To everyone who has presented, performed, taught, studied, or composed Canadian music and sound over the past year; to everyone who has donated what they can to help support the Canadian Music Centre BC; to all those organizations and ensembles and practitioners we have collaborated with over the past season. Thank You! “Ars longa, vita [...]

CMC BC has been busier this season than ever before, sponsoring concerts of music by BC composers, presenting awards and scholarships, hosting events and Artists in Residence, and engaging with our community around the province. Performances We have sponsored ten performances since January, including Standing Wave’s Compocon on February 24, where Sean presented the ensemble [...]

Dear Sean, Thank you for the letter that arrived by snail mail today. I wanted to tell you how delighted I was to read your article Before The First Note Is Played, in which you describe the experience of hearing the National Youth Orchestra performing Schafer’s North/White at the Orpheum in 1973.   Photo: Takumi [...]

CMC Canada and CMC BC are co-presenting this year's JUNOfest Classical Showcase, hosted by Gloria Macarenko, on Saturday, March 29, at 1pm in the CBC's Studio 700 at 700 Hamilton Street in Vancouver, featuring a star-studded lineup of Canadian composition and vocal talent, including:   The Canadian Art Song Project with Jonelle Sills (soprano) and [...]

On Friday, February 7, at Composium, I had the pleasure of presenting CMC BC scholarships worth a total of $5,000 to three students at SFU's School for the Contemporary Arts Music & Sound program. Each year we present these scholarships to students at a different BC university with a graduate program in composition.   The [...]

I remember the very first time I heard a composition by a Canadian composer. Do you?    I’ll never forget it. For me, the first time was the National Youth Orchestra performing R. Murray Schafer’s North/White at the Orpheum Theatre in 1973. It electrified me. The eery stillness of the arctic. The still beauty. The [...]

This is a love letter. To thank all of you who create new music in BC, those who perform and present it, and to all those large enough of spirit and generous enough of nature to support those creators and practitioners and presenters that do. "When words leave off, music begins.” (Heinrich Heine) The only [...]

Last Friday, May 3, we hosted a CD Launch for Afghanistan: Requiem For A Generation—the latest release from Centrediscs, the Canadian Music Centre’s award-winning record label. Centrediscs is the only label exclusively devoted to Canadian music and has released more than 290 CDs since its founding in 1981, with twenty (20) recordings released last year and [...]

Last Thursday I was up in Kelowna for the Okanagan Symphony readings of seven works by young composers, all members of the Okanagan Youth Orchestra, mentored by Jennifer Butler. CMC BC was able to sponsor this workshop thanks to a grant from the Deux Mille Foundation. It was deeply rewarding to hear the highly original [...]

Like most arts organizations, we have continued to evolve post-pandemic, exploring how we can best serve the vibrant new music community of this province. I shared with you earlier this year our new Vision for CMC BC, and today, I'm pleased to announce some internal changes to help us achieve those goals and better align [...]