No one can say with certainty who the first Canadian composer may have been. What is beyond doubt is the explosion of composition in the years following the Second World War. A generation of pioneering professional composers firmly established Canada's place on the world's musical map.

Centrediscs' Canadian Composers Portraits Series documents the emergence of this distinctly Canadian music. Each release in this retrospective of the last fifty years of Canadian composition is dedicated to a single composer. These unique CD sets combine full-length documentaries on the composers' lives and music with an anthology of their most important works. The best performances available of these works are taken from the CBC, private and commercial sources and, in the case of archival recordings, are restored using the latest available techniques.

We dedicate this project to our composers and to all those who have an interest in Canada's musical heritage.