Aaron Ger­vais is com­poser of new classical/avant-garde music, born in Edmon­ton, Canada, and rep­re­sented by Art Music Pro­mo­tion. He received a Bach­e­lor of Music with Hon­ours from the Uni­ver­sity of Toronto, and a Master’s degree from the Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia at San Diego. He has also pur­sued stud­ies at the Konin­klijk Con­ser­va­to­rium in the Hague, Nether­lands. Aaron’s teach­ers have included Chan Ka Nin (CA), Chi­nary Ung (US), Philippe Manoury (FR), and Mar­tijn Padding (NL), and he has also par­tic­i­pated in mas­ter­classes with renowned com­posers from around the world. Prior to study­ing com­po­si­tion, Aaron stud­ied jazz drum­ming and Cuban folk­loric per­cus­sion, includ­ing a sum­mer of pri­vate study in Havana in 2002.

Aaron’s music has been per­formed by major ensem­bles in sev­eral coun­tries, includ­ing the Nieuw Ensem­ble (NL), ork­est de ereprijs (NL), the Ensem­ble con­tem­po­rain de Mon­treal (CA), the Nou­vel ensem­ble mod­erne (CA), Tapes­try New Opera Works (CA), Toca Loca (CA), Con­tin­uum (CA), the Knights Orches­tra (US), the Lon­don Sin­foni­etta (UK), and the Arditti Quar­tet (UK). His music has been broad­cast on CBC Radio/Radio-Canada.

Promi­nent fes­ti­vals have pre­sented Aaron’s work, includ­ing Amsterdam’s pres­ti­gious Gaudea­mus Music Week; Toronto’s New Wave, soundaXis, and SHIFT fes­ti­vals; Aberdeen’s Sound Fes­ti­val; and New York’s MATA Fes­ti­val. He was addi­tion­ally selected as a rep­re­sen­ta­tive for Canada in the 2008 World Music Days in Lithua­nia. One of his solo pieces, Flüsse-Einflüsse, was cho­sen as a required exam piece for the grad­u­at­ing accor­dion stu­dents at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik – Trossin­gen in 2006.

Aaron was selected as the win­ner of the ork­est de ereprijs’s Inter­na­tional Young Com­posers Com­pe­ti­tion in the Nether­lands in 2009. He has also received var­i­ous other awards and grants, includ­ing an ASCAP Gould Award (2010), six prizes in Canada’s SOCAN Awards for Young Com­posers (2010, 2009, 2008, 2006, 2004, 2004), a Lieu­tenant Gov­er­nor of Alberta Emerg­ing Artist Award (2008), a SOCAN res­i­dency grant (2006), and numer­ous com­mis­sion­ing, travel, project, and study grants.

Long-term musi­cal direc­tions in Aaron’s com­pos­ing include a focus on rhythm and time, a pre­oc­cu­pa­tion with the social and cul­tural fac­tors that influ­ence lis­ten­ing and taste, an inter­est in found mate­ri­als, an explo­ration of what in fact con­sti­tutes cre­ativ­ity, and a fas­ci­na­tion with the ways that social tech­nolo­gies are chang­ing lis­ten­ing habits, to name a few. His music incor­po­rates a wide range of palettes, from rich micro­tonal tex­tures and shim­mer­ing tim­bres to bright chip­per coun­ter­point, upbeat rhyth­mic drive, blunt musi­cal ges­tures, and light-hearted humour.

I’m pleased to announce that I received another SOCAN Award this year, bring­ing my career total up to six. I won a prize in the vocal cat­e­gory for Kiss Around the World, as per­formed by Ensem­ble Res­o­nance in Novem­ber 2009.

I was also pleased to see some of my col­leagues receive well-deserved recog­ni­tion, includ­ing Trevor Grahl, Alexan­dra Fol, and Tay­lor Brook. Con­grat­u­la­tions to all.

I’m quite happy to announce that I won another SOCAN Award this year, my fifth so far (press release). I was awarded first prize in the vocal cat­e­gory for Sen­sa­tional Rev­o­lu­tion in Med­i­cine, a piece for soprano and speak­ing pianist, pre­mièred by Xin Wang and Gre­gory Oh at the SHIFT Fes­ti­val in Toronto this year. For those not famil­iar, the SOCAN Awards is the major Cana­dian com­pe­ti­tion for com­posers under 30, and I’ve been for­tu­nate to have received sev­eral awards, begin­ning in 2004. Radio-Canada’s Michel Char­ron also inter­viewed me about the prize this year.

I’m happy to say I was awarded another SOCAN Award this year, for Cul­ture no.3.

Also, in other news, work on the night­club project, now titled Recy­cled 80s Live, is pro­gress­ing well. The first per­for­mance will take place at the Banff Cen­tre for the Arts in Dec, and a project web­site and media clips should be avail­able shortly there­after. Fur­ther per­for­mances in 2009 are in the plan­ning stages.

Lastly, be sure to check the Per­for­mances sec­tion for upcom­ing concerts.

I’m excited to have won a first prize in this year’s SOCAN com­pe­ti­tion. Cul­ture no.1 received first place in the Pierre Mer­cure Awards for a solo or duet com­po­si­tion. Inci­den­tally, this is the same piece that was cho­sen to com­pete for the Gaudea­mus prize in Sep (see entry below).