Canadian Music Centre

The Canadian Music Centre (CMC) is a national Canadian arts organization devoted to the preservation, circulation, performance, recording, and broader promotion of concert music by Canadian composers. It was established in 1959 by composers who identified a need for a permanent repository and distribution system for Canadian-composed music. From its earliest years, the organization concentrated on collecting and cataloguing scores, maintaining a dependable catalogue of works, producing copies, and making repertoire available to performers, researchers, educators, institutions, and presenters in Canada and abroad. The CMC's principal collection has developed into Canada's largest repository of Canadian concert music. Its lending library contains more than 18,000 scores and works by almost 700 contemporary Canadian composers, providing access to repertoire that might otherwise be difficult for performers and institutions to locate. The collection supports both practical performance needs and the long-term documentation of Canadian musical culture. In addition to lending materials, the Centre provides repertoire consultations and works to make its holdings increasingly accessible through digitization and online services. The organization has expanded beyond its original repository function. It offers on-demand printing and binding, maintains digital access initiatives, undertakes research, and administers or supports awards and national outreach projects. Its network of regional centres gives composers, performers, scholars, and audiences points of access in several parts of the country. The CMC's Toronto national office is complemented by regional locations in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax. These locations increasingly serve as venues for performances, workshops, and other music-related activities. Recording and streaming are also central to the Centre's work. In 1981, it created Centrediscs, a recording label focused on Canadian concert music. The label has released music by CMC Associate Composers and other Canadian independent recording producers and has received recognition including six JUNO Awards, an East Coast Music Award, six West Coast Music Awards, and two Grande Prix du Disque Canada awards. The organization also sells more than 900 CD titles associated with Canadian composers and independent Canadian producers. The Ann Southam Audio Archive, administered by the CMC, is described as the largest collection of recorded Canadian concert works in the world. Selected access to this recorded heritage is provided through Centrestreams, the Centre's free online streaming service. Taken together, the library, archive, label, streaming platform, consultation services, digitization work, and regional network position the Canadian Music Centre as both a cultural archive and an active intermediary between Canadian composers and the international music community.

The Canadian Music Centre was created in 1959 by a group of Canadian composers who believed that Canadian concert music required a dedicated institutional home. At the time, composers faced practical difficulties in preserving scores, informing performers about available repertoire, and ensuring that works could circulate beyond their original performances. The new organization addressed these needs by building a repository, creating a catalogue, copying and duplicating scores, and arranging for music to be lent nationally and internationally. During its development, the Centre became an important piece of Canada's music infrastructure. Its collection grew to include works by hundreds of contemporary Canadian composers and eventually more than 18,000 scores and other works. The lending library allowed performers, ensembles, educators, researchers, and presenters to discover and use Canadian repertoire. This function also gave the organization a role in documenting the development of Canadian concert music, rather than treating individual compositions as isolated or ephemeral works. The CMC later broadened its activities into recording and commercial distribution. In 1981, it established Centrediscs, a label dedicated to Canadian concert music. The label provided a means to release works that might not otherwise receive sustained recording attention and became a major vehicle for presenting Canadian composers to listeners. Its catalogue includes releases associated with CMC Associate Composers as well as other Canadian independent recording producers. The label's recognition at the JUNO Awards, the East Coast Music Awards, the West Coast Music Awards, and the Grande Prix du Disque Canada reflects the visibility achieved by some of these recordings. The Centre's archival responsibilities also expanded into recorded sound. It administers the Ann Southam Audio Archive, identified as the world's largest collection of recorded Canadian concert works. Through Centrestreams, a free streaming service on the CMC website, the organization provides online access to part of this recorded heritage. At the same time, it has pursued digitization of its scores and works, an effort intended to improve discoverability and access while supporting long-term preservation. Its services now include on-demand printing and binding, repertoire consultation, research, national outreach projects, and the administration of several awards. The CMC operates a national office in Toronto and regional centres in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax. The regional network extends access beyond the national office and increasingly provides spaces for performances and workshops. In its current form, the Canadian Music Centre combines the functions of archive, lending library, publisher-like service provider, record label, streaming platform, research resource, and presenter of Canadian musical culture.

• 1981

  Centrediscs established

  [1]Canadian Music Centreen.wikipedia.org

  The Centre created Centrediscs, a recording label devoted to Canadian concert music.

• 1959

  Canadian Music Centre founded

  [1]Canadian Music Centreen.wikipedia.org

  A group of Canadian composers established the Centre to create a repository and distribution system for Canadian concert music.

• Collection expands into a national music resource

  [1]Canadian Music Centreen.wikipedia.org

  The CMC's lending library grew to more than 18,000 scores and works by almost 700 contemporary Canadian composers.

• Centrestreams provides online access

  [2]Canadian Music Centre official websitecmccanada.org

  The CMC made recorded Canadian concert music available through Centrestreams, its free online streaming service.

A national cultural infrastructure organization and specialist music repository connecting Canadian composers and their concert music with performers, researchers, educators, presenters, and audiences in Canada and internationally.

• Music library and score lending

  CMC lending library

  The lending library provides access to more than 18,000 scores and works by almost 700 Canadian contemporary composers. Materials can be used by performers, ensembles, educators, researchers, presenters, and other authorized users, with lending available nationally and internationally.

• Record label · 1981

  Centrediscs

  Founded by the Canadian Music Centre in 1981, Centrediscs is a specialist label focused on Canadian concert music. It releases recordings by CMC Associate Composers and other Canadian independent recording producers and has received recognition from Canadian and international music-award organizations.

• Online music streaming

  Centrestreams

  Centrestreams is the CMC's free streaming service for recorded Canadian concert works. It provides web-based access to material connected with the Centre's archival and recording activities.

• Audio archive

  Ann Southam Audio Archive

  Administered by the Canadian Music Centre, the Ann Southam Audio Archive preserves recorded Canadian concert works and is described by the Centre's reference material as the largest collection of its kind in the world.

• Music publishing service

  On-demand score printing and binding

  The CMC provides on-demand printing and binding for music materials, extending the practical usefulness of its score collection and helping performers and institutions obtain usable copies of Canadian repertoire.

• 1981

  Creation of a dedicated Canadian concert-music labelM&A

  Background

  The Centre had originally concentrated on collecting, cataloguing, copying, and lending scores. Establishing a recording label extended its role from preserving written repertoire to producing and distributing recorded performances.

  Action taken

  The Canadian Music Centre established Centrediscs as a label devoted to Canadian concert music.

  Aftermath

  Centrediscs became a significant channel for recording Canadian composers and later received multiple JUNO, regional music-award, and Grande Prix du Disque Canada recognitions.

  Source

• Digitization and online access strategyStrategy

  Background

  The Centre's physical collections and recorded archives contain a large body of Canadian concert music, creating a need for broader and more convenient access.

  Action taken

  The CMC began digitizing its scores and works and developed online access through its website and Centrestreams service.

  Aftermath

  The strategy expanded the Centre's role from a physical lending repository into a digital access point for Canadian scores and recordings.

  Source

1. 1Canadian Music Centreen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Canadian Music Centre official websitecmccanada.org