Andrew Staniland captured the $20,000 CBC/Radio-Canada National Composition Grand Prize in CBC Radio’s first Evolution competition, awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts and CBC/Radio-Canada. As well, the Toronto-based composer was awarded a $5,000 commission to create a work for l’Orchestre de la francophonie canadienne and conductor Jean-Philippe Tremblay.

The Evolution competition is a joint effort of CBC Radio 2 and its French-language counterpart, Espace musique, in partnership with The Banff Centre in Banff, Alta. The results of the competition were announced on March 26, 2009, following live performances of all five finalists’ works by l’Ensemble contemporain de Montréal, under artistic director Véronique Lacroix, at The Banff Centre’s Rolston Recital Hall, broadcast to a national radio audience.

The performances followed an intense month of creation and rehearsals of works by the five finalists, who also included Vincent Ho (who won the $5,000 People’s Choice award), David Adamcyk, Geof Holbrook and Gordon Williamson. Each of the five finalists received a $5,000 grant from CBC/Radio-Canada.

For further details, including podcasts of all finalists’ works, visit the Evolution website