Composers and Conductors | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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  • Article

    Gil Evans

    Ian Ernest Gilmore Evans (né Green), jazz musician, composer, arranger, bandleader (born 13 May 1912 in Toronto, ON; died 20 March 1988 in Cuernavaca, Mexico.) Known as the “prince of swing,” Gil Evans is widely regarded as one of the greatest orchestrators and arrangers in jazz history. He is best known for incorporating unconventional instrumentation (initially French horn, tuba and flute, and later electric instruments) into a big band format, and for his influential collaborations with Miles Davis. Evans was also a central figure in the development of cool jazz, free jazz and jazz fusion. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship, won multiple Grammy Awards and was inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

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    https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/Gil_Evans_1978_1.jpg Gil Evans

  • Article

    Jeff Barnaby

    Jeff Barnaby, writer, director, editor, composer (born 2 August 1976 in Listuguj Reserve, QC; died 13 October 2022 in Montreal, QC). Jeff Barnaby was a multitalented Mi’kmaq filmmaker who worked mainly in the horror genre. His award-winning films, such as Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013) and Blood Quantum (2019), are notable for incorporating gritty portrayals of Indigenous characters into stories with elements of science fiction, body horror and magic realism. Barnaby was a rising talent in Canadian and Indigenous cinema. He died of cancer at the age of 46.

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    https://development.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Jeff Barnaby

  • Article

    Karl Tremblay

    Karl Tremblay, singer, songwriter, video game developer (born 28 October 1976 in Montreal, QC; died 15 November 2023 in Terrebonne, QC). Karl Tremblay was best known as the lead singer of the country- folk rock group Les Cowboys Fringants — widely considered the most influential and popular Quebec rock band of the 21st century. The band has sold more than 1.3 million albums and won 19 Félix Awards, including six for Group of the Year (2003, 2004, 2011, 2020, 2021, 2023), three each for Alternative Album (2002, 2003, 2005) and Rock Album (2012, 2016, 2020), and one for Best-Selling Album of the Year (2020). Tremblay’s untimely death from cancer in 2023 at the age of 47 was mourned as a national tragedy in Quebec, similar to the reaction to the death of the Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie in English Canada.

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    https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/3488733824_f15a54f9c0_c.jpg Karl Tremblay

  • Article

    Mark Sirett

    Mark Geoffrey Sirett, CM, composer, conductor, music educator and choral clinician (born 1952 in Kingston, Ontario). Mark Sirett is a choral conductor and composer based in Kingston. He is the founding artistic director of the award-winning Cantabile Choirs of Kingston and is known as a composer and arranger of choral music, with almost 200 published works. Several of his compositions have won national awards, and he has received two international awards for his conducting. 

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    https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/Mark-Sirett.jpg Mark Sirett

  • Article

    Amanda Marshall

    Amanda Meta Marshall. Singer, songwriter, b Toronto 29 Aug 1972. Marshall began performing at age 16 and was discovered two years later by Toronto guitarist Jeff Healey, whose drummer, Tom Stephen, eventually became her manager.

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    https://development.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Amanda Marshall

  • Article

    Oscar Peterson (Plain-Language Summary)

    Oscar Emmanuel Peterson, CC, CQ, OOnt, jazz pianist, composer, educator (born 15 August 1925 in Montréal, QC; died 23 December 2007 in Mississauga, ON). Oscar Peterson was one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time. He was famous for his speed and dexterity, flawless technique and swinging style. He earned the nicknames “the brown bomber of boogie-woogie” and “master of swing.” Louis Armstrong called him “the man with four hands.” Peterson released several albums a year from the 1950s until his death. He played on more than 200 albums by other artists. He was also a noted jazz educator and advocate for racial equality. He won a Juno Award and eight Grammy Awards. He was the first person to receive the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the International Jazz Hall of Fame. He was also made a Companion of the Order of Canada and an Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters in France. This article is a plain-language summary of Oscar Peterson. If you are interested in reading about this topic in more depth, please see our full-length entry: Oscar Peterson.

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    https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/media/b7950167-9ad9-4a98-83b9-7908f9f5eb7f.jpg Oscar Peterson (Plain-Language Summary)

  • Article

    Reg Schwager

    Reginald Cornelis Egbert Schwager, CM, jazz guitarist, composer (born 7 May 1962 in Leiden, Netherlands). Reg Schwager is one of Canada’s most acclaimed jazz guitarists. Over the course of his 40-year career, he has played with such notable musicians as Peter Appleyard, Diana Krall, Mel Tormé, Chet Baker, Rob McConnell and Oliver Jones. Schwager was named Guitarist of the Year at the National Jazz Awards four years in a row (2005–08) and was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 2021.

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    https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/Guitars_of_the_sort_played_by_Lennon.jpg Reg Schwager

  • Article

    Shawn Hook

    Shawn Hook (born Shawn Hlookoff), singer, songwriter, actor, music producer, philanthropist (born 5 September 1984 in Castlegar, BC). Shawn Hook is a pop singer-songwriter best known for the double platinum singles "Sound of Your Heart” and “Reminding Me” (featuring Vanessa Hudgens). He has been nominated for three Juno Awards and received the Allan Slaight Music Impact Honour from Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2017.

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    https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/Shawn_Hook_By_Daniel_Ahs.jpg Shawn Hook

  • Article

    Albert Steinberg

    Steinberg, Albert. Violinist, conductor, born Toronto 11 May 1910, died California 27 Feb 2003. His teachers in Toronto included Broadus Farmer, Luigi von Kunits, and Kathleen Parlow (violin) and Ettore Mazzoleni and Reginald Stewart (conducting).

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    https://development.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Albert Steinberg

  • Article

    Yannick Nézet-Séguin

    Yannick Nicholas Nézet-Séguin, CC, OQ, conductor, pianist (born 6 March 1975 in Montréal, QC). Known for brilliance, energy and consummate skill from an uncommonly young age, Yannick Nézet-Séguin made a meteoric rise to prominence as a conductor, particularly of operas. His appointments as music director of Montréal’s Orchestre Métropolitain (2000–) the Philadelphia Orchestra (2012–) and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (2008–18) made him an international star. He was made a Companion of the Order of Canada at age 37 and an Officer of the Ordre national du Québec at 40. In 2016, he was named music director of The Metropolitan Opera, a position he officially began in September 2018. His many honours include numerous Félix Awards, the National Arts Centre Award, the Virginia Parker Prize and the Prix Denise-Pelletier.

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    https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/media/79df0a88-3ecd-43d6-8d64-1699dc3279e9.jpg Yannick Nézet-Séguin