bio

Born and raised on the Manitoban prairies, Canadian clarinetist, clinician, and composer Chris Byman obtained B.Mus and M.Mus degrees from Brandon University, where he studied 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, and the Clear Lake Chamber Music Festival. Chris holds a permanent seat with the Winnipeg Wind Ensemble and performs with the Canadian Bacon Wind Quintet, providing outreach to young wind musicians. As a clinician, Chris has taught private lessons out of his home-based music studio for the past decade and continues to be in-demand as a clarinet educator for music programs in Winnipeg and the surrounding areas.

As a composer and arranger, Chris enjoys writing for orchestras, concert bands and chamber groups and has had the privilege of working with 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 was awarded the Canadian Band Association’s Howard Cable Memorial Prize in Composition for his work, Autumn Down a Maple Lane, and in 2024 was a participant in the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s “Explore the Score” program for his orchestral work, Intermezzo at Harry’s Beach.

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.

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