About the Composer

                    Brian Current

                    Read more about Brian Current's compositions

                    

"I like things that go fast and big and jump out at you, saying this is not wallpaper, this is not a sound track. . . I'm interested in things that are out of control. It can blow up in your face if you go too far." - Brian Current

                    Esprit Orchestra conducted by Alex Pauk presented the World Premiere of Brian Current's Kazabazua, an Esprit commission, Sunday, May 20, 2003, as part of its Time Chant concert; St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, Toronto, Ontario.

                    Brian Current's music has been widely performed both at home and abroad by outstanding ensembles. His pieces have won awards in Paris, New York, Adelaide and Vancouver and have been broadcast in over 35 countries.

                    Brian was shortlisted for the highly prestigious American Academy's Prix de Rome 2003, International prizes he has received include the Selected Work (under 30) at the 2001 International Rostrum of Composers in Paris, a first prize in the Polish "Music and Play" competition and the Jury Prize at the NEM's International Forum for Young Composers, held at the Adelaide festival in Australia.

                    Other international prizes include a first prize in the Polish 'Music and Play' competition and the Jury Prize at the NEM's International Forum for Young Composers, held at the Adelaide festival in Australia. At home, in addition to three first prizes from the SOCAN Competition for Young Composers (1997, 1998 and 2000) he has also received awards from ASCAP, the CBC and the Canada Council for the Arts, including the Robert Flemming Prize for most outstanding young composer. In March of 2001, he was awarded the Grand Prize in the CBC National Competition for Young Composers, the country's highest distinction for composers under 30 years of age.

                    Raised in Ottawa, Brian Current earned his undergraduate degree in honours composition at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec where he studied under Bengt Hambreaus and John Rea. He completed his Ph.D. in composition on full fellowship from the University of California at Berkeley in 2002, where he was also active as a conductor.

                    In 2000, he was chosen as a participant in the National Arts Centre's conductor training workshop with Jorma Panula and Pinchas Zukerman.

                    Brian Current's music has been performed both across Canada and internationally by the Esprit Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony, the Warsaw National Philharmonic, the Oakland Symphony, the CBC Radio Orchestra, the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, the Canadian Chamber Ensemble, ARRAYMUSIC, Continuum, the SIRIUS ensemble and NUMUS. He now lives in Toronto and is at work on a commissioned chamber opera for Vancouver's Opera Breve with playwright Anton Piatigorsky.

                    Contact the composer

                    Learn more about this composer: www.briancurrent.com