Category Archives: Composer Spotlight

Composer Spotlight: Bryan Malito

As part of our project to update our syllabus we are adding new works for brass and percussion. We would like to feature some of the composers that we are adding and help promote their hard work. Meet Bryan Malito!

Bryan Frank Malito was born in Thunder Bay, Ontario. He is the son of Patrick Malito, a music educator and pianist born in Grimaldi, Italy. Having full access to musical instruments from his father’s private music academy, he demonstrated a love for drums and percussion instruments at an early age. Throughout his early years, he performed in local concert bands, orchestras, and contemporary ensembles. As a music educator for London District Catholic School Board, Malito continued to be an active student and performer. He studied percussion with D’Arcy Gray, Salvatore Rabbio, Louis Charbonneau, Charles Dowd, Jean Norman Deluca, Dr. Russell Hartenberger. Bryan has performed with Orchestra London, Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, National Academy Orchestra, Brassroots, Intrada Brass, and the London Symphonia. In 2014, he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts at Boston University.

During his doctoral studies, Malito explored the possibilities of critical thinking within the context of world percussion music education. During his research, it was possible to identify the phenomenon of conscientization through pedagogical of teaching authenticity, dialogical inquiry, dialectical thinking, and critical praxis. As a result, this research forged the mid-ranged theory of critical multicultural music education (CMME).

Malito’s percussion compositions are used for educational purposes. Specifically, these works strengthen students’ technical proficiency and musicianship. While smaller compositions focus on recital performances, Malito’s large percussion ensemble compositions are meant for the percussion classroom, having a full complement of mallet keyboard instruments (i.e., glockenspiel, xylophone, marimba, vibraphone, and chimes). In addition, these classroom ensemble pieces have greater utility in the music classroom, having optional parts for less experience players. Visit bryanmalito.com for percussion teaching resources and compositions.

Bryan’s works Matekpo for marimba, and Mosaic Rhythms for percussion ensemble are being added to the ACNMP syllabus. Thank you!

Composer Spotlight Coreen Morsink

As part of our project to update our syllabus we are adding new works for brass and percussion. We would like to feature some of the composers that we are adding and help promote their hard work. Meet Coreen Morsink!

Coreen Morsink, Canadian/Greek composer and music teacher, is inspired by unusual microtonal tuning systems and ancient Greek music which she considers a springboard for her compositions. Her works have been premiered by Carla Rees, Chenoa Anderson, Karin de Fleyt, Kevin Komisaruk, Sophie Lanthier, Sarah Watts and Peter Sheppard Skaerved amongst others in Canada, USA, UK, Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy and played on the BBC Radio 3. Her duo for violin and cello, A Stack of Human Dilemmas was premiered by Carol Fujino and Paul Widner of Continuum as part of PIVOT, her wind and piano quartet Excursions in Diversity was part of the 2022 festival Mondi diversi in Rovereto, Italy and her Symphony Call of the Dove was played in the TSO “Explore the Score” Reading sessions with Gary Kulesha conducting the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. In Greece, one of her piano miniatures will be part of the Celebration of the 70 Years of the Friends of Music in a concert at the Megaron Mousikis, Athens and in Arta presented by graduating class of the University of Ioannina. Her work for solo alto flute Andromache will be quoted in the The Cambridge Companion to Composition as part of composer Ken Hesketh’s upcoming article Ex uno plures: composing for solo instruments. In October 2023 her duo Under the Pomegranate Tree for alto flute and baritone saxophone will be premiered by Chenoa Anderson and Alison Balcetis at the University of Alberta, Canada. Her works for flute are published by Tetractys Publishing. Originally from Toronto, Canada, Coreen lives in Greece with her husband and children and enjoys swimming in the sea, flowers and nature.

Coreen’s work The Glass is Already Broken for solo marimba by Coreen Morsink is being added to our syllabus, thank you!

Soundcloud:  

Composer Spotlight: Collen Muriel

As part of our project to update our syllabus we are adding new works for brass and percussion. We would like to feature some of the composers that we are adding and help promote their hard work. Meet Colleen Muriel!

Colleen Muriel (M.A. – music, B. Music, FRSM, FTCL, ARCT) is a Canadian composer living in London, England. The first two concerts of Colleen’s compositions were given in 1997 and 1998 in Vancouver, Canada. Since then her music has been performed and recorded in Canada, the USA, UK, Western
Europe, Bulgaria, Australia, Asia (including Vietnam and Japan), and Brazil. 
 
Her music has been featured on a number of radio stations and also been performed at The 15th London New Wind Festival; Sonic Boom (Vancouver Pro Musica); Women Composers Festival of Hartford, USA; Diamond Jubilee Concert (in honour of Queen Elizabeth’s 50 year reign – London); and Music Fest Aberystwyth, Wales.
 
In addition her music is included in the Contemporary Showcase Syllabus of the Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects (ACNMP) and the Canadian Music Centre. She is a member of The Association of Canadian Women Composers (ACWC) and her music is included in the ACWC Educational Music Catalogue Syllabus, Educational Piano Composition Syllabus and Choral Collective. She is also listed in the Compendium Musicae Flauta (the first international catalogue of flute music by women composers).
 

She has written and/or arranged well over 600 pieces of music for various instruments and ensembles ranging in style from simple folk melodies to the avant-garde. These works include chamber music (instrumental), a chamber opera, orchestra and choir music, string quartets, solo music for piano, flute,
singers as well as hymn tunes. 
 
She has published (El Flauto Records) a large number of sheet music books and CDs, all containing original compositions and/or arrangements.

Colleen’s work for vibraphone “A Meditation on Runyan’s Faithfullness” will be added to our syllabus. Thank you!

Composer Spotlight: Robert Lemay

As part of our project to update our syllabus we are adding new works for brass and percussion. We would like to feature some of the composers that we are adding and help promote their hard work. Meet Robert Lemay:

Né à Montréal en 1960, Robert Lemay est compositeur depuis la fin des années 1980. Sa musique a été jouée et diffusée dans plus de 30 pays et a reçu de nombreux prix internationaux.

La musique de Robert Lemay s’inspire de la poésie, de la littérature, du cinéma, des arts visuels et des événements politiques et sociaux. Les éléments théâtraux, tels que la disposition de la scène, la spatialisation, les gestes et le comportement de l’interprète, sont souvent présents dans ses œuvres. De plus, la musique de Robert Lemay est influencée par les techniques spectrales (importance du timbre), les approches modales d’Olivier Messiaen, les modulations rythmiques d’Elliott Carter et l’organisation formelle de Iannis Xénakis. Le saxophone et les instruments à vent jouent un rôle particulièrement important dans son œuvre.

Robert Lemay détient un baccalauréat et une maîtrise en composition de l’Université Laval sous la direction de François Morel, ainsi qu’un doctorat de l’Université de Montréal sous la direction de Michel Longtin. Il a également étudié à la State University of New York à Buffalo où il a travaillé avec David Felder et suivi des séminaires avec, entre autres, Brian Ferneyhough, Donald Erb et Louis Andriessen. Il a également travaillé avec François Rossé à Bordeaux et avec Georges Aperghis à l’ATEM à Paris.

Robert Lemay a enseigné à l’Université de Saskatchewan (1996-97) et à l’Université Laurentienne à Sudbury de 2000 à 2021. Il a été compositeur en résidence de l’Orchestre symphonique de Sudbury de 2008 à 2010, et a été président et codirecteur artistique des 5-Penny New Music Concerts à Sudbury de 2004 à 2018.


Born in Montreal in 1960, Robert Lemay has been active as a composer since the late 1980s. His music has been performed and broadcast in over 30 countries and has received numerous international awards.

Lemay’s music draws its inspiration from poetry, literature, cinema, visual arts, and political and social events. Theatrical elements, such as the stage layout, spatialization, gestures, and comportment of the performer, are often present in his works. Moreover, Lemay’s music is influenced by spectral techniques (the importance of timbre), the modal approaches of Olivier Messiaen, the rhythmic modulations of Elliott Carter, and the formal organization of Iannis Xénakis. Saxophone and wind instruments play an especially important role in his oeuvre.

Lemay holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in composition from Université Laval under the direction of François Morel, and a doctorate from Université de Montréal under Michel Longtin. He also studied at the State University of New York at Buffalo where he worked with David Felder and took seminars with, among others, Brian Ferneyhough, Donald Erb, and Louis Andriessen. He has also worked with François Rossé in Bordeaux and with Georges Aperghis at the ATEM in Paris.

Lemay taught at the University of Saskatchewan (1996-97) and at Laurentian University in Sudbury from 2000-21. He was Composer-in-Residence of the Sudbury Symphony Orchestra from 2008-10, and was President and Co-Artistic Director of the 5-Penny New Music Concerts in Sudbury from 2004-18.

Robert’s work for percussion Pommes is being added to the syllabus, thank you Robert!

Composer Spotlight: David Occhipinti

As part of our project to update our syllabus we are adding new works for brass and percussion. We would like to feature some of the composers that we are adding and help promote their hard work. Meet David Occhipinti:

“It’s definitely music for today, streamlined yet atmospheric…a listener hears the rare but
gratifying combination of lyricism and cutting-edge music.”
-Geoff Chapman, The Toronto Star

David Occhipinti is a composer, and guitarist whose music crosses borders from jazz and
improvised music, into contemporary classical music and beyond. David’s musical
accomplishments have earned him two Chalmers Arts Fellowships, as well as multiple
JUNO nominations for his work as a recording artist. Among his nominated works are his
critically acclaimed album Forty Revolutions in 2007; and Duologue, in collaboration with
saxophonist Mike Murley, in 2003.

Camera, (2012) is a recording that features David’s chamber music compositions and guitar
improvisations. It was heralded by his mentor, Jim Hall as: “an absolute gem… his writing
is unique, his playing is completely original and stunning… an absolute work of art!”
The 2019 release, these out of infinite, features David’s works for the voice with text by
Dylan Thomas, James Joyce, e.e. cummings, T.S. Elliot, Emily Carr, Emily Brontë, and
Emily Dickinson. Fanfare magazine wrote, “Occhipinti’s settings are stellar and
hypnotic….like George Crumb… sheer delight. It breathes freshness and clarity.”
David’s recorded work has been featured on the CBC and BBC.

David’s first orchestral work, Saturnia (2022), was part of the Toronto Symphony’s
‘Explore the Score’ event that occurred at Roy Thomson Hall in October of 2022.
David received a commission from the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra to compose a piece
for brass and percussion. The premiere performance of En Passant was in Ottawa on May
1st, 2022 with Jean-Michel Malouf conducting.

A world premiere recording of Net of Gems, for flute and harp, appears on a recent
recording by Suzanne Shulman and Erica Goodman. David has also had his
compositions commissioned or recorded by a wide-ranging list of artists- including
percussionist Beverley Johnston, Arraymusic Ensemble, Canadian Children’s Opera
Chorus, and Random Access Large Ensemble.

David has performed and toured across Canada, the U.S., Europe, and Japan. He has
performed Canadian premieres of works by Steve Reich and Gabriel Prokofiev. David has
been based in Toronto for most of his career, but during the 1990s he also spent some
time studying in New York City with Jim Hall, and three years living in Italy.

Several works for percussion and brass will be added to the ACNMP syllabus. Here is a link to one of his other works: