John Estacio
Encyclopedia
Life and career
Estacio was born in Newmarket, OntarioNewmarket, Ontario
Newmarket is a town in Southern Ontario located approximately 50 km north of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area and is connected to Toronto by freeway, and is served by three interchanges along Highway 404. It is also connected to Highway 400 via Highway 9...
. Raised in the farming community of the Holland Marsh, Ontario, Estacio took piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
lessons, and played church organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
every Sunday. As a teenager, he created soundtracks for short student films, played trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
, and performed in high school productions of Broadway musicals.
He majored in composition at Wilfrid Laurier University
Wilfrid Laurier University
Wilfrid Laurier University is a university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It also has campuses in Brantford, Ontario, Kitchener, Ontario and Toronto, Ontario and a future proposed campus in Milton, Ontario. It is named in honour of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the seventh Prime Minister of Canada....
in Waterloo, Ontario
Waterloo, Ontario
Waterloo is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It is the smallest of the three cities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, and is adjacent to the city of Kitchener....
studying with Glenn Buhr and Peter Hatch. He earned his post-graduate degree at the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
where he studied composition with Stephen Chatman
Stephen Chatman
Stephen Chatman is an American composer residing in Canada.-Biography:Chatman was born in Faribault, Minnesota, and studied with Joseph R. Wood and Walter Aschaffenburg at the Oberlin Conservatory and with Ross Lee Finney, Leslie Bassett, William Bolcom, and Eugene Kurtz at the University of...
.
In 1992, his first major orchestral work, Visoes da Noite, won second-prize in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Its primary concert venue is the Centennial Concert Hall, and the orchestra also performs throughout the province of Manitoba.-History:...
’s Canadian Composers Competition. Saudades for orchestra was premiered at the WSO’s New Music Festival in 1993.
From 1992 to 2000, Estacio was Composer in Residence of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
As the professional orchestra of Alberta's creative capital city, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra presents over 85 concerts a year of symphonic music in all genres, from classical to country...
. During his residency, Estacio created several orchestral works, participated in novel audience outreach programs, and created the Young Composers Project.
A Farmer’s Symphony (1994), Borealis (1997), Flights of Fancy (1999), Frenergy (1998), Triple Concerto for Piano, Violin and Cello (1997), Variations on a Memory (1995), Victims of Us All (1996), Wondrous Light (1997) and The Twins and the Monster (2001) a children’s tale for actress and orchestra with text by Tololwa M. Mollel, were all written for the ESO.
From 2000 to 2003, Estacio was Composer in Residence with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra
Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra
The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra, based in Calgary, Alberta. The orchestra gives the majority of its performances in the Jack Singer Concert Hall of the EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts...
and the Calgary Opera
Calgary Opera
The Calgary Opera is a Canadian professional opera company in Calgary, Alberta, originally known as the Southern Alberta Opera Association. It performs in the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, accompanied by the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and the Calgary Opera Chorus...
. He composed Solaris (2000), Bootlegger’s Tarantella (2001) and Spring’s Promise (2004) for the orchestra, and between 2001 and 2003 he wrote the opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
Filumena (based on the life of Filumena Lassandro
Filumena Lassandro
- Biography :Born in Southern Italy, Lassandro emigrated to Southern Alberta and married Charlie Lassandro in 1915. This allegedly poor marriage led Lassandro into the world of bootlegging, as Prohibition was not in effect in Alberta...
) with librettist John Murrell. Premiered in Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, the opera has been performed at the Banff Centre
Banff Centre
The Banff Centre, formerly known as The Banff Centre for Continuing Education, is an arts, cultural, and educational institution and conference complex located in Banff, Alberta...
, Ottawa’s National Arts Centre
National Arts Centre
The National Arts Centre is a centre for the performing arts located in Ottawa, Ontario, between Elgin Street and the Rideau Canal...
, and by the Edmonton Opera, where it was filmed for television broadcast on the CBC
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
television network.
Estacio also been commissioned to write works for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario.-History:The TSO was founded in 1922 as the New Symphony Orchestra, and gave its first concert at Massey Hall in April 1923. The orchestra changed its name to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1927. The TSO...
, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra
Montreal Symphony Orchestra
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal is a symphony orchestra based in Montréal, Québec, Canada, with Montréal's Place des Arts as its home.-History:...
, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra
Manitoba Chamber Orchestra
The Manitoba Chamber Orchestra is a chamber orchestra based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1972 by Ruben Gurevich, the ensemble's first music director, the MCO presents nine concerts annually at Westminster United Church and tours in rural Manitoba, Canada and elsewhere.The MCO...
, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra performing in Vancouver, British Columbia. Over 240,000 people attend its live performances each year. It was founded in 1930 and plays in 12 venues. Its home is the Orpheum theatre. With an annual operating budget of $9.5 million, it is the...
, the CBC Radio Orchestra
CBC Radio Orchestra
The CBC Radio Orchestra was a Canadian orchestra based in Vancouver, British Columbia that was operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Until the early 1980s CBC had a number of orchestras located in Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax but due to federal government budget cuts they...
, the Banff International String Quartet Competition, and the Penderecki String Quartet. His music has been performed by all the major Canadian orchestras, as well as internationally.
In 2003 the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and conductor Mario Bernardi
Mario Bernardi
Mario Bernardi, is a Canadian conductor and pianist. He has conducted 75 different operas and over 450 other works with the National Arts Centre Orchestra.-Early years:...
recorded six of Estacio’s major orchestral compositions. Released in 2004, the compact disc Frenergy was nominated for two Juno Award
Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
s. In 2004 the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra
Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra
The Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra is a professional orchestra based in the Community Auditorium in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. It was founded on 29 November 1960 as the Lakehead Symphony Orchestra, debuting at the Lakeview High School auditorium...
and Music Director Geoffrey Moull
Geoffrey Moull
Geoffrey Moull is a professional conductor and pianist.- Education :Geoffrey Moull was born in London, Ontario, Canada and studied conducting with Kirill Kondrashin, Sergiu Celibidache and Martin Stephani...
recorded Variations on a Memory for a new CD that was also nominated for a Juno Award
Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
and became the best-selling disc of the Canadian Music Centre in 2005. Estacio received SOCAN’s Jan V. Matejcek Concert Music Award in 2004, 2005, and 2007, as well as Young Composer Awards from SOCAN and PROCAN in 1989, 1990, 1992 and 1994.
Recent works include orchestrations of Seven Songs by Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. His mastery of the orchestra has been described as "prodigious."...
for tenor Ben Heppner
Ben Heppner
Ben Heppner, CC is a Canadian tenor, specializing in opera and other classical works for voice.Heppner was born in Murrayville, British Columbia, and lived in Dawson Creek...
and the score of The Secret of The Nutcracker for a CBC television broadcast in December 2008. He currently resides in Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
, and recently completed his second opera, Frobisher (based on the life of Martin Frobisher
Martin Frobisher
Sir Martin Frobisher was an English seaman who made three voyages to the New World to look for the Northwest Passage...
), premiered in Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
on January 27, 2007. The Houses Stand Not Far Apart, a large-scale work for chorus and orchestra commissioned by the Vancouver Bach Choir and Edmonton's Richard Eaton Singers
Richard Eaton Singers
The Richard Eaton Singers is a symphonic chorus in Edmonton, Alberta since 1951. It was founded by Richard Eaton, the first Chair of the Department of Music at the University of Alberta, and was originally named the University Singers...
, and set to poetry by Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
author John Murrell, was premiered in March 2008. Other upcoming commissions include a symphony for the Victoria Symphony
Victoria Symphony
The Victoria Symphony is a Canadian orchestra based in Victoria, British Columbia. It is considered by some to be Vancouver Island's premiere active performing arts organization. Currently directed by Tania Miller - one of North America's first female musical directors - the staff consist of both...
Orchestra, and an opera for the Vancouver Opera.