The gifted young Canadian conductor Karl Hirzer can’t remember a time when he didn’t want to be a musician.
Karl grew up in Vancouver, BC, in a household filled with music. His parents had Glenn Gould and Louis Armstrong on the CD player; he and his mother sang along with Irish folk songs on the radio (and he’d let her know if she hit a wrong note).
He was “composing” at the family’s upright piano at age four. Formal piano lessons began at six. At twelve he started playing guitar in heavy metal bands and dreamed of becoming a rock star, while simultaneously perfecting Chopin Études and Beethoven Sonatas. He earned his ARCT at seventeen.
Today he can be found on the podium internationally, having led orchestras from Vancouver to Boston, from the Gstaad Festival to educational programs in Warsaw. He is the 2022 recipient of the Heinz Unger Award, presented biennially by the Ontario Arts Council to Canada’s most promising emerging conductor, and in 2023 completed a seven-year tenure as Associate Conductor with the Calgary Philharmonic.
Karl was a prodigious pianist and studied to become a soloist at the University of Victoria before getting his master’s at McGill University in Montreal.
He got his first taste of conducting an orchestra during his undergrad and basked in the wondrous experience of sharing his musical ideas with a big band of musicians and an audience, through simple gestures. Imagine – hundreds of people in the concert hall, each having a unique experience of a shared moment, something communal and intimate at the same time, forging a personal relationship with a composer who may be long dead – or sitting in the front row.
He believes music plays an essential role in our lives.It touches us viscerally, even though we can’t really explain why or how.
Karl is especially committed to exploring music by living composers and believes that modern music defines what the classical idiom is today. He’s also heavily invested in bringing music to young audiences, helping them discover a sound world that’s completely captivating. His contributions to the arts, community and education were recognized with his inclusion in Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 under 40 list for 2022.
He continues to perform as an instrumentalist and also composes his own music, blending genres while mixing acoustic and electronic instruments. Heads up – his first album of original material will be released in fall of 2023.
https://www.karlhirzer.com/
Signed to Atlantic/Warner Records at the tender age of 19, four-time Juno nominee and modern-day Renaissance woman Sarah Slean has since released 11 albums in over 10 countries worldwide – but perhaps the most astonishing aspect of her artistry is its breadth. Over her 25-year career, Slean has published two volumes of poetry, starred in short films and a movie musical (spawning two Gemini Award nominations), penned two string quartets and other chamber works, held numerous exhibitions of her paintings, and shared the stage with 10 of the country’s professional orchestras. Classically trained from the age of 5, she routinely collaborates with cutting-edge contemporary classical ensembles like The Art of Time, and has been invited to sing world premieres by Canada’s leading living composers. She composes orchestral arrangements for her own music as well as for her pop colleagues (Dan Mangan, Hawksley Workman) and her recent collaborative recording with the Symphony Nova Scotia was just nominated for both an East Coast Music Award and a Juno Award in the Classical Album category (2021). Sarah is also a recent alumna of the prestigious Canadian Film Centre’s screen composing residency (2017-8) and just earned her first Canadian Screen Award (2021).