Biography
Saman Shahi is a JUNO-Nominated composer, and conductor based in Toronto whose music has been described as “a combination of virtuosity and sonic power” (PAN M 360), “Lucid and dramatic”(Musicworks) and “Endlessly rewarding” (I Care If You Listen).
Saman's compositions have been championed across North America, Europe and Asia by groups such as the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Windsor Symphony Orchestra, Windsor Youth Symphony Orchestra, The Atlanta Opera, National Ballet of Canada, Sinfonia Toronto, Danubia Orchestra (Hungary), Tapestry Opera, and Soundstreams. His music has also been featured in prestigious festivals such as the Lucerne Festival 2025, and TUTTI Festival 2024, and broadcast globally on CBC, PBS, Radio Télévision Suisse, BBC, and Voice of America.
In 2026, Saman's mini opera “Munch” and “Ferris Wheel” produced by Tapestry Opera, were nominated for a Dora Mavor Award. He was also a recipient of a IMAGINE Incubator Award from the Isabel Bader Centre for Performing Arts in Kingston in the same year.
As a conductor, Saman has been an active advocate of new music in Canada and abroad. He is the Music Director of the Peterborough Concert band, and is also an active conductor across Canada, USA, and Europe with many guest appearances.
Saman holds a Masters 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 serves as a board member at the Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects and Musicworks magazine. He also works as a composer and Teaching Artist with the Canadian Opera Company, and was also the Executive Director and a Co-Founder at ICOT from 2011-2025.
In 2020 Saman's debut composition album "Breathing in the Shadows" was recorded and released by Leaf Music, which is a compilation of his vocal music. In 2022 JUNO awards, “Breathing in the Shadows” from this album was nominated in the “Classical Composition of the Year” category. His song cycle "Orbit" in this album also won the second prize in Canadian Amateur Musician's Associations' composition Competition in 2019.
Saman has been a selected composer by many competitions and programs such as the American Composers Orchestra's 2024 Earshot Readings with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Tapestry Opera's 2025 LibLab, Denison University's 2024 Tutti Music Festival, 2022 Atlanta Opera's “96 Hour Opera Project”, Toronto Symphony Orchestra's 2021 “Explore the Score”, 2021 Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra's Call for Scores, Whispering River Orchestra's 2020 Bert Weir Award, Canadian Amateur Musician's Association inaugural prize in 2019, and many more.
His second composition album, “Microlocking” was released by People|Places|Records in 2021, containing a series of his chamber works, and his collaborative chamber orchestra album with ICOT was released by Leaf Music in Fall of 2023. His choral album “Fragments” is slated for release by Redshift Records in 2026.
Saman regularly serves as a judge, and adjudicator at many competitions and awards such as the the Juno Awards, East Coast music awards, FACTOR, Kiwanis among others. He also serves as Contract Teaching Faculty at the Wilfird Laurier University.
