Megumi Masaki Awarded Violet Archer Lifetime Achievement Award

The Canadian Music Centre (CMC) is proud to announce that Megumi Masaki has received the Violet Archer Lifetime Achievement Award. This award is in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to Canadian music and his lasting impact on generations of artists.

Over a career spanning more than four decades, Megumi has profoundly shaped the landscape of Canadian music through her work as a pianist, multimedia artist, educator, curator, and advocate for equity and innovation in the arts. Her achievements embody the visionary spirit of Violet Archer — a commitment to artistic excellence, education, and community engagement that continues to inspire generations of musicians.

Her leadership and work have contributed to national dialogues on equity, reconciliation, and inclusion in the arts, and opened platforms for underrepresented voices, particularly women, Indigenous, and marginalized artists, to advance systemic change in the arts. Her contributions have been recognized through her appointment as a Member of the Order of Manitoba and election as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Megumi Masaki’s lifelong dedication to Canadian music, especially in the Prairies, has transformed the way we experience sound, performance, and community. Her artistry bridges tradition and innovation, while her mentorship and advocacy have nurtured generations of musicians and composers.

More about Megumi Masaki:

Megumi Masaki, based in Brandon Manitoba, has redefined the role of the pianist in the 21st century. Her pioneering work in multimedia and interactive performance explores the integration of sound, image, text, and movement through technologies such as gesture and motion tracking, live electronics, 3D visuals, piano-controlled video games, e-textile sensors, and artificial intelligence. By transforming the piano and its surrounding space into both a visual and musical instrument, she creates deeply immersive and emotionally resonant experiences that expand the possibilities of human expression. Through more than 80 new multimedia works created for and with her and over 180 world premieres, Megumi has significantly expanded Canada’s piano and multimedia repertoire. Her collaborations with composers such as Keith Hamel, T. Patrick Carrabré, Nicole Lizée, Carmen Braden, Ian Cusson, Melody McKiver, Rita Ueda, Gordon Fitzell, Órjan Sandred, Douglas Finch, and Kotoka Suzuki have been
internationally recognized. Her performances in 25 countries, at major venues and festivals including the Barbican Centre (UK), IRCAM Centre Pompidou (France), Dark Music Days Festival (Iceland), International Symposium on Electronic Art (Spain), Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival (Germany), Beijing and Shanghai New Music Festivals (China), National Museum of Women in the Arts (USA), ISCM World Music Days, and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights have brought Canadian innovation to audiences around the world.

As Artistic Director of the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition since 2006, Megumi has revitalized one of Canada’s most important music competitions that uniquely centers Canadian music and musicians. In this role, she has brought top Canadian musicians to Manitoba annually, commissioned 19 new Canadian works, many by Indigenous or marginalized composers, and mentored hundreds of artists who have gone on to distinguished Canadian and international careers. Her contributions since the 1970s to preserving and advancing the legacy of Manitoba composer Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté are equally significant through recordings, publications, and the award-winning CBC documentary Appassionata: The Extraordinary Life and Works of Eckhardt-Gramatté.

As Professor of Piano at Brandon University’s School of Music, Megumi directs the New Music Ensemble and curates the Brandon University New Music Festival with a focus on Canadian new music. In 2006, she founded the Rising Stars outreach program, bringing Canadian music to communities across the Prairies embodying the values of access and inclusion that lie at the heart of her career. Recognizing the underrepresentation of Indigenous voices in music institutions, Megumi co-founded the Indigenous New Music Festival at Brandon University with local Knowledge Keepers. Métis composer Ian Cusson describes her as “a true ally in the Indigenous classical music scene,” whose championing of Indigenous composers represents “a major step in the Indigenous renaissance in classical music on these lands.”
Beyond performance, curation, creation and teaching, Megumi serves on the National Witness Structural Change Group (convened by Dr. Dylan Robinson), Director-at Large for the Canadian Music Centre National, and member of the Advocacy for Change Council. She has served on Manitoba Arts Council’s Advisory Panel, CMC Prairie Region Board, Canadian New Music Network Board (EDI Committee), and regularly as a juror for national and international music competitions, including the JUNO Awards, Western Canadian Music Awards, Manitoba Arts Council, and Canada Council for the Arts. As Director of Music at the Banff Centre in 2023 and 2024, she oversaw the expansion of inclusive and intercultural music programs. 

• Quenten Doolittle (2017): For his work as a composer and educator, for his role as co-founder of New Works of Art Calgary, and for his roles with the Canadian Music Centre as Prairie Regional Chairman and National Board member.
• Bob McPhee, C.M. (2019): For his support and commissioning of Canadian composers in his longstanding role as General Director of Calgary Opera.
• Rich Mercer (2019): For his longstanding interest in and support of contemporary music, and for his roles with the Canadian Music Centre as Prairie Regional Chairman and National Board member.
• Isabelle Mills (2019): For her continued support of Canadian composers through church and college choirs, which she directed in Brandon, Manitoba and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan as well as her work as Associate Dean at the University of Saskatchewan.
• Roberta Stephen (2019): For her work as a composer, music publisher, and as a leader with Contemporary Showcase.
• Gladys Odegard (2022): Long-time Edmonton piano teacher, co-founder of Edmonton Contemporary Showcase, long time chair of the CMC Praire Region council and friend of composer Violet Archer. Now living in Toronto.
• Allan Gordon Bell (2025): For his lifelong dedication to composition, listening, mentoring, and uplifting others. READ MORE