Ninth Annual Roberta Stephen Award Winner

Virginia Jessica Sparvier-Wells is this year’s recipient of the Roberta Stephen Composition award.

Ms. Sparvier-Wells will use the funds toward mentoring for her recent commission from the Allegra Chamber Orchestra for a work for hoop dance and orchestra to be completed in March 2027. Ms. Sparvier-Wells is the recipient of numerous awards, including the YYC Music Awards Classical Recording of the Year in 2024 and the Prairie Resonance Award of 2026. She was also a nominee for the Native American Music Award 2024 Best Instrumental Album.

The Roberta Stephen Award offers support to a Canadian woman composer aged 36 or older for professional development, including further studies, conferences, workshops, or composers’ festivals. Established by the late Calgary composer and publisher Roberta Stephen, the award is administered by the Association of Canadian Women Composers. Ms. Stephen would be particularly pleased that this year’s winner is another Alberta-based composer.


As the winners are selected by an international jury, all applicants benefit from having their work assessed by experts in two different countries. And for the past two years, Roberta Stephen Award winners have chosen Canadian women as mentors, attesting to the prominence of Canadian women in the international creative music scene.