Canadian composer, performer and multimedia artist Gordon Fitzell has worked with a diverse range of ensembles including Norwegian group BIT20 Ensemble, Brazil’s PianOrquestra, Canada’s Trio Fibonacci, and American sextet eighth blackbird, whose multiple Grammy-winning album strange imaginary animals features two of his works.
Three recordings featuring his work were released in 2014, including the Juno-nominated Magister Ludi: Musique de / Music of Gordon Fitzell (Centrediscs) by the Ensemble contemporain de Montréal (ECM+), under the direction of Véronique Lacroix. Other conductors to have directed his music include Robert Aitken, Reinbert de Leeuw and Bramwell Tovey. Fitzell’s work has been presented at many international festivals including Festival Synthèse Bourges (France), the Darmstadt Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik (Germany), the ISCM World Music Days (Sweden; Belgium; Slovenia), the Lisbon Architecture Triennale (Portugal), the Tanglewood Music Festival (USA), the Winnipeg New Music Festival, and the International Sound Art Festival (Mexico). Recent and upcoming performances include works at the Pan Music Festival (Korea), the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (UK), the Ensemble Mosaik concert series (Germany), and code d'accès (Canada). In addition to composing concert music, he has also presented sound installations in North America and Europe, and produced recordings for other artists. He has received awards and acknowledgements for his compositions from various organizations including the SOCAN Foundation, CBC Radio, Vancouver New Music, the University of Manitoba, the Winnipeg Rh Institute Foundation, and the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (USA). In 2015 his large chamber work Magister Ludi was nominated for Classical Composition of the Year at Canada’s Juno Awards. A professor of composition and director of the eXperimental Improv Ensemble (XIE) at the University of Manitoba Desautels Faculty of Music in Winnipeg, Canada, Fitzell also serves as Artistic Co-Director of the new music organization GroundSwell. |
