Steven McCabe, Richard Truhlar and Wayne Keon. He has given many premier performances, including works George Crumb, Elliott Carter, Jon Siddall, Stephen Wingfield, Ronald Bru

William Carter (composer)

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William Carter (7 December 1838 – 1917) was an English composer, conductor, and organist. He began a lengthy career as an organist at mainly churches in London at the age of nine. In 1859 and 1860 he spent one year in Canada as the organist at Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Quebec, during which time he staged what was possibly the largest Handel Festival in Canada at that time. As a composer he is known for his liturgical anthems for chorus and organ, sacred works for organ, the oratorio Placida, the Christian Martyr (1872), and Cantata Domino in E (1891). His father John Carter (1802-????) worked as an organist at St Matthew’s, Bethnal Green and married Anne Leach on 10 April 1831. Three of his brothers were also composers and organists: John Carter (1832–1916), George Carter (1835–1890) and Henry Carter (1837–1901). Like his brothers, William Carter was trained as an organist and pianist by his father and by the Austrian pianist and composer Ernst Pauer. William Carter died in London in 1917. References

Willie Eckstein

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William “Willie” Eckstein (6 December 1888 – 23 September 1963), a.k.a. the Boy Paderewski and Mr. Fingers, was a Canadian pianist and composer. Life and career William Eckstein was born in Pointe St. Charles, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is said that he began showing signs of prodigious musical talent at the early age of 3 when he played by ear the melody to Home! Sweet Home! on the piano after hearing it performed the day before. At age 6, Eckstein studied with Moretzky Upton of McGill University, and various other music teachers, who taught him piano, theory and harmony, and at age 12 was offered a piano scholarship to the school. Due to his small stature, standing under 5 feet, Eckstein first attracted attention dressed as a boy performer and billed as the “Swedish Boy Wonder” while employed for the Bell Piano Company at the Canadian National Exhibition. *“You are my all in all” *“In sunny summertime” *“Good bye sunshine, hello moon!” *“Beautiful thoughts : a reverie” *“To the King and Queen : from over there” : “A Toast to the King and Queen” (from over there) by Harold Moon *“Lest you forget” (a song inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame) *“S’Nice” (also inducte

Yves Daoust

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Yves Daoust (born 10 April 1946) is a Canadian composer who is particularly known for his works of electroacoustic music. He currently resides in Montréal. Life Born in Longueuil, Quebec, Daoust began his musical studies at the age of seven, studying piano with Alice Vigeant. At sixteen, he produced his first experiments in electroacoustic music when he “prepared” the family piano in order to create the soundtrack for a friend’s 8mm experimental film. At nineteen, Daoust completed his first electronic work: an hour of music for a gestural theater work premiered in Berlin (Germany) as part of an international amateur theater festival. At twenty he entered the Conservatoire de musique et d’art dramatique du Québec in Montréal, initially in the piano class of Irving Heller and subsequently in the composition class of Gilles Tremblay. After meeting Maurice Blackburn, Daoust entered a training program in film music techniques at the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) in Montreal. This was followed by an apprenticeship at the Institut international de musique électroacoustique de Bourges, IMEB, from 1974 to 1976. In 1976, he returned to the NFB as a sound designer for three years in the

Yves Laferrière

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Yves Laferrière (1943 – December 11, 2020) was a Canadian musician and composer. He was a two-time Genie Award winner, for Best Original Song at the 6th Genie Awards in 1985 for “Touch Me”, which he cowrote with Paule Baillargeon and Marjolène Morin for the film A Woman in Transit (La Femme de l’hôtel), and for Best Original Score at the 11th Genie Awards in 1990 for Jesus of Montreal (Jésus de Montréal). Filmography Composer *The Red Kitchen (La Cuisine rouge) - 1980 *La Phonie furieuse - 1982 *Lucien Brouillard - 1983 *Just a Game (Rien qu’un jeu) - 1983 *A Woman in Transit (La Femme de l’hôtel) - 1984 *Like a Heartbreak (C’est comme une peine d’amour) - 1985 *Sonia - 1986 *Transit - 1986 *Le Chemin de Damas - 1988 *Jesus of Montreal (Jésus de Montréal) - 1989 *White Is the Night (Blanche est la nuit) - 1989 *Impasse de la vignette - 1990 *Babylone - 1990 *Moody Beach - 1990 *Solo - 1991 *Montreal Stories (Montréal vu par…) - 1991 *Kitty Cats - 1991 *Le Complexe d’Édith - 1991 *Between the Solitudes - 1992 *The Sex of the Stars (Le sexe des étoiles) - 1993 *Bandes-hommages 100 ans de cinéma - 1996 *Poverty and Other Delights (Joyeux Calvaire) - 1996 *The Secret Laughter of Wome

Yves Lapierre (composer)

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Yves Lapierre (born 9 August 1946) is a Canadian composer, arranger, record producer, and singer. He began his career performing and recording with the folk vocal quartet Les Cailloux during the 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s he was highly active as a composer, arranger, and record producer for a large number of notable Canadian musicians. Some of his best known songs are Get That Ball, Tout va trop vite, Le Désamour, and Moi, de la tête aux pieds. He also composed music for several Canadian Broadcasting Corporation television dramas; including the Guy Fournier TV serials Jamais deux sans toi (1977–80) and L’Or et le papier (1988–89) and Lise Payette’s La Bonne aventure. Early life Born in Montreal, Lapierre is the grandnephew of composer Eugène Lapierre. A graduate of the École de musique Vincent-d’Indy, he studied conducting and instrumentation with Michel Perrault. Career He began his career as a founding member of the folk vocal quartet Les Cailloux, which he directed from 1963 to 1968. During that time the group he toured regularly throughout the Quebec region. They also embarked on an international tour in 1967, giving performances in Europe, Africa and Asia. The ensemble rele

Zoë Keating

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Zoë Clare Keating (born February 2, 1972) is a Canadian-American cellist and composer once based in San Francisco, California, now based in Vermont. Music career Keating performed from 2002 to 2006 as second chair cellist in the cello rock band Rasputina. She is featured on Amanda Palmer’s debut solo album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer. In her solo performances and recordings Keating uses live electronic sampling and repetition in order to layer the sound of her cello, creating rhythmically dense musical structures. , her self-produced album One Cello x 16: Natoma reached number 1 on the iTunes classical charts four times, and “Into the Trees” spent 47 weeks on the Billboard classical chart, peaking at number 7. She is the recipient of a 2009 Performing Arts Award from Creative Capital. Keating’s songs have been featured in various commercials, TV shows, films, video games, and dance performances, including HBO’s White Lotus, Amazon Prime’s Mammals, CBS’s Elementary, NBC’s Crisis, So You Think You Can Dance, MTV’s Teen Wolf, Dateline, Have You Heard from Johannesburg, The Day Carl Sandburg Died, Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth, The Retrieval, The Witness, and PBS’s Searching: Our Quest f