Canadian composer, performer and multimedia artist Gordon Fitzell has worked with numerous outstanding ensembles including Norwegian group BIT20 Ensemble, Brazil’s PianOrquestra, the pan-Canadian Ensemble 1534, 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: Metropolis (Ravello Records) by the Harrington/Loewen Duo, featuring Metropolis for saxophone and piano; Sassicaia (Redshift Records) by Sea and Sky, featuring Bliss Point for clarinet and ebow piano; and 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 major festivals including Festival Synthèse Bourges (France), the Darmstadt Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik (Germany), the ISCM World Music Days (Sweden; Belgium), the Lisbon Architecture Triennale (Portugal), the Tanglewood Music Festival (USA), and the International Sound Art Festival (Mexico). Recent performances include works at the Edmonton New Music Festival, the Third Practice Electroacoustic Music Festival (Richmond, Virginia), the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Annex Series, Totem Électrique (Montreal), Cluster Festival of New Music + Integrated Art (Winnipeg), and the Sask New Music Festival (Saskatoon), where he was the featured guest composer. In addition to concert music, he has presented multimedia installations in North America and Europe. Fitzell 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). His large chamber work Magister Ludi was nominated for Classical Composition of the Year at the 2015 Juno Awards (Canada). An Associate Professor at the University of Manitoba Desautels Faculty of Music in Winnipeg, Fitzell teaches composition and leads the eXperimental Improv Ensemble (XIE). He also serves as Artistic Co-Director of the Winnipeg new music organization GroundSwell. |
