Raised in North Battleford Saskatchewan, Composer, Performer, and Educator Paul Suchan graduated with a B.Mus/B.Mus Ed (2007) from the University of Saskatchewan and M.Mus in Composition (2012) from the Université de Montréal where he studied with composer Alan Belkin. 

His body of work includes over 80 commissions that have been performed across Canada, the United States and Europe by leading university ensembles, symphony orchestras, community groups, choirs, small ensembles and others. He is frequently commissioned by groups across Canada of various sizes and abilities. 

Mr. Suchan is the winner of Alumni Achievement Award in 2017 from the University of Saskatchewan for his work in music composition and community building.  Other awards include winner of of the 2014 Canadian Band Association Composition Competition for his piece for band Swiftriver Passage, and winner of the 2022 Best Original Score at the Los Angeles International Film Festival - Indie X Film Fest, for his piece for jazz orchestra, Above the Deluge, a collaboration with artist Allyson Glenn.  In 2023 he was very proud to be a recipient of a USSU teaching excellence award from the University of Saskatchewan, an award voted on by students. 

He has had the opportunity to collaborate with some of Canada’s leading performers including the Gyphon Trio, the Proteus Saxophone Quartet, and an album recording project with Julie Nesrallah and the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra. 

Other notable performances include his piece Wake the Grain performed at the National Arts Center in Ottawa in 2014, led by Duane Wolfe, conductor of the Chicago Symphony Chorus.  In 2019 he was commissioned to write Peacemaker for the Chief Poundmaker exoneration ceremony held at Poundmaker Reserve with many dignitaries present, including the Prime Minister of Canada.  In 2011, his first opera, The Beast in the Jungle, based on a short story by Henry James, was premiered in Montreal, QC with full orchestra under the baton of the composer.  His piece for band The Colors and Contrasts of Grief has received over 100 performances throughout North America and has been professionally recorded three times.   

His chamber music pieces include Songs of Ebb and Flow, premiered by Saxophonist Gerard Weber at the North American Saxophone Alliance in Lubuck, Texas; Winter Music, commissioned by the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra Woodwind Quintet; and The Red Bear Reel, commissioned to commemorate the opening of the Red Bear/Gordon Oaks Student Centre on the University of Saskatchewan Campus. 

Other projects have included his pieces for saxophone and piano, Danse Exotique des Gros Papillions, and Bells of the Hours, recorded by Dr. Glen Gillis on Saxspectrum II and III, both nominated for Western Canadian Music Awards.  In 2019 Jeffery Straker won a Western Canadian music award in the category of best visual media composer of the year, with Mr. Suchan’s arrangement of The Storm.   

His band music is published with Eighth Note and Alfred Music, and his choir music with Cypress Music. He is a member of SOCAN, RCCO, and the Saskatoon Musicians Union.  Overall Mr. Suchan’s compositions have been professionally recorded and included on eight collections. 

Mr. Suchan remains an active performer, performing between 80 and 100 times yearly, playing weekly on the pipe organ at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian in downtown Saskatoon, and playing jazz piano with a number of local groups. He also enjoys playing soccer and exploring the world with his daughter Evelyn, son Isaac, and wife Naomi.