bio

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.

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