Canadian Music

Collection of historic performance programs from venues, concert presenters, organizations. Not exhaustive, but provides a sampling of Alberta performance history.

The collection consists of 5,500 boxes containing more than 18,000 video recordings, 21,000 audio recordings and more
than two million documents and photographs. The archive includes master recordings, publicity photos, demo tapes,
album cover art, creative outlines for music videos, marketing plans, awards, drafts of song lyrics and correspondence
between artists, producers, engineers and EMI Music Canada executives.

Established in 1956 as the Canadian Folk Music Society, the Canadian branch of the International Folk Music Council, the Society has as its mandate the encouragement of "the study, appreciation and enjoyment of the folk music of Canada in all its aspects". In 1988-1989 the Society was renamed the Canadian Society for Musical Traditions/Societe canadienne pour les traditions musicales, better describing its broadening scope of accommodating many types of ethnic music. The English name was further refined to the Canadian Society for Traditional Music in 2001.

Named in memory and honour of composer and educator Dr. Richard Johnston whose enthusiasm and tireless work on the development of the Canadian music archives, this collection includes the fonds of over two dozen Canadian musicians, composers, and educators, mainly from the world of Classical music, including Violet Archer, Norma Beecroft, Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatte, and Srul Irving Glick.

John (Peter Lee) Roberts, administrator, cultural policy advisor and scholar related to serious (art) music in Canada. His long association with CBC in Winnipeg and Toronto from 1955-1977 saw him working closely with Canadian and International musicians and composers: Sophie-Eckhardt Gramatte, Glenn Gould, Igor Stravinsky. He was involved with many important Canadian and International music organizations over fifty years: board president of the Canadian Music Centre, establishing the Centredisc label, president of Canadian Music Council, president of Les Jeunesses Musicales du Canada, board member of Canada Council for the Arts, board member of Honens Piano Competition, founder of Esprit Orchestra in Toronto, senior advisor for the Canadian Radio and Television Commissions, executive member of the International Music Council. In 1986 Roberts became professor and then Dean of Fine Arts at the University of Calgary, leading the building of the Rosza Centre and achieving two honorary Doctorates and made an Officer of the Order of Canada. The fonds consists of John Peter Lee Roberts’ personal papers and records from his professional and academic career and involvement in the art music community spanning the years 1940 to 2015, however, the bulk of the records fall within the 1950s to the 1990s.

The City of Calgary Archives contains records from throughout the history of the Corporation of the City of Calgary. The link here is to the Music Subject link for general browsing, but advanced searches are possible to tailor results to your individual research area. The archives offices are located in the Calgary Municipal Building with in-person appointments available M-F. archives@calgary.ca 403-268-8180

Resources documenting Calgary, southern Alberta, and Western Canada are a part of "Calgary's Story" on Level 4 of Central Library. There are some digitized image collections available for browsing, and a large collection on-site, available for in-library use only. Searching the catalogue, items as part of this collection will be noted as part of the Local History Collection and include books, newspapers, clipping files, and maps.

Alberta on Record gives access to collections preserved in many archives throughout the province. You can search thousands of descriptions of archival records, photographs, and textual records held in Alberta's archives. The database also hosts records from Yukon archival collections. Use the search box with names or keywords to find particular records or use the browse option to discover the memory and evidence of Alberta. For access to holdings or for reproduction information, please contact the archival institution that is responsible for the records you are interested in.

The National Music Centre is the research and preservation component of the public exhibits in the museum space of Studio Bell. Spanning over 450 years of music history and innovation, NMC’s collection is comprised of more than 2,000 pieces that help tell the stories of music in Canada.
Many unique pieces from the collection can be found on display throughout Studio Bell, while our “living” collection provides visiting artists and artists in residence with access to more than 200 fully functional historic instruments maintained by NMC’s in-house technicians. There is also a digital collection to explore, including objects, ephemera, and interviews.

Founded in 1933, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is a learning organization built upon an extraordinary legacy of excellence in artistic and creative development. Although supporting all creative disciplines, Banff Centre has a significant musical history, including renowned faculty, multi-genre performances, and the triennial Banff International String Quartet Competition. Home to Paul D. Fleck Library and Archives that holds a unique and extensive collection of music scores, books, periodicals, audio and video recordings, digital resources and artists’ books. The Archives preserves the extraordinary artistic legacy of Banff Centre, a valuable resource for research into our history and activities.

As the city’s designated arts development authority, Calgary Arts Development (CADA) supports and strengthens the arts to benefit all Calgarians. We invest and allocate municipal funding for the arts provided by The City of Calgary and leverage these funds to provide additional resources to the arts sector. CADA's website hosts arts classifieds, community resources, and publishes reports and surveys regarding Calgary's creative sector, with documents spanning the past decade readily available.

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts (AFA) is a public agency and a provincial corporation of the Government of Alberta with a mandate to support and contribute to the development of the arts in Alberta. We provide grant funding to artists and art organizations to encourage the growth and development of the arts sector. For research purposes, The AFA publishes data regarding funding distribution, including open data of recipients and regional distribution.

Alberta Music is a non-profit, member-based association dedicated to helping professionals in the music industry to succeed in their careers with the goals to build, connect and inspire a dynamic Alberta music industry. Results of studies and reports relating to Alberta music are available to view or download.

A producer of intimate performances of local and touring jazz musicians, Buckingjam Palace is led by Lisa Buck with the creative guidance of a curation committee. The aims of the series is to present a "predominance of Canadian artists, gender balance, opportunities for emerging artists, and a diversity of jazz styles."

Led by percussionist extraordinaire Chris Dadge, Bug Incision has been a recording label and concert presenter since 2005, with regular events featuring local and touring musicians in the open/free/experimental realm.

JazzYYC is an organization that promotes and programs jazz in Calgary. They maintain a calendar of jazz goings on in the city, welcoming submissions of events, and have been involved in initiatives such as International Jazz Day, JazzYYC Youth Jazz Band, and the Canadian National Jazz Orchestra.

Calgary Pro Musica is a non-profit, registered charitable organization that has encouraged and celebrated chamber music for over 40 years. Concerts feature world-renowned chamber ensembles performing in the beautiful Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall in the University of Calgary’s Rozsa Centre. Pro Musica Young Artists Development Program mentors young Calgary musicians and the Talmon Hertz Legacy series of performance classes has given hundreds of Alberta’s promising young artists the opportunity to perform for our visiting artists.

Created in 1955, the Calgary Philharmonic performs in its permanent home in Arts Commons’ Jack Singer Concert Hall, one of North America’s most acoustically acclaimed venues. Norwegian conductor Rune Bergmann has been leading 66 musicians and a chorus of over 125 volunteer singers as Music Director since 2017. In a typical season, the Calgary Phil welcomes over 100,000 visitors to the concert hall, engages more than 10,000 students through educational programs, and reaches audiences worldwide through free and accessible digital programming.