Biography
Deantha Edmunds is Canada’s first Inuk professional classical singer. On July 1st, 2025, she was invested as a Member of the Order of Canada, the country’s highest honour, for her work which seeks to empower Indigenous people and share their stories. As a performer, composer, writer, and mentor, Deantha uses her voice to share about her journey as an artist and the issues that matter the most to her: the climate crisis, language revitalization, MMIWG2S+, Truth and Reconciliation, and the threads that connect us. Her work has international reverberation as well as community integrity, and she brings a level of professional excellence to Canada’s Indigenous art scene that is unique and important.
Most recently, she was nominated for the Ontario Arts Council’s 2025 Oskar Morawetz Award for Excellence in Music Performance. In November 2025, MusicNL awarded Deantha with both ‘Classical Artist of the Year’ and ‘Indigenous Artist of the Year.’
In July 2025, Deantha was commissioned to compose and record a an original piece, ‘Anânak silatsualimâk’ (Mother Earth) that was featured in "Rhythms of the Land," a national music documentary celebrating the strength and revitalization of Indigenous languages in Canada. It was produced by the Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages, broadcast nationally on CTV, and is also streaming on Crave.
Opera on the Avalon released a video of Deantha and her daughter Annabelle singing Nunatsiavut’s anthem, ‘Labradorimiut/Sons of Labrador’ with Inuit youth throat-singers and the Atlantic String Quartet, in June 2025, National Indigenous History Month.
In May 2025, Acadia University awarded Deantha with an Honorary Doctor of Music degree, celebrating her impact on Canadian culture and her achievements as an Indigenous classical musical artist.
Deantha won the 2025 JUNO award for ‘Classical Composition of the Year’ for her original song-cycle "Angmalukisaa," which she recorded on "Alikeness" with Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra Sinfonia, conducted by Mark Fewer. The album was nominated for ‘Classical Album of the Year (large ensemble).’ She was also named "Indigenous Artist of the Year" at the 2025 East Coast Music Awards.
She has released three solo albums. Connections, recorded with the Atlantic String Quartet, won the 2022 Music NL awards for ‘Classical Album of the Year,’ and ‘Indigenous Artist of the Year.’ Connections was also nominated for a 2023 East Coast Music Award. Her EP My Beautiful Home (2019) and full-length CD Pillorikput Inuit: Inuktitut Arias for All Seasons (2016) also garnered ECMA nominations.
In 2024, Deantha was awarded Newfoundland and Labrador’s inaugural Premier’s Medals for the Arts and Heritage and was named Arts NL’s "Artist of the Year."
Deantha performs with professional ensembles and companies across Canada and abroad, such as New Orford String Quartet, Against the Grain Theatre, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, musica intima, Stratford Summer Music, Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto, Netherlands Chamber Choir, Scotia Festival of Music, Cecilia Concerts, PerSIStence Theatre Company, Perchance Theatre, Toronto Summer Music in the Garden, and Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra.
In 2024, she was a lead actor, soloist, and music director for "Nsituninal: Our Voices," a Newfoundland and Labrador Year of the Arts project of Indigenous Performing Arts NL, which toured the province presented by the Arts and Culture Centres.
Her contribution to the internationally acclaimed "Messiah/Complex" with Against the Grain Theatre and Toronto Symphony Orchestra helped earn the production a 2022 JUNO nomination, and the project also won the first ever Opera America Digital Excellence Award.
Other notable appearances include singing at the opening ceremony of the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2021, performing for Inuit residential school survivors in the presence of His Holiness, Pope Francis in Iqaluit at his official residential school apology in 2022, and singing the Nunatsiavut anthem for King Charles III at the St. John’s welcome ceremony of the 2022 Canadian Royal Tour which focused on Reconciliation.
As one of Canada’s official delegates at the Opera Europa conference in Copenhagen, Denmark in October 2023, Deantha had the opportunity to introduce her opera "Irngutaq," the first opera written and composed by an Inuk.
Deantha has been an Artist-in-Residence focusing on "Reconciling through Music" at University of Toronto Faculty of Music, Acadia University School of Music, Memorial University of Newfoundland School of Music, Grenfell School of Fine Arts, Bishop’s University Department of Music, and The Don Wright Faculty of Music at Western University.
Creating original works, collaborating with other musicians, contributing to Indigenous productions, and mentoring young artists, Deantha shares her voice and vision with her whole heart, and is drawing accolades from across Canada and the world.
