Rodney Sharman (born 24 May 1958) is a Canadian

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 ...

and flutist based in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. His music has been performed in over 30 countries worldwide. He has won several international and national awards, including First Prize in the 1984 CBC Competition for Young Composers. His chamber opera, Elsewhereless, a collaboration with

Atom Egoyan Atom Egoyan (; ; born July 19, 1960) is an Armenian Canadians, Armenian-Canadian filmmaker. One of the most preeminent directors of the Toronto New Wave, he emerged during the 1980s and made his career breakthrough with ''Exotica (film), Exotica ...

, premiered in 1998 and has been staged 35 times internationally.

Biography

Sharman earned degrees from the University of Victoria School of Music (Victoria, B.C.) and the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik (Freiburg, Germany). In May 1991, he earned a PhD from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Sharman studied under Murray Adaskin, Rudolf Komorous,

Brian Ferneyhough Brian John Peter Ferneyhough (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer. Ferneyhough is typically considered the central figure of the New Complexity movement. Ferneyhough has taught composition at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg and ...

, Morton Feldman, David Felder, Frederic Rzewski, Louis Andriessen and Lucas Foss. Sharman was guest composer at the Institute of Sonology (Utrecht, Netherlands) in 1983-84. He taught at Wilfrid Laurier University, the University of British Columbia School of Music, the School for the Contemporary Arts and Faculty of Graduate Liberal Studies,

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

. Sharman was the Vancouver Symphony’s (VSO) Composer-in-Residence from 1997 to 2000 and its Composer/Music Advisor from 2000 to 2001. He was Composer-in-Residence of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada in 2004, and he was Composer-in-Residence of the Victoria Symphony 2008-2010. The Canadian Section of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) elected him President from 1991-95. Canadian League of Composers (CLC) elected Sharman President from 1993-98. He has served on the CLC Council from 1988 to 1999. In 1990, Sharman was awarded the Kranichsteiner Music Prize at the Darmstadt summer courses in Germany.

Style

Sharman's music is notable for its heavy use of extended techniques and exploration of new timbres. He often writes for uncommon instruments or unusual ensembles. He is also known for his opera transcriptions, cabaret songs, and music for harp.

Selected works

* ''The Proximity of Mars'' (1988) * ''In Changing Light'' (1995) * ''Elsewhereless'' (1998) * ''Scarlattiana'' (1999) * ''Four Seasons, One Tree'' (2001) * ''The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa'' (2005) * ''Departures'' (2008)

References

External links

RodneySharman.com

Personal Web Page, accessed 16 February 2010Canadian Music Centre, accessed 31 July 2018
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharman, Rodney 1958 births 21st-century Canadian classical composers 20th-century Canadian classical composers Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Pupils of Louis Andriessen Canadian male classical composers 20th-century Canadian male musicians 21st-century Canadian male musicians