Categories: Concerts
One of the exciting reasons I enjoy being both a creator and connoisseur of modern classical music is that we live in a unique time where new music can be presented with live acoustic instruments accompanied by pre-recorded electronics that the instrumentalist plays along to – think of it like really artsy karaoke:)! This tradition […]
Categories: Concerts, Performing
Last week I performed at the wonderful Music & Beyond Festival in Ottawa. The festival had a day to celebrate the environment and I opened it with a 10am concert putting the ‘Earth in the Light‘ and closed the day with a 10pm concert ‘Earth at Night‘ where I performed my always-fun-to-play-in-the-dark, 60-minute piano piece, […]
Categories: Concerts, Making Music
It was earlier this year that the violinist, Ralitsa Tcholakova, asked if I could compose a piece for violin and piano that recognized the fall of the Berlin Wall in the late 1980s. What resulted was A Secret Streamlet, a flowing piece inspired by a defiant letter that the then Czech playwright and activist, Vaclav […]
Categories: Concerts, Making Music
When Michael Westwood asked me to compose a new piece for the November 9 concert in his Toronto chamber music series, I said sure! When he suggested that the piece be on a theme around memories, I got more than I bargained for. Various chapters in my life flooded my heart and soul, many very […]
Categories: Concerts, Making Music
This is the musical dilemma I placed myself in when I started composing Thirty Minutes of a Three Million Minute Journey. The piece attempts to encapsulate the experience of Syrian refugees walking from their war-ravaged country into Europe in search of a better life. I wanted this elongated chamber work to maintain the same mood […]
What the Classical Music Establishment Needs to Do in order to Survive… Lately, anytime I peruse my newsfeed on Facebook and Twitter, I’m bombarded with friends sharing articles and op-eds about the decline of classical music…’5 things orchestras need to do bolster audiences’, etc. Usually the solutions of the so-called experts are to have concerts […]
Categories: Concerts, Making Music
As a composer, it’s always a special occasion and feeling when other musicians play your music. I have been fortunate to have a number of talented individuals do just that in the past number of years. It feels great (and sometimes nerve-racking) to sit in an audience as someone brings your musical ideas to life. […]
