About

(b.1977, Canada)

Canadian composer Andrew Stanisland also performs himself, both as a guitarist and working with new media (computers and electronics). 

His work has been commissioned by the Gryphon Trio, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, the Toronto Symphony, cellist Frances-Marie Uitti, and American Opera Projects, Tapestry New Opera Works, Duo Concertante, New Music Concerts, and L’Orchestre de la Francophonie Canadienne. He received a Doctor of Music on Music Theory and Composition from the University of Toronto.

His music is regularly heard on CBC Radio 2 and has been broadcast internationally in over 35 countries. His work has received numerous accolades, including the 2009 National Grand Prize in EVOLUTION, a contemporary music competition presented by CBC and The Banff Centre. 

Staniland is currently on faculty at Memorial University in St John’s, Newfoundland. 

Artist Compositions

 

Premiere Title of Commission Listen
02/24/2011 HeX Listen Close

'Hex' explores a series of shifting accents, pulses, dynamics, and textures, ranging from explosive ensemble passages to extremely subtle whistled textures, from highly complex melodic sections to the use of heavy-duty aluminum foil.
04/28/2010 Talking Down the Tiger Listen Close

Staniland observes, Some percussion instruments “exhibit their most interesting and expressive sounds at the pianissimo dynamic register, which is at odds with the type of blustering, heavy-handed writing often associated with percussion. . . In this piece I wanted to explore a journey from a wild and ferocious sound world that gradually recedes into a mystical and beautiful sound world lying beneath.”
06/04/2021 Axis: Bold as Brass Listen Close

The Toronto Fanfare Project, a series of eclectic concerts presented as part of the 2006 soundaXis festival of music and architecture, offered an elaborate five-day welcome to this rich literature for brass ensemble, animating some of the great architectural and acoustical masterpieces in the core of Toronto with a celebration of the music of Canada and its northern neighbours.