Stephen Chatman, professor of composition at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver since 1976, is the first Canadian ever short-listed in the BBC Masterprize international competition (2001, Taras Dream for orchestra).

Mr. Chatman is recognized internationally as a composer of choral, orchestral, and piano music. His approximately sixty choral works, widely performed and published by ECS , Boosey & Hawkes , Jaymar, Waterloo, and Gordon V. Thompson, have sold more than 250,000 printed copies. Recorded works include two choral collections performed by the Vancouver Chamber Choir, Due North (Centredisc) and Due West (CBC Records), and instrumental recordings on C.R.I., CBC Records, Skylark, and Frederick Harris Music Celebration Series. His orchestral works, commissioned by the Vancouver, Toronto, Edmonton, Windsor, and Madison symphonies and the CBC Radio Orchestra, and published by ECS and Theodore Presser, have been performed and recorded by the B.B.C. Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Radio Orchestra, Sydney, Seoul, San Francisco, St. Louis, Detroit, Dallas, New World, Quebec, Calgary, Winnipeg, and Newfoundland symphonies.