Born: April 23, 1977 Primary Instrument: Saxophone
Petr Cancura is sought-after for his original voice. With 16 released albums under his belt, he has recorded and performed with Grammy-nominated Danilo Perez, Bob Moses and Kathleen Edwards, John Lockwood, Joe Maneri, Cecil McBee and the Juno award-winning Mighty Popo among others.
The Petr Cancura Trio has been featured on CBC Radio’s Signal, and continues to tour internationally with acclaim. In 2007 Petr was a featured resident artist and co-ordinator at the Ottawa International Jazz Festival’s Ottawa Composers Collective as well as the Ottawa Folk Festival’s Cross-Cultural Experiment.
Cancura received his Masters degree from New England Conservatory in 2006. During this time, he led many successful groups and projects, including the artistic residency with Boston’s prestigious MIM (Modern Improvised Music) Society. Today Cancura continues to perform with artists from all over the world, attesting to his cross-genre versatility.
Cancura is currently touring with The Richie Barshay Group, his own group PeopleMusic, Monorail - a quartet with Polish marvel Jacek Kochan and the Holly Laroque Big Band. He is also working on a 3rd release with Megan Jerome Trio, recordings with free-jazz guitar legend Joe Morris are scheduled for release on Not Two Records, AUM Fidelity and HatHut. Most notably Petr's debut recording of his own project PeopleMusic is gaining attention with every show. When not on the road, Petr enjoys cooking and photography.
“Petr Cancura is a great musician. He has all of the skills, imagination, versatility, and artistry he needs to be one of the great saxophonists of his generation.” Joe Morris, guitar legend
“Petr Cancura is a sax player who's always been good, has always been a great player. But in the last year or two has just lit himself on fire. I don't know what's happened to him—he's playing has just gone up a notch. And he plays with a lot of different people” Bill Stunt, Ontario Regional Music Producer, CBC radio
“… Cancura's sunny manner is infectious. It rubs off on the audience and his bandmates. And it shines through in his music. Even his darker compositions, like Ballad, a mysterious, slow-moving chamber piece that was among the evening's highlights, still somehow seem joyful.” Doug Fisher, Ottawa Citizen
