Itās been a great week here in Venice, attending the opening of the Biennale! I feel so honoured to have been invited to compose an electronic work to accompany part of my friend Parul Thackerās exhibit at the Palazzo Vendramin Grimani. Parulās suspended hand-sewn double-sided stitched drawings were partly inspired by our collective experience while […]
Blog
More Rivers Are Flowing
What a delight to visit Christina Petrowska Quilico to go over More Rivers, a new suite of solo piano compositions I composed for her. Abby, Christina’s dog, supervised our productive session and kept me nicely in line. ? Christina is a highly acclaimed pianist and Order of Canada recipient. I have been such a big […]
Annex Singers Rehearse āI Am Iceā
Want to know how to feel like the most fortunate human being on the planet? Compose music and have a choir sing it to you while you sit in front of them! This was exactly my experience recently as the Annex Singers rehearsed a new work they commissioned me to compose for them: I Am […]
World Premiere – All that remains: Residual Moments
There was a beautiful energy in The Aperture Room in the heart of Toronto’s downtown for the world premiere of All that remains: Residual Moments last week. Gunilla Josephson‘s evocative moving imagery projected on 3 large screens surrounding members of the Thin Edge New Music Collective performing a live soundtrack was truly an immersive and […]
Countdown to Residual Moments
Itās a week to go before the world premiere of All that remains: Residual Moments, a large-scale performance art installation featuring music, film and live performance. Rehearsal with members of the Thin Edge New Music Collective went splendidly well today. My multi-year collaboration with innovative video artist, Gunilla Josephson, is shaping up very nicely. Thin […]
FRACTURES Album
Iām so excited to announce that the album recording of the Fractures song cycle will be released on November 17! Here is the album cover designed by Matthew Maaskant… This has been an album 8 years in the making! The idea to compose Fractures came in 2016 when I gave a presentation about environmental music […]
Preparing Magnificent Roots
What a pleasure to attend a rehearsal of my new composition, Magnificent Roots, by acclaimed chamber orchestra, Sinfonia Toronto. This is a work that Sinfonia Toronto commissioned in recognition of their 25th anniversary season. Iām looking forward to attending their world premiere performance at Meridian Hall Saturday night! When Nurhan Arman approached me to compose […]
Eradicate Poverty
Today is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, a day that aims to promote understanding and dialogue between people living in poverty and the wider society. We are living in unprecedented times in that our place on this planet is fraught with turmoil and unease. We are battling climate emergencies more frequently, we […]
Musically Planting All Trees!
It’s been a while since harpist Sharlene Wallace and I shared an update on our collaborative adventure, Trees.Listen. We are over-the-moon exhilarated that we recently received a generous grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to complete the process of co-composing, recording, and sharing our suite of pieces for solo lever harp and fixed […]
New Choral Commission
I am delighted to announce that The Annex Singers commissioned me to compose a new choral work for their upcoming December 16 concert! The Annex Singers are a fabulous Toronto cultural institution, now starting their 44th season. I attended their final concert of last season and was blown away by the musicianship and creativity in […]
Last Days of the Holocene Coming Soon
Happy to announce that the SHHH!! Ensembleās album recording of my composition, An Auditory Survey of the Last Days of the Holocene, is set to be released October 20 on Leaf Music. Brad Cherwinās album cover so nicely conveys the dramatic quality of this epic hour-long artivist piece… Edana and Zac who make up SHHH!! […]
A River Without End / Un fleuve sans fin
There’s a new collaboration I’m very excited about: composing music for the renowned Canadian pianist, David Jalbert! When David and I started discussing the foundation of our collaboration, he spoke about his spiritual connection to the St. Lawrence River. Having been born and raised in Rimouski, Quebec, Le Fleuve Saint-Laurent holds a special place in […]
Summer in Europe
Well, I feel like the most fortunate person on this planet these past 2 months. Not only did I get a chance to participate in a once-in-a-lifetime Arctic expedition/residency, but I was then able to follow it up with the most wonderful travel adventure with my everything partner, Lisa, in northern Europe. Following my departure […]
Arctic Circle Expedition Recap
To say that my Arctic Circle Expedition/Residency was a life-changing experience feels like an understatement. As my fellow artists and I returned to Longyearbyen from our odyssey aboard the tall-ship, Antigua, I have been struggling to find the right words to write this post. Visiting the top of the Earth is something that goes beyond […]
Special People, Special Concert
Hi Everyone, it’s Lisa here. Frank may be having fun in the Arctic but I was truly fortunate to be able to attend NUMUS‘ final concert of the season. NUMUSā Artistic Director and brain injury survivor, Kathryn Ladano premiered Frankās new composition, āAnatomy of the Recovering Brainā. This composition couldn’t have happened without a lot […]