Musical performances

"Scintillator" in a new voice

"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.

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…

gibbons vs Gibbons - hilarious new music video released!

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…

(Re)watch the Album Launch!

(Re)watch the Album Launch!

Alex’s debut album “A Present From a Small Distant World” is now OUT and available!

To celebrate, 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!

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

"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!