"Scintillator" in a new voice

It is so remarkable to hear my older music through fresh ears!

Since 2009, "Scintillator" for solo singer (text by email spambot) has been the domain of Kristin Mueller-Heaslip, who not only premiered and toured the piece, but received the spam email at its heart.

Last year we released my debut album (*ahem* https://bit.ly/SmallDistantWorld-Bandcamp) which included a new electronic "Scintillator" with multiple Kristins in deep space with artsy techy help from Paul Talbott (it's also on the latest Redshift Records compilation *ahem* https://redshiftmusicsociety.bandcamp.com/album/redshift-xx).

So my ears have long been attuned to Kristin's voice(s) and choices, and Kristin's choices and my choices had become entwined and canonical.

Then soprano Heather Pawsey took "Scintillator" and made it her own, for Redshift Music Society's UNACCOMPANIED video series. Hers is a grounded interpretation with surprising suddenness in the transitions - bringing out the beauty of the spam-wrought lines, then teleporting somewhere impossible. It's so nice to have this piece, which I thought I knew so well, tickle my brain again!

Thanks to Redshift and Canadian Music Centre BC for this great showcase series. I'm also tickled to be in this gallery of astounding Canadian composers and solo performers.

49. Scintillator by Alex Eddington; Heather Pawsey, soprano from Canadian Music Centre BC on Vimeo.

gibbons vs Gibbons - hilarious new music video released!

Swoop-ga-woop!

Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra just shared a hilarious new music video of my piece "gibbons vs Gibbons" starring the Odin Quartet.

Alex Toškov (who also edited the video) and Tanya Charles Iveniuk struggle to play through a viol duet by English Renaissance composer Orlando Gibbons, as a pair of white-cheeked gibbon apes (voiced on cello and viola by Samuel Bisson and Veronica Lee) sing, swoop down and swat them. See my full program notes below the video…

All season, the SPO has been releasing music videos in their Performance Series. In May some of these are pieces that will be included on the Odin Quartet's debut album later this year - which will feature "gibbons vs Gibbons" alongside premiere recordings of music Samuel Bisson,

Bruno Degazio, Chris Meyer, Elizabeth Raum, Ron Royer, and Kevin Zi-Xiao He among other Canadian composers!

Programme notes

gibbons vs. Gibbons is one of those pieces that started as a title. I was thinking that it was funny that there is an English Renaissance composer named Orlando Gibbons, since gibbons are also a kind of ape. The most wonderful kind of ape!

Watching them swing and play at the Toronto zoo, and listening to recordings of the whooping-swooping duets of white-cheeked gibbons online, I wondered what would happen if these apes encountered their namesake composer. In my piece, the viola and cello (the gibbons) keep swinging playfully down to bother the violins (attempting to perform a duet by Gibbons), causing unexpected problems in the music.

Eventually, apes and musicians find a way to play together for the final cadence - and a whooping finish! "gibbons vs. Gibbons" is dedicated to these endangered primates who give the world a music of their own.

-- AE

Podcast feature on Odin Quartet album, including "gibbons vs. Gibbons"

The SPOGreatMusic podcast just released an episode profiling the Odin String Quartet’s album project. Host Daniel Mehdizadeh spoke with Odins Samuel Bisson and Alex Toskov about the repertoire, and the composers talk about their pieces in their own words.

My piece gibbons vs. Gibbons will be on the album, and I spoke about it (in an animated manner!) for the podcast.

The album will be released later this year, and is produced by the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra.

Listen here! (and subscribe to SPOGreatMusic on your favourite podcast app)

And for those who want more Gibbons (and gibbons), here’s the live recording of gibbons vs. Gibbons (which is a bit different than the version we recorded… the album track will contain more “VS”.

Alex Eddington | composer · gibbons vs. Gibbons - string quartet (2019)

And YES, my podcast Fresh Sounds is out as of yesterday! I’ll share it once the first episode is available in all the main podcast apps.

(Re)watch the Album Launch!

A Present From a Small Distant World is OUT and available!

To celebrate the release of Alex’s debut album, we held a Virtual Album Launch Party online on Sunday Feb 21.

The event included filmed performances by Kristin Mueller-Heaslip and Jennifer Tran, a new music video of the title track, and chats with everyone who worked on the album.

The complete hour-long event is now available to watch at your leisure on Youtube!

First album review - and it's in Dutch!

A Present From a Small Distant World drops on February 19, and I’m thrilled to have one early review out.

Nieuwe Noten is a contemporary music blog from the Netherlands, so this very thoughtful review is in Dutch.

Read the full translation on the Reviews page:

Grand Salto Theatre releases 5 videos: "BeeBo and Bop at Home"

Since the beginning of December 2020, The Grand Salto Theatre has been releasing short videos featuring friendly clowns BeeBo and Bop discovering fun activities around their home. The Grand Salto is a Toronto-based company known for a number of highly physical clown and comedy acts, including Philip and Lucinda.

A longtime collaborator with Zita Nyarady (one half of The Grand Salto), Alex Eddington composed theme music and cues for the videos.

BeeBo and Bop at Home is a series of 5 shorts intended for pre-schoolers and other young viewers. With no spoken language, they are also suited to an international audience.

The full series is streaming at The Grand Salto’s Youtube Channel.

"Big Muddy" released on new junctQìn album

It's out! The new album from junctQín keyboard collective includes a wonderfully mysterious, murky, crash-bang recording of my most aptly named piece: "Big Muddy" for piano six hands. That's three people at one piano, their fingers and palms and fists nearly interlocking.

"Big Muddy" is a kind of messy musical transcription of a big, muddy, gorgeously eroded hill: Castle Butte in Saskatchewan's Big Muddy Valley. Listen right to the end for the fourth, non-human "performer" that I recorded from the top of the butte.

The entire album is great, with music for piano, toy piano and other keyboards by Emily Doolittle, Chris Thornborrow, Monica Pearce, Elisha Denburg, Tomi Raisanen, Alfred Schnittke and Maurice Ravel.

Please consider supporting this and other albums on the Redshift Records label!

https://redshiftmusicsociety.bandcamp.com/album/rethink

Workshops in music, drama and creativity available online, starting Fall 2020

Starting in Fall 2020, Alex Eddington is available for online workshops with your class, ensemble, club or group.

Visit the WORKSHOPS page for details

Workshops for any age, can be tailor-made to your group’s needs. Previous workshops have included:

MUSIC

• composing

• improvising

• clinics on Alex Eddington’s own compositions

• vocal warmups and exploration

• 21st century music

• computer music production, music notation software

• etc.

DRAMA

• drama games and improv

• mime and physical theatre

• character development

• etc.

CREATIVE WRITING

• writing scenes and monologues

• poetry

• developing stories

• brainstorming exercises

• etc.

CREATIVITY THROUGH THE ARTS

• the creative process

• brainstorming and problem solving

• working creatively alone and in groups

• building confidence

Music Lessons now available online

Book private lessons online with Alex Eddington:

• composition

• music theory

• conducting

• computer music production

• music notation software

• piano

• synthesizers

• trombone and baritone/euphonium

Beginners and Experienced students, ages 5 to adult

Visit the LESSONS page for details

Announcing 2020/21 consortium commission opportunity: Human Rights Suite for adaptable ensemble

Composer Alex Eddington is seeking school ensembles, music teachers and other individuals to co-commission a suite of new pieces for adaptable ensemble and optional percussion.

Each short movement (ca. 30-45 seconds) will be based on an Article in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations.

NEW: Sign up anytime to be a part of the consortium (rolling deadline).

Scores will become available to all consortium participants as soon as they are available, beginning in October 2020.

Consortium Commission Opportunities

Join Alex in his first-ever Choir Commissioning Consortium!

Composer Alex Eddington is seeking amateur choirs (SATB/SAB/SA/TB/unis.) to join a consortium for the 2019/20 season.

Up to 11 choirs will co-commission a new piece for choir and piano: a setting of Lotte Kramer’s beautiful poem “Boy With Orange (out of Kosovo)”.

Sign-up by July 31, 2019 (NEW DEADLINE) - premiere anytime during the 19/20 season!

Link below for info.

Sold Out

2019/20 Choir Consortium Commission: "Boy With Orange (out of Kosovo)"

"Weed Night" - short film score

Alex recently completed musical arrangement/orchestration and mixing for WEED NIGHT, a short film released online on April 1.

He has collaborated with Weed Night writer and director Helen Juvonen and Tyler J Seguin on a number of theatre projects over the last few years, including Yarn and Life List (as writer/performer) and Thought For Food productions The Memo, The Trial of Judith K. and Dark Heart - as well as the recent Crux Encounter theatre and simulcast show Why We Fight (as composer and sound designer).

This is Alex’s first IMDB credit. More to come? Check out the new Filmography page!

Watch WEED NIGHT now!

It's Weed Night in Green Haven Park and everybody is welcome! (Bring your own supplies)

Written by Helen Juvonen

Directed & Edited by Tyler J. Seguin

Produced by Helen Juvonen, Paul Rivers, Tyler J. Seguin

Starring Amy Keating, Jordin Hall, Emilio Vieira, Brigit Wilson, Marion Adler, Paul Rivers, Helen Juvonen, Tyler J. Seguin

Cinematography by Rachel Bundy

Sound by Anthony Brezovsky

Camera Assistant - Josh Cooper

Music arrangement, score and mixing by Alex Eddington

Weed Night Theme by Helen Juvonen

With additional music by Tyler J. Seguin

This film was produced with the generous support of ACTRA Toronto

"gibbons vs. Gibbons" - listen to a recording of the Odin Quartet premiere

The Odin String Quartet premiered gibbons vs. Gibbons on March 1 at Array Space in Toronto.

Not only did they capture the sound of singing gibbon apes in their tone, and the finicky string effects needed to create the sense of Renaissance music (by Orlando Gibbons, naturally) being swatted around by these mischievous primates, but they made it funny!

This piece is planned for professional recording by the Odin Quartet for their all-Canadian debut album, in the coming year.

Listen to gibbons vs. Gibbons on my SoundCloud channel:

The Canadian Piano Left Hand Commissioning Project - crowdfunding seven new works by Canadian composers

My friend Adam Scime - a wonderful bassist, pianist and composer - broke his right hand, and had to stop playing bass while it heals. But Adam is turning lemons into an exquisite fountain of lemonade! He wants to commission seven Canadian composers - including me - to write new left-hand piano pieces for him to premiere this May.

Just look at this composer line-up. I'm seriously woozy to be in this company:

• Christopher Butterfield

• Taylor Brook

• Anna Hostman

• Emilie LeBel

• Adam Sherkin

• Nick Storring

• Christina Volpini

• and me (Alex Eddington)

(And if you weren't aware, left-hand piano music is a pretty huge genre, especially taking off in the early 20th century for pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right hand in WWI)

Adam has put out a call for crowdfunding donations, with the goal of paying us composers for our time. Every amount pledged will go 100% to commission fees. You can choose which composer your pledge will support, and then they will DEDICATE their new left-handed piano piece to you - along with the other commissioners... unless you want to sponsor one entire piece for $300!

(Adam himself is doing this for the fun and the love of it...)

Government arts grants are a tenuous way for composers to be paid for their work, so I think it's very positive to see colleagues, fans and fams getting behind crowdfunding for commissioning. It needs to be the right project of course... and this one strikes the right (…well, left-handed) notes.

Thanks for clicking and reading, friends!

Alex

New commission by the Toronto Consort - a music-theatre piece about astronomer Tycho Brahe

Thanks to the generous support of the Ontario Arts Council - Conseil des arts de l'Ontario, a long-dreamt-of project with the Toronto Consort is going ahead!

Alex Eddington will be writing both the libretto and music for a theatrical piece about the delirious final moments of the life of Tycho Brahe, the eccentric astronomer. The working title is Tycho Brahe and the Egocentric Model of the Universe.

The piece will be unstaged - more like a musical audio drama than an opera - and will feature Renaissance instrument and vocal specialists (including cimbalom... the story is set around Prague).

Performance dates to be announced, but the plan is for 2020.

Six Pieces added to ACNMP Syllabus

ACNMP

Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects

I was pleased to have 6 of my pieces included in the latest edition of the Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects syllabus. Student musicians choose pieces from this all-Canadian, 20th- and 21st-century syllabus repertoire to compete in Contemporary Showcase.

ACNMP is launching each new syllabus composer with an interview on their webpage.

Scores for the six pieces are all available through the Canadian Music Centre or from the composer.

• So Joab blew a trumpet (solo speaking trumpet)

• Scintillator (solo soprano, text by email spam)

• Three Conjoined Trifles (bassoon and piano)

• Watershed (two violins, one beginner and one advanced)

• Humoresque (viola and piano)

• Dusty Miller March (brass quintet)