Category Archives: Uncategorized

Meet Our Board of Directors: Saman Shahi

Saman Shahi is JUNO-nominated composer, pianist, conductor and educator based in Toronto.
His compositions have been performed, and broadcast around the world and include orchestral
works, operas, ballets, and many works for choral, vocal and chamber ensembles.
Saman holds a master’s degree in composition from the University of Toronto, is an affiliate
Member of the Canadian League of Composers, Associate Composer at the Canadian Music Centre as
well as a SOCAN member. He is a Co-Founder and the Executive Director at ICOT, Music Director at
the Peterborough Concert band, and a composer and teaching artist with the Canadian Opera Company.
In 2020 Saman’s debut composition album “Breathing in the Shadows” was recorded and released
by Leaf Music. All song cycles in this album have won awards both in Canada and the United States
including a 2022 JUNO Awards nomination. His second album, “Microlocking” was released by
People|Places|Records in 2021.

Congratulations to Our National Contemporary Showcase Award Recipients!

Thank you to all the performers, to the Contemporary Showcase Festival Organizers, and to our adjudicators for all their hard work. We are proud to share the recipients for the National Awards for 2022!

The Mary Gardiner Award of Performance Excellence -Junior : Olivia Karsli (Toronto)

The Mary Gardiner Award of Performance Excellence – Senior: Jerry Hu (Saskatoon)

The Mary Hildebrand Memorial Award for Performance Excellence: Esther Zhu (Saskatoon)

The Ann Southam National Award – Junior: Michael Lee (Calgary)

The Ann Southam National Award – Senior: Sophie Huang (Mississauga)

John Weinzweig Centenary Scholarship – Junior: Elijah Mok (Edmonton)

John Weinzweig Centenary Scholarship – Senior: Eric Davidson (Edmonton)

With permission from the performers we will be sharing performances on our social media channels so please stay tuned!

Call for Scores Brass and Percussion

With the generous support from the SOCAN Foundation The Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects announces a Call-for-Scores of works for brass or percussion (trumpet, horn, trombone, tuba, euphonium, or percussion, for solo or solo with accompaniment) for inclusion in their Contemporary Showcase Syllabus.

The Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects (ACNMP) is an organization dedicated to the promotion of Canadian contemporary music. Throughout our history, it has been our mission to encourage teachers to teach Canadian contemporary music, to motivate students to study and perform this music, and to encourage Canadian composers to write music for students of all levels from the most junior to the paraprofessional.

Our Mission is to commission, promote, and preserve Canadian contemporary music as a cornerstone of our national heritage by fostering its performance among students, teachers, and performers through education, festivals, and workshops.

Contemporary Showcase

Presented annually by ACNMP for the past 53 years, Contemporary Showcase is a national non-competitive festival featuring 100% Canadian contemporary works taking place in fourteen centres across five provinces. Contemporary Showcase is wholly educational and inclusive, and aims to develop and disseminate Canadian compositions. 

ACNMP has compiled a wide-ranging and varied syllabus of over 2,200 Canadian works for a variety of solo instruments (from piano to double bass to soprano saxophone) and ensembles (from brass quintet and string quartet to full-sized choirs and wind bands) spanning over 100 years. These works are scrutinized pedagogically by ACNMP’s repertoire reviewers and divided into different levels for students to study, present and perform in a master class format for expert adjudicators.

Call-for-Scores: Brass or Percussion 2023

Submissions to the Contemporary Showcase syllabus should ideally:

  • Have musical, educational, and pedagogical value for both teacher and performer
  • Contain new ideas or techniques introduced or presented in a novel or interesting way
  • Strike an appropriate balance between composition length and difficulty, keeping the skill and ability level of the intended performer in mind
  • Represent and/or contribute to the cultural fabric of Canada

Composers must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents.

Please carefully read submission details from the documents below. Fill out and submit to info@acnmp.ca.

Deadline is May 31, 2023.

Submission for Syllabus Evaluation Form

*Please note that an ACNMP Membership is not a requirement to submit to the Call-for-Scores; however, the membership fee does help off-set our administrative costs and there is a new special rate for composers!