Steven J. Naylor

Professional & Biographical Information

Principal Education

PhD. Musical Composition (with Jonty Harrison). University of Birmingham (UK).
BIS. Independent Studies – Music. University of Waterloo.
BA. English. Waterloo Lutheran University.

Professional Activities

Composer - concert works

My electroacoustic concert works have been performed at Sound Symposium, broadcast on CBC's The Signal and Two New Hours, and diffused in concert in Canada, Brazil, the United States and the UK. This work is my main artistic and academic focus.

Most of my acoustic works were made for performance by the Canadian new music collective Upstream and its many guests and collaborators. Those include Symphony Nova Scotia (conducted by Peter Lieberson, and by Peter Wiegold), Gerry Granelli, Barry Guy, Conrado del Rosario, Tom Walsh, Jean Derome, Akikazu Nakamura, Michiyo Yagi  - and many other amazing artists. 

Composer and Sound Designer – dramatic and media scores

My dramatic and media work includes dozens of original scores and sound designs for:

·       professional theatres, particularly Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia.
·       CBC radio themes, dramas, and studio arrangements.
·       film and TV productions by NFB, CBC TV and independent producers.
·       TV and Radio commercials.
·       multimedia installations in many Canadian National Parks.

Please contact me for further details or credit lists.

Producer - sound recordings

As a media composer and sound designer, I produce virtually everything I compose, and also work occasionally as an independent record producer.

University teacher

I taught and developed classes in electroacoustic music in the Dalhousie University Department of Music (part-time) from 1994 until 2001. In 2004, I began to teach, intermittently and part-time, at Acadia University.

Performer and recording artist

I have performed and recorded many kinds of music in many different contexts.  For those who like categories, that includes music with invented names like avant-garde folk, rockified franco-folklore, prog rock, jazz-rock fusion, country rock, neo-celtic, contemporary concert music, contemporary jazz, avant jazz, collective creation, and orchestral improvisation.  

From 1990 through 2000, I performed regularly in an annual concert series with the composer-performer collective, Upstream. Since then, I perform occasionally with the expanded Upstream Orchestra, and sometimes perform, tour and record with the Paul Cram Orchestra (piano, electronics).

Favourite Reviews

Over the years, my performance work has garnered some very interesting reviews. 
These are a few of my favourites.

As pop keyboard performer in leading taverns across the land:
“Play something we can dance to!”
“Play something we know!”
“Play something you know!”

As reluctant organist at a granola-ish wedding:
(in a very loud 'stage whisper')
“The music’s bothering me.  Or rather, the lack of it.”

As solo pianist, rehearsing privately:
(agitated shouting from the alley below)
“I don’t want to hear your music.
She don’t want to hear your music. 
Nobody wants to hear your music!”

As piano soloist with Upstream:
“…romped around the keyboard like a killer whale at showtime in the public aquarium, splashing tidal waves of notes all over the spectators.” (Stephen Pederson, Chronicle Herald).

As pianist with the Paul Cram Orchestra:
“The most notorious offenders against the mainstream values [include] pianist Steven Naylor...” (Geoff Chapman, Toronto Star)

The Long Biography

Steven Naylor's early career was focused on performing, arranging and recording popular music; credits in the 1970’s included albums with the celebrated bands Lougarou (later called Garolou) in Québèc, and RAM in Nova Scotia. He also performed frequently as a session musician on other recordings and broadcasts.

By the early 1980’s, Naylor had shifted his attention to television, film and radio; he composed and produced numerous original scores and programme themes for CBC Radio and TV, The National Film Board, Parks Canada, and independent producers. At the same time, he began what has become a long-term professional relationship with Mermaid Theatre, Canada’s best known and most widely exported producer of original theatre for young audiences. Naylor continues to create original scores for the company’s international touring productions, and serves as Mermaid’s artistic advisor for music and sound design.

In 1990, Naylor became involved with Upstream, a contemporary music organisation rooted at the confluence of improvisation and through-composition, and began to devote more time to personal creative work, both instrumental and electroacoustic. During more than a decade of work with Upstream, Naylor participated in an annual concert series featuring the Upstream Ensemble; produced a CD for the ensemble; performed in a number of collaborations with Symphony Nova Scotia; and performed several times at Scotia Festival of Music and other festivals with the Upstream Orchestra. He composed and premiered many original works during this period, and was frequently a featured soloist on works by other composers. Naylor also served periodically on the organisation’s Board of Directors, and as a co-Artistic Director.

In 1994, Naylor joined the faculty of Dalhousie University, initially to teach an existing class in electronic and experimental music. After developing a substantial curriculum in electroacoustics and music technology for the University, he left that position in 2001 to concentrate again on personal work and to complete the PhD in musical composition under Jonty Harrison at the University of Birmingham, UK.

At present, Naylor continues to compose and produce electroacoustic concert music, and create theatre scores for Mermaid Theatre. His work is performed regularly throughout North America, Asia, and Europe. He also teaches, part-time, in the School of Music at Acadia University.

In addition to his work as a composer and teacher, Naylor is also regularly involved with research and support activities related to electroacoustics, including co-production of the Oscillations Festival in 2003, 2005, and 2008; a term as President of Canada’s national electroacoustic music association, the Canadian Electroacoustic Community; and serving as a consultant to a research study on the sociology of creative technology, at Acadia University.

As a professional pianist, Naylor has also worked with the Canadian ‘avant jazz’ ensemble, The Paul Cram Orchestra, on recordings and at major jazz festivals in Canada and abroad. The group’s second CD, Live in Lisbon, was released in 2005.

Steven Naylor is married to Pamela Ritchie, an artist and professor at NSCAD University in Halifax. They have two daughters, and live near Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Some current affiliations

Canadian Music Centre
SOCAN 
Canadian League of Composers

Last update:  September 15, 2008

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