Ron Korb is a

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

-nominated Canadian

flutist 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 ...

(flautist) and composer.

Musical style

Korb is best known for writing culturally diverse music and his mastery of a wide array of

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

wind instruments. His work spans a range of genres including Classical,

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, Latin, Asian,

Celtic music Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celts (modern), Celtic people of Northwestern Europe (the modern Celtic nations). It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and ...

, and Middle Eastern. Many of his songs are

program music Program music or programmatic music is a type of instrumental art music that attempts to musically render an extramusical narrative. The narrative itself might be offered to the audience through the piece's title, or in the form of program not ...

based on stories themes that form

concept albums A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

. The concepts often come from his exploration of his multi-cultural ancestry and extensive travel experience.

Education

Ron Korb started on the recorder in grade school and later joined an Irish fife and drum band in his teens. While attending 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 ...

, he won several local music competitions. He attended

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

for a year to broaden his experience of playing jazz but later earned a scholarship to study classical flute at

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 ...

where he graduated with a degree in Music Performance. His primary teacher was Douglas Stewart but he also participated in master classes with

Paula Robison Paula Robison (born June 8, 1941) is a flute soloist and teacher. Early life and education Paula Robison was born in Nashville, Tennessee, the daughter of David V. and Naomi Robison, an actor. David Robison was a playwright and writer for film a ...

, Robert Aitken in Shawnigan,

Raymond Guiot Raymond Guiot (born 5 October 1930) is a French flautist, pianist and composer. He has also trained many flutists throughout the world. Biography Source: Guiot entered the Conservatoire de Roubaix at the age of 7, pushed by a father in love w ...

Domaine Forget Le Domaine Forget de Charlevoix is an international music festival and a music and dance academy in Saint-Irénée, Quebec, Saint-Irénée, Charlevoix, Quebec, Canada. The domain is a operated by a non-profit organization occupying a large set ...

and Michel Debost in Assisi, Italy. After graduating with honors from University, Korb discovered

Chinese flutes Flutes made in China come in a variety of different types: Transverse flutes: *dizi (instrument), Dizi (and its varieties such as the dizi (instrument), qudi and dizi (instrument), bangdi; primary transverse flutes, usually made of bamboo and di ...

(Chinese: 笛子, English: Dizi, inyin ''dÍ zÎ''). The sound of the Asian bamboo flute intrigued him so much that he moved to Japan in the early '90s to study Japanese

Gagaku is a type of Japanese classical music that was historically used for imperial court music and dances. was developed as court music of the Kyoto Imperial Palace, and its near-current form was established in the Heian period (794–1185) arou ...

court music, the traditional

shinobue The ''shinobue'' (kanji: 篠笛; also called ''takebue'' (kanji: 竹笛) in the context of Japanese traditional arts) is a Japanese transverse flute or fue that has a high-pitched sound. Usage It is found in hayashi and nagauta ensemb ...

and ryūteki

bamboo flutes The bamboo flute, especially the bone flute, is one of the oldest musical instruments known. Examples of Paleolithic bone flutes have survived for more than 40,000 years, to be discovered by archaeologists. While the oldest flutes currently kno ...

with Akao Michiko. Since then he has travelled around the world collecting and studying indigenous flutes. He has a collection of more than 250 flutes.

Career

Ron Korb has released more than 30 solo albums on various record labels. Ron has had many collaborations with longtime friend Donald Quan. In 1990 they released Tear of the Sun which charted No. 1 in the Canadian

New Age Music New-age is a genre of music intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management to bring about a state of ecstasy rather than tra ...

Top 40 and in 2001 they did the musical direction for Peter Gabriel's Tribute and Homage for

Harbourfront Centre Harbourfront Centre is a cultural organization on the waterfront of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated at 235 Queens Quay West. Established as a crown corporation in 1972 by the Government of Canada to create a waterfront park, it became a no ...

's "World Leaders". The musical talent they shared the stage with included

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

Jane Siberry Jane Siberry ( ; ; born 12 October 1955) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, known for such hits as "Mimi on the Beach", "I Muse Aloud", "One More Colour" and "Calling All Angels (Jane Siberry song), Calling All Angels". She performed the theme so ...

Tia Carrere Althea Rae Duhinio Janairo (born January 2, 1967), known professionally as Tia Carrere (), is an American actress and singer who got her first big break as a regular on the daytime soap opera ''General Hospital''. Carrere played Cassandra Wong i ...

, Arn Chorn-Pond, Jeff Martin,

Andy Stochansky Andy Stochansky is a musician and songwriter from Toronto, Canada. Early years Born and raised in Toronto, Stochansky began tinkering with the family piano at the age of five. To stop him from making music with anything he could get his hands ...

and Lorraine Segato. That same year they penned the song for the Toronto Olympic Bid which was performed by the Toronto Symphony, Samba Squad and Nathaniel Dett Chorale in

Roy Thomson Hall Roy Thomson Hall is a concert hall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located downtown in the city's entertainment district, it is home to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, and the esports team Toronto Defiant. Opened ...

. In 2004 Ron Korb Live was released which was filmed in

Victoriaville Victoriaville () is a town in south-central Quebec, Canada, on the Nicolet River. Victoriaville is the seat of Arthabaska Regional County Municipality and a part of the Centre-du-Québec (Bois-Francs) region. It is formed by the 1993 merger of ...

Quebec, directed by Pierre and François Lamoureux and became the first independent artist in Canada to release a full-length DVD.

Composing

Other than writing the instrumental pieces for his albums he has also written songs for major Asian singers. His song for

Alan Tam Alan Tam Wing-lun (; born 23 August 1950) is a Hong Kong singer and actor. He played a major role in developing the Cantopop scene in the 1980s as he was known for singing romantic ballads with modern arrangements. From 1983 to 1987, Alan Tam re ...

( zh, t=譚詠麟) achieved Double Platinum sales. Another song recorded by the "Godfather of Cantopop"

Roman Tam Roman Tam Pak-sin (; 12 February 1945 – 18 October 2002), known professionally by his stage name Law Man (), was a Hong Kong singer. He is regarded as the "Grand Godfather of Cantopop". Career Born in Baise, Guangxi, China, with family ro ...

( zh, t=羅文) won Best Original Composition at the RTHK awards (

Radio Television Hong Kong Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service of Hong Kong. GOW, the predecessor to RTHK, was established in 1928 as the first broadcasting service in Hong Kong. As a government department under the Commerce and Economic ...

), Hong Kong's equivalent of the Grammys. In 2008 Ron was asked to put together a book of flute and piano pieces for classical flute exams for the

Australian Music Examinations Board The Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB) is a federated, privately funded corporation which provides a program of examinations for music, speech and drama in Australia. The organisation had its beginnings at the Universities of Melbourne ...

Flute for Leisure syllabus. Ron has also composed music for film dance and theatre. In 2012, Ron Korb's classical crossover album ''

Europa Europa may refer to: Places * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Cliffs, Alexan ...

'' (officially released in 2013, won the Global Music Awards, California, in 4 categories including: Award of Excellence-Album, Composition (St. Johann), Album Art/Graphics (Designer: Jade Yeh); Award of Merit: Acoustic Instrumental Solo Performance (St. Johann). His composition, Beckett's Whisper, originally written for Irish flute, pennywhistle, violin, cello, Celtic harp, accordion, double bass and piano, was rearranged by Korb himself for the Canadian Flute Association for flute choir: Piccolo, 4 C Flutes (flute 4 requires low B foot), Alto flute, Bass flute, Contrabass flute. Beckett's Whisper for flute choir was included in the 1st Canadian Flute Convention Closing Program as well as the opening concert of the 2014 National Flute Association (NFA) Convention in Chicago (played by Windy City Flute Orchestra, conducted by Kelly Via)

Discography

*2024 Global Canvas *2018 World Café *2015 Asia Beauty *2013

*2010 Oriental Angels vs Ron Korb DVD, China *2009 Once Upon A Time (龍笛傳說), Taiwan *2009 Dragon Heart (龍の心), Singapore *2008 Native Earth (聖靈大地), Taiwan *2007 Ron Korb 龙笛 - 当代第一魔笛, China *2006 Our Native Land *2006 East West Road, Singapore *2005 Rainforest Flute - Ron Korb and Ken Davis, Australia *2005 Seasons: Christmas Carols – with Donald Quan *2005 Ron Korb Live (Singapore) *2004 Ron Korb Live DVD *2004 Ron Korb Live CD *2004 Celtic Quest (重返祕世界), Taiwan *2003 Romancing the Dragon - The Best of Ron Korb, Singapore *2003 World Of Ron Korb *2002 Taming the Dragon (龍笛), Taiwan *2001 Behind the Mask (東方戀), Taiwan *2001 Celtic Heartland (心靈祕境), Taiwan *2000 Celtic Heartland *2000 Celtic Quest *2000 Rencontre en Provence, France *1999 Tapestries - Titanic Odyssey *1999 Mada Minu Tomo e, Japan *1999 Taming The Dragon *1998 Celtic Skye *1998 Natural Friends (UK) *1996 Tapestries - Celtic Dawn *1995 Behind the Mask *1994 Flute Traveller *1993 Japanese Mysteries – with Hiroki Sakaguchi *1990 Tear of the Sun – with Donald Quan

Single

*2021 Plenty Nan (Le Studio Version) *2019 Sister of the Wind *2016 Behind the Mask

Awards and recognitions

*Independent Music Award for Best Album – World Beat (''World Café''), 2018 *Nominee for 58th

Grammy Award for Best New Age Album The Grammy Award for Best New Age, Ambient or Chant Album is presented to recording artists for quality albums in the new-age music genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. H ...

(''Asia Beauty''), 2016 *First Prize, Best Instrumental (''Two Mountains'' from ''Asia Beauty''), IAMA 2016 *Gold Medal Winner – Best of Show, Best Instrumental Album (''Asia Beauty''), The Global Music Awards 2015 *Best World Album(''Asia Beauty''), Zone Music Award 2015 *First Prize, Best World/Global Fusion Album (''Asia Beauty''), One World Music Awards 2015 *Best Instrumental Performance (''Blue Bamboo'' from Album ''Asia Beauty''), The Global Music Awards 2015 *Silver Medal Winners – Outstanding Achievement, Chinese Crossover World Music (''House of the Five Beauties'' from Album ''Asia Beauty'') and Album Art/Graphics (''Asia Beauty''), The Global Music Awards 2015 *Finalist in the open song category (''Hanoi Café'' from Album ''Asia Beauty''), International Acoustic Music Awards 2015 *Nominee on Best World Music, Toronto Independent Music Awards 2015 *Grand Prize Winner,

Canadian National Exhibition The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), also known as The Exhibition or The Ex, is an annual fair that takes place at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the third Friday of August leading up to and including Labour Day (Canada), ...

*2012 Beckett's Whisper (from Album Europa), Finalist, International Acoustic Music Awards

References

External links

Ron Korb official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Korb, Ron Canadian film score composers Canadian male film score composers Canadian flautists Musicians from Toronto University of Toronto alumni The Royal Conservatory of Music alumni Canadian classical flautists Canadian jazz flautists Canadian experimental musicians Canadian record producers Canadian musicians of Japanese descent Canadian world music musicians New-age musicians Living people Canadian male jazz musicians Year of birth missing (living people)