Winner and Runner Up of the 2026 CMC Prairie Emerging Composer Competition

The Canadian Music Centre Prairie Region is pleased to announce the WINNER and RUNNER UP of the 2026 Emerging Composer Competition.

1. WINNER:  Chris Byman (MB), for his piece Scherzo Oscuro.
2. RUNNER UP: Ashton Latimer (BC), for his piece Overflow.

About Chris Byman:

Born and raised on the Manitoban prairies, Canadian composer and clarinetist Chris Byman earned B.Mus and M.Mus degrees from Brandon University, specializing in clarinet performance and literature. As a freelance artist, Chris has collaborated with musicians across Canada and abroad, and has performed locally with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the Royal Canadian Air Force Band, the Canadian Bacon Wind Quintet, and the Clear Lake Chamber Music Festival.

As a composer and arranger, Chris enjoys writing for orchestras, concert bands, and chamber ensembles. His works have been performed by the Brandon University New Music Ensemble, the University of Lethbridge Incanto Singers, the Brandon Community Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, the Vancouver Chamber Choir, and the Juno Award–winning group, the Bros. Landreth. In 2020, Chris received the Canadian Band Association’s Howard Cable Memorial Prize in Composition for Autumn Down a Maple Lane, and in 2024 he was selected for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s ‘Explore the Score’ program with his orchestral work ”Intermezzo at Harry’s Beach”.

An active educator, Chris has maintained a home-based clarinet and composition studio for over a decade and is frequently engaged as a clinician for school music programs in Winnipeg and surrounding communities. In 2025, he joined the Winnipeg Youth Orchestras as conductor of the Youth Concert Orchestra.

Chris has studied with clarinetists Sharon Atkinson, Micah Heilbrunn, Catherine Wood, and Guy Yehuda; composers T. Patrick Carrabré and Peter Meechan; and conductor Wendy Zander.

About Ashton Latimer:

Ashton Latimer (b. 2006) is a Canadian composer living in Vancouver, British Columbia and is inspired by the textures and sound worlds that can be created by acoustic instruments. Through this exploration, he has begun to earn recognition through awards, competitions, and performances of his work.

His orchestral work ”Purification” was awarded the SOCAN Young Composer Award in the Under 21 Large Ensemble category and was selected for the 2024 Hugh Davidson Composer Readings with the Victoria Symphony. In 2025, he finished his piece ”Overflow” for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, as a part of the Jean Coulthard Readings, where he is also taking part in a ten-month mentorship. Purification was also a finalist in the Edmonton Pops Composer Competition, and his string quartet ”Ghost Ballerina” won the senior category of the Langley String Quartet Competition.

Ashton has written for a wide range of ensembles, including symphony orchestra, wind ensemble, chamber groups, and solo instruments. His recent work ”Emergence and Infestation”, which premiered at the Southeast Horn Workshop at Appalachian State University. His music has been performed by musicians such as the Sonorous Trio, the Rose Gellert String Quartet, UNCSA Viola and Horn ensembles and recorded by recognized percussionist Ksenija Komljenović.

Alongside composing, Ashton is a dedicated French horn player. He has performed with the Vancouver Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, BCMEA Honour Wind Ensemble, the Kiwanis Celebration Band, and the Fraser Valley Wind Ensemble. He studies horn with Maria Serkin and Wyatt Gibson at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where he is pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Composition under the mentorship of Jared Miller.