Michael Nunes is a Canadian composer and horn player from Sherwood Park, Alberta. He is committed to a holistic approach to music, working as a performer, composer, arranger, engraver, and educator with organizations across North America. In 2022, he completed his Bachelor of Music in Composition at the University of Toronto, studying composition with Gary Kulesha, James Rolfe, and Larysa Kuzmenko, and horn with Gabriel Radford and Nicholas Hartman. Prior to attending The Juilliard School, Michael was enrolled in a double major MMus program at the Mannes School of Music, studying horn with Erik Ralske and composition with Lowell Liebermann. Previous teachers include Kevin Rivard, Allan Gilliland, and Allene Hackleman.

As a soloist, Michael has performed Strauss’ Horn Concerto No. 1 with the Abreu Chamber Orchestra and his own arrangement of Bozza’s En Forêt with the Hannaford Street Silver Band alongside Jens Lindemann. Michael has performed in festivals such as the Aspen Music Festival, the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, the Brott Music Festival, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestral Institute, Domaine Forget, and Musicfest Canada’s Denis Wick Canadian Wind Orchestra, and under conductors such as Marin Alsop, Jane Glover, and Patrick Summers. During his undergraduate degree he performed in the University of Toronto’s Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble and was a guest musician in the university’s Contemporary Music Ensemble. He has performed in ensembles such as the National Academy Orchestra of Canada, the Hannaford Youth Band, the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, and the Edmonton Senior Youth Orchestra.

As a composer, arranger, and engraver, Michael has collaborated with organizations including the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, the Hannaford Street Silver Band, Boris Brott and the National Academy Orchestra of Canada, the Ontario Provincial Honour Band, the Toronto Tuba and Euphonium Symposium, the Parkdale Orchestra, the Northumberland Orchestra, the Opera From Scratch Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, and Brass Ensemble. In 2019 he co-founded Green Room Sound Collective, a collective dedicated to providing professional cross-discipline experiences to early-career artists. Michael has composed for, conducted, and commissioned works for Green Room Sound Collective including an audio-visual virtual art gallery, various choral works, and his own chamber opera Union.

Michael teaches brass, composition, and ear-training/theory both privately and through Classic Studios in Sherwood Park, Alberta. He has been a guest educator at Music Together of the Northern Lights and at masterclasses facilitated by the University of Toronto and the Hannaford Youth Band. Michael is currently pursuing an MMus in Horn Performance at The Juilliard School. He is also a substitute horn player with the New World Symphony. Michael is a member of SOCAN and the Canadian League of Composers.