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Recording a Recovering Brain

On two recent Saturdays, I enjoyed spending time with my friend, Kathryn Ladano, recording my composition, Anatomy of the Recovering Brain. This is a work I composed for Kathryn last year detailing the challenges that brain injury survivors face, some for many years following their injury. The hour-long piece also shares how survivors are succeeding […]

More Rivers (photo by Jonas Gerg)

More Rivers Recording

I recently attended Christina Petrowska Quilicoā€™s recording session for my new composition, More Rivers, a suite of solo piano pieces Christina commissioned me to compose for her. Christinaā€™s album recording is being produced by David Jaeger and engineered by Dennis Patterson. What a special day it was for me to be in the presence of […]

Un fleuve sans fin

Preparation for A River Without End

What a tremendous privilege it was to meet up with concert pianist extraordinaire, David Jalbert, in Ottawa to review my composition he commissioned, Un fleuve sans fin / A River Without End. When David and I set out on this collaborative journey, he told me of his spiritual connection to the St. Lawrence River. Having […]

Parul Thacker. The Book of the Time-Travellers of the Worlds: The One by Whom All Live, Who Lives by None. 2023-24.

Venice Biennale Sound Installation

Itā€™s 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 Thackerā€™s exhibit at the Palazzo Vendramin Grimani. Parulā€™s suspended hand-sewn double-sided stitched drawings were partly inspired by our collective experience while […]

Christina Petrowska Quilico

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 fan […]

Annex Singers rehearsing for premiere of 'I Am Ice'

Annex Singers Rehearse ā€˜I 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 […]

All that remains: Residual Moments Premiere - Nov 15, 2023

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 […]

All that remains: Residual Moments (composed by Frank Horvat)

Countdown to Residual Moments

Itā€™s 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 coming November 17 (photo by Oscar Keys)

FRACTURES Album

Iā€™m 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 […]

Jean Martin, Sharlene Wallace, Frank Horvat (photo bySharlene Wallance)

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 […]

I Am Ice (photo by Frank Horvat)

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 […]

An Auditory Survey of the Last Days of the Holocene Album Cover

Last Days of the Holocene Coming Soon

Happy to announce that the SHHH!! Ensembleā€™s 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 Cherwinā€™s album cover so nicely conveys the dramatic quality of this epic hour-long artivist piece… Edana and Zac who make up SHHH!! […]

Rimouski, Quebec

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 […]

Iceberg off the coast of Svalbard

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 […]

FRACTURES Recording - Brahm Goldhamer, Meredith Hall, Frank Horvat, Dennis Patterson

FRACTURES Recording

After a bunch of invigorating sessions the last 2 months, we are nicely wrapping up our recording of the Fractures song cycle! What an extreme pleasure it has been to make music with soprano, Meredith Hall, pianist, Brahm Goldhamer, and sound engineer, Dennis Patterson! ā¤ļø The idea to compose Fractures came in 2016 when I […]