Gustav Ciamaga was a Canadian composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, music educator, and writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre

Canadian Music Centre

The Canadian Music Centre holds Canada's largest collection of Canadian concert music. The CMC exists to promote the works of its Associate Composers in Canada and around the world....

 and a member of the Canadian League of Composers

Canadian League of Composers

The Canadian League of Composers is an organization formed in 1951 of Canadian composers primarily interested in raising awareness and acceptance of Canadian music. The activities of the League are overseen and directed by an executive and a National Council...

, he was best known for his compositions of electronic music

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

, although he produced several non-electronic works. His compositions have been performed throughout North America and Europe. His work Curtain Raiser was commissioned for the opening of the National Arts Centre

National Arts Centre

The National Arts Centre is a centre for the performing arts located in Ottawa, Ontario, between Elgin Street and the Rideau Canal...

 in 1969. An honorary member of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community

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...

, he invented a number of electronic music apparatuses, including the Serial Sound Structure Generator. As a writer he contributed articles to numerous music journals, magazines, and other publications.

History

Born in London

London, Ontario

London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 Ciamaga studied at the University of Western Ontario

University of Western Ontario

The University of Western Ontario is a public research university located in London, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus covers of land, with the Thames River cutting through the eastern portion of the main campus. Western administers its programs through 12 different faculties and...

 from 1951-1954 while simultaneously receiving private instruction from Gordon Delamont

Gordon Delamont

Gordon Arthur Delamont was a Canadian music educator, author, composer, and trumpeter. He is best remembered for his work as an educator, having helped shape the talents of dozens of notable musicians in Toronto. He also published several books on musical theory topics which have been used widely...

. He entered the music program at the University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

 where he studied music composition with John Weinzweig

John Weinzweig

John Weinzweig, OC, O.Ont was a Canadian composer of classical music.Born in Toronto, Weinzweig went to Harbord Collegiate Institute, and studied music at the university. In 1937, he left for the United States to study under Bernard Rogers...

 and John Beckwith

John Beckwith (composer)

John Beckwith, CM is a Canadian composer, writer, pianist, teacher, and administrator.Born in Victoria, British Columbia, he studied piano with Alberto Guerrero at the Toronto Conservatory of Music in 1945. He received a Mus.B. in 1947 and a Mus.M. in 1961 from the University of Toronto...

 from 1954-1956. He then pursued graduate studies in musicology

Musicology

Musicology is the scholarly study of music. The word is used in narrow, broad and intermediate senses. In the narrow sense, musicology is confined to the music history of Western culture...

 and composition at Brandeis University

Brandeis University

Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...

 where he earned an MFA

Master of Fine Arts

A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...

 in 1958. His teachers at Brandeis included Arthur Berger

Arthur Berger

Arthur Victor Berger was an American composer who has been described as a New Mannerist.-Biography:Born in New York City, of Jewish descent, Berger studied as an undergraduate at New York University, during which time he joined the Young Composer's Group, as a graduate student under Walter Piston...

, Harold Shapero

Harold Shapero

Harold Samuel Shapero is an American composer.-Early years:Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, Shapero and his family later moved to nearby Newton. He learned to play the piano as a child, and for some years was a pianist in dance orchestras. With a friend, he founded the Hal Kenny Orchestra, a swing-era...

, and Irving Fine

Irving Fine

Irving Gifford Fine was an American composer. Fine's work assimilated neo-classical, romantic and, later, serial elements...

. He remained in Waltham, Massachusetts through 1963 where he organized his own electronic music studio.

In 1963 Ciamaga was appointed to the music faculty at the University of Toronto. Two years later he was appointed the director of the school's electronic music studio. In 1968 he became the chairman of the school's theory and composition department. In 1970 he took a year sabbatical to work in several electronic music studios in Europe. In 1977 he assumed the post of dean of the UT's Faculty of Music, a position he held through 1984. He served as acting president of The Royal Conservatory of Music in 1983-1984. Among his notable pupils are composers Bruce Pennycook, Lesley Barber

Lesley Barber

Lesley Barber is a Canadian composer of music for film, theatre, chamber and orchestral ensembles and is also a conductor, pianist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist...

, John Fodi

John Fodi

John Fodi was a composer and music librarian. Born in Hungary, he became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1961. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, he was a founding member of ARRAYMUSIC, an organization which premiered several of his compositions.- Life :Born in Nagytevel, John Fodi moved...

, Larry Lake

Larry Lake (musician)

Larry Ellsworth Lake is a Canadian composer, trumpeter, freelance writer on music, radio broadcaster, and record producer of American birth. As a composer he is primarily known for his electronic music. His musical compositions are characterized by their integration of acoustic instruments with...

, and John Mills-Cockell

John Mills-Cockell

John Mills-Cockell is a Canadian composer in various media. He has created scores for Vancouver Playhouse, The National Arts Centre, Firehall Centre for the Arts, Citadel Theatre, Glasgow Museum of Art, and Phoenix Theatre. Past commissions include works for the National Ballet, Toronto Dance...

.

Ciamaga died in Toronto in 2011 following a long battle with cancer.

Computer compositions

• HPSCD (1986)
• Apres-MIDI (1986)
• For M: (1986)
• PERC (1986)
• For P: (1986-87)
• Lost Tango (1987)
• Distant Timbres (1987)
• Facing East (1987)
• Upon hearing the first koto in spring (1987)
• Psamba (1987)
• Pour M: (1987)
• Bach again! (1987-88)
• Three part invention (1988)
• Facing East no.2 (1988)
• For G: (1988)
• Facing East no.3 (1988-89)
• Bitfire (1989)
• Facing North (1989)
• "It's about time" (1989)

• Apres J (1990)
• Three 3 part inventions, no.2-4 (1990)
• VU (1990)
• Three excursions and a coda (1990)
• Repercussions (1991)
• B as in Bach (1991)
• Four Microclips (1992)
• Where the wild things are (1992-93)
• Traces of yesterday (1993)
• Explorations of the New Age (1992-93)
• Possible Spaces no.1 (1994)
• Quartets (1994)
• Four more Microclips (1995)
• Possible Spaces no.2 (1996)
• Possible Spaces no.3 (1996)
• Possible Spaces no.4 (1997)
• A precipitate of symbols (1998-89)
• Bitfire [version 2] (1999)
• Possible Spaces no.5 (2000)

• Possible Spaces no.6 (2001)
• Possible Spaces no.7 (2002)
• Prologue and Postscript (2003)
• Spadina Minilogues (2003)
• Possible Spaces no.8 (2003)
• Order of Ideas (2003-04)
• Possible Spaces no.9 (2004)
• For L:' (2004)
• Paradigm Lost (2004)
• "Waiting..." (2004)
• Possible Spaces no.10 (2004)
• For DL: (2004)
• Facing North no.2 (2004)
• PizzA (2005)
• Possible Spaces no.11 (2006)
• Three part invention no.5 (2006)
• Possible Spaces no.12 (2006)
• The Computer in my Life (2007)
• It's about time again (2008)

Tape compositions

• One part invention (1965)
• Two part invention no.1 (1965)
• Scherzo (new version) (1966)
• Two part invention no.2 (1966)
• Fanfare for computer (1967)
• Four part invention (1967)
• Ragamuffin no. 1 (1967)
• Ragamuffin no. 2 (1967)

• Two part invention no.4 (1967)
• Two part invention no.5 (1967)
• Two part invention no.6 (1968)
• Two part invention no.7 (1968)
• Brandenburg Concerto no. 1 (1969)
• Two part invention no.8 (1970)
• Canon for Stravinsky (1972)
• Solipsism (1972)

• A greeting for JW (1973)
• Ars Nova (1976)
• Two part invention no.9 (1983)
• "Is the Moon further than St. John?" (1985)
• Patterns; Daydreams; Excursions (1985-86)
• For B: (1986)
• For H: (1986)
• For I: (1986)