Christopher Mayo is a Toronto-based composer of orchestral, chamber, vocal, and electronic music. Christopher’s works have been commissioned and performed by ensembles including the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Victoria Symphony, London Sinfonietta, Crash Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, and Manchester Camerata, where he was the Composer-in-Residence in 2012-13. Also noted for his work as a versatile orchestrator and arranger, Christopher has collaborated with artists including Grammy-nominated pop singer-songwriter Carly Rae Jepsen, R&B duo DVSN, throat-singer Tanya Tagaq, DJ King Britt, electronic artist Matthew Herbert and drum ’n’ bass star Goldie, among others. Christopher holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto; a master’s degree from the Royal College of Music, where he studied with Julian Anderson; and a Ph.D. from the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with Philip Cashian.
 
 
          
Toronto cellist Amahl Arulanandam is known for his musical versatility and ability to adapt to many genres. With interests from baroque to metal, and at home in studios, clubs, and halls, Amahl hopes to convey that musical expression is beyond labels. Passionate about the music of our time, Amahl has performed with ensembles such as Soundstreams, New Music Concerts, Caution Tape Sound Collective, Thin Edge New Music Collective, Music in the Barns and Esprit Orchestra. He has had the opportunity to work with leading composers such as Salvatore Sciarrino, Ana Sokolovic, Luna Pearl Woolf, and Brian Current. Amahl has wholly embraced the bizarre sounds the cello has to offer and takes special pleasure in playing on areas of the instrument other than the strings.

              
Paulina Rousseau is a Special Collections Librarian who has worked for the University of Toronto since 2008, supporting the Arts, Culture, and Media departments, including the University’s Music department. In addition to liaising with faculty members around research, collections, and instruction, she supports digital collections and archives building and organization. She holds an advanced degree in Communications, and has worked in roles ranging from fundraising and grant writing to sponsor engagement to event planning for small non-profit organizations, as well as the University of Toronto and Toronto Public Library. She has also worked for the Art Gallery of Ontario in a range of capacities, including in the library and archives. She also sits on the Board of the Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario, where she works in the area of digital strategy, event planning, research management, and fundraising. She is also vice chair of the Art Libraries Society of North America, Ontario Chapter, is on the Steering Committee for Shameless Magazine’s Feminist Media Conference (2019). She is excited to work with Musicworks in hopes of assisting with digital strategy, fundraising, and content archiving. 
 
 
          
Saman Shahi is an award-winning composer, pianist, conductor, and educator based in Toronto. His compositions have been performed all around the globe and include orchestral, operas, ballet, choral, vocal and chamber works. Saman holds a master's degree in composition from the University of Toronto, is an affiliate Member of the Canadian League of Composers, Associate Composer at the Canadian Music Centre, as well as a SOCAN member. He is a cofounder and the Executive Director at ICOT, music director at the Peterborough Concert band, and a composer and lead artist with the Canadian Opera Company. In 2020 Saman's critically acclaimed debut composition album Breathing in the Shadows released by Leaf Music. Two of the song cycles in this album have won awards both in Canada and the United States.

          
Camille Kiku Belair is a composer, classical guitarist, and interdisciplinary artist based in Toronto/Tkaronto. Working primarily with field recordings, graphic/text scores, improvisation, and mixed media, they are currently pursuing an MFA at OCAD University in the Interdisciplinary Art, Media, and Design program.

Tim Weinkauf is a musician from Toronto with a background in economics and accounting. While flailing around in various post-punk bands over the years, he managed to walk away from the University of Toronto with a degree in Economics and Philosophy. After completing his education, he fatefully fell into a career in accounting and discovered his immense enjoyment of and knack for it. His musical travails have allowed him to travel around most of Canada, America, Europe, and Japan and meet a wealth of interesting artists and musicians. He hopes to be able to use all of his variety of skills and knowledge to help Musicworks in any way he can, and is thrilled to be a part of the board.

   
          
Paolo Griffin is a composer based in Tkarón:to/Toronto whose music explores notions of focused/unfocussed listening, repetition, and formal structures while maintaining a focus on close collaboration with the performers he works with. Paolo is the Artistic Director of Freesound, a Toronto-based performer’s collective that consists of a core group of the city’s most adventurous interpreters of contemporary music. A fierce advocate of accessible arts and inclusive practices, Paolo is also the Managing Director of Xenia Concerts, a Toronto-based charity that focuses on presenting sensory-friendly, accessible concerts and musical events for autism and neurodiverse communities.

Interested in joining the Musicworks board of directors?

We'd love to meet you!

Get in touch with us at [email protected]