Projects

Visual art and sound installation exhibit at the 2024 Venice Biennale of Art took root when visual artist Parul Thacker and composer Frank Horvat shared in an expedition, north of the Arctic Circle, in the Svalbard Archipelago, in June 2023, aboard the tall ship, Antigua. The final product is an installation called, The Book of the Time-Travellers of the Worlds – a Fathomless Zero, which premiered at a historic Palazzo in Venice as part of …

This piano suite was composed during Frank Horvat‘s residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in 2021 and will be released on an album in 2025 by Hong Kong/Canadian/American pianist Vicky Chow. During his residency, Frank would hike a trail and then start composing a piano piece inspired by that scenic trail. Eight hikes became eight pieces during his four-week stay. It was an intense experience—physically, emotionally, and creatively. After being isolated for …

This project has evolved into a live multimedia concert, an album recording, and an outdoor sound installation that can be experienced with open-air speakers or through smartphones. This nine-piece tree-based suite for lever harp and fixed electronics was inspired by the enlightening book To Speak for the Trees by acclaimed medical biochemist and botanist, Dr. Diana Beresford-Kroeger. Orphaned in Ireland during her youth, she was educated by elders who instructed her in the Brehon knowledge …

Frank Horvat’s Arctic Circle Expedition/Residency to the top of the Earth was a life-changing experience. With 29 other artists, he journeyed from Longyearbyen around the Svalbard Archipelago in the Arctic Circle on a climate odyssey aboard the tall-ship, Antigua. This experienced has spawned several creative projects including a sound installation at the Venice Biennale and a choral piece, I Am Ice. The deep feelings from this experience are etched into his heart and soul forever …

An Auditory Survey of the Last Days of the Holocene presents a radical audio catalogue of our created world’s sounds as a continuous 60-minute multi-movement work for piano, percussion, and fixed electronics. The audience is faced with the echoes of our human-made environment, stripped bare of visual distractions, and taken on a journey of action and possibility. Composed by Frank Horvat and commissioned by the SHHH!! Ensemble, this work illustrates the current state of pollution …

All that remains: Residual Moments is an interdisciplinary performance installation created by filmmaker Gunilla Josephson and composer Frank Horvat in collaboration with the Thin Edge New Music Collective. In an amalgam/synthesis/fusion of live music, moving image, and personal revelations, the performance includes a film triptych and five live musicians, giving image and voice to the hidden tableaux from our childhood that we magnify in our consciousness. Attendees are invited to move freely through an open …

The Piano Therapy Virtual Tour is a series of hybrid events presented by acclaimed Canadian composer and pianist, Frank Horvat, featuring the private screening of a solo piano concert film where he performs his compositions based on his challenges and successes battling depression. The performance is interspersed with storytelling about his journey. Following the screening, Frank joins a live event via video chat for a discussion, facilitated by the host organization’s mental health professional, where …

Music for Self-Isolation is a deeply introspective project by Canadian composer Frank Horvat, created in response to the emotional challenges brought on by the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020. Composed as a series of solo works, each piece captures the distinct emotions of isolation, fear, resilience, and hope experienced during a time of global uncertainty. Composed for a diverse array of instruments and voice, the works are designed to be …

The #music4HRDs project launched on December 10, 2018, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. This landmark document is honored annually on Human Rights Day, December 10. In collaboration with the international human rights NGO Protection International, photographer Luke Duggleby, and string quartets and ensembles worldwide, musicians shared performances of individual movements from composer and artivist Frank Horvat’s powerful string quartet composition, The …

The Frank Horvat Band (TFHB) emerged in 2013 as a bold experiment in sound led by composer Frank Horvat. Bringing together a collective of singers and instrumentalists with a shared passion for creativity and improvisation, the project fulfilled Frank’s long-held dream of blurring the lines between popular and classical music. With TFHB, he pushed this vision to its limits, crafting an indie art rock band with a distinctive electronic edge. The band drew inspiration from …

On September 27-28, 2013, composer and pianist Frank Horvat performed an extraordinary 24-hour piano improvisation marathon (with a 5-minute break each hour) to raise funds for Lakeshore Arts, a community arts organization serving Toronto’s South Etobicoke area, where Frank resides. The event was held at Lakeshore Arts as part of Culture Days, highlighting the vital role of arts programming in fostering community engagement. The “pianothon” was live-streamed on YouTube, a portion broadcast live on Rogers …

The Green Keys Tour was a solo piano concert tour presented by composer and pianist Frank Horvat, spanning over 60 cities across Canada and the U.S. from March 2010 to April 2011. Launched in conjunction with the release of his second album, A Little Dark Music, the tour featured Horvat’s environmentally themed compositions and showcased his commitment to eco-friendly practices. Through this tour, Frank explored the power of sound to heal, bring communities together, and spark conversations about …