Allan Gordon Bell

Allan Gordon Bell, (born 24 May 1953) is a Canadian contemporary classical composer.

Career Born in Calgary, Alberta, Bell received a Master of Music degree from the University of Alberta where he studied with Violet Archer, Malcolm Forsyth, and Manus Sasonkin, after completing undergraduate studies in philosophy. He also did advanced studies in composition at the Banff Centre for the Arts where his teachers were Jean Coulthard, Bruce Mather, and Oskar Morawetz. He has created works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, orchestra, band, and electroacoustic media.

Bell is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre, for which he served as President of the National Board from 1984 to 1988. From 1978 to 1980, and from 1985 to the present, he has been a professor of composition and music theory at the University of Calgary, where he helped to create the Department of Music's doctoral programme. He served on the jury of the 2002 SOCAN Awards for Young Composers and was a composer-in-residence at the 2001 Cantai Festival in Taiwan.

In the works of Bell one can hear the influences of prairie cultures and scenes and the sounds of nature, which he illustrates with orchestration. In 2004 he received a transplant that halted a serious liver condition; Previously, The Association of Canadian Choral Conductors had presented him with an award for outstanding choral compositions (in 1994 and again in 1999). He has also been the recipient of numerous teaching excellence awards.

In 2014, Bell received a Juno Award for his Field Notes in the Classical Composition of the Year category.

Music Bell's works have been performed by the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Esprit Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra the Orford String Quartet, the Purcell String Quartet, the ensembles of Toronto New Music Concerts, Arraymusic and the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, and many other professional and amateur organizations in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, West Germany, Israel, and Japan.

Highlights of performance of Bell's compositions include: 1988 - Concerto for Two Orchestras performed at the Olympic Arts Festival 1989 - Arche II was performed by the finalists at the Banff International String Quartet Competition and was sent by the CBC as the English Network submission to the International Rostrum of Composers in Paris 1992 - An Elemental Lyric was performed at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Kennedy Centre in Washington, D.C., and Symphony Hall in Boston 1996 - Danse sauvage was the imposed piece for the 1996 Honens International Piano Competition 2001 - Turtle Wakes (chamber opera) premiered by Calgary Opera

Works Pas de quatre for percussion ensemble, 1976 Beltine for Violin, 1977 Nocturne for soprano and piano, 1977 Prelude and Passacaglia for piano, 1977 Ark for string quartet, 1980 Encounters for two violins and two cellos, 1980 Five Rituals for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon and two drums, 1980 Morning Music: A Reflection upon Stillness for Violin and Piano, 1980 Dynamus for string orchestra, 1980 Kinesis for speaker, two pianos and two percussion, 1981 Drawing down the Moon for string orchestra, 1982 Mistaya for two drums, 1982 Monashee: Three Lyric Sketches for Cello and Piano, 1982 From Chaos to the Birth of a Dancing Star Band, 1983 Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra, 1984 The Gift of the Wolf, music theater for narrator, children's ensemble, violin, cello and piano, 1984 Gaia for flute, oboe, clarinet, four cellos, piano and two percussion, 1984 The Ugly Duckling, musical theater for female voice, flute, violin and piano, 1985 In the Eye of the Four Winds Concert Band, 1986 At Enchantment for Cello and Piano, 1986 Prairie for synthesizers and computers, 1986 Innua: Three Masks for Violin, Cello and Piano, 1987 The Ascendant Voice for wind ensemble, 1988 Concerto for Two Orchestras, 1988 Prairie II for synthesizers, digital samplers and computers, 1988 Sonora Borealis for piano, 1989 Vision Quest for band, 1989 Ark II for String Quartet, 1989 Orca for nine players, 1989 Lumen: A Quintet for Two Violins, Two Violas and Cello, 1990 Moon of Flowers for synthesizers, digital samplers and computers, 1990 A Prairie Requiem for clarinet, harp and marimba, 1991 At Elemental Lyric, 1992 Old Coyote's Saturday Night for piano, 1992 Snow - More Snow - Snow for bass clarinet, cello and marimba, 1993 Grassi Lakes Four Seasons for children's choir and piano, 1993 Aurages: Seven Ephemera for Flute, Violin, Viola, Cello and Double Bass, 1994 Spirit Trail, 1994 Ark III for violin, percussion and string orchestra, 1994 Shadows, Echoes, impressions for digital samplers and computers, 1994 Animus for alto saxophone, percussion and string orchestra, 1995 Nebulae for piano, 1995 Danse sauvage for piano, 1996 Sweetgrass for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion, 1997 Chthonic Canons for three tubas, 1998 Sundogs Reel for string orchestra, 1998 Turtle Wakes - An Opera, 1998 Two Roads to the Heartland for Children's Choir and Piano, 1998 Chiaroscuro, 1999 a great arch softening the mountains for voice, bass clarinet, violin, piano and Axio / soundfiles, 2001 Symphonies of Hidden Fire, 2002 Serenity for small orchestra, 2004 Trails of Gravity and Grace for clarinet, cello and piano, 2003 Festival Fanfare for horn, two trumpets, trombone and tuba music for Aesop's Fables (one-act play), 2013