Andrew Staniland


Andrew Staniland is a Canadian composer and guitarist. He is currently a professor of Composition and Electronic Music at the Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Biography

Andrew Staniland was born in Red Deer, Alberta, in 1977. His first instrument was the guitar, and he began playing in heavy-metal bands as a young teen. Staniland began formal studies in jazz and arranging at Grant MacEwan Community College in Edmonton, where he also studied composition with Gordon Nicholson. He then studied classical guitar at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, before obtaining both a Master's and Doctorate degree in Composition from the University of Toronto.
A composer whose work has been performed and broadcast in over 35 countries, Staniland has been commissioned by musicians and ensembles such as cellist Frances-Marie Uitti, Duo Concertante, the Gryphon Trio, and Les Percussions de Strasbourg. He has also been an Affiliate Composer with both the National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and in 2005 was a composer-in-residence at the Centre de Création Musicale Iannis Xenakis in Paris.
In 2010 Staniland joined the faculty of the School of Music at Memorial University of Newfoundland, where he teaches composition and electronic music. There Staniland founded the Memorial ElectroAcoustic Research Lab, where he is part of a cross-disciplinary research team that has created the Mune, an electronic music performance instrument that "combines the functionality of a MIDI controller... with the expressiveness and simplicity of an acoustic instrument."
Staniland is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre, a member of the Canadian League of Composers, and an inaugural member of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada.

Honours and awards

Staniland has been the recipient of many prestigious awards, including a 2018 ECMA Award for Classical Composition of the Year, the 2016 Terra Nova Young Innovator Award, the National Grand Prize of EVOLUTION, and the 2004 Karen Keiser Prize in Canadian Music. He has also received three Juno nominations.

Education

  • B.Mus., University of Lethbridge
  • M.Mus., University of Toronto
  • D.M.A., University of Toronto

    Compositions

Chamber music

  • Exit Eden for flute and harp
  • Hypernova for five flutes
  • Equations Constellations for guitar and harp
  • The Ocean is Full of its Own Collapse for narrator, piano and violin
  • Choro: “The Joyful Lament for Villa Lobos” for 2 guitars
  • Four Elements for string quartet
  • Orion Constellation Theory Version 2, arranged for two snare drums
  • Time Travels Light for percussion quartet
  • The Beauty of Reason for cello and harp
  • Flute Vs Flute for two flutes
  • Flute Vs Flute arranged for flute and cello
  • The River is Within Us for violin and piano
  • Solstice Songs for piano trio
  • Air for accordion and percussion
  • HeX for percussion sextet
  • Pentagrams for two accordions
  • Pentagrams arranged for accordion and piano
  • Devolution for chamber ensemble
  • Full Circle for guitar
  • After the Crash for percussionist
  • Alchemy for piano and five solo strings
  • Trio for harp, piano and percussion
  • 13 Images for soprano and clarinet
  • Two Pervasive Miniatures for small chamber ensemble

    Chamber music with electronics

  • Cassini for marimba and electronic delay
  • Orion Constellation Theory Version 1, for snare drum and electronics
  • Dreaded Sea Voyage for classical guitar and electronics
  • Flute Vs Tape for flute and tape
  • Still Turning for cello and electronics
  • Talking Down the Tiger for percussion and live looping
  • Sudoku for violin, tabla and electronics
  • Yupana for chamber ensemble and electronics
  • LinguaElastic for live electronics and spoken word
  • True North for saxophone and electronics
  • Adventuremusic: Love her Madly for two pianos, percussion and electronics
  • Despite Bright Ideas for tape
  • St Croix for large chamber ensemble and live electronics
  • Tampobata for singing pianist and electronics
  • Tapestry for clarinet, cello and tape
  • For violin #3 for violin and tape

    Opera, vocal

  • Earthquakes and Islands 8 songs for voice and piano
  • Aliment Roots for soprano and cello
  • Lacrimosa for soprano and cello
  • Dear John for soprano and harp
  • Execution Songs for soprano and piano
  • No Labour Saving Machine for tenor and cello
  • Beautymark Aria for soprano and piano
  • Calamus 6 for soprano and cello
  • Dark Star Requiem operatic oratorio for chamber choir, four soloists, piano trio and two percussion
  • At the Laurentian Room for soprano and piano
  • Blue for mezzo-soprano and piano resonance
  • Made in China for tenor, percussion and piano
  • Peter Quince at the Clavier for baritone and piano
  • Road to Berlin for bass and piano
  • See Saw chamber opera
  • Ashlike on the Cradle of the Wind chamber opera

    Orchestra

  • Sounds from the Edge
  • PHI with electronics
  • Reflections on O Canada after Truth and Reconciliation
  • Vast Machine
  • Four Angels with electronics
  • VOLUTION Concerto for electric guitar and orchestra
  • Only Darkness for orchestra and mezzo soprano
  • Big Bang! for percussion and orchestra
  • Gaia
  • Voyageur
  • Orchestralympics
  • Protestmusik
  • Two Movements for Orchestra
  • Variations on a Theme by D.H Lawrence for piano and string orchestra

    Symphonic band

  • Four Horsemen for symphonic band and electronics

    Selected discography