HAMILTON, ON – The HPO has selected Cadu Verdan as the participant for our 22-23 HPO Composer Fellowship Program. The program designed in collaboration with the Ontario Region of the Canadian Music Centre provides early career composers with a tuition-free training opportunity that connects them with professionals in the orchestral world. This program supports creative growth while also expanding participants’ knowledge of how to be successful in the business side of musical composition.
Born in Brazil, Verdan currently lives in London, Ontario, where he is pursuing a PhD in Music Composition at the University of Western Ontario. Though early in his career, Verdan possesses a unique musical style demonstrated through numerous compositions for chamber orchestra. With mentorship from HPO Music Director Gemma New and HPO Composer-in-Residence Abigail Richardson-Schulte, Verdan will compose a brand-new work for chamber orchestra, which will be premiered by the HPO in October 2022.
About Cadu Verdan
Cadu Verdan is a Brazilian composer based in Ontario, Canada. He is inspired by feelings or events that are part of the human experience. He is interested in the use of texture and colours to express his musical ideas. He was selected to the Fresh Inc Festival 2020 organized by the Fifth House Ensemble, USA, and had the world premiere of his string trio Monomania, a commission made possible by the Steven R. Gerber Trust. He is twice winner of the Classical Music Award of the National Foundation of Arts (FUNARTE), Brazil, the most important award in Brazil for classical music, with this works O peso do Eco (2014) and Sobre a angústia (2016), performed respectively at the XXI (2015) and XXII Biennale of Contemporary Music (2017). Verdan was finalist at Tinta Fresca festival (2015) with his Alucinações cadavéricas for symphony orchestra performed by the Filarmônica de Minas Gerais, Brazil. A graduate of Illinois State University (M.M.) and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (B.M.), he is currently pursuing a PhD in Music Composition at the University of Western Ontario.
About the HPO Composer Fellowship program
The HPO’s Composer Fellowship Program engages Ontario-based early-career composers through artistic and professional mentorship with HPO musicians, staff and artistic leadership. Now in its fourth year, the Composer Fellowship program is facilitated in collaboration with the Ontario Region of the Canadian Music Centre.
This program is a tuition-free training opportunity connecting composers early in their career with professionals in the orchestral world to nurture and develop new skills and expand their knowledge of how to be successful in the business side of musical composition. Each Composer Fellow creates a new work, with mentorship from HPO Composer-in-Residence Abigail Richardson-Schulte, that is performed and recorded by the HPO.
The Composer Fellowship program is supported by the RBC Emerging Artists Project.
Published June 10, 2022