Amy Brandon

Composer and guitarist Amy Brandon's pieces have been described as '... mesmerizing' (Musicworks Magazine), "Otherworldly and meditative ... clashing of bleakness with beauty ..." (Minor Seventh) and '.. an intricate dance of ancient and futuristic sounds' (Miles Okazaki). Recent and upcoming 2018-19 events include premieres by Ekmeles (NYC - ICEBERG New Music), Chartreuse Trio (Music in Bloom, Indiana), Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Pro Coro (Banff Centre), trombonist Dale Sorensen, pianist Yumi Suehiro, Continuum Contemporary Music Ensemble (PIVOT) as well as performances at Music in New Technologies (CAN), New Music Edmonton, and the centre d’experimentation musicale in Quebec. She has received Canadian and international composition awards and honourable mentions from the Leo Brouwer Guitar Composition Competition (Grand Prize), Central European String Quartet ('Most Innovative'), Groundswell and RMN Classical (Europe). Her 2016 solo guitar and electronics album 'Scavenger' was nominated for regional awards including Music Nova Scotia and ECMAs in 2017/18. She has performed in Canada, the USA, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, the UK and at several festivals including the Ottawa International Jazz Festival, the Guitar Now Festival, Halifax Jazz Festival Spring Series, Something Else!, Sound Symposium, the International Society for Improvised Music, BeAST FeAST and the Open Waters Experimental Music Festival. She has been a resident at the Banff Centre, the Atlantic Centre for the Arts, PIVOT and a composer participant in Interplay with the Vancouver Chamber Choir. In addition to performance and composition, she writes and presents academic work concerning music cognition, virtual reality, improvisation and the guitar. Holding degrees in jazz guitar performance and composition, Amy is currently completing an interdisciplinary PhD in music cognition at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She has presented her work at conferences in Australia, USA, Switzerland, Hungary, the UK and at Berklee College of Music, Boston.