Denis Rafael Nassar Baptista, MMus

Part Time Instructor in Music
"Music... will help dissolve your perplexities and purify your character and sensibilities, and in time of care and sorrow, will keep a fountain of joy alive in you." Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Denis Nassar Baptista is a multi-award-winning composer and pianist. His compositions cover a variety of genres including orchestra, chamber music, dance, theatre and opera. He holds a M.Mus. from The University of Calgary being mentored by Allan Bell. As a Brazilian-Canadian composer, he has a special passion for studying Brazilian music and bringing different flavours to his performances and compositions.

Among his most recent works are pieces commissioned by the Orchestre Métropolitain in Montreal, the Calgary Wind Symphony and The Land’s End Ensemble. In 2019 two of his compositions were included in the RCM voice syllabus and have been performed by students all over North America.

Some of the awards he received in the past years include the Queen Elizabeth II Scholarship, the Richard Johnston Award for advanced skills in chamber music composition and an award for outstanding accomplishments by the Government of Alberta. Also, in 2015 his piece Kosmos received an award at the Land’s End National Composers Competition in Canada.
In 2018 his opera The Incredible Journey (librettist Will Collins) won the international competition Opera Disrupted and in 2020 he was one of 9 composers honoured in the National Composition Competition Beethoven's Legacy organized by the Orchestre Métropolitain in Montreal. In this competition, he was commended for the quality, originality and imagination of his orchestral writing.

Denis is an active composer, performer and educator giving recitals, workshops, and master classes at conferences and events. He currently works at Prairie College as the songwriting program director and at Trinity Western University as an instructor in the Game Development Department.

See also: https://denisnassar.com/

  • Master of Music in Composition (University of Calgary, Canada; 2013-2017)
  • Bachelor of Music in Composition (University of Campinas, Brazil; 2004-2009)

Expertise

Composition (Orchestral, Chamber music, Choral, Theatre, Film, Opera), Jazz Piano and Brazilian Music, Brazilian Folkloric Music, Worship Arts and Christian Music, Music Education

Awards & Honors

  • One of 9 composers honored in the National Composition Competition Beethoven's Legacy organized by the Orchestre Metropolitain in Montreal. Honorable mention received for the quality, originality and imagination of orchestral writing (2020)
  • Winner of the 2018 Opera Disrupted International Composers Competition with his opera “Opera “The Incredible Journey”. Competition hosted by the opera company Cowtown Opera.
  • 3rd place at the Land’s End National Composers Competition in Canada (2015)
  • Piano Trio piece “Kosmos” received an award of public’s favorite choice at the Land’s End National Composers Competition in Canada (2015)
  • Award for outstanding accomplishments by the Government of Alberta (2015)
  • Richard Johnston for advanced skills in chamber music composition (2015)
  • Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship (2014)

Recent Publications

Recent Commissions:

  • Le Pelleteur De Nuages for Orchestra and Narrators (Orchestre Metropolitain)
  • A Cry From A Dry Land for Wind Orchestra (Calgary Wind Symphony)
  • Caipora for Violin and Celo (Land's End Ensemble)
  • Opera (ongoing project - Calgary Opera)

Affiliations & Memberships

  • Associate Composer / CMC - Canadian Music Centre

  • GAME 320 / MUSI 355 Video Game Sound and Music