Nick Peros (born March 17, 1963) is a Canadian classical

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. He bases his musical work on symphonic,

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

l, choral, vocal, and chamber genres and is also a published

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

Early life

Peros was born in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, and received his first

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

at age six. At age eleven, he began studying the instrument seriously, focusing mainly on

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

genres. While in his teens, Peros became interested in

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

and composition and enrolled in formal studies of

theory A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...

and composition. From 1987 to 1989, he studied with Dr. Tony Dawson at the

Royal Conservatory of Music The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM; ), branded as The Royal Conservatory, is a non-profit music education institution and performance venue headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1886 by Edward Fisher (musician), Edwar ...

's ARCT program in

. He is also a graduate of the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

(BSc).

Compositions and recordings

Peros' catalogue of works includes compositions for

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

chorus, accompanied solo voice, solo instrumental works, as well as chamber and orchestral works. He has released six recordings to date.

Vocal

Peros's vocal works are primarily songs for solo voice and

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

and are settings of various

poetic Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

texts, including texts by

Emily Brontë Emily Jane Brontë (, commonly ; 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English writer best known for her 1847 novel, ''Wuthering Heights''. She also co-authored a book of poetry with her sisters Charlotte Brontë, Charlotte and Anne Bront� ...

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...

, A.E. Housman,

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poetry, Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romanticism, Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Balla ...

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

, et al. His CD ''Songs'' (Phoenix Records, 2000), performed by

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

Heidi Klann and

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

Alayne Hall, features thirty-one songs for voice and piano, seventeen of which are settings of the poetry of

, with a number of those being the first time Brontë's poems have been set to music.

Choral

Peros's choral works focus largely on

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...

s, composed for two to five part choruses and characterized by both

homophonic Homophony and Homophonic are from the Greek language, Greek ὁμόφωνος (''homóphōnos''), literally 'same sounding,' from ὁμός (''homós''), "same" and φωνή (''phōnē''), "sound". It may refer to: *Homophones − words with the s ...

and

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ...

textures. Peros' debut CD ''Motets'' (Phoenix Records 1999), features a selection of 20 motets performed by The Renaissance Singers, conducted by Richard Cunningham. The Motets received their world premiere performance on September 24, 1999, at

's George Weston Recital Hall. It was performed by The Renaissance Singers, conducted by Richard Cunningham. ''Prayer of Consolation'' is a large-scale a cappella choral work in eleven movements composed to mark the First Anniversary of

9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, featuring a

Biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

text compiled by Peros to reflect a dialogue between

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

and Man on the day of those events. It received its world premiere on September 10, 2002, in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, at the

Washington National Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Episcopal Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral or National Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Wa ...

, where it was performed by the Palestrina Choir, conducted by Michael Harrison, as part of the U.S. commemorations of the first anniversary of 9/11.

Solo instrumental

Peros's compositions for solo instrument include works for

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

, piano, and guitar. ''Soliloquies'' (Phoenix Records, 2012) features a selection of works for solo instrument, including ''Eden'' for solo flute, ''Suite No.1 for Solo Cello'' and five ''Poemes for Solo Piano''. Selected ''Poemes for Solo Piano'' were recorded by Canadian pianist Linda Shumas and were included on her recording "''Paradise Reborn"''. Compositions for solo guitar include ''24 Nocturnes for Solo Guitar'', ''Sonata for Solo Guitar'', ''Rondo for Solo Guitar'' and five ''Suites for Solo Guitar''. ''Nocturnes: 24 Nocturnes for Solo Guitar'' (DeoSonic Music, 2017) was the world premiere recording of the 24

nocturne A nocturne is a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night. History The term ''nocturne'' (from French '' nocturne'' "of the night") was first applied to musical pieces in the 18th century, when it indicated an ensembl ...

s and was performed and recorded by Canadian guitarist Michael Kolk. The ''24 Nocturnes'' and the ''Rondo for Solo Guitar'' are published by Les Productions D'Oz.

Chamber and orchestral

Peros's chamber works include a ''Sonata for Cello and Piano'', various duets and music for string trio. His orchestral works include ''Prelude to Beren & Luthien'', a one-movement work for full orchestra inspired by the Tolkien story, and ''Northern Lights''. ''Northern Lights'' (1993) is a one-movement orchestral work which received its world premiere in November 1994, performed by Symphony Hamilton, conducted by Clyde Mitchell. In 1997, ''Northern Lights'' was further performed across

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, including a performance by the

Regina Symphony Orchestra The Regina Symphony Orchestra (RSO) was founded by Frank Laubach, in Regina, Saskatchewan, as the Regina Orchestral Society in 1908, giving its inaugural concert December 3 of that same year. Becoming the Regina Choral and Orchestral Society in 1 ...

, conducted by Marc David, which was recorded and broadcast nationally by

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

. Most recently, ''Northern Lights,'' was performed by the

Arcady Ensemble The Arcady Ensemble is a Canadian musical ensemble based in Brantford, Brantford, Ontario founded in 1998 by composer and artistic director Ronald Beckett. The organization serves as an arts training organization that combines professional singers ...

under the direction of Ronald Beckett.

Producer

Peros is also a music producer. His CD ''O Canada – A Canadian Celebration'' (Peros Music, 2002) is both

Certified platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

and Certified gold, while the CDs ''Home for Christmas'' (Peros Music, 2004), ''HomeGrown'' (Peros Music, 2005) and ''Stories from Home'' (Peros Music, 2005) are Certified gold.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Peros, Nick 21st-century Canadian classical composers Living people 1963 births Canadian male classical composers 21st-century Canadian male musicians