Chris Paul Harman (Bio)

Chris Paul Harman (b. 1970, Toronto, Ontario), joined the Schulich School of Music of McGill University as Professor of Composition in September, 2005. He studied classical guitar, cello, and electronic music with Barton Wigg, Alan Stellings, and Wes Wraggett respectively. His works have been performed by many ensembles and orchestras in Canada and abroad, including the Asko Ensemble, the CBC Radio Orchestra, the Esprit Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the New Music Concerts Ensemble, the Noordhollands Philharmonisch, the St. Lawrence String Quartet, the Tokyo Symphony, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Harman has been commissioned by guitarists William Beauvais and Sylvie Proulx, violinist Jacques Israelievitch, oboist Lawrence Cherney, Continuum, the Esprit Orchestra, the Guelph Spring Festival, Music Canada 2000, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Sabat-Clarke duo, the SMCQ, the Standing Wave Ensemble, the SRC, Soundstreams Canada, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Funding for these works came from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Laidlaw Foundation, the Ontario Arts Council, from the organizations themselves (CBC, NACO, SRC) as well as from private sources.

In 1986, Chris Paul Harman was a finalist in the CBC Radio National Competition for Young Composers, and was the Grand Prize winner at the same competition in 1990. "Iridescence", the work which earned him the Grand Prize, was subsequently awarded first prize in the under-30 category at the 1990 International Rostrum of Composers in Paris. At the 1994 International Rostrum of Composers, Harman's "Concerto for Oboe and Strings" was chosen as a Recommended Work in the General Category for composers of all ages. In consequence, both works have been broadcast in some 25 countries.

In 2001, Mr. Harman's work "Uta" received an honourable mention at the Gaudeamus International Music Week, and his work "Amerika" was awarded the Jules Leger Prize for new chamber music in Canada, and shortlisted for the Prix de Composition de la Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco.

Harman's current projects include a new work for solo bass clarinet and piano quintet, for Dutch bass-clarinetist Harry Sparnaay with the Silvestrov Group in Toronto.

-new- Mr. Harman has been awarded the 2007 Jules Leger Prize for New Chamber Music by the Canada Council for the Arts for his work "Postludio a rovercio". Commissioned in 2006 by Amsterdam Nieuw Ensemble, the work will receive its Canadian premiere on April 11, 2008 in Toronto.