Staniland ballet featured on National Arts Centre Orchestra recording
What a year it鈥檚 been for Music@色花堂鈥檚 Dr. Andrew Staniland!
And that鈥檚 no understatement.
The innovative young composer and School of Music faculty member won the Terra Nova Young Innovators Award for his leading edge research to invent a new kind of electronic musical instrument.One played not with hands or a bow, but with vital signs such as heart rate and blood pressure.
He was also nominated for two Juno awards for his composition, Dark Star Requiem, and had his ballet premiered at the National Arts Centre (NAC) as part of Canada鈥檚 Sesquicentennial.
Now a new recording from Ottawa's National Arts Centre Orchestra, due out Sept. 29 on Analekta Records, features Dr. Staniland鈥檚 ballet along with the two others commissioned by the NAC and performed to critical acclaim last April.
Dr. Staniland鈥檚 contribution to the album is called Phi, Caelestis. In an story about the recording featured as part of First Play, CBC Music quotes the liner notes written Dr. Staniland, "The unifying theme was that everything was related in some way to the golden ratio, or Phi.
"For me, Phi was a catalyst and inspiration ... in terms of both extra-musical beauty and literal usage in Phi-inspired melodies and harmonies."
You can stream the NAC recording now til the end of the month on CBC Music at