Cree-Dene Artist | Educator | Composer
PhD in Ethnomusicology
University of British Columbia
Fall 2027 (in-progress)
2024 Vanier Scholar
Cree 100 & Cree 200
Yellowhead Tribal College
2025-2026
Master of Education
Curriculum and Pedagogy
(Elementary Education)
University of Alberta
2022
Bachelor of Music Therapy
Capilano University
2017
Bachelor of Education
University of Alberta
2000
Sherryl's published compositions are available through Musica Printima, the publishing house of the vocal ensemble musica intima.
Explore the catalogue here:
Musica Printima
Sherryl is a part of Cypress Choral Music’s special collection curators list.
Website Link:
Cypress Choral - Sherryl Sewepagaham
Music Education
Sherryl dedicated nearly two decades to teaching K-6 music, grounding her practice in Indigenous traditions and pedagogy. Early in her teaching career, she recognized a glaring gap in Indigenous-focused and -created teacher resources and songs for Indigenous students. This drove her to craft her own teaching materials, which in turn grew into resources used provincially and nationally. Among her song collection, the children’s drum and rattle song “Children’s Blessing Song,” remains the most beloved, having been sung by thousands of students from coast to coast.
Realizing there was a lack of Indigenous-focused teacher resources for her students as a new teacher in 2000, she began creating her own classroom resources, which led to creating further provincial and national teaching resources. She composed the music and lyrics for the National Arts Centre's "Music Alive" theme song and contributed to three teacher resources for the Arts Alive program. Sherryl also wrote a secondary music resource for MusiCounts titled, Kanata: Contemporary Indigenous Artists and their Music and co-wrote, Wîtaskîwin: Thirteen Guiding Principles for Respectful Partnership with Indigenous Peoples in Canadian Music Classrooms with Métis music educator, Nicole Schutz. Her 2025 teacher resource with the Alberta Orff Chapter, Earth Songs for Children, is a collection of Cree language songs and instrumental arrangements for K-6 students.
Biography
Sherryl Sewepagaham is a two-time, Juno-nominated, Cree-Dene artist, songmaker, and educator–a proud member of the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, Canada. A 2024 Vanier Scholar in Ethnomusicology at the University of British Columbia, Canada, her research sings the connection between Cree language and song practices. Her collaborative album with the Canadian Chamber Choir, Where Waters Meet (2026 Juno Award nominee) and compositions like “mitêh (Heart)” for the 2026 CBC Music Class Challenge echo her lifelong commitment: bridging Indigenous knowledge, artistic expression, and the living power of song.
Through composition, curation, and performance, Sherryl continues to shape the future of Indigenous music education and the choral arts—bridging Indigenous knowledge, artistic expression, and scholarly inquiry. Closest to her heart, however, are the drum song circles she facilitates for women and youth in Northern Alberta (Treaty 8)—where the healing power of voice becomes a quiet, profound act of cultural resurgence.
Sherryl acknowledges her parents, Bill and Emily Sewepagaham, and the many Elders and song keepers who guide her in language, stories, histories, and cultural learning—wisdom she carries into her performance, composition, and research.
Choral Arts
Sherryl Sewepagaham has been commissioned by some of Canada's most distinguished national choirs, including Pro Coro Canada, Canadian Chamber Choir, Dead of Winter, and Luminous Voices. Her choral works are deeply rooted in Indigenous worldviews and relationships to land, language, and spirit. Her compositions include “yôtin (The Wind)”, “nipîy (Water Song)”, “kahkiyaw oskâyak (All the Young People)”, “okâwîmâw askîy (Mother Earth)”, and “Laughing Beaver”. The latter two pieces were featured in Wandering with Wonder (2021), a storytelling production by Samantha Whelan Kotkas orchestrated by the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra, and more recently with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra on May 6, 7, and 10, 2026.
Sherryl’s Cree-language choral works have been performed, often with Sherryl as guest artist, by renowned choirs including the Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto, musica intima, Luminous Voices, UBC University Singers, Vancouver Youth Choir, Amabile Choirs of London, and the Braille Tones. Her works have also been recorded by Augustana Choir, Halifax Camerata Singers, Luminous Voices, Cantilon Chamber Choir, and Canadian Chamber Choir, and featured in national and international choir competitions such as the 2026 Cork International Choral Festival, Con Brio Music Festival, Kantorei Choral Festival, Peel Music Festival, and the 2025 Iowa All-State Chorus.
A frequent guest artist with the Canadian Chamber Choir (CCC), Sherryl has toured with the ensemble on five national tours, working with choirs and singers of all ages through concerts, school outreach, and community events. She will complete her sixth and final tour with the CCC in and around Winnipeg, Manitoba, from September 25 to October 5, 2026.
In May 2024, Sherryl curated Ahskennon'nia: Songs of Peace / Chants de la Paix for the national PODIUM choral conference in Montréal, Québec. This landmark concert centred Indigenous voices and compositions in the national choral landscape. In March 2025, she travelled with the Amabile Choirs of London, Ontario, to Carnegie Hall, where her compositions were performed as she conducted and sang Cree drum and rattle songs—weaving traditional Indigenous song with contemporary choral expression. She returned to Carnegie Hall on May 25, 2026, with combined choirs and the New England Symphonic Ensemble under Kathleen Allen, featuring her works alongside those of the late Cris Derksen.
Academic Research Outputs
Sherryl is currently pursuing Doctoral studies in Ethnomusicology at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada with an intended completion in the fall of 2027. Sherryl’s research focuses on the impact of nêhiyawêwin (the Cree language) song practices in language reclamation and advocates for the resurgence of women's song practices in northern communities, contributing to her ongoing work in music education and research, as well as community song revitalization. Sherryl’s work also centres nêhiyawêwin through Standard Roman Orthography (SRO) to establish linguistic sovereignty within her choral compositions and infusing Indigenous epistemologies of sound and voice creating a distinct Indigenous sonic presence that disrupts Eurocentric choral aesthetics.
Published Journal Articles
Sewepagaham, Sherryl, and Danielle Sirek. “’Nipîy (Water Song)’: Nêhiyaw Knowledge Epistemology in Artistic Relationships and Music Education.” International Journal of Community Music 19, no. 1 (March 2026): 63-81. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijcm_00147_1.
Georges, Velvalee, Davina Rousell, Crystal Wood, Sherryl Sewepagaham, Joline Bull, Elmer Ghostkeeper, Doreen Frencheater, et al. “The Search for Wellness Through Ancestral Languages.” KULA: Knowledge Creation, Dissemination, and Preservation Studies 8, no. 1 (2025). https://doi.org/10.18357/kula.329.
Sewepagaham, Sherryl, and Mark Turin. “‘Singing with Wonder’: An Interview Between Sherryl Sewepagaham and Mark Turin.” Book 2.0 14, no. 1 (October 2024): 21-35. https://doi.org/10.1386/btwo_00100_7.
Choir photos taken by Andy Rice.
Career Highlights
2026 – Juno Award nomination, Classical Album of the Year with the Canadian Chamber Choir
2022–2026 – Featured artist & commissioned composer, Canadian Chamber Choir tours
2021–2026 – Mitacs Accelerate research grant recipient
2024–2027 – Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship ($150,000)
2024 – SSHRC Doctoral Award (declined)
2022, 2024, 2026 – Invited presenter, PODIUM Conference
& Festival
2025, 2026 – Performed and conducted at Carnegie Hall, New York
2024 – Indigenous Graduate Fellowship Award, UBC
2024 – Keynote Presenter, BC Music Educators’ Association Conference
2023 – Friends of Canadian Choral Music Award, Emerging Artist
2021 – Edmonton Arts Council Artists' Trust Fund award ($15,000)
2006 – Juno Award nomination (Asani)
Albums
Sherryl and the Canadian Chamber Choir’s 2024 album, Where Waters Meet—a celebration of connection, cultural exchange, and the power of song. The album was nominated for a 2026 Juno Award in the category, Classical Album of the Year, Large Ensemble.
Sherryl's 2014 debut solo album, Splashing the Water Loudly, received a nomination at the 2015 Indigenous Music Awards and has been featured on Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN)'s Chaos and Courage series and All Our Relations.
She was a founding member of the acclaimed Edmonton-based trio Asani, which performed for 23 years. Sherryl contributed significantly to their multi-nominated and award-winning albums, Rattle & Drum and Listen–including a Juno Award nomination in 2006. Asani performed at prestigious venues worldwide, including Carnegie Hall in New York, The Kennedy Centre in Washington, D.C., and Midem in France. They were also honoured to perform at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and for dignitaries such as the 14th Dalai Lama and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. Sherryl continues to perform and create new songs for her artistic spirit and to share with various audiences, conferences, festivals, and on recordings.
