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Browsing: Canadian Music

Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy’s music has been performed around the world by outstanding soloists and ensembles, and broadcast on radio in more than 22 countries. Photo by Kamara Morozuk.

Newswire | WSO Announces Kelly-Marie Murphy as New Composer-in-Residence

By Newswire on 28 January 2026 Arts Industry, Canadian Music, Chamber Music, Employment, Newswire, West

(January 19, 2026 – Winnipeg, MB) – The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO) is delighted to announce the appointment of award-winning Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy as its new Composer-in-Residence, beginning with the 2026/27 season. A leading figure in Canada’s contemporary music scene, Dr. Murphy becomes the fourth composer to hold the position in the WSO’s history. “I am often amazed by my own good fortune,” shares Dr. Murphy. “I am honoured and excited to be the next Composer-in-Residence with the WSO. I feel like I’ve grown up with the orchestra during its New Music Festivals over the years, and this appointment brings it…

Left: Marie-Josée Lord, Photo by Eric Myre; Right: Kalena Bovell Photo by Tam Photography

Newswire | OCM Welcomes Canadian Haitian soprano Marie-Josée Lord

By Newswire on 13 January 2026 Arts Industry, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Montreal, Newswire, Quebec Music, Vocal

Montreal, January 6, 2025 – As part of Montreal’s Black History Month, the Orchestre classique de Montréal (OCM) is proud to welcome renowned Canadian Haitian soprano Marie-Josée Lord, along with Panamanian American conductor Kalena Bovell. Presented by TD Bank Group, the concert will take place on Thursday, February 5 at 7:30 p.m. at Salle Pierre-Mercure. This moving program will highlight landmark works by composers of African descent, including William Grant Still and Florence Price. The second half of the concert will feature Honey and Rue, a poignant song cycle by André Previn with texts by Toni Morrison, exploring the “sweet and bitter” aspects of life and love in the African American experience.…

Newswire | 13th Edition Of 21C Music Line-Up Announced

By Newswire on 11 November 2025 Canadian Music, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Contemporary, Jazz, Newswire, Piano, Toronto

Toronto, ON, November 11, 2025 – This season the 21C Music series, now in its 13th edition, includes five concerts in late January and an additional one in May 2026. The series features music composed mostly during the 21st century, which often crosses boundaries and genres. With this newly-minted music, audiences have an opportunity to experience fresh new sounds and ideas from the greatest musical minds of today and experience works by Canadian as well as international composers, and musicians who are mining new musical territories, breaking down barriers, and introducing us to new virtuosic music creations. In total, the Festival will include more than 7 premieres: 2 world (Alison Yun-Fei…

Photo: Brent Calis

Mécénat Musica | Jaap Nico Hamburger: Composer-in-residence

By Wah Keung Chan on 28 October 2025 Arts Industry, Canadian Music, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Contemporary, Opera, Orchestral

Scores and notes of Mécénat Musica Composer-in-Residence and Mécénat Musica Prix 3 Femmes composers and librettists are offered to emerging Quebec and Canadian artists royalty-free, forever! Juno-nominated Jaap Nico Hamburger has composed or is composing 112 movements of Mécénat Musica Compositions featuring symphonies, concertos, chamber music, oratorios, and opera, including multiple recordings with the Orchestre Métropolitain, Ensemble Caprice, Ensemble ArtChoral, the Residentie Orkest (Netherlands) and the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra. “The music just comes to me. I just write down what I hear,” says Hamburger. Only seven years after leaving a full-time career as a cardiologist to devote his life to…

Grand Prize Winners of the 2025 Canadian Music Competition: Barron Jiyu Jiang, Piano Trio Sacora, Julien Gagné and Ethan Wang

Canadian Music Competition: A Bold Return and Revision

By Kaitlyn Chan on 3 October 2025 Canadian Music, Classical Music, Interviews, Music Competition

Founded in 1958, the Canadian Music Competition (CMC) has discovered and supported generations of high-level classical musicians. Its continued relevance has relied on the organization’s ability to innovate, adapt, and meet challenges. With the end of a vital sponsorship in 2024, the CMC had to apply these strategies and now returns with renewed vigour in 2025. Newly sponsored by the Azrieli Foundation, the CMC introduced a revised structure for its 2025 edition that focuses on education, Canadian culture, and putting more power in the hands of its “chapters” (organizations affiliated with the CMC based in each province). Instead of its…

CIOC’s 2025 Grand Organ Festival: Celebrating the Ever-Evolving Instrument

By Kaitlyn Chan on 3 October 2025 Canadian Music, Classical Music, Contemporary, Jazz

Despite the organ’s extensive history dating back to the third century BCE, it still holds a vital place in the context of music-making today. The Canadian International Organ Competition (CIOC) proves this with their popular competitions, festivals, and concerts. This year’s Grand Organ Festival highlights up-and-coming organists, various musical genres, and a world premiere. “The organ is far from a dead instrument,” says Artistic Director Jean-Willy Kunz. Rather, it seems to evolve with the performers, composers, and audiences who enjoy it. During the festival, Kunz will perform on the pipe organ alongside a jazz quintet at Montreal’s St. James United…

Autour de la Flûte: A World of Flutes

By Heather Weinreb on 3 October 2025 Canadian Music, Classical Music, Montreal, Winds

Mika Putterman does not identify with the stereotypical description of a flutist. When it was time to “choose a real instrument” after having played recorder in school, Putterman’s parents thought their daughter matched the description of flutists in Attarah Ben-Tovim’s book, The Right Instrument for Your Child. For Ben-Tovim, flutists are people prone to daydreaming and forgetfulness. Yet Putterman, founding director of the Montreal-based concert series Autour de la Flûte (ADLF), approaches the flute more as a hard-nosed detective than a dreamer with her head in the clouds. “I’m very intellectual,” she says. “I get all the facts and then…

Tafelmusik and Rachel Podger: Love at First Bow

By Viktor Lazarov on 3 September 2025 Baroque and Early, Canadian Music, Classical Music, Orchestral, Strings, Toronto

Flying across bridges of time spread over ornate baroque landscapes, bellicose classical terrains, early romantic gardens, and idiosyncratic 21st-century reliefs, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra travels at a speed precious few ensembles could match. Three years short of a 50th anniversary, the Toronto-based ensemble opens their 2025-26 season with a star-studded cast of guest directors and soloists. “We’re starting our second season with Rachel Podger as principal guest director,” says violist Brandon Chui, one of Tafelmusik’s three artistic directors. Building on a decade-long symbiotic relationship, Tafelmusik and Podger kick off with Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G minor, one of the most recognizable…

Immersive installations shape VNM’s 2025-26 season

By Newswire on 2 September 2025 Canadian Music, Multimedia, Newswire, Vancouver

VANCOUVER, BC – Vancouver New Music’s 2025-26 season celebrates the transformative power of sound with an inspiring lineup of international, Canadian, and local artists. The season opens with soundscape artist Yota Kobayashi’s Shiki & Kū, a collaborative immersive installation presented in partnership with VIVO Media Arts Centre, Formscape Arts and IM4 Media Lab, followed by this year’s VNM Festival, Whispered Folds, featuring eight groundbreaking artists exploring themes of intimacy, boundaries, and borders. Throughout the year, our On Curation Mentorship Project showcases emerging curatorial voices presenting innovative artists and concepts. International highlights of this season include the Vancouver debut of vocalist…

Review | 12 Ensemble grows a British-Canadian premiere

By James Ellis on 9 July 2025 Canadian Music, Classical Music, Concert Reviews, Orchestral

After their collaborative season at Wigmore Hall, string orchestra 12 Ensemble are going from strength to strength. What this string ensemble might lack in a telling name, they make up for with energy and attentive drive. Melankolia from Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Cantus Arcticus (Concerto for Birds and Orchestra) was a bold opener for its July 8th livestreamed concert. The warble of the shorelark is heard on tape (and slightly lowered in tone) and is mirrored with the sensual playing of the ensemble with a harp in the auditorium, as brass and woodwind on the balcony gradually meld into the…