Concert Program Biography
Carlos Foggin is a Calgary-based organist, pianist, conductor, and composer. He holds a Master of Music from the University of Calgary and is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian College of Organists.
He is Founder and Music Director Laureate of the Rocky Mountain Symphony Orchestra, which he led from its founding in 2016 to 2025, shaping its programming across orchestral, choral, chamber, and collaborative projects. His work as a conductor and artist is rooted in a broad musical practice that integrates performance, leadership, and composition across a range of genres and contexts.
As a composer, his works include The Litany of St Joseph, composed in 2025 for the 400th anniversary of St. Joseph’s Patronage in Canada, and presented to Pope Leo XIV, marking a significant milestone in his creative output. He continues to work across multiple musical disciplines in Calgary, developing new artistic and performance initiatives.
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This biography supersedes all previous versions and is current as of May 2026.
Photos
Honours & Awards
2025 Music’s Future Scholar
(The Recording Industry’s Music Performance Trust Fund)2025 Classical Recording of the Year | Producer (YYC Music Awards)
2025 Professional Artist of the Year (Airdrie Mayor’s Night of the Arts)
2024 Community Ensemble of the Year | Director (YYC Music Awards)
2023 Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal
(Lieutenant Governor of Alberta: Salma Lakhani)2020 Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award
(Lieutenant Governor of Alberta: Lois Mitchell)2019 Compelling Calgarian (Calgary Herald)
2016 Fellow, Royal Canadian College of Organists (FRCCO)
Nominations
2025 YYC Music Awards Community Ensemble of the Year
2023 YYC Music Awards Community Ensemble of the Year
2022 RBC Emerging Artist Award
2021 Rozsa Foundation Emerging Arts Administrator Award
2020 Alberta Artist in Residence & Arts Ambassador
2018Avenue Magazine Top 40 under 40
Scholarships & Prizes
Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship (Gov’t of Alberta) | 2026
The Clifford McAree Scholarship (RCCO) | 2025
Professor Allan Gordon Bell Distinguished Faculty Achievement Graduate Scholarship in Music (UofC) | 2025
Norman Kennedy Graduate Scholarship (UofC) | 2024
The Willan Prize 2016
For highest overall marks in national exams (FRCCO)The Heather Spry Prize 2016
For highest marks in written examination (FRCCO)The Doreen Porter Prize 2016
For highest marks in practical examination (FRCCO)Anthony G. Petti Scholarship in Music (UofC) 2015
F.L. Fenwick Scholarship in Music (UofC) 2013 | 2014 | 2015
Jason Lang Scholarship (Alberta Gov’t) 2014 | 2015
The Willan Prize 2013
For highest marks overall in national exams (ARCCO)The Rollinson Prize 2013
For highest marks in written examination (ARCCO)The Ruth & Ralph Barker Prize 2013
For highest marks in practical examination (ARCCO)The Kathleen Williams Prize 2008
For highest overall marks in national exams (CRCCO)
Longer Biography
not to be included in concert programs
Awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal in 2022, and formerly recognized with a Alberta Emerging Artist Award by the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta in 2020, Carlos Foggin is the Founder & Music Director Laureate of the Rocky Mountain Symphony Orchestra, serving as Music Director from 2016-2025, collaborating with esteemed soloists such as James Campbell CM, Glen Montgomery, Stephen Nguyen, Magdalena von Eccher, and Kathleen van Mourik, to name a few. He has performed live and in concert on CBC radio, and can be heard on numerous commercial recordings.
In March 2025, his 13-movement composition Litaniae Sancti Joseph received its premiere at the Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary, AB in the presence of three Bishops (Archbishop Ivan Jurkovič Apostolic Nuncio to Canada, Bishop William T. McGratton Diocese of Calgary, Bishop Gregory J. Bittman Diocese of Nelson BC). Commissioned by God Squad Canada/Heroic Men, this work is is the first-ever large-scale choral/orchestral setting of this text. On October 7, 2026, the score and recording were presented to Monsigneur Marcos Pavan (Music director of the Sistine Chapel) by Apostolic Nuncio to Canada, Archbishop Ivan Jurkovič. The score and recording were subsequently presented to Pope Leo XIV by Monsigneur Pavan.
In 2016, he was named a Fellow of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, Canada’s oldest musician’s guild.
As a pianist, Mr Foggin has performed alongside notable international touring acts, including Il Divo and The Canadian Tenors, to name a few. He has been afforded opportunities to arrange music for and perform with noted British Military Bands including the Band of the Scots Guards.