Five composers will have the opportunity to hear their orchestral compositions performed by the Victoria Symphony in a free public event on Monday, March 27, 2pm at the Royal Theatre. Composers Brad Stark, Nicholas Fairbank, Colin MacDonald, Keith MacLeod and Jordan Nobles will be present for a read-through of their original works.

The Victoria Symphony holds annual reading sessions of new works by composers of all ages. This year, these five have been selected from throughout British Columbia to receive a reading of a composition that has not yet been performed. Under the baton of Maestra Tania Miller, each composer will receive time for rehearsal, reading, and a digital recording of his or her work. Music students and budding composers would greatly benefit from experiencing this ‘behind the scenes’ look at composition and performance.

Brad Stark began his studies in composition at the University of Toronto. He then went on to complete his masters degree at the University of Western Ontario. In September of 2005 he began the first year of his DMA degree in composition at the University of British Columbia. Composing since the age of 11, Brad has written solo, chamber and orchestral works. On April 3rd 2006, his Elixir for Orchestra (2004-5) will be read by the Vancouver Symphony as part of the Jean Coulthard Readings. Mr. Stark’s Dolente for String Orchestra will be read during the Composers Workshop session.

Nicholas Fairbank was born and raised on Canada’s West Coast, and now lives and works in Victoria, BC. He is currently on the keyboard and theory faculties of the Victoria Conservatory of Music, and is Artistic Director of the Via Choralis chamber choir.

After early studies in Vancouver (piano with Michael Longton and Audrey Mallinson, pipe organ with Suzanne Gibson and Patrick Wedd) he pursued advanced musical training in London, England and Paris, France, studying organ with Christopher Herrick, Richard Popplewell and Naji Hakim. As well as earning Associateship diplomas from the Royal Conservatory of Music (gold medal winner for pipe organ 1981), and the Royal Canadian College of Organists (Willan and Barker prizes 1998), he recently completed an MMus degree in composition at the University of Victoria where he was awarded the Martlet Music Award for Excellence in Advanced Composition (2004). His composition teachers have included Stephen Chatman and John Celona.

Nicholas’s catalogue includes works for voice, piano and organ solo, and for various choral and instrumental ensembles. His piece, Dance, will be performed as part of the Victoria Symphony Composers Workshop.

Colin MacDonald is a freelance saxophonist, composer, and arranger living in Vancouver, BC. He completed a B.Mus. in saxophone at the University of British Columbia, where he studied with Julia Nolan and David Branter.

Colin is a founding member and artistic director of the new music group Ensemble Symposium, a member of the Saxophilia saxophone quartet, and produces concert of his own music as a soloist. An active supporter of Vancouver’s contemporary music community, Colin hosted the “Art You Serious?” Music sonic art program on CiTR 101.9 FM for four years, and is editor of the monthly new music email calendar, “Oscillations”. His own compositions, self-published under the name Cryptic Music, have been performed across Canada, from Victoria to Montreal.

Primarily self-taught as a composer, Colin has studied jazz arranging with Fred Stride, world rhythms with Glen Velez and Trichy Sankaran, and Balinese gamelan with Michael Tenzer and I Dewa Ketut Alit. As a performer he has appeared in masterclasses with James Campbell, John Sampen, Harvey Pittell, and Eugene Rousseau, and he was a fellow of the 2004 “Bang on a Can” Summer Music Institute.

Colin is a member of the Balinese gamelan semaradana called Sekaha Gong Gita Asmara, and sings with the One Voice Harmonic Choir, a men’s overtone choir. He has worked as a reviewer of new music events for the Georgia Straight newspaper, Discorder magazine, and Musicworks magazine. In 2003 he was made an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre. Colin’s piece Skillful Means will be performed at the reading.

Described as one of Canada’s finest clarinetists, Keith MacLeod brings to Victoria a wealth of experience and insight. His playing is sought across Canada and the United States where he is engaged by such orchestras as the Seattle Symphony, the Vancouver Symphony, and the Milwaukee Symphony. He is heard broadcast on the CBC as both a recitalist and chamber musician as well as for his spoken insights into the craft of music making. Yamaha Canada has engaged Mr. MacLeod as a “Yamaha Artist” to tour and promote the art of clarinet playing across Canada. He has been as far abroad as Spain giving master classes and recitals. Keith MacLeod was born in Quebec City, raised in Manitoba finally settling in British Columbia making him a true Canadian product. He began serious study of music in Vancouver but travelled to Chicago to further his studies with the legendary clarinetist Robert Marcellus. It was Marcellus who declared Mr. MacLeod one of the finest clarinetists to come out of Canada.

Teaching at the University of Victoria and the Victoria Conservatory of Music, Keith has also lectured at the University of British Columbia, University of Calgary and the University of Manitoba. He is asked to give master classes across Canada and the United States. Keith has been with the Victoria Symphony for the past 22 years. It is in Victoria where he and his wife Jennifer chose to raise their daughters Heather and Bronwyn. Keith’s piece Concert Overture will be read in the Composers Workshop.

Vancouver based guitarist/composer Jordan Nobles is a co-founder of the new music organization redshift, a new music organization dedicated to presenting innovative concerts in alternative venues. He has also just recently returned from New York and Massachusetts where he had two premieres performed at the “Bang On A Can” Summer Music Festival at the Massachusetts Museum of Modern Art.

Jordan has been commissioned this season to write a spatial work for the musica intima vocal chamber ensemble in Vancouver, a piece for percussionist Jeremy Barnet in Sydney, and a string quartet for a new group in New York. His next work will be premiered in August by The Vertical Orchestra inside the Vancouver Public Library’s cavernous atrium. Spiral will be performed by the Victoria Symphony at the Composer’s Workshop.

Tania Miller joined the Victoria Symphony as Music Director in September 2003. From 2000-2004, she was appointed Assistant Conductor and then Associate Conductor of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. In addition to her many conducting engagements across Canada and the United States --including the Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, Oregon, Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montreal, Toledo, London, and Saskatoon Symphony Orchestras --Tania co-founded the opera company Michigan Opera Works in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1997, with a mandate to provide performance opportunities for emerging young professional artists. She has conducted productions for Opera McGill, and was the Assistant Conductor of the Carmel Bach Festival in 1997-2001, where she worked closely with the internationally renowned conductor Bruno Weil and many of the world's leading Baroque artists. Tania Miller completed her Doctorate of Musical Arts and Master in Music degrees in conducting at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

During the 2005/2006 season, Tania Miller will appear with the Victoria Symphony, the Vancouver Symphony, the Winnipeg Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, and the Calgary Philharmonic and she will make her European conducting debut with the Berne Symphoniker in Switzerland.

For more information, please visit www.victoriasymphony.ca.

-30-

For more information or interview requests contact:

Julie Fossitt, Director of Marketing
julie.fossitt@victoriasymphony.ca
385-9771 x 229 phone
385-7767 fax
www.victoriasymphony.ca

Victoria Symphony Composers Workshop
Monday, March 27, 2:00pm
Royal Theatre

Admission is free, with no ticket required.