Four 2020-21 UVic Banting fellows
“…A Canadian composer who writes for the concert stage, video, theatre, dance and robotic instruments, Taylor Brook’s compositions have been performed by ensembles and soloists worldwide. A 2020 Guggenheim Fellow, he has won numerous SOCAN Young Composers awards, including the 2016 grand prize, and has a Doctor of Musical Arts from Columbia University.
His music is often concerned with finely tuned microtonal sonorities, combining his interest in exploring the perceptual qualities of sound with a unique sense of beauty and form. Current projects include a new concerto grosso for the San Francisco-based Del Sol String Quartet with the Partch Ensemble and a concert-length piece for the New York City-based TAK Ensemble.As part of his SSHRC project, he will be writing a new composition for the Aventa Ensemble, to be performed in 2023.
“I am thrilled to begin my research at the University of Victoria as a Banting Fellow. My research will develop a novel framework for cross-cultural musical analysis that overcomes limitations engendered by Western musical notation,” says Brook. “I hope to build a greater understanding of tuning and temperament as an expressive force in music as well as contribute to a broader effort in musicology, composition and music theory to decolonize the curriculum in higher education…”
Photo credit: John Threlfall.
