Deantha Edmunds is Canada’s first Inuk professional classical singer. She was invested as a Member of the Order of Canada on July 1st, 2025. She uses her voice to share about her journey as an artist and the issues that matter the most to her: the climate crisis, language revitalization, MMIWG2S+, Truth and Reconciliation, and the threads that connect us.
In 2025, Acadia University awarded Deantha with an Honorary Doctor of Music. She won the 2025 JUNO for ‘Classical Composition of the Year’ for ‘Angmalukisaa,’ becoming the first Indigenous artist to receive that honour. She recorded this original song cycle with Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra Sinfonia conducted by Mark Fewer, on the album “Alikeness.” The album was nominated for the 2025 JUNO for ‘Classical Album of the Year (large ensemble).’
MusicNL awarded Deantha both ‘Classical Artist of the Year’ and ‘Indigenous Artist of the Year’ in 2025. She was East Coast Music Award’s ‘2025 Indigenous Artist of the Year’ and was also a finalist for the Ontario Arts Council’s Oskar Morawetz Award for Excellence in Music Performance.
In 2024, Deantha was awarded one of Newfoundland and Labrador’s inaugural Premier’s Medals for the Arts and Heritage and was named Arts NL’s “Artist of the Year.”
Deantha has released three solo albums. “Connections,” recorded with the Atlantic String Quartet, won the 2022 Music NL awards for ‘Classical Album of the Year,’ and ‘Indigenous Artist of the Year.’ “Connections” was also nominated for a 2023 East Coast Music Award. Her EP “My Beautiful Home” (2019) and full-length CD “Pillorikput Inuit: Inuktitut Arias for All Seasons” (2016) also garnered ECMA nominations.
Deantha performs with professional ensembles and companies across Canada and abroad. Notable appearances include singing at the opening ceremony of the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2021, performing for Inuit residential school survivors in the presence of His Holiness, the late Pope Francis in Iqaluit at his official residential school apology in 2022, and singing the Nunatsiavut anthem at the St. John’s welcome ceremony of King Charles’ 2022 Canadian Royal Tour which focused on Reconciliation.
Dr. Edmunds’ work has international reverberation as well as community integrity, and she brings a level of professional excellence to Canada’s Indigenous art scene that is unique and important. Creating original works, collaborating with other musicians, and mentoring young artists, Deantha shares her voice and vision with her whole heart, and is drawing accolades from across Canada and the world.
Conductor James Sommerville’s celebrated career has seen him on the podium of many of the finest professional orchestras and ensembles throughout Canada and the USA. He led the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra to great critical acclaim in his seven seasons as Music Director. Recent engagements include appearances with Symphony Nova Scotia and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Edmonton, London (Ontario) and Québec Symphony Orchestras. Internationally, Mr. Sommerville has been conductor of the US National Brass Ensemble in concert and on their award-winning CD of music of Gabrieli and Williams, as well as a variety of ensembles throughout the USA, Europe and Asia. He has commissioned solo and chamber works from many young Canadian and international composers, including Kati Agócs, Vivian Fung, Nicole Lizée, Kelly-Marie Murphy, Abigail Richardson-Schulte, Jocelyn Morlock, Roger Bergs, and many more.
James Sommerville retired as Principal Horn of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in December of 2022, after a glittering 25 year tenure, capping an orchestral career that included seasons with the Toronto and Montreal Symphony Orchestras, the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, Symphony Nova Scotia, and as acting solo horn of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. The winner of the highest prizes at the Munich, Toulon and CBC solo competitions, Mr. Sommerville also pursued a career as a French Horn soloist that spanned over 35 years, and has brought immensely successful appearances with major orchestras throughout North America and Europe. His disc of the Mozart Horn Concertos with the CBC Vancouver Orchestra won the JUNO Award for Best Classical Recording in Canada. Other award-winning CBC recordings include the Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, and Britten’s Canticle. Mr. Sommerville has recorded chamber music for the Deutsche Gramophon, Telarc, CBC, Summit, and Marquis labels. He toured and recorded regularly as a member of the Boston Symphony Chamber Players. He is heard regularly on the CBC network and has recorded all of the standard solo horn repertoire for broadcast.
As a guest artist and faculty member, Mr. Sommerville has performed at many chamber music festivals throughout Canada, the USA, Europe, Oceania and Asia. Solo performances of note include the world premiere of Christos Hatzis’ Winter Solstice in Yellowknife, NWT; the North American premiere of Ligeti’s Hamburg Concerto with the BSO; and the John Williams Horn Concerto. In 2007, he performed the world premiere of Elliot Carter’s Horn Concerto, commissioned for him by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In recent seasons, Mr. Sommerville has appeared as a soloist in London (with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields), and in Costa Rica, Holland, Quebec, Ottawa and Italy.
