Gregory Lee Newsome

Biography

Gregory Lee Newsome is a composer and Associate Professor, Teaching Stream in the Music Technology & Digital Media program of the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto.

His music has been described as “beautifully wrought” and “an incredibly intricate and hypnotic web of sound, texture, and rhythm.” Drawing from spectralism, his work is rooted in structure but tempered by intuition.

Computation is a core aspect of his artistic practice, from computer-assisted composition to interactive performance to reactive video.

After receiving his Master of Music in Composition from the University of British Columbia, he continued his studies with the late Russian-Canadian master Nikolai Korndorf before travelling to Paris to hone his artistic voice with the iconic Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho.

He has written music at the request of Arraymusic, Aventa, Daniel Cooper, Ian Hampton, Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa, Mark Takeshi McGregor, Olivia Steimel, Phoenix Chamber Choir, Redshift Music Society, Standing Wave, Thin Edge New Music Collective, Tiresias Duo, Vancouver New Music Society, and Vancouver Pro Musica, and his music has been performed and broadcast in North America and Europe.

He has been a resident of the Leighton Artists’ Colony at The Banff Centre (2012, 2014, 2015) and the Media and Graphics Interdisciplinary Centre (MAGIC) at the University of British Columbia (2010).

His work Avarice appears on flutist Mark Takeshi McGregor’s CD Sins & Fantasies, which was nominated for ‘Classical Recording of the Year’ by the 2015 Western Canadian Music Awards.

Gregory Lee Newsome has been a committed advocate for contemporary music, serving as a director of Aventa, The Music Gallery, and Vancouver New Music, as host of the radio programme Are You Serious? Music, and as Artistic Advisor for ensemble1534.