Gregory Oh
Keyboard
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Canadian pianist and conductor Gregory Oh has
always had commitment issues, and believes firmly in keeping his
options open. He holds graduate degrees from the University of
Toronto, where he completed his studies with Marietta Orlov as the top
graduating pianist, and the University of Michigan, where he worked
with Martin Katz.
As a soloist, he has
garnered praise for his “crystal clear tone, musical
structure-conscious thinking, highly sensitive art of touch” (Graz Neue
Zeit - Austria) and was described as an “exceptional
performer…mesmerizing…intelligence and insight…a visceral sense of
tempo, excellent voicing, a wonderful pianistic palette, and a warm,
honest sound.” (National Post - Canada)
He
has appeared with the UTSO, the Graz Hochschule Orchestra, the Prince
George Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra London, the Brott Festival
Orchestra and the Festival Players, and has given recitals throughout
North America and Europe. As a chamber musician, he has shared the
stage with musicians like Shauna Rolston, Patrick Gallois, Alain
Trudel, Jens Lindemann, James Thompson, John Marcellus, Lorand Fenyves,
the St. Lawrence String Quartet, Mark Fewer, Michael Colvin, Allyson
McHardy, Lori Freedman, NEXUS, Beverley Johnston, Noreen Burgess and
Jean MacPhail.
He has served as music
director of the San Diego Opera Ensemble, and has also worked with
Florida State Opera, the University of Michigan Opera Program, Michigan
Opera Works and Lyric Opera San Diego. He has held faculty positions
at the Banff Centre for the Arts, both in Music and Sound, and Theatre
Arts, where he worked with the Contemporary Opera and Song Training
Program. He recently joined the music staff of the Canadian Opera
Company.
He is the artistic director of the
highly acclaimed new music group Toca Loca with Simon Docking and Aiyun
Huang, and “is clearly on his way, through performances, commissioning
and programming, to making a lasting contribution to new music in this
country.” (National Post – Canada) Toca Loca has been relentlessly
branding the cattle of the new music world, and has been Provost
Distinguished Visitors at USC and Ensemble-in-Residence at the Music
Gallery. Dubbed “vibrant” by Alex Ross in the New Yorker magazine, the
Globe and Mail's Robert Everett-Green raved that they "clearly believe
that contemporary music should grab the listener as much as any other
kind...they put on a passionate, disciplined performance that at times
rocked harder than many shows I've heard in clubs."
He
is the conductor of Continuum Contemporary Music and has also directed
CONTACT, the McGill Percussion Ensemble, the CBC Kieser Gala and
Companion Star in Sweden. No stranger to the popular scene, he has
worked with Kurt Swinghammer, Andrew Downing, Andrew Craig, Quinsin
Nachoff, John Gzowski and the Redemption Steel Orchestra, and as the
keyboardist in uberband The Lollipop People has played Pop Montreal,
NXNE, Wavelength, Galapagos, the Guelph Folk Festival and the Brampton
Indie Arts Festival. He performs regularly with cabaret performer
Patricia O'Callaghan all over North America, and has also performed in
the Festival of the Sound, Sound Symposium, the Colours of Music
Festival, soundaXis, the Wordless Music Series at the Lincoln Center,
Toronto’s Nuit Blanche Festival, Music Around Us, Two New Hours, the
Music Gallery and with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Brave New Works,
Esprit Orchestra, Nouvelle Ensemble Moderne, la Chapelle historique de
Bonpasteur, Tapestry New Opera, Soundstreams, Arraymusic, Ergo and the
Soulpepper Theatre Company. His performances are often heard on CBC
Radio One and Radio Two, and seen on CBC Television, TV Ontario,
BravoFACT and Bravo's Live at the Rehearsal Hall.
Upcoming
engagements include appearances at the Festival Internationale de
Musique Actuelle Victoriaville, Suoni per il popolo, Cool Drummings,
soundaXis and the X-Avant Festival. With Akemi and Rachel Mercer, he
has been invited to perform the entire cycle of Haydn’s Piano Trios for
the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society. As a board member and
the music committee co-chair of the Toronto Arts Council, he is
committed to supporting the arts through civic action and engagement.
He teaches at the University of Toronto and is the contemporary music
curator at Toronto’s Music Gallery. He spends his spare time trying to
fix his bike and watching bad television.
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