Frank Horvat - Composer - Pianist

Mivos Quartet premieres
The Thailand HRDs

Storytelling Concerts for the Environment & Mental Health

A different concert experience. Earth in the Light, Earth at Night as well as the Piano Therapy Tour concerts are impacting audiences far and wide. Read More
#music4HRDs

"...the resulting [musical] tributes are poignant."
- BBC Music Magazine

String players around the world are using their social networks to stand up for Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) who have lost their lives. Dedicated to 'For Those Who Died Trying' #music4HRDs Read More
Featured Video

I Wait for You (violin, cello, piano) by Frank Horvat from his 2017 album Me to We. Read More

FRANK HORVAT - Composer · Pianist · Songwriter · Recording Artist · Arranger · Producer

Album Sampler

I Wait For You Edwin Huizinga (violin), Erika Nielsen (cello), Gregory Millar (piano) more... 03:44
The Thailand HRDs, mvt. 23 Mivos Quartet more...
Diverging Crossroads Frank Horvat (piano) more... 08:32
Void Laura Swankey (vocals), Frank Horvat (piano) more... 10:01
Whistleblower Jamie Thompson (flute), Erika Nielsen (cello), Daniel Morphy (marimba), Frank Horvat (electric piano) more... 09:55
Return to East Aleppo Frank Horvat (piano) more... 05:09
fishworshipper The Frank Horvat Band more... 03:06
The Man, the Snake and the Fox, movt. 5 Ron Korb (flute), Ralitsa Tcholakova (violin), Benjamin Smith (piano) more... 01:54
Starsky & Hutch Frank Horvat (piano) more... 03:36
The Hurting Game The Frank Horvat Band more... 01:35
The Week After Frank Horvat (piano) more... 10:06
The Dignity Song Romy Mounzer (vocals), Frank Horvat (piano) more... 04:39

Latest Compositions
I Love You
2019 – for 16 pre-recorded voices – 11:50 Programme Notes I invited members of the public to submit an audio clip of themselves saying or singing, ‘I Love You’. I got such a wide array of material – poignant timbres in peoples’ spoken voices, passionate singing, farcical delivery and everything in between. I took this […]
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Latest Compositions
7 Pianos
2018 – for 7 pianos – 14:30 Recording Album: What Goes Around Date: October 25, 2019 Musician(s): Frank Horvat Producer: Frank Horvat and Jean Martin Location: Canterbury Music Co., Toronto Label: Centrediscs Programme Notes How much of a good thing is too much? This piece re-thinks the piano as not just a melodic and percussive […]
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Latest Compositions
Sunken Carousel
2012 – for Celtic harp, marimba, piano, double bass – 10:30 Recording Album: What Goes Around Date: October 25, 2019 Musician(s): Sharlene Wallace, Michael Davidson, Frank Horvat, Joseph Phillips Producer: Frank Horvat and Jean Martin Location: THE FARM and Canterbury Music Co., Toronto Label: Centrediscs Programme Notes This piece was originally intended to be released […]
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Latest Compositions
A Little Loopy
2014 – for 4 harps – 10:00 Recording Album: What Goes Around Date: October 25, 2019 Musician(s): Sharlene Wallace Producer: Frank Horvat and Jean Martin Location: THE FARM, Toronto Label: Centrediscs Programme Notes The phrase ‘a little loopy’ often implies something eccentric, crazy or confusing. This is not the case with this composition. This piece […]
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Latest Compositions
To My Mother
2019 – clarinet in A & piano – 7:50 Sheet Music Score (pdf) Clarinet Part (pdf) Programme Notes Inspired by the poem… To My Mother Christina Rossetti – 1830-1894 To-day’s your natal day; Sweet flowers I bring: Mother, accept, I pray My offering. And may you happy live, And long us bless; Receiving as you […]
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Latest Compositions
Fake News
2018 – cello & piano – 6:45 Sheet Music Score (pdf) Programme Notes When I was a kid, sometimes I couldn’t help myself but flatulate when in public. The best way to deflect attention from the fact that I had just emitted gaseous matter from my body was to scream, “ooh, who farted???”, as loud […]
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Latest Compositions
Life Span
2018 – string quartet – 10:10 Sheet Music Score (pdf) Programme Notes At the time I composed these programme notes for this composition, I had been a living human being on this planet for 44 years, 5 months and 14 days. According to one of those online life expectancy calendars, I can expect to live […]
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Latest Compositions
Oblivion
2018 – string quartet – 8:20 Sheet Music Score (pdf) Programme Notes Oh, how “delightful” to go through life completely oblivious to the world around you. Oblivious to the abuses against our air and water, against the fundamental rights for all humans, against love and compassion. No, you live in this mindless bubble where you […]
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Latest Compositions
The Thailand HRDs
2016-17 – for string quartet – 70:00 (35-movements, each movement is 2 minutes) Commissioned by Protection International Recipient of the 2017 Kathleen McMorrow Music Award Happening NOW: #music4HRDs Sheet Music Score (pdf) “It is impossible to escape Frank Horvat’s mystical hypothesis that music is somehow part of all human DNA…a testament to the genius of […]
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Latest Compositions
An Understated Resolve
2014 – solo piano – 3:42 Sheet Music Score (pdf) Recording Album: You Haven’t Been Buy Piece: iTunes Date: September 20, 2017 Location: Canterbury Studios, Toronto Musicians: Frank Horvat (piano) Producer: Frank Horvat Programme Notes This composition is dedicated to a friend who always shows grace, wisdom and an understated resolve – a special […]
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Latest Compositions
Piano Piece No. 5
2015 – 4 hands / 2 pianos – 9:00 Sheet Music Score (pdf) Piano Piece No. 5 (Frank Horvat) from Millar Piano Duo on Vimeo. Performances World Premiere: November 20, 2017, University of New Hampshire Millar Piano Duo Programme Notes Unlike many of my compositions, this piece is not programmatic, as is evident by the […]
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Latest Compositions
Void
2016-17 – for female voice and piano – 10:00 Music by Frank Horvat Words by Frank Horvat & Lisa Horvat Recording Album: Love in 6 Stages Buy Song: iTunes Date: September 21, 2017 Location: THE FARM, Toronto Musicians: Laura Swankey (vocals), Frank Horvat (piano) Producer: Frank Horvat and Jean Martin Programme Notes I composed […]
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Latest Compositions
End
2016-17 – for female voice and piano – 10:00 Music by Frank Horvat Recording Album: Love in 6 Stages Buy Song: iTunes Date: September 21, 2017 Location: THE FARM, Toronto Musicians: Laura Swankey (vocals), Frank Horvat (piano) Producer: Frank Horvat and Jean Martin Programme Notes I composed End to be the fifth song on […]
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Latest Compositions
Fight
2016-17 – for female voice and piano – 10:00 Music by Frank Horvat Words by Frank Horvat & Lisa Horvat Recording Album: Love in 6 Stages Buy Song: iTunes Date: September 21, 2017 Location: THE FARM, Toronto Musicians: Laura Swankey (vocals), Frank Horvat (piano) Producer: Frank Horvat and Jean Martin Programme Notes I composed […]
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Latest Compositions
Bliss
2016-17 – for female voice and piano – 10:00 Music by Frank Horvat Words by Frank Horvat & Lisa Horvat Recording Album: Love in 6 Stages Buy Song: iTunes Date: September 21, 2017 Location: THE FARM, Toronto Musicians: Laura Swankey (vocals), Frank Horvat (piano) Producer: Frank Horvat and Jean Martin Programme Notes I composed […]
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Latest Compositions
Lust
2016-17 – for female voice and piano – 10:00 Music by Frank Horvat Words by Frank Horvat & Lisa Horvat Recording Album: Love in 6 Stages Buy Song: iTunes Date: September 21, 2017 Location: THE FARM, Toronto Musicians: Laura Swankey (vocals), Frank Horvat (piano) Producer: Frank Horvat and Jean Martin Programme Notes I composed […]
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Latest Compositions
Gaze
2016-17 – for female voice and piano – 10:00 Music by Frank Horvat Words by Frank Horvat & Lisa Horvat Recording Album: Love in 6 Stages Buy Song: iTunes Date: September 21, 2017 Location: THE FARM, Toronto Musicians: Laura Swankey (vocals), Frank Horvat (piano) Producer: Frank Horvat and Jean Martin Programme Notes I composed […]
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Latest Compositions
Heat Island
2017 – piano – 9:30 Sheet Music Score (pdf) Performances World Premiere: July 13, 2017, Music & Beyond Festival, Horticulture Building, Ottawa Frank Horvat (piano) Programme Notes When you read the words “Heat Island”, one might imagine “fun-in-the-sun” touristy images or the title of some chintzy Reality TV show. The true reality though is that […]
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Latest Compositions
Return to East Aleppo
2017 – piano & electronics – 5:12 Recording Album: Never Again Is Now Buy Album: The Aleppo Music Project Musicians: Various including Frank Horvat (piano) Programme Notes On January 18, 2017, I read an article on BBC News’ web site by journalist, Jeremy Brown, who provided a detailed first-hand account of the return of […]
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Latest Compositions
Fifty-Ninth Index
2015 – electronic – 3:45 Programme Notes I composed this electronic work as my contribution to an online arts project entitled 58 (+1) INDICES ON THE BODY. The project, a collaboration between the AMAE Art Collective, artist Pier Giorgio De Pinto and the philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy, called on composers to create a work that would […]
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Latest Compositions
Despair
2016 – solo piano – 2:45 Sheet Music Score (pdf) Recording Album: You Haven’t Been Buy Piece: iTunes Date: September 20, 2017 Location: Canterbury Studios, Toronto Musicians: Frank Horvat (piano) Producer: Frank Horvat Programme Notes Then bitter self-reproaches as I stood I dealt me silently As one perverse–misrepresenting Good In graceless mutiny. Excerpt from […]
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Latest Compositions
Distant
2016 – solo piano – 3:22 Sheet Music Score (pdf) Recording Album: You Haven’t Been Buy Piece: iTunes Date: September 20, 2017 Location: Canterbury Studios, Toronto Musicians: Frank Horvat (piano) Producer: Frank Horvat Programme Notes Yes, I can be quite distant. Sometimes that’s good, sometimes bad. It’s always just been that way ever since […]
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Latest Compositions
Longing
2016 – solo piano – 3:38 Sheet Music Score (pdf) Recording Album: You Haven’t Been Buy Piece: iTunes Date: September 20, 2017 Location: Canterbury Studios, Toronto Musicians: Frank Horvat (piano) Producer: Frank Horvat Programme Notes I am constantly longing. Often, I don’t even know what I’m longing for. It’s always festering inside me. Sometimes […]
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Latest Compositions
Crossroads Where I Stand
2015 – solo piano – 3:50 Sheet Music Score (pdf) Recording Album: You Haven’t Been Buy Piece: iTunes Date: September 20, 2017 Location: Canterbury Studios, Toronto Musicians: Frank Horvat (piano) Producer: Frank Horvat Programme Notes Do you ever wish you had taken another path? Made a different important life decision? It is hard standing […]
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Latest Compositions
Realizations
2015 – solo piano – 3:05 Sheet Music Score (pdf) Recording Album: You Haven’t Been Buy Piece: iTunes Date: September 20, 2017 Location: Canterbury Studios, Toronto Musicians: Frank Horvat (piano) Producer: Frank Horvat Programme Notes Often when I’m alone within my own thoughts, I will come to certain rational and/or emotional revelations. Rather than […]
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DISCOGRAPHY
For Those Who Died Trying
World-renowned Mivos Quartet records these 35 movements inspired by a photo essay by photographer, Luke Duggleby
Video: Juilliard String Quartet
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"Performed with intensity and poise by the Mivos Quartet...the resulting [musical] tributes are poignant."
– BBC Music Magazine
DISCOGRAPHY
Love in 6 Stages
From Gaze to Lust to Bliss and on in a downward spiral, Love in 6 Stages takes you through the journey of an ill-fated relationship using the simplicity of voice and piano.
Video: Lust
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"A work where minimalism meets art song and where the two milieus collide in the visceral physicality and psychology of love...the six aspects of love turn into something superbly aerodynamic."
– WholeNote Magazine
DISCOGRAPHY
You Haven't Been
A follow-up response to Horvat’s first solo piano album a decade earlier (I’ll Be Good), You Haven’t Been takes on a beautiful and captivating tone. Introspective, full of hope and despair, the music looks at this storytelling pianist’s own struggles with mental health.
Video: Diverging Crossroads
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"...so deeply personal that listening to the music requires an intrusive mindset…recording the events of this long and difficult expedition in deeply personal and profoundly beautiful music."
– WholeNote Magazine
DISCOGRAPHY
The Current Agenda
Social justice music of today, in a powerful, brutal and heartfelt electro-chamber package.
Video: 08/14/13 - Cairo
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"Horvat focuses his outward vision and glares at the world in all its nakedness. What he sees results in music filled with anger, a mesmeric and hypnotic visual account of a world gone mad."
– WholeNote Magazine
DISCOGRAPHY
Me to We
An utterly emotional exploration of the potency of love. The music will wrench your heart apart and then piece it back together again.
Video: I Wait For You
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"...warm sounds that evoke healing, through music that is mysterious and exotic as well as long limbed and almost aria like without the vocals." – WholeNote Magazine
DISCOGRAPHY
Strange Machine
This album is indie rock with a splash of art. Crafted like a playlist, try listening to the whole album to see its effect. Pure energy that comes straight out of your speakers directly into your heart and soul. Video: Strange Machine
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"These songs will grant one rare access to peer into the soul of a quintessential artist and tormented soul that none of us can get enough of." – Indie Music Review
DISCOGRAPHY
I Can See You
A little indie and a little art rock... Pop, poetry and modern expression in a beautifully pained existence. Video: Inspired by the One I Love
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"The soundscapes are interesting, infectious, and hypnotic…"
DISCOGRAPHY
A Little Dark Music
An ambient yet powerful collection of compositions featuring four introspective tracks exploring real-world themes. Video: Earth Hour
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"Earth Hour really should be heard as one continuous piece, a journey... Highly recommended."
- WholeNote Magazine
DISCOGRAPHY
I'll Be Good
An aggressive and virtuosic collection of original solo piano compositions. These pieces without words tell deeply personal stories. Video: Like Franz Liszt and Metallica in a cage match!
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"Wildly original, often chaotic, eclectic as all get-out, and quite a ride."

Recent Posts
Simple Goals
On our day off this week, Lisa and I sat at our kitchen table just chilling out and chatting. Out of the blue, Lisa nonchalantly asked me, “what are your goals for this coming fall?” Honestly, I felt a little blindsided by the question. It’s not that we never discuss goal-setting. Au contraire, being freelance […]
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Recent Posts
What I did for the summer
I’m back home in Toronto after a 3-week artist residency at the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony in southern California. It was nice to have a change of scenery though my daily routine stayed pretty much the same, which satisfied my obsessive-compulsive A-type personality:)! It was an extremely productive 3-weeks composing-wise. The main objective of the […]
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Recent Posts
America, I Love You, But You Can Do Better
I’m completing what will be my longest stay in the United States, a 3-week wonderful experience at the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony in Southern California where I have been composing new music. I’ve also had the opportunity to meet many wonderful people. Having great interactions is not unprecedented or surprising. In my previous trips to […]
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Recent Posts
Fighting Climate Change…as guided by David Suzuki!
I really like the David Suzuki Foundation’s list of 10 ways we can all help fight climate change. I highly encourage you to read and share it. I find it to be a great resource and benchmark to assess where I’m at in controlling my own carbon footprint. Here are some things that stood out […]
View post
Recent Posts
Juggling Hour-Long Compositions
I feel very grateful to be in Temecula, California attending an artist residency at the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony. The plan was to compose a follow-up to my hour-long piano composition for the dark, Earth Hour. So far, a week into my 3 weeks here, I’ve been composing something else. It’s also an hour-long piece, […]
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Recent Posts
Feeling Grateful to Spend Your Kids’ Inheritance
For the past few weeks, I’ve been very fortunate to sit in on rehearsals for the new musical, Spend Your Kids’ Inheritance. I’ve composed the music for this show. It’s been a part of my life for the past five years. I’m so happy to see it hit an important moment with its world premiere […]
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Recent Posts
Goodbye Boyanna
This week I received the news that my former piano teacher, Boyanna Toyich, passed away. When I saw the news flash over my screen, I was stunned and suddenly filled with an immense amount of grief. When I was a student at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Music from 1993-97, she was a key […]
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Recent Posts
Why Sports Has Made Me a Better Artist
The city and country I call home have become entranced by a game where you put a ball through a basket. And I too have been caught up in the frenzy of the Raptors becoming NBA Champions. On the surface, that doesn’t make much sense…why would a composer of modern art music care about sports? […]
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Recent Posts
Reflections on a European Adventure
From May 13 to June 4, Lisa and I were so fortunate to have a dream trip to Europe. It’s not like it was our first trip to Europe…we’ve been a bunch of times over the years. But this trip seemed extra special in that we had a chance to visit with people we admire […]
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Recent Posts
More Blue Mind…Less Plastic
Yet another video posted on my Twitter feed this morning of plastic and garbage floating en masse in a pristine waterway. Despite the good intent of many to spread the word, research shows that the problem of plastic being dumped in our lakes, rivers and oceans is getting worse. Many community groups have taken up […]
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Recent Posts
Make plans to ‘Spend Your Kids’ Inheritance’
I’m so excited this week! I’ve been working on the music for this musical project for 5 years now. But this is the first week when I can really talk about it coming to life since we’re about 2 months away from unleashing Spend Your Kids’ Inheritance onto the world, or at least at the […]
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Recent Posts
Why I Don’t Wear My Wedding Ring
I am so grateful to be in an incredibly loving marriage with my soulmate. But ironically, I have no interest in wearing my wedding ring. At least that’s the way it’s been for the past couple of years. Yes, my ring finger has been “al fresco” for a while now. My 22nd wedding anniversary comes […]
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Recent Posts
European Adventures in May
Very excited to share that Lisa and I will be in Europe this May! It’s been quite a while since we crossed “the pond” and we’re really looking forward to the sights, sounds, and experiences that await us. Here are the highlights of what we have to look forward to… The European premiere of my […]
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Recent Posts
45 brief thoughts for 45 years of life
My 45th birthday took place on Friday. Lot’s of thoughts have compiled in my mind over all these years. Here’s some of them… 1. Love is the most important thing. 2. As much as a human being would like to think they can lead a solitary life, they can’t. 3. The Toronto Maple Leafs will […]
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Recent Posts
Dovetailing into 2020
I’m happy to announce that I have been awarded a major grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to record a new album of my compositions! The album will be called ‘Project Dovetail’. The plan is to release it in the fall of 2020. All the compositions on this album are inspired by works […]
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Reviews

Stuart Derdeyntheprovince.com
...put something together that really can be compared to Pink Floyd and the more out there aspects of Bjork... A must hear.
Raul da Gamathewholenote.com
Frank Horvat is one of the most inventive song writers to come out of the contemporary scene in Canada. ...duos appear to tear through the composer's innards not simply to discover his heart, but to gather its myriad pieces and bind them back together again. Horvat's work is exquisitely eventful and almost insidiously
effective.
John Teraudsmusicaltoronto.org
Toronto pianist [and composer] Frank Horvat likes to do things his way, not anyone else's. He ignores genre boundaries and isn’t afraid to mix politics with art.
Thom Ellisindie music review
These songs will grant one rare access to peer into the soul of a quintessential artist and tormented soul that none of us can get enough of.

Recent Posts
Simple Goals
On our day off this week, Lisa and I sat at our kitchen table just chilling out and chatting. Out of the blue, Lisa nonchalantly asked me, “what are your goals for this coming fall?” Honestly, I felt a little blindsided by the question. It’s not that we never discuss goal-setting. Au contraire, being freelance […]
View post
Recent Posts
What I did for the summer
I’m back home in Toronto after a 3-week artist residency at the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony in southern California. It was nice to have a change of scenery though my daily routine stayed pretty much the same, which satisfied my obsessive-compulsive A-type personality:)! It was an extremely productive 3-weeks composing-wise. The main objective of the […]
View post
Recent Posts
America, I Love You, But You Can Do Better
I’m completing what will be my longest stay in the United States, a 3-week wonderful experience at the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony in Southern California where I have been composing new music. I’ve also had the opportunity to meet many wonderful people. Having great interactions is not unprecedented or surprising. In my previous trips to […]
View post
Recent Posts
Fighting Climate Change…as guided by David Suzuki!
I really like the David Suzuki Foundation’s list of 10 ways we can all help fight climate change. I highly encourage you to read and share it. I find it to be a great resource and benchmark to assess where I’m at in controlling my own carbon footprint. Here are some things that stood out […]
View post
Recent Posts
Juggling Hour-Long Compositions
I feel very grateful to be in Temecula, California attending an artist residency at the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony. The plan was to compose a follow-up to my hour-long piano composition for the dark, Earth Hour. So far, a week into my 3 weeks here, I’ve been composing something else. It’s also an hour-long piece, […]
View post