Tan, Anthony

Anthony Tan is a Canadian composer-pianist, electronic musician, and improviser currently based in Montréal. As a composer he has been commissioned by the SWR Experimentalstudio, Ensemble Recherche, Dresden Philharmonic, Ensemble Contemporaine de Montréal, Les Cris de Paris, Ensemble Cairn, L'Orchestre de la Francophonie Canadienne, Ensemble Moderne Academie, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, New Oxford String Quartet, Toca Loca, Turning Point Ensemble, New Music Concerts, and the Rubbing Stone Ensemble. His music has been presented at festivals including Tonlagen (Hellerau), Imatronic (ZKM), NYC electroacoustic festival, ICMC (Montreal, New York), Matrix (SWR Freiburg), Voix Nouvelles (Royaumont), Domaine Forget, and Acanthes.

Whether writing for contemporary classical ensembles, for himself as a pianist/improviser or electronic media, Anthony Tan's music strives to maintain an attention to the psychophysical experiences of sound and reflection on music's cultural context. His music is influenced by past experiences as a club DJ, and training as a pianist and concert music composer in the Western classical tradition.

His awards include a finalist at the International Edward Grieg Competition, audience and jury prize from the ECM+ Generation 2014 tour, a bursary from the SWR Experimentalstudio (2012), Giga-Hertz Förder Prize (2011), International Competition for live electronics of the Hamburg Klangwerktage, and the Médaille d'Or in piano from the Royal Conservatory of Music. He completed the masterclass program with Mark Andre and Franz Martin Olbrisch at the Carl Maria von Weber High School of Music in Dresden. Additionally, he holds a PhD from McGill University where he worked with John Rea (composition) and Stephen McAdams (psychoacoustics). His dissertation research focused on the perception of timbre and its functional use in music.

Selected works: Whether for cello and piano (2002), Inter­ leaved for violin and cello (2004), Morning Chorus for horn (2005), Paths to Your Door for piano (2005), Omnibus for Fender Rhodes, Roland JX3P synthesiser, piano and stereo sound les (one performer) (2006), Cantos Instrument Demonstrations, presentation of various keyboard instruments (2006), Natspon­ tawa for oboe, cello, accordion, horn and piano (2006), Orison for ensemble (2007), ...then time killed the wind... for percussion quartet and electronics (2008), Jeux d'ombres for cello, live electronics and dancer (2008), trois esquisses sur une pose for piano, flute, saxophone, percussion and live electronics (2009), Unravel for violin, ondes Martenot samples and live electronics (2009), Quixotic for ensemble (2009-10), I am Dotted Silver Threads... for string quartet (2010), Re:Pose for two pianos, percussion and electronics (2010), ...this chain... for percussion, instrumental sextet and electronics (2011), Pose I between the sadness for soprano and electronics (2011), Bardo for tenor, bass, oboe and cello (2011), Observing the Ph(r)ase for octet (2013), Pose II. On the Shadows of Ideas for piano and electronics (2013), Ksana I for orchestra (2014), Ksana II for 15 instruments (2014), On the Sensations of Tone I for ensemble (2015), Pose III. Integration Ritual for alto saxophone, mono sound source and electronics (2015), Un/divided for alto voice, septet and live electronics (2015), A Manual of Qualities for piano, soprano and percussion (2016), On the Sensations of Tone II for octet and electronics (2016), Pose IV. in situ for percussion and electronics (2016), Horizontal and Vertical Forces II for percussion quartet and localised electronics (2017), acousmatic music, music for choreographic projects.