Tawnie Olson

Composer

Website

Contact — tawnie.olson@gmail.com

Bio

Described as "taut, focused... colourful" by Gramophone, "mesmerizing," by critic Tim Smith, and "especially glorious... ethereal" by Whole Note, the music of Canadian composer Tawnie Olson draws inspiration from politics, spirituality, the natural world, and the musicians for whom she composes. Her opera Sanctuary and Storm (libretto by Roberta Barker) is the winner of the 2021-2023 National Opera Association Dominick Argento Chamber Opera Composition Competition; Olson also won a 2019 Copland House Residency Award, the 2018 Barlow Prize, and the 2015 Iron Composer Competition. Her Three Songs on Poems by Lorri Neilsen Glenn took second prize in the 2018 NATS Art Song Competition. In 2018 she was the Composer-in-Residence of the Women Composers Festival of Hartford, an American Composers Forum BandQuest Composer-in-Residence at E.C. Adams School in Guilford, CT, and received a 2018 Connecticut Artist Fellowship. In 2017, she received an OPERA America Discovery Grant to develop Sanctuary and Storm with re:Naissance Opera, and a Canada Council for the Arts Professional Development Grant to study field recording at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Olson has been commissioned by the Canadian Art Song Project, Third Practice/New Music USA, the Canada Council for the Arts, Mount Holyoke College/The Women’s Philharmonic, the Blue Water Chamber Orchestra, Ithaca College, the American Composers Forum, and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music’s Robert Baker Commissioning Fund, among others.

Recent projects include Beloved of the Sky, commissioned by the Barlow Foundation for Seraphic Fire, The Crossing, and the BYU Singers, Salve Mater, commissioned by Tafelmusik for their Chamber Choir, Perfectly Logical, for bassoon and electronics, commissioned by the International Double Reed Society for Rachael Elliott, Wild, commissioned by the Mirror Visions Ensemble for soprano Mireille Asselin and pianist Margaret Kampmeier, the chamber opera Sanctuary and Storm (libretto by Roberta Barker), co-commissioned by the Women Composers Festival of Hartford and the Canada Council for the Arts for re:Naissance Opera, and Composition en rouge, bleu et jaune, commissioned by Pentaèdre Woodwind Quintet.

Olson's music is performed on five continents; it can also be heard on recordings by percussionist Ian David Rosenbaum, the Yale Schola Cantorum and Elm City Girls Choir, Parthenia viol consort (with bass-baritone Dashon Burton), bassoonist Rachael Elliott, the Canadian Chamber Choir, Chronos Vocal Ensemble, soprano Magali Simard-Galdès, clarinetist Shawn Earle, oboist Catherine Lee, and Shawn Mativetsky, McGill University professor of tabla and percussion. Her scores are available from the Canadian Music Centre, E.C. Schirmer, Galaxy Music, Hal Leonard's BandQuest and Mark Foster series, and Oxford University Press. Olson holds a doctorate in music composition from the University of Toronto, a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music, an Artist Diploma from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Calgary.

French Bio

Décrite comme « tendue, concentrée... colorée » par Gramophone, « envoûtante » par le critique Tim Smith et « particulièrement glorieuse... éthérée » par Whole Note, la musique de la compositrice canadienne Tawnie Olson s’inspire de la politique, de la spiritualité, du monde naturel et des musiciens pour lesquels elle écrit.

L’opéra Sanctuary and Storm de Tawnie Olson, sur un livret de Roberta Barker, a remporté les honneurs du concours d’opéra de chambre Dominick-Argento 2021-2023 de la National Opera Association. La compositrice est également lauréate du prix Barlow 2018, commande conjointe des BYU Singers, de The Crossing et de Seraphic Fire, ainsi que d’un prix de résidence Copland House 2019. En 2018, elle a été compositrice en résidence du Women Composers Festival of Hartford et compositrice en résidence BandQuest de l’American Composers Forum à la E.C.-Adams School de Guilford (CT), et a reçu une bourse d’artiste du Connecticut. En 2017, elle a reçu une bourse de découverte OPERA America pour développer une nouvelle œuvre avec re:Naissance Opera sur un livret de Roberta Barker, ainsi qu’une bourse de développement professionnel du Conseil des arts du Canada pour étudier l’enregistrement sur le terrain au laboratoire d’ornithologie de l’Université Cornell.

Tawnie Olson a reçu des commandes de l’International Double Reed Society, du Canadian Art Song Project, de Third Practice/New Music USA, du Conseil des arts du Canada, du Collège Mount Holyoke/The Women’s Philharmonic, de l’orchestre de chambre Blue Water, du Collège d’Ithaca, de l’American Composers Forum et du fonds de commande Robert-Baker de l’institut de musique sacrée Yale. Ses partitions sont disponibles auprès du Centre de musique canadienne, de la maison d’édition Schirmer, de Galaxy Music, des séries BandQuest et Mark Foster de Hal Leonard, et des presses de l’Université d’Oxford.

List of Works

Choral

Spring and Fall: to a young child (2014) — SATB a cappella (ca. 5:30).

  • Commissioned by the Janet Galván and Ithaca College for the Ithaca College Choir. Score available from the composer.

Les Voyelles (2013) — SSATB, violoncello and percussion (ca. 11:30). Score available from the composer.

Scel lem duib (2012) — SSAATTBB and harp (ca. 6:45).

  • Published by the National Collegiate Choral Organization. Commissioned by the Yale Institute of Sacred Music’s Robert Baker Fund for Commissioning New Music for the Yale Camerata Chamber Chorus.

In Paradisum (2011) — SSS and piano (ca. 4:30). Commissioned by Phyllis Anscombe.

O Inexpressible Mystery (2009) — SSAATBB and viola obbligato (ca. 2:30). Score.

Child’s Play (2009) — SATB (ca. 3:30).

  • Commissioned by the Vancouver Chamber Choir. Score.

The Seven Last Words from the Cross (2009) — SATB, Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, tenor, and baritone soloists, chamber orchestra (45:00).

  • Score and recording of complete performance available from the composer.

Easter Anthem (2005) —children’s chorus and organ (ca. 2:00).

Sero te amavi (2003) — SATB (ca. 7:30).

  • Winner of the Guelph Chamber Choir/Musica Viva Young Composers Competition

Circuire Possum (2003) — SATB (ca. 3:30). Score.

Chantez à l’Éternel (2000) — SATB (ca. 4:00). Score.

Music for Choir and Orchestra

The Seven Last Words from the Cross (2009) — chorus, SATB soloists, and chamber orchestra (ca. 45:00).

  • The Yale Camerata, Marguerite Brooks, conducting, Woolsey Hall, April 5 2009 (also listed above).

Chamber Music

Sailing to Byzantium (2015) — soprano, b-flat/e-flat clarinets, percussion, violin, cello, and piano (ca. 10:00).

  • Commissioned by the Thin Edge New Music Collective. Gallery 345, The Thin Edge New Music Collective and Stacie Dunlop, soprano, April 12, 2015.

Spinning and Weaving (2014) — two harps (ca. 12:00).

  • Commissioned by Duo Novus. Kristan Toczko and Emily Belvedere, harps, Music at Mount Pleasant, August 9, 2014. Score and parts available through the Canadian Music Centre.

Thorns (2013) — bass-baritone and consort of viols (tenor viol and three bass viols) (ca. 8:00).

  • Commissioned by John and Terry Hare. The Players Theatre, New York, Dashon Burton, bass-baritone, Parthenia, viols, April 2, 2013.

Le Revenant (2011) — soprano and piano (ca. 3:30).

  • Commissioned by Stacie Dunlop. The Music Room, Stacie Dunlop, soprano, Krista Vincent, piano, September 28, 2011. Score and parts available through the Canadian Music Centre.

Mille Regretz (2011) — flute/bass flute and viola da gamba (ca. 4:30). 

  • Chapelle Historique du Bon Pasteur, Duo Fiolûtröniq, March 8, 2011.

As Rain Hollows Stone (2010) — percussion trio (ca. 15:00).

  • Hartford Composers Concert, Wanmu Percussion Trio, September 20, 2010. Score and parts available through the Canadian Music Centre.

Entropy (2006) — nonet (ca. 6:30). Walter Hall, March 28, 2006.

À mon seul désir (2005) — bassoon and piano (ca. 5:00).

  • Nadina Mackie Jackson and David Swan, January, 2006. Score and parts available through the Canadian Music Centre. Commercial recording: Rachael Elliott, Polka the Elk, Music Starts from Silence, 2011.

Solo Vocal and Instrumental

Paraclete (2013) — b-flat clarinet doubling kick drum and Tibetan singing bowl (ca. 11:00). 

  • Tanna Schulich Hall, Louise Campbell, June 7, 2013. Score and parts available through the Canadian Music Centre.

Plainsong (2004/2011) — English horn (ca. 4:00).

  • Walter Hall, Gillian Howard, January 20, 2004. Score and parts available through the Canadian Music Centre.

La folia (2008) — harpsichord (ca. 6:30).

  • Commissioned by Katelyn Clark with assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts. Chapelle Historique du Bon Pasteur, Katelyn Clark, Dec. 12, 2008. Score and parts available through the Canadian Music Centre.

Mirror Image (2005) — violin (ca. 4:00).

  • Banff Center for the Arts, Brigit Knecht, February 2, 2005.

Nocturne (2003) — guitar (ca. 3:00). Walter Hall, Matthew Peters, 2003.

Cat (1994) — soprano (ca. 2:30).

  • St. David’s United Church, Patrice Jegou, November 27, 1997.

Electroacoustic Music

American Robin (2015) — soprano and live electronics (ca. 4:30).

  • Written for the Soundstreams Emerging Composer Workshop. The Conservatory Theatre, Carla Huhtanen, May 22, 2015.

Something to Say (2014) — tabla, spoken word and digital audio (ca. 7:00). 

  • Chapelle Historique du Bon Pasteur, Shawn Mativetsky, February 15, 2014. Score available through the Canadian Music Centre.

The Blackbird at Evening (2013) — marimba and digital audio (ca. 3:00).

  • The Phillips Collection, Ian David Rosenbaum, March 23, 2014.

Tombeau d’Annelie de Man (2012) — harpsichord and digital audio (ca. 8:30).

  • Commissioned by Katelyn Clark with assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts. Chapelle St. Louis, Katelyn Clark, April 21, 2012.

Suzanne un jour (2006) — harpsichord and digital audio (ca. 9:30).

  • Banff Centre for the Arts, Katelyn Clark, February, 2005.

Recordings

Digital Release: “Something to Say” (2014) — Shawn Mativetsky, tabla and spoken word.

CD: “In Good Company” (2010) — The Canadian Chamber Choir, Julia Davids, conducting.

CD: “Polka The Elk” (2011) — Music Starts from Silence. Rachael Elliott, bassoon; Adrienne Kim, piano.

CD: “Social Sounds” (2013) — Teal Creek Music, Catherine Lee, English Horn.