Fiona Evison (b. 1965) lives in the beautiful and inspiring rural Grey-Bruce area of Ontario. She was born into a musical Scottish family who immigrated to Canada when she was a child. Music has always played an important part of her life, and she finds great joy in improvising, arranging, and composing. Her graduate research into the composer’s role in community music-making resulted in an international study that affirms the special place of community composers. Fiona enjoys tailoring pieces to the needs of the musicians performing her work, regardless of ability, and sharing interesting background information and ideas that led to the composition.

Throughout her musical career, she has directed and accompanied ensembles of all ages, as well as performing on piano, voice, flute, organ, handbells and percussion. She co-conducts the Georgian Bay Children’s Choir, is accompanist for Oh Sing! Community Choir, and is Director of Music at Central Westside United Church. As a guest musician, she enjoys composing unique and meaningful pieces that incorporate local musicians. Fiona’s desire is to use her creativity to benefit others, and she writes original sacred and secular chamber pieces and arrangements. Inspired by Scottish or Canadian themes, she is developing a project on Highlanders exiled to Canada during the Highland Clearances, as well as arranging sacred Gaelic music from the Scottish National Archives. She is also sets Jewish poetry to music - a merger of her interests in music, history and Jewish culture. Her work is often contextual; for example, she has built a repertoire of sacred trombone and piano arrangements that draw from various styles by working regularly with a trombonist in her church work.

Known for her evocative lyrical style and text painting, her commissions have included choral settings of Canadian traditional music for various choirs, chamber works for piano / organ and various instruments, settings of traditional Highland tunes, and accessible children's choral music. Her writing has been called fresh and interesting. “Fiona creates stunning word pictures as she weaves text and music together. Her lines are striking, simple and incorporate some of the old medieval modes with contemporary harmonies and sounds. The vocal lines never detract from the text, but work together perfectly to form beautiful and exquisite results.” – Linda Hawkins, Director, Georgian Bay Children’s Choir; “Very poignant settings with expressive melodic passages and carefully placed harmonic shifts” – Dr. John Burge, Queen’s University

Fiona holds a Bachelor of Church Music (Heritage College), a Master of Arts in Community Music (Wilfrid Laurier University), and is finishing a PhD in Music Education (University of Western Ontario), with doctoral research on composition with a children’s choir, investigating her own theory of relational composition. She studies composition privately and continues to refine and expand her craft.  She has performed in Canada, the U.S., and Scotland. Her works have been performed by others across Canada and in the U.S., Scotland, and Asia. She is on the board of the Grey Bruce chapter of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, serves on UWO’s taskforce on academic integrity, and is a board member and journal editor for the Association of Canadian Women Composers.

Her interpretation of Psalm 13 has been published by North Star Music Publishing as part of an art song Psalm Anthology, curated by the Executive Director of Deus Ex Musica, Dr. Delvyn Case. For a full listing of instrumental, choral, vocal and piano works, to preview a score, or to discuss her academic work, please contact the composer at: evison01@yahoo.ca