English 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, Tafelmusik, 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.

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, oboist Mélanie Harel, 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, de Tafelmusik, 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

Scores are available through the Canadian Music Centre, E.C. Schirmer, Hal Leonard's BandQuest and Mark Foster series, and Oxford University Press. For a full list of works with recordings, please visit the composer’s website

The Summit (2024) — TTBB and piano (6:00)

  • Commissioned by Chor Leoni as part of their C/4 Canadian Choral Composition                                    Competition

Rational People (2024 ) — percussion quartet (20:00)

  • Commissioned by the Canada Council for the Arts for Sandbox Percussion

The Call (2023) — SSAATTBarB (16:00)

  • Commissioned by musica intima with assistance from the SOCAN Foundation

Sanctuary and Storm, (2023) — chamber opera (60:00)

  • Co-commissioned by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Women Composers Festival of Hartford for re:Naissance Opera

Salve Mater (2022) — chamber chorus (6:30)

  • Commissioned by Tafelmusik

Wild (2022) — soprano and piano (4:30)

  • Commissioned by the Mirror Visions Ensemble for soprano Mireille Asselin and pianist Peggy Kampmeier

Perfectly Logical (2021) — bassoon and electronics (6:00)

  • Commissioned by the International Double Reed Society for Rachael Elliott

Beloved of the Sky (2020 rev. 2022) — chamber chorus (16:00)

  • Barlow Prize commission for The Crossing, Seraphic Fire, and the BYU Singers

Composition en rouge, bleu et jaune (2019) — woodwind quintet (12:30)

  • Commissioned by Pentaèdre

Supreme (2019) — alto saxophone (6:45)

  • Commissioned by Carrie Koffman

That’s one small step… (2019) — chorus, string quartet or string orchestra, and percussion (18:00)

  • Co-commissioned by the Virginia Choral Society and Alexandria Choral Society

Pop! (2018) — middle school band (4:00)

  • Commissioned by the American Composers Forum

Magnificat (2017) — SATB and SSAA Bulgarian choir (8:30)

  • Commissioned by Karen Clute for the Elm City Girls Choir and Yale Schola Cantorum

Three Songs on Poems by Lorri Neilsen Glenn, (2016) —soprano and piano (15:30)

  • Commissioned by the Canadian Art Song Project for the winner of the 2016 Jeunesses Musicales Maureen Forrest Tour (soprano Magali Simard-Galdès)

No Capacity to Consent (2016) — SSATBarB and chamber ensemble (30:00)

  • Commissioned by Third Practice with assistance from New Music USA

Meadowlark (2016) — marimba and digital audio (14:00)

  • Requested by Ian David Rosenbaum

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

  • Requested by Shawn Mativetsky

La folia (2008) — harpsichord (6:30)

  • Commissioned by Katelyn Clark with assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts

Discography  

Plainsong, in “Envol” (2024) Mélanie Hurel, English horn (Centrediscs)                                          

Paraclete, in “The Cross-Cultural Clarinet” (2020) Shawn Earle, clarinet (digital release by performer)

Magnificat, in “New England Choirworks” (2019 ) Yale Schola Cantorum and Elm City Girls Choir, conducted by David Hill (Hyperion Records)

Spring and Fall: to a young child, in “Fresh: New Music from Canada” (2018 ) Chronos Vocal Ensemble, Jordan van Biert, conductor (released by ensemble)

Thorns, in “Nothing Proved” (2017) Parthenia Viol Consort and Dashon Burton (MSR Classics)

Meadowlark, in “Memory Palace” (2017) Ian David Rosenbaum, marimba (Better Company Records)

Three Songs on Poems by Lorri Neilsen Glenn, in “Muses” (2017) Magali Simard-Galdès, soprano and Olivier Hébert-Bouchard, piano (released by performer)

“Something to Say” (2014) Shawn Mativetsky, tabla (digital release by performer)

Plainsong in “Social Sounds” (2013) Catherine Lee, English horn (Teal Creek Music)

À mon seul désir in “Polka the Elk”  (2011) Rachael Elliott, bassoon and Adrienne Kim, piano, (Music Starts from Silence)

Chantez à l’Éternel in “In Good Company” (2010) the Canadian Chamber Choir (Manitoba Film and Music)