I am proud to call myself a friend and fan of Canadian born composer Justin Taylor. Taylor lives in Toronto, Canada and is quite visible in the modern classical world. He cites his main inspirations as most of the French and Russian composers of the 20th century. Taylor seems paticularly enamoured with Darius Milhaud and his experiments with polytonality.
This is not his latest work, but it was written in September of this year for conductor Alun Francis. It is a piece which is very much appropriate this time of year "La Premiere Neige D'Hiver" (The First Snow of Winter). He posted the demo of his orchestration along with a video he animated with manager Julio Colorado on YouTube recently:
Justin Taylor born 1984 is a composer born in Brandon, Manitoba Canada and currently living in Toronto.
I tend to embrace both the English and French parts of my homeland, but that is out of sheer love for our culture and diversity of its peoples. But if one were to ask if I write music that is predominately Canadian, I'd give that a resounding no. My music reflects my own personal tastes.
Michael Colgrass is a composer born 1932 in Chicago, currently living in Toronto, Canada.
I’m not trying to pull any tricks or dazzle anybody. I’m trying to make a music which convinces me, and which is interesting to me. It’s as simple as that.