Alex Pauk is passionate about music that's never been heard before. He founded the Esprit Orchestra in 1983 for exactly that reason, and since then Pauk has commissioned and conducted more than 80 new works by Canadian composers. He has also conducted Canadian premieres of new international music, and has performed it in public spaces including night clubs, food courts, and even the CN Tower.
Pauk grew up in Toronto, and as host of This Is My Music he reveals that he was a hot young accordion player. He studied music in Canada, Japan and Europe, and settled for a time in Vancouver. There, he taught music and led the Vancouver Youth Orchestra. He also co-founded the new music group Days, Months and Years to Come.
Alex Pauk is himself a composer who has written for every kind of sound combination from traditional instruments to electro-acoustic and digital effects. He has used nature sounds, jazz and world music in his compositions, and his large-scale pieces for theatre and dance include lighting and sculpture in the presentation. Together with his wife, composer Alexina Louie, Pauk has won the Louis Applebaum composers award for film and television music.
Alex Pauk hosts This Is My Music on Saturday, Jan. 19 on CBC Radio 2, 10:05 a.m. to noon in most of the country, 11:05 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in Atlantic Canada.
Related:
Esprit Orchestra's artist page at CBC Music
Listen: Esprit Orchestra in concert at Koerner Hall
posted by
hele montagna
on Jan 16, 2013