Marjan Mozetich

Marjan Mozetich (born 1948) is a Canadian composer who has written music for theatre, film and dance, as well as symphonic works, chamber music, and solo pieces. He has written compulsory competition pieces for the 1992 Banff String Quartet Competition (Lament in the Trampled Garden) and the 1995 Montreal International Music Competition (L’esprit Chantant for violin and piano). Co-founder of Arraymusic in Toronto, Mozetich served as their artistic director from 1976 to 1978. After his work with Array, he worked for some time at the University of Toronto music library, and then became a freelance composer. Mozetich discovered classical music on CBC Radio, which inspired him to compose romantic music through listening to Chopin, Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninoff. He also first heard on the radio what was then considered "super-modern pieces", which presented him with a totally different, almost science-fiction perspective. He then started improvising some of his own "super-modern pieces" rather than practicing the classics. At this point, he had not yet learned how to record his compositions. and a Bachelor of Music degree in 1972 in composition and piano. With the help of the Canada Council, he then continued his musical studies in composition privately in Rome, Siena and London with Luciano Berio, Franco Donatoni, and David Bedford.

Composer

Early career

Mozetich became active in the avant-garde music circles. He co-founded Arraymusic with John Fodi, Clifford Ford, Gary Hayes, Michael Parker, Alex Pauk and Robert Bauer, and served as artistic director. The group's first public concert was performed in 1972. which consists of a blend of the traditional, the popular, and the modern. Many of his compositions have been recorded on the CBC-Musica Viva, Centredisc, BIS (Sweden), Cansona, and Chandos (England). His works have been heard throughout Canada and abroad. They have been performed, broadcast, and some have been included in Canadian Airline's 'in flight' music programs.

Some of his music has been used by contemporary dance companies, as well as in film. He was the honoured composer of postmodern music at the Gent Conservatory Music Festival in Belgium in 1995, at which three concerts with live national broadcast featured his compositions.

Works 1990s to 2004

Since the 1990s, Mozetich's works have continued to demonstrate a taste for lyricism, romantic harmonies, and moto perpetuo rhythms. His works that explore the spiritual have introspective and meditative qualities; these can be heard in his earlier pieces such as El Dorado. Concerto for Oboe and Strings (1995), commissioned by the CBC and premiered by Suzanne Lemieux and the Thirteen Strings of Ottawa

Works for solo instruments include: An example of this is his composition El Dorado (1981), a mixture of minimalistic Gatling gun rhythms, lyrical melodies, sensuous scoring, and late-romantic textbook harmonies. His compositions sometimes included dark passages as an emotional counterbalance. with strong harmonic definition, as demonstrated in works like Procession for chamber ensemble (1981) and El Dorado for harp and strings (1981). This transition can be heard in pieces such as Fantasia ... sul un linguaggio perduto for flute, violin, viola, and cello (1981, later arranged for string orchestra 1985), Sonata for flute and harp (1983), and Death and the Morning Star for baritone, choir, and orchestra (1986).

Awards and recognition

Mozetich's string quartet, Changes (1971), was performed by the Orford String Quartet and selected as one of the two most outstanding works at the 1971 Composers Symposium in Montreal. In 1977, he won CAPAC’S Sir Ernest MacMillan Award/Fellowship. He was the featured composer on postmodern music at the Ghent Conservatory Music Festival in Belgium. Nocturne for string orchestra (1975) was chosen to represent Canada at the adjudication for the 1978 International Society for Contemporary Music Festival in Helsinki. He won second prize at the International Gaudeamus Competition in Bilthoven, the Netherlands, for his wind quintet It’s in the Air (1975). In 2002 he was invited to be composer-in-residence at the Regina Symphony New Music Festival. He was nominated for Juno awards for three of his works for Classical Composition of the Year: Affairs of the Heart in 2001, Angels in Flight and, winning the award, Lament in the Trampled Garden in 2010.

Selected works Disturbances for Viola Solo (1974) A Veiled Dream for Flute, Viola and Harp (1977) Survival for Viola Solo (1979) Water Music for Flute, Viola and Cello (1979) Dancing Strings, Suite of Six Pieces for Viola and Piano (1980) El Dorado for Harp and Strings (1981) Fantasia... sul linguaggio perduto for Flute and String Trio (1981) Trio in Jest for Clarinet, Viola and Piano (1983) Baroque Diversions for Viola Solo (1985) The Passion of Angels, Concerto for Two Harps and Orchestra (1995) Affairs of the Heart Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra (1997) Postcards from the Sky for String Orchestra (1997) Goodbye My Friend, Triptych for Flute, Viola and Harp (2000) Concerto for Bassoon, Marimba and String Orchestra (2003) Scales of Joy and Sorrow for Cello, Violin, and Piano (2007)