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*  Composer
*  Performer
*  Educator

G. Gordon Nicholson, born in Alberta in 1942, received his B.Mus. from Berklee College of Music in 1970, M.Mus. degree from the University of Alberta studying composition with Violet Archer, and Ph.D. from Saybrook Institute, San Francisco, 1998, for the dissertation on the process of composition. He has life-long experience as a professional musician, (composer, arranger, performer), with compositions performed on ACCESS Network (Alberta Educational Communications Corporation), CBC national radio, CTV, ITV, the Banff Centre and numerous concerts. He received his undergraduate training in composition at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and since 1973, has held the post of Instructor in the music program at Grant MacEwan Community College where he has retired from teaching composition and arranging.

Commissions have been written for The Alberta Foundation for the Arts, The Canada Council for the Arts, the Canadian Music Conference; the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; the RCMP concert-band, Ottawa (and including special commissions for their appearances at Expo ’86 in Vancouver, BC, and Expo ’88 in Brisbane, Australia); the Edmonton Composers’ Concert Society; for Edmonton school ensembles, and the Alberta Band Association (ABA). For the latter he conducted a Composer in the Classroom series in which he did workshops as part of this project with students aged 14-15 on the creative musical process. He has composed much music for radio and television, and has also done work as a commercial arranger for many years. Major works include L.A. Suite (for CBC); Fox Drive (for the RCMP concert band), Edmonton Suite 1 (for Edmonton recorder quintet The Plumber’s Union and CBC); Edmonton Suite II (for Radio Canada); Ms Jaws (for the ABA); Tricerasuite (for Triceratops brass trio); Hammersuite (for the Hammerhead Consort); Nine Miniatures (Neuf Miniatures) for alto sax and piano, written for Duo Dilemme.

In 1989-1990, he was granted sabbatical leave from Grant MacEwan Community College to travel and research the creative process and how it may be stimulated. This included extensive travel and consulting in Europe, India, south-east Asia, particularly Bali, Java and Thailand; and especially an interest in the music of Rajasthan, India and the Gamelan music of Bali and Java.

Dr. Nicholson is a member the ECCS (Edmonton Composers Concert Society), an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre (CMC), and a member of the Canadian League of Composers (CLC), with memberships in the AFM and SOCAN. He sits of the board of the Edmonton Composers’ Concert Society. He is married to Elisabeth Rinsoz, formerly of Lausanne, Switzerland. Currently he is residing in Switzerland with his wife where he composing, playing jazz, and doing workshops involved with musical creativity.
 

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