Canadian Music Centre - Prairie Region - Composer Database

William Henry Anderson (b. London, England, 21 April, 1882; d. Winnipeg, Manitoba, April 12, 1955). He studied voice and composition with private teachers before winning two scholarships to attend the Guildhall School of Music, London. He studied voice in Italy with Garcia and Battistini and was later tenor soloist in London at St. Stephen's Walbrooke Church and St. Paul's Cathedral.

Music teacher (school and University), choral conductor, composer, poet. Born Winnipeg 1917. Graduate University of Manitoba (BA, B.Ed, MEd). Studied under British musicians Filmer Hubble and Ronald Gibson. Conductor CBC Winnipeg Singers and various church choirs. Vocal and choral adjudicator at festivals across Canada and northern States. Commissioned by City of Winnipeg, Manitoba Arts Council, Winnipeg Male Voice Choir as well as several church choirs.

Rémi Bouchard, born on March 15, 1936 in Laurier, Manitoba, began his musical education with the "Presentation of Mary" nuns. After studying with Gerald Death in Neepawa, he undertook more advanced studies with Phyllis Holtby (piano) and A. A. Zimmerman (theory), in Winnipeg. In 1956 he began teaching piano in Neepawa where he still resides. In 1960 he received a piano teacher's diploma from the University of Manitoba

Glenn Buhr (b.1954, Winnipeg). Canadian composer of stage, orchestral, chamber, choral, and vocal works that have been performed throughout Canada and Europe and that appear on several recordings.

Dr. Buhr received his BMus in 1979 from the University of Manitoba, his MMus in 1981 from the University of British Columbia and his DMA in 1984 from the University of Michigan. His principal teachers included Casey Sokol, Lawrence Ritchey, William Benjamin, Stephen Chatman, Leslie Bassett, William Albright, and William Bolcom.

Bruce Carlson (b. 1944, Toronto) married to Carole Cornier, father of four children, studied theory and harmony initially in Toronto with Captain W.T. Atkins, conductor of the Queen's Own Rifles Band and composition in Winnipeg with Dr. Robert Turner. He graduated from the University of Waterloo (B.A., 1967), University of Toronto (Teaching Certificate, 1969), and the University of Manitoba (Music, 1974).

Professor Chester Duncan was born in Saskatchewan in 1913, but has lived most of his life in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He is the composer of over 150 songs, a large number of which are in the library of the Canadian Music Centre. Sixty-five of these songs were recorded in 1983 (two cassettes) with Orville Derraugh, tenor. Among the many poets involved in these settings, special attention has been given to W.H. Auden, W.B. Yeats, Hilaire Belloc, Robert Herrick, A.E. Housman -- and, among the Canadian poets, James Reaney -- with all of whom a number of cycles or groups of songs were made.

Laurie Matthew Duncan was born in Winnipeg in 1956. In the mid-late 1960s, he studied cello and theory with Dr. Peggie Sampson. He obtained his ARCM, studying piano with Phyllis Sellick at the Royal College of Music in London, England, in 1973/74. 1975 marked Duncan's first public recital as a pianist. In 1977, Duncan was the winner of the Young Artists' Competition of the Canadian Music Teachers' Association, and as a result, toured Western Canada. He graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance in 1977, and held the position of Teaching Assistant to Ronald Turini at the University of Western Ontario from 1979 to 1982.

DR.SOPHIE-CARMEN ECKHARDT-GRAMATTÉ (b. Moscow, USSR, 6 January 1899; d. Stuttgart, Germany, 2 December 1974) received her early training in piano from her mother, a pupil of Nicholas Rubinstein, and continued piano as well as violin studies at the Conservatoire in Paris. At the age of eleven she made a double début on the violin and piano and by 1919 was performing concerti on both instruments. Living in Berlin from 1914, she studied with Bronislaw Huberman. In the twenties she toured with Edwin Fischer as a two-piano team. In 1920 she married the painter Walter Gramatté. In 1929, after the death of Gramatté, she embarked on an American tour, playing her own works with Stokowski (Philadelphia) and Stock (Chicago)

Canadian jazz pianist, composer, arranger and educator Bob Erlendson is considered by many to be one of the finest jazz musicians this nation has produced. Born in Winnipeg in 1931, the eldest of four children, Bob started out playing classical piano, going on to graduate from United College (now the University of Winnipeg) with a General Arts degree. This was followed by five years five years of intensive study with renowned theory and composition master, Gordon Delamont. It was during these years Bob discovered his passion for jazz. Over the next 50-plus years, Erlendson, considered by many to be one of Canada’s finest pianists, has performed/recorded with many of the biggest names in Canadian jazz, including Lenny Breau, Ed Bickert, Tommy Banks, Rob McConnell, Reg Schwager, Moe Koffman, P.J. Perry, Pat LaBarbera, and dozens more.

Born in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba in 1968, Gordon Fitzell is an independent composer and guitarist. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Brandon University and a Master of Music degree from the University of Alberta. He is currently completing a doctorate in composition and theory at the University of British Columbia, where he studies with Keith Hamel and John Roeder. In addition to these studies, he has participated in a number of workshops, including the Darmstadt Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Music, June in Buffalo, the Yale Summer School, the Arraymusic Young Composers Workshop, and a residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts.

Richard Gillis studied trumpet at The University of Saskatchewan (B.Mus.), The Banff Centre (Canadian Brass), and The University of Michigan (M.Mus.; DMA), as well as privately with Armando Ghitalla, Vincent Cichowicz and James Stamp. After graduating from the University of Saskatchewan Richard performed, toured and recorded with the NewWest Brass Quintet. While working on his DMA Richard had the opportunity to be a part of the University of Michigan faculty brass quintet, with Armando Ghitalla. Since coming to Winnipeg Dr. Gillis has performed with a number of ensembles, the most notable being the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra which he co-founded and has been artistic director of since 1997.

Naina Jinga was born in Cluj-Napoca, Romania - a city with ancient musical traditions, where some of Romania’s most famous and well-known contemporary composers live, teach and create.
Naina Jinga began playing the piano at the age of four, and writing her first compositions at twelve. She has appeared as a piano-soloist with Romanian orchestras, in solo and piano-duos piano recitals. She graduated from the "Gheorghe Dima" Academy of Music in 1991 (B.Mus), where she was later appointed as an Assistant Professor and, in 1998, as an University lecturer. She holds a M.Mus and a Ph.D. in Composition with a “Magna cum Laude”.

LESLIE MANN, composer, clarinetist, was born in Edmonton, August 13, 1923 and died in Balmoral, Manitoba, December 7, 1977. Though he took lessons in clarinet at 13 and in composition at 15, he was largely self-taught. He became principal clarinet of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Winnipeg Orchestra in 1958 and of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in 1960. He led the Winnipeg Woodwind Quintette and was a member (1956-66) of the Dirk Keetbass Players. Leaving the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in 1971 he devoted increasing time to composition and received a number of CBC commissions."

DIANA McINTOSH, Canadian composer, performer, and founder/artistic director of Winnipeg's new music series, MUSIC INTER ALIA, is a free-spirit. In the world of music, McIntosh does not limit herself to any one particular style of writing. Her music, which ranges from light and humourous to spacious and evocative has been performed by musicians in Canada, the United States, England, France, Germany, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Switzerland. As well as writing commissioned works for orchestra, chamber orchestra, voice, chamber groups, and solo performers, she creates theatrical and musical pieces for herself which she performs using piano, spoken voice, electronics, percussion and slide projections.

LUBOMYR MELNYK was born in Munich, 1948, into a Ukrainian refugee family. He lived in Winnipeg from 1950 to 1969, earned a degree in Latin and Philosophy from St. Paul's College in Winnipeg, and did postgraduate work in Philosophy at Queen's University in Kingston, 1969-70. From 1973-75, Melnyk lived in Paris. He supported himself by playing for modern dance classes, and many of the works of his Paris years were presented in conjunction with modern dance. It was there that he began to create 'continuous music' for piano.

KENNETH NICHOLS was born in Pincher Creek, Alberta, in 1936. His school years were spent in Edmonton, Alberta, where he sang as a choir boy and soloist at All Saints Cathedral under Vernon Barford. Later, he played Horn in the Edmonton Shool Boys Band under Vernon Newlove. Piano studies began with his mother, Edna Nichols, later continuing with Buela Doney. He graduated from Victoria Composite High School in 1955.

Pianist and bassist Ron Paley formed the Ron Paley Big Band in 1976 after playing bass with the big bands of Buddy Rich and Woody Herman, with whom he recorded two CD’s. His tour with Woody Herman’s band included a month with Frank Sinatra resulting in the CD/DVD “The Main Event”.

Peters, Randolph (b. 1959, Winnipeg). Canadian composer of stage, orchestral, chamber, choral, vocal, and film works that have been performed across Canada and abroad to acclaim and that have earned him several awards.

After Mr. Peters obtained a degree in physics and religious studies from the University of Winnipeg, he pursued his masters and doctoral music composition studies at Indiana University. He returned to Canada in 1987 following a world trip that led him throughout India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Egypt, and the jungles of Gabon, where he recorded and studied music from those areas.

ARTHUR POLSON (b. Vancouver March 2, 1934), internationally renowned as a composer, conductor and violin soloist, has performed extensively throughout Canada and the United States, including numerous performances for CBC radio and television broadcasts.
As a composer, Polson was influenced by Alun Hoddinott, Prokofiev, Shostakovitch and Vaughan Williams. His works include Concerto (1965) For Bassoon and Strings which was written for George Zukerman, and Duo No.5 for horn and piano, which was recorded by Gloria Johnson and William Aide on CBC recording SM79. Since 1986, many of Polson's chamber works have been performed in various chamber music series in British Columbia.

William Pura has lived and worked in Manitoba for most of his professional life. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Manitoba in 1970 and his Master's degree from Indiana University in 1973. Since 1973 he has taught at the University of Manitoba School of Art where he holds the position of professor.

A native of Manitoba, Sid Robinovitch taught social sciences at York University, but since 1977 he has devoted himself to musical composition having studied at Indiana University and at the Royal Conservatory of Toronto. He presently lives in Winnipeg, Canada, where he works as a composer and teacher.

David R. Scott (b. 1962) has worked as a freelance composer,a professor of music and an arts administrator over the past decade. He has also recently mad forays into the area of arts journalism and is currently a Music Producer for CBC radio music in Winnipeg. Beginning in 2001, David joined the artistic team of GroundSwell as a guest curator. He will continue in this capacity for the next two seasons. David is also involved in a variety of capacities as a sessional lecturer at the University of Manitoba, School of Music.

Karen Sunabacka’s music has been performed in Canada, the USA, Brazil and the United Kingdom. In November 2013 the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra premiered "Never to Return," a commissioned piece about her great-great Grandmother Mathilda, who suffered from metal illness as a result of difficult conditions on the remote Canadian Prairies. Earlier in the year (February 2013), the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra also commissioned and premiered her piece, "Born By The River." Another exploration of her prairie relatives, this piece was inspired by her Métis Grandmother Lenore Clouston (nee Birston).

n a birthday blast for Chopin's and Schumann's 200th and Robert Turner's 90th birthdays, Music Director Peter Oundjian and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra opened this season with Turner's OPENING NIGHT (A Theatre Overture). Kevin Bazzana program notes describe this work as "melodious and evocative, eclectic but accessible;" L.H. Tiffany Hsieh in La Scene Musicale heard "a sunny outburst of energy and festivity;" and John Teraud's Toronto Star review recalls "this rhythmically lively piece is a sparkling sackful of sequined syncopations. It put a smile on the evening that would last all the way through to Mahler's reorchestration of Schumann's Symphony No. 2."

Sara Scott Turner's career as a composer has evolved from studies in London (Sir Lennox Berkeley), Paris (Nadia Boulanger), U.S. (Roy Harris) writing 12-tone and atonal music to more recent accessable works inspired by social issues. Such compositions include SECRET MUSIC (1992) which was written for Remembrance Day and SONGS OF RESISTANCE (1993) in celebration of Louis Riel Day, both broadcast on CBC for those occasions.