About the Composer

                    R. Murray Schafer
Composer / Librettist / Artistic Director

                    Read about the composer's composition/s

                    In 1999, Mr. Schafer received the Ontario Arts Council's first Lifetime Achievement Award.

                    "R. Murray Schafer's manifold personal expressions and aspirations are in total accord with the urgent needs and dreams of humanity today." - As Yehudi Menuhin

                    R. Murray Schafer is one of Canada's pre-eminent composers and is known throughout the world. In an era of specialization, R. Murray Schafer has shown himself to be a true Renaissance man.

                    Born in Sarnia, Ontario, in 1933, Murray Schafer has won national and international acclaim not only for his achievements as a composer, but also as an educator, environmentalist, literary scholar, visual artist and provocateur. After receiving a Licentiate in piano through the Royal Schools of Music (England) in 1952, he pursued further studies at the Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Toronto, followed by periods of autodidactic study in Austria and England, which encompassed literature, philosophy, music and journalism. A prolific composer, Murray has written works ranging from orchestral compositions to choral music, as well as musical theatre and multi-media ritual.

                    enormous range and depth

                    His diversity of interests is reflected by the enormous range and depth of such works as Loving (1965), Lustro (1972), Music for Wilderness Lake (1979), Flute Concerto (1984), and the World Soundscape Project, as well as his 12-part Patria music theatre cycle. Murray Schaefer's most important book, The Tuning of the World (1977), documents the findings of his World Soundscape Project, which united the social, scientific and artistic aspects of sound, and introduced the concept of acoustic ecology.

                    The concept of soundscape unifies most of his musical and dramatic work, as well as his educational and cultural theories. Murray's other major books include E.T.A. Hoffmann and Music (1975), Ezra Pound and his Music (1977), On Canadian Music (1984), Voices of Tyranny: Temples of Silence (1993), and The Thinking Ear: On Music Education (1986).

                    He has received commissions from numerous organizations as well as several prizes. He was the first winner of the Glenn Gould Prize for Music and Communication as well as the Molson Award for distinctive service to the arts.

                    R. Murray Schafer has repeatedly challenged and transcended orthodox approaches to music and the presentation of music. Through his unique explorations of the relationships between music, performer, audience and setting, he has expanded the potential and appreciation of music and its place in the arts and culture of his time.

                    landmark compositions

                    Many of his compositions and writings stand as landmarks in the evolution of music and its communication in the 20th century. His many string quartets are a major contribution to the quartet literature and have been performed and recorded by the Orford and Molinari Quartets. In 1991 the Orford String Quartet's recordings of his complete works garnered the ensemble two Juno Awards.

                    Murray Schafer has been honoured with many awards throughout his career. As first recipient of the Jules Leger Prize for New Chamber Music, in 1977 for his String Quartet No. 2, he continued to attract praise, accepting the Prix International Arthur-Honegger in 1980 for String Quartet No. 1, and the Banff National Award in the Arts in 1985.

                    He has continued to be recognized for his "strong, benevolent and highly original imagination and intellect" as the first recipient of the triennial Glenn Gould Award presented by Sir Yehudi Menuhin in 1987. In 1983, Schafer was awarded the Canada Council Molson Prize for the Arts for his outstanding contribution to the cultural and intellectual life of Canada. In 1999, Mr. Schafer received the Ontario Arts Council's first Lifetime Achievement Award.

                    Mr. Schafer has been celebrated artist-in-residence at many prestigious new music festivals, such as the Seattle Spring Festival of Contemporary Music, and the Sixth Annual duMaurier New Music Festival. Recently, he was composer-in-residence at Stratford Summer Music, where several of his works were performed.

                    For more about R. Murray Schafer's music dramas go to http://www.patria.org.

                    Patria is the title of a cycle of related music dramas that Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer has been creating during the last thirty years.