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Biography
Robert Rival joins the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra as Composer in Residence in the 2011/12 season. Critics have described his work, written in a contemporary tonal style, as "well crafted", "engaging", "immediately appealing", "melodic and accessible" and "memorable". His music for orchestra, chamber ensemble, voice and the stage has been broadcast on CBC radio and performed by the Gryphon Trio and other leading Canadian musicians, ensembles and orchestras. Rival holds a doctorate in composition from the University of Toronto. www.robertrival.com SHORT BIO (197 WORDS) Robert Rival, born in Calgary, joins the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra as Composer in Residence in the 2011/12 season. Critics have described his work, written in a contemporary tonal style, as "well crafted", "engaging", "immediately appealing", "melodic and accessible", "memorable"—and his song cycle, Red Moon and Other Songs of War, as "an unequivocal hit". His music for orchestra, chamber ensemble, voice and the stage has been broadcast on CBC radio and performed by the Gryphon Trio and other leading Canadian musicians, ensembles and orchestras. His orchestral works include a one-movement Symphony "Maligne Range", inspired by a hike through the Rockies, and a children's work, Maya the Bee, based on the classic tale. Committed to music education and appreciation, he has taught theory and composition to students of all ages, at several universities as well as privately, and has written liner and program notes for major festivals, presenters and record labels. Rival holds a doctorate in composition from the University of Toronto. In his spare time you will find him playing shinny hockey at the local rink or out for a run. He lives with his wife Chantal-Andrée Samson, a realist oil painter, and their son Raphaël. www.robertrival.com FULL BIO Born in Calgary in 1975, Robert Rival joins the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra as Composer in Residence in the 2011/12 season. A composer of music for chamber ensemble, orchestra, voice and theatre who writes in a contemporary tonal style, critics have described his music as "well crafted", "engaging", "attractive", "immediately appealing", "melodic and accessible", "memorable", "brisk and bounding"—and his song cycle, Red Moon and Other Songs of War, as "an unequivocal hit". Rival's works have been broadcast on CBC radio and performed in Canada, USA, UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy and Australia, by ensembles and musicians including the Gryphon Trio, the Windsor Symphony, Musica Camerata (Montreal), the Ottawa Symphony, the National Academy Orchestra, the Canadian Sinfonietta Chamber Players, Boris Brott and Denise Djokic, in venues and festivals including the National Arts Centre (Canada), Dublin National Concert Hall, Bridewell Theatre (London, UK), Salle Cortot (Paris), Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, NY International Fringe Festival, Festival Vancouver, Redpath Hall (Montreal), Heliconian Hall (Toronto), Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre (Toronto), Windsor Armouries and Hamilton Place Great Hall. A Canada Council for the Arts grant recipient and an Associate Composer of the CMC, Rival was a Featured Composer at the Windsor Canadian Music Festival in 2010. He has been commissioned by the CBC, the Canadian Music Centre, Toronto's Talisker Players and Windermere String Quartet, the Ottawa Youth Orchestra, Trevor Pittman and Australia's Elanée Ensemble, among others. Rival completed his doctorate in composition at the University of Toronto in 2010, winning the John Weinzweig Graduate Scholarship, an award given annually to a graduating masters or doctoral student in composition "who exhibits extraordinary creative talent". He also has an MFA in musical theatre composition (New York University, 2002) and an MMus in composition and theory (University of Ottawa, 1998). In 2004 he obtained a diploma from the European American Musical Alliance summer composition program in Paris. His major studies have been with Alexander Rapoport and Steven Gellman. Rival's orchestral works include the one-movement Symphony "Maligne Range" that was inspired by a hiking trip in the Canadian Rockies, a Scherzo for small orchestra, an Elegy for strings, the children's piece Maya the Bee for orchestra and narrator and The Great Northern Diver, a symphonic poem about the common loon. Red Moonrise over Lac Rhéaume for string orchestra was a finalist in the 2004 Oare International String Orchestra Composing Competition (UK) where it received the Orchestra 2nd Prize and Audience 3rd Prize. Rival's chamber music includes a Piano Trio, a Clarinet Trio, Fantasy on a Theme of Schubert for violin and piano, a Sonata for viola and double bass, Sonata "Muskoka" for clarinet and piano, and String Sextet "The Tempest". His song cycle Red Moon & Other Songs of War was premiered by Melanie Conly and Peter Longworth; the chamber version by Alexander Dobson and the Talisker Players. Other works include Six Pieces for solo piano written for Michael Esch. Rival's theatre works include The Overcoat, a one-act musical based on the Gogol story, staged twice in 2002, at the NY International Fringe Festival and the Bridewell Theatre. In addition to composing, Rival is active as a music writer and scholar. A recipient of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) doctoral award for his research on Shostakovich, the Canadian University Music Society awarded him the 2009 George Proctor Prize for best graduate student paper, which in expanded form has been published in the journal twentieth-century music (Cambridge University Press). He has also read papers at the Sixth Biennial International Conference on Music Since 1900 and at the Shostakovich 2006: International Centenary Conference, both held in the UK. Rival has written program notes for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Summer Music Academy and Festival, Ottawa Chamber Music Society and the University of Toronto Faculty of Music. He has also published liner notes with the record labels Analekta and ATMA Classique; an article on Gary Kulesha in SOCAN's Words & Music; and features on Messiaen and Slavic music for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Based in Edmonton, Alberta, Rival lives with his wife Chantal-Andrée Samson, a realist oil painter who also taught life-drawing at Humber College in Toronto for several years, and their son, Raphaël. In his spare time you will find him playing shinny hockey at the local rink or out for a run.
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