SOCAN Foundation is pleased to announce Dr. Roydon Tse as the second recipient of the Lori Davies Composition Award for Excellence in Dance, Opera, or Music Theatre.
A composer known for his narrative voice, Tse connects with audiences through music shaped by dramatic storytelling. His work has been commissioned and performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Atlanta Opera, City Opera Vancouver, Vancouver Chamber Choir, Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, and members of the Paris Opera Orchestra.
The $5,000 prize recognizes a mid-career composer whose work demonstrates exceptional ability to shape music in service of narrative or dramatic intent. The jury was particularly drawn to Tse’s operatic and vocal works, in which music, text, and character are tightly integrated, and contemporary social and historical themes are explored with clarity and emotional depth.
“I’m deeply humbled and grateful to receive this award, which reflects Lori Davies’ incredible legacy and commitment to opera as a vital, evolving art form,” said Tse. “As a music shaped through close collaboration with singers, librettists, directors, and others, it demands patience, and time to grow. Through the support from the 2026 Lori Davies Award, I look forward to deepening many of my creative partnerships. and continuing to productively explore through the power of voice and opera.”
Born in Hong Kong, Tse studied composition at the University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto, where his artistic focus increasingly turned toward vocal music and opera. Since completing his doctorate, he’s built a body of work that places storytelling at the centre of the operatic form.
Notable projects include Decoupling (2021), a chamber opera addressing the climate crisis; City Opera Vancouver (2020), which explored erased histories of Vancouver’s Chinatown; and Shikata Ga Nai (2022), created with librettist Marcus Yi for Atlanta Opera, recounting the story of Japanese American internment survivor Jimmy Doi. Even in non-operatic works such as Triptych (2023), commissioned by the Canadian Art Song Project, Tse’s music remains grounded in dramatic and narrative thinking.
Now based in Saskatoon, Tse is Assistant Professor of Composition and Theory at the University of Saskatchewan, a teaching artist with the Canadian Opera Company, and co-directs the annual Lunenburg Composition Academy in Nova Scotia.
Through the Lori Davies Composition Award, SOCAN Foundation honours Lori Davies’ legacy as a champion of Canadian composers, and of music, theatre, and opera as vital, evolving art forms. Dr. Roydon Tse’s work exemplifies this legacy, through music that amplifies under-represented stories, and affirms the power of storytelling through sound.