Conductor & Composer
Bio
He continued to pursue graduate studies in composition at State University of New York at Buffalo and has composed choral, chamber, and orchestral works. In 1998 he finished an unfinished Gershwin musical for the Estate of George and Ira Gershwin to mark the centenary of George Gershwin's birth. In 2002 he orchestrated and conducted Gershwin at Folly in Charleston South Carolina at the Dock Street Theatre. He has programmed and conducted Gershwin’s music alongside Barber and Copeland because of his support of that composer’s legacy as a serious American composer of the 20th century.
His concert works include Symphony Erotica, 7 Encounters for Soprano and Flute, the award winning Choral Prophecy performed by the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, England, on their first North American Tour, Theme and Conversations for Orchestra, and The Little Match Girl for Orchestra, Narrator, and Dancer, choreographed adapted and narrated by Veronica Tennant, two string quartets, The Rashomon Quartet, and The Seagull Quartet for string quartet and distant oboe, and Music-by-the-Sea, quintet for clarinet and string quartet. Excerpts are available at www.chrisdonison.com.
He has written Eyes On The Mountain, an opera based on the stories of Vancouver Island writer Jack Hodgins, and is currently working on a second opera: Island, based on the short story by Alistair MacLeod.
He has spent recent years directing his energy toward creating a think-tank / retreat Performance Centre for BC as the Founding and Executive Artistic Director of Music by the Sea at Bamfield British Columbia, International Music Festival & School.
Most recently he composed and/or orchestrated and arranged music for the VANOC Cultural Olympiad Vancouver Symphony event in February 2008 and subsequently, a full programme of music for the Quebec City 400 Year Celebration event on July 3rd of 2008 for Jorane and the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec.