October 14, 2021, Canada  – The Canadian League of Composers (CLC), in partnership with Pro Coro, is pleased to announce the six members of the 2021-22 PIVOT cohort: 

Mari Alice Conrad (AB)
Maxime Daigneault (QC)
Kalaisan Kalaichelvan (ON)
Maria Eduarda Martins (BC/ON)
Pierre-Luc Senécal (QC)
Karen Donaldson Shepherd (AB)

Each participating composer will be matched with a mentor-composer, individually tailored to their skills and needs by a consultative selection process. The mentor-composer will act as a reference for them over a six-month period to help with their creative process and guide them as they begin work on a new composition for Pro Coro, to be premiered at a final showcase concert on the weekend of May 14/15 in Edmonton.

PIVOT will provide an unparalleled opportunity for these six composers living across Canada to work directly with Pro Coro, one of Canada’s most innovative choral ensembles, culminating in a premiere performance of the six new works. As well, participants will experience first-hand the professional development opportunities offered by the CLC in an online format. The program takes place between October 2021 and Spring 2022.

A national jury–Rebecca Bruton (AB), Marie-Pierre Brasset (QC), and Michael Zaugg (AB)–recently met to review the applications. With nearly  60 applications to the PIVOT program, it was a highly competitive process. The proposals represented a diverse cross-section of artistic practice, aesthetic, gender, culture, career experience, and geography. Bekah Simms (Canadian League of Composers) acted as a non-voting observer of the meeting.

Previous iterations of PIVOT have provided career opportunities, mentorship, and professional development to the following composers:

2020-21 (Toronto/virtual) // Joseph Chiu, Kim Farris-Manning, Liam Gibson, Kevin Gironnay, Carlie Howell, Coreen Morsink
2019-20 (Edmonton/virtual) // Sarah Albu, Félix-Antoine Coutu, Fjóla Evans, Rebecca Gray, Jessie Rivest, Steven Webb
2018-19 (Toronto) // Amy Brandon, Nathan Friedman, Émilie Girard-Charest, Solomiya Moroz, Luke Nickel, Lieke van der Voort
2016-17 (Toronto) // Rebecca Bruton, Maxime Corbeil-Perron, Juro Kim Feliz, Beavan Flanagan, Evelin Ramon, Bekah Simms
2013 (Toronto) // Jason Doell, Fiona Ryan, Saman Shahi
2012 (Vancouver) // Kathleen Allan, Daniel Brandes, Iman Habibi
2011 (Vancouver) // Elizabeth Knudson, James O’Callaghan, Christopher Reiche

For all inquiries, please contact Bekah Simms, CLC General Manager, at info@composition.org, or call 1-877-964-1364.