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 […]

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 […]

As a composer, one of the steps in the creative process that I often find mentally difficult to grapple with is coming up with a title for a new work. Sometimes it can be so annoying that I often wish I could just call something “Untitled”. But it’s never gotten that bad that I’ve had […]

I recently attended the opening night of the Royal Conservatory’s 21C New Music Festival. It was a great evening of music by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and featured compositions by the likes of Terry Riley (who was present) and several amazing and dynamic Canadian composers. Before the concert began, RCM’s Executive Director of Performing Arts, […]

On November 16th, we released Frank’s 9th album, For Those Who Died Trying… and what a release it has been (and continues to be)! In just two weeks, almost 30,000 people have listened to the album… and that’s just on Spotify! Frank’s done three radio interviews (The Classical Underground, Song Talk Radio, The David Dalle […]

Ever start working on something that started off all “normal” and under control but then started to get crazy exciting and borderline-out-of-control?!? That might be what I’m feeling right now. With the new album, For Those Who Died Trying, soon to be released on November 16, it quickly became apparent that the subject matter was […]

I’m very happy to announce that the recording of my composition, The Thailand HRDs, will be released on ATMA Classique on November 16. The album, recorded by the amazing Mivos Quartet, will be called For Those Who Died Trying. It’s a fitting title as it is the same title of the photo essay by Luke […]

Are you a creative soul who is working (or has worked) on an arts project around the theme of the environment and/or climate change? Would you be interested in talking about it on the radio? If yes and yes, then I want to hear from you! I’ve been invited by the Green Majority, Canada’s only […]

…but I don’t have the time to bring it to life on my own. It’s sort of geared to Classical musicians here in Toronto. How many of you know what a pop-up store is? Well, what about a pop-up concert space for chamber music? Toronto has so many awesome store-front spaces in various neighbourhoods that […]

So I came across this video… video courtesy of Philip Venables, Ivan Hewitt and The Telegraph Wow, I have never been to a concert like that! It’s so interesting that Zappa was doing stuff like this decades ago but everyone just thought of it as being sort of his “thing”. Is audience interactivity the essential […]

With a lot of my piano students now on summer break, this gives me some time to do something I haven’t done in a while – practice piano. In October, I’d like to perform a full-length recital of some of my recent piano compositions, so the timing to get myself back in shape couldn’t be […]

I think I was around 11 or 12 years of age when I told my parents I wanted to be a musician when I grew up. I didn’t say it with that casual/dreamy tone kids reveal they want to be an astronaut or pro athlete…no, I was VERY serious! And I guess the words of […]

Of my multitude of musical friends, Pat is one who’s perspectives on music I listen to very often. We grew up together, played in bands together and have always shared a special bond as we’ve moved through life. So it was no surprise that Pat had much to share after reading my recent blog post […]