Gordon Fitzell - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Gordon Fitzell is a composer, concert organizer, and professor of music. His catalog consists of solo, chamber and electroacoustic music, including open and improvisatory works.

Biography

Born and raised in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada, Gordon Fitzell earned a dual-emphasis PhD in Music Theory and Composition from the University of British Columbia

University of British Columbia

The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...

(studies with Keith Hamel

Keith Hamel

Keith Hamel is a composer, software designer, and professor of music. His music consists of orchestral, chamber, solo, and vocal music, often focussing on live electronics and interactivity between acoustic instruments and computer.-Education:Keith Hamel studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music...

and John Roeder); a Master of Music degree from the University of Alberta

University of Alberta

The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...

(studies with Howard Bashaw

Howard Bashaw

Howard Bashaw is a composer of acoustic music; and a Professor of Music at the University of Alberta.Bashaw graduated as a Master of Music in 1984 and a Doctor of Musical Arts in 1989 from the University of British Columbia. He also attended the Banff Centre for the Arts where he won the Banff...

and Malcolm Forsyth); and a Bachelor of Music degree from Brandon University

Brandon University

Brandon University is a Canadian university located in the city of Brandon, Manitoba, with an enrolment of 3383 full-time and part-time students. The current location was founded on July 13, 1899, as Brandon College as a Baptist institution. It was chartered as a university by then President Dr....

(studies with Kenneth Nichols). As a student, he attended the Darmstadt Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Music, the Yale Summer School

Yale School of Music

The Yale School of Music is one of the twelve professional schools at Yale University and one of the premier music conservatories in the world....

, June in Buffalo, the Arraymusic

Arraymusic

Arraymusic is a Canadian organization specializing in the performance and the promotion of contemporary classical music. It presents its virtuosic 7-member chamber ensemble, The Array Ensemble, each summer season in a 3-month series of Toronto-based concerts....

Young Composers Workshop, and the Banff Centre

Banff Centre

The Banff Centre, formerly known as The Banff Centre for Continuing Education, is an arts, cultural, and educational institution and conference complex located in Banff, Alberta...

. He has attended masterclasses and short-term instruction with Beat Furrer

Beat Furrer

Beat Furrer is an Austrian composer and conductor of Swiss birth.Born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, Furrer relocated to Vienna in 1975 to pursue studies with Roman Haubenstock-Ramati and Otmar Suitner . In 1985 he co-founded what is now one of Europe's leading contemporary music ensembles,...

, Salvatore Sciarrino

Salvatore Sciarrino

Salvatore Sciarrino is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music.-Biography:In his youth, Sciarrino was attracted to the visual arts, but began experimenting with music when he was twelve. Though he had some lessons from Antonino Titone and Turi Belfiore, he is primarily self-taught as a...

, Jukka Tiensuu

Jukka Tiensuu

Jukka Tiensuu is a Finnish contemporary classical composer, harpsichordist, pianist and conductor.His repertoire as musician ranges from baroque music to John Cage and free improvisation and he has given master classes in baroque performance practice and free improvisation.He has written as well...

, Aaron Jay Kernis

Aaron Jay Kernis

Aaron Jay Kernis is an American composer and professor at the Yale School of Music.-Biography:Aaron Jay Kernis is Jewish, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and studied at the Manhattan School of Music, the San Francisco Conservatory, and Yale University .,Notable works include the...

, Roger Reynolds

Roger Reynolds

Roger Reynolds is an American composer born July 18, 1934 in Detroit, Michigan. He is a professor at the University of California at San Diego. He received an undergraduate degree in engineering physics from the University of Michigan where he later studied composition with Ross Lee Finney...

, Martin Bresnick

Martin Bresnick

Martin Bresnick is a composer of contemporary classical music, film scores and experimental music.-Education and early career:Bresnick was born and raised in the Bronx, and is a graduate of New York City's specialized High School of Music and Art. He was educated at the University of Hartford ,...

, Joan Tower

Joan Tower

Joan Tower is a Grammy-winning contemporary American composer, concert pianist and conductor. Lauded by the New Yorker as "one of the most successful woman composers of all time", her bold and energetic compositions have been performed in concert halls around the world...

, Linda Bouchard

Linda Bouchard

Linda Bouchard is a Canadian composer and conductor.-Biography:She was raised in Montreal. She has a BA in music and an MMus in composition . Her teachers were Harvey Sollberger , David Gilbert and Arthur Weisberg , and Henry Brant...

, and Robert J. Rosen.

Career

Gordon Fitzell's music has been performed at major international festivals including the Darmstädter Ferienkurse (Germany), Festival Synthèse Bourges (France), the ISCM World New Music Days (Sweden), the International Sound Art Festival (Mexico), and the Tanglewood Music Festival

Tanglewood Music Festival

The Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Lenox, Massachusetts in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts....

(USA). He has received acknowledgements and awards for his compositions from various organizations, including CBC Radio

CBC Radio

CBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...

, the SOCAN Foundation, Vancouver New Music, and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences

National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences

The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc., known variously as The Recording Academy or NARAS, is a U.S. organization of musicians, producers, recording engineers and other recording professionals dedicated to improving the quality of life and cultural condition for music and its...

(USA).

In 2008 the eighth blackbird

Eighth blackbird

eighth blackbird is a Grammy Award-winning contemporary music sextet based in Chicago. The group derives its name from the eighth stanza of Wallace Stevens' poem Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird...

album strange imaginary animals, which features two of Fitzell's compositions, garnered two Grammy Awards. Fitzell also appears on the album as co-producer and live electronics artist, and in 2006 performed with the group on two CD release concerts at The Kitchen

The Kitchen

The Kitchen is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary art and performance space located at at 512 West 19th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City...

in New York. In 2009 his chamber work violence was performed at the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) World New Music Days in Sweden by Norway’s BIT20 Ensemble

BIT20 Ensemble

BIT20 Ensemble is a contemporary music ensemble from Bergen, Norway, founded in 1989 for the purpose of performing and advancing Norwegian and international art music....

, under the direction of Dutch conductor/composer/pianist Reinbert de Leeuw. In 2010 Fitzell was the guest composer of the Cluster Festival of New Music and Integrated Arts.

Fitzell is a regular curator of sound art events, ranging from chamber music concerts to media art installations. Since 2009 he has been an Artistic Director of Groundswell, Winnipeg's premiere new music series. Gordon Fitzell is Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition at the University of Manitoba, where he also leads the XIE (eXperimental Improv Ensemble).

List of Works

SOLO

kamelyin (2007) [15’00] For solo piano
Metanoia Nervosa (2006) [13’00] For solo percussion
Orb of the Sun (1999) [8’30] For tenor saxophone; optional live electronics

SOLO WITH LIVE ELECTRONICS

Watermelon Soup (2007) [variable duration] For one or more players (open, mixed media score)
The Z Scherzo (2000) [11'00] For electric guitar and live multitrack recording
Orb of the Sun (1999) [8’30] For tenor saxophone; optional live electronics

CHAMBER

Entropy (2010) [10'00] For piano ten hands
Pangaea Ultima (2010) [c. 10’00] For instrumental sextet (clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, electric guitar, double bass, piano, percussion)
Magister Ludi (2009) [12’00] For solo cello and flute octet (2 piccolos, 2 flutes, 2 alto flutes, 2 bass flutes)
Metropolis (2007) [8’00] For saxophone and piano; optional live electronics
Watermelon Soup (2007) [variable duration] For one or more players (open, mixed media score)
LUCID (2005) [10’10] For instrumental sextet (flute/piccolo, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion)
violence (2001) [9’00] For instrumental sextet (flute/piccolo, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion)
Flux (2000) [12’45] For large chamber ensemble (flute/piccolo, clarinet/bass clarinet, bassoon, horn, trombone, piano/auxiliary percussion, violin, cello, bass)
Rat Bastard (1999) [6'30] For piano, electric guitar, cello and drum set; all amplified
Art (1999) [9’30] For violin and piano
Six Bagatelles (1998) [7'00] For woodwind quintet

CHAMBER WITH LIVE ELECTRONICS

Metropolis (2007) [8’00] For saxophone and piano; optional live electronics
Watermelon Soup (2007) [variable duration] For one or more players (open, mixed media score)
airports (2007) [variable duration] For acoustic instrument, live electronics, dance and projected images
Cartographia (2007) [variable duration] For improvisatory chamber ensemble with projected images
evanescence (2001/2006) [11’30] For instrumental sextet (flute/piccolo, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion) and live electronics
clatter (2003) [17'00] A collection of four works for subsets of a large chamber ensemble; intended for simultaneous, overlapping performance:

Bird's Nest Pudding (2003) [4'30] For large chamber ensemble

Blood on the Saddle (2003) [1'40] For double bass and percussion

rattlebox (2003) [2'10] For string quartet

wormhole (2003) [5'00] For two singers and live electronics

OPEN AND IMPROVISATORY

Watermelon Soup (2007) [variable duration] For one or more players (open, mixed media score)
airports (2007) [variable duration] For acoustic instrument and live electronics, with projected images
Cartographia (2007) [variable duration] For improvisatory chamber ensemble with projected images
LUCID (2005) [10’10] For instrumental sextet (flute/piccolo, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion)
clatter (2003) [17'00] A collection of four works for subsets of a large chamber ensemble; intended for simultaneous, overlapping performance:

Bird's Nest Pudding (2003) [4'30] For large chamber ensemble

Blood on the Saddle (2003) [1'40] For double bass and percussion

rattlebox (2003) [2'10] For string quartet

wormhole (2003) [5'00] For two singers and live electronics

The Z Scherzo (2000) [11'00] For electric guitar and live multitrack recording
Rat Bastard (1999) [6'30] For piano, electric guitar, cello and drum set; all amplified

ELECTROACOUSTIC

acrobat (2005) [12’00] Electroacoustic composition
The Garden Electric (1998) [7’26] Octaphonic electroacoustic composition
!Zip (a.k.a. Zipper Music 2) (1998) [7’21] Electroacoustic composition
Zipper Music (1994) [3’00] Electroacoustic composition

INSTALLATIONS

Aeolian Mobile 1: Paper Box Kite (2008) [variable duration] Sound installation (15-metre sonic mobile)
:spin (2007) [variable duration] Sound installation (multiple suspended speakers)

Selected Performers

Vancouver New Music, Francois Houle, Giorgio Magnanensi, eighth blackbird, Alizé, Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal, Harrignton/Loewen Duo, Roger Admiral, Corey Hamm, Sonic Generator, BIT20, Plexoos Ensemble, Arraymusic, Ensemble Symposium, Pro Coro Canada, the UBC Percussion Ensemble, Hammerhead Consort, Vancouver Pro Musica, Trio Fibonacci, Sequitur, Matthew Gold (Glass Farm Ensemble), edgeffect, Pazzia Contemporary Performing Collective, Sabastian Berweck, Jonathan Golove, Gwen Hoebig and David Moroz, Winnipeg New Music Festival and Groundswell.

Affiliations

Gordon Fitzell is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre, a member of the Canadian League of Composers and the Canadian Electroacoustic Community; he is also President of the Groundswell Board of Directors. His music is represented by Art Music Promotion., which also represents composers Paul Steenhuisen

Paul Steenhuisen

Paul Steenhuisen is an independent composer working with a broad range of acoustic and digital media. His concert music consists of orchestral, chamber, solo, and vocal music, and often includes live electronics and soundfiles. Additionally, he creates electroacoustic, radio, and installation...

, Howard Bashaw

Howard Bashaw

, Keith Hamel

Keith Hamel

, Bob Pritchard, James Harley

James Harley

James Harley is a Canadian composer, author, and professor of music born in Vernon, British Columbia. His creative output consists of orchestral, chamber, solo, electroacoustic, and vocal music...

, André Ristic

André Ristic

André Ristic is a Canadian composer, pianist, accordion player, and music theorist. He has won several awards, including the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music in 2000 for his work Catalogue de bombes occidentales, the Prix opus for Composer of the Year in 2002, and the Prix Québec-Flandre in...

, and Aaron Gervais

Aaron Gervais

Aaron Gervais is a Canadian composer of contemporary classical music.Aaron Gervais was born and grew up in Edmonton. He studied jazz performance at Grant MacEwan College and the University of Toronto, and composition at the University of Alberta, the University of Toronto, and UCSD. He currently...

Recent Publications

“Riding the Dragon: Toward a Pedagogy of Free Musical Improvisation.” eContact! 10.4 — Temps réel, improvisation et interactivité en électroacoustique / Live-electronics — Improvisation — Interactivity in Electroacoustics (October 2008). Montréal: CEC
Canadian Electroacoustic Community
Founded in 1986, La Communauté électroacoustique canadienne / The Canadian Electroacoustic Community is Canada’s national electroacoustic / computer music / sonic arts organization and as such is dedicated to promoting this progressive art form in its broadest definition: from “pure” acousmatic...

.
Let Loose with WallBalls: A Collaborative Tabletop Instrument for Tomorrow, presented at NIME, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh (June 2009).

External links

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