Neoclassical Suite is a column that will present 7 recent, distinctive tracks of the neoclassical-modern classical-contemporary -and beyond!- music field.
The Players
JF Blais
(neoclassical, soundtrack)
JF Blais was the composer and musical director for One Night For One Drop 2017 and 2018. A Montréal native, JF joined Cirque du Soleil in 2003 and is currently performing nightly as a saxophonist and woodwind specialist with Zumanity in Las Vegas, Nevada. Over the last 15 years, JF has written and produced music for numerous projects, acrobatic acts, and television series aired on Fox Sport Network (FSN), Pursuit Channel, and WFN, as well as for notable Strip productions such as Tournament of Kings.
Mitch Toks
(neoclassical, chill)
Mitch Toks is a young music producer from Amsterdam. He’s mainly known for his relaxed and chill piano productions. His enchanting music takes you into his dreamy world where the piano is always the central instrument.
Whether you are traveling, studying or chilling. His music always ensures that you become completely relaxed.
Mitch’s talent has not gone unnoticed and his multi talent plays an important role at TRX Music.
REW<<
(neoclassical, contemporary)
REW<< is the solo moniker of Ryan E. Weber, who originally hails from the snowy western shores of Lake Michigan. His musical pedigree includes roles in indie bands: Camden, The Promise Ring, Decibully, and he is one half of dream- pop duo Eric & Magill. Working on Eric & Magill releases while living in both Kenya and Armenia, Weber collaborated over the Internet with a host of notable contemporary indie artists, including members of Shearwater, The Dirty Projectors, Owen, Volcano Choir, Mineral, Maritime, Sylvan Esso, The Delgados and many more.
William Ogmundson
(neoclassical, solo piano)
William Ogmundson is a pianist, lyricist and EMMY-nominated composer. He has performed all over North America and Europe (including the Vatican) and released seven solo CDs to date.
Thomas Hewitt Jones
(neoclassical, orchestral)
Thomas Hewitt Jones is an award-winning composer of contemporary classical and commercial music. Winner of the 2003 BBC Young Composer Competition, his music has been published by Boosey & Hawkes, Oxford University Press, Banks Music, the RSCM, Encore Publications, Universal Music, and is frequently heard on radio, TV and the cinema in the UK and abroad.
Thomas has written three ballets which toured the UK in 2008–2011 with Ballet Cymru, most notably a dance setting of Dylan Thomas’ masterpiece Under Milk Wood. His choral and instrumental music is frequently performed worldwide. He has also written numerous Christmas carols, including What Child is This? (OUP, 2012). Recent large-scale works include Wildflower Meadows, a song cycle commemorating the First World War, and the Christmas cantata Incarnation, released on Regent Records, both with words by regular collaborator Paul Williamson.
Commercial commissions have included work in America and scores for films in the UK, as well as music for the London 2012 Olympics Mascots animated films, with stories by Michael Morpurgo and narration by Stephen Fry. Thomas has also composed the music for a new musical version of Rumpelstiltskin which premiered at The Egg, Bath in December 2014. Recent performances include the premiere of a new set of songs charting the history of Bath with words by Paul Williamson (Bath Abbey, 2015), and the UK premiere of choral and orchestral work Panathenaia at the British Museum, commissioned by Hugo Ticciati.
Michael Perera
(neoclassical)
Michael Perera is a musician and composer currently living in London. His introduction to music was through the piano, which he studied from the age of five through to the end of his school years. He studied Commercial Music at the University Of Westminster and after being a part of a few musical projects; he went on to form his own band Florida Room.
After a number of shows in London and a small tour, eventually the band split. It was at this time that he rediscovered the piano. Coming across re-workings by Nils Frahm and works by Jon Hopkins, Perera felt compelled to work on previous ideas that featured only piano. With this new appetite for piano compositions, he immersed himself in this new way of composing, guided by the music of modern composers. He was given the opportunity to record at Fish Market Studios in Dollis Hill and went on to create a record that was co-produced and mixed by Duncan Bellamy from Portico Quartet. Prisms is the first release of his piano works.
DeLord
(neoclassical)
First of all I’m a composer and creative director and I work not only with music, I live in Italy and I love to discover the world outside with my eyes.
The music has always been part of my life from the very early age. I remember long time ago, I was with my father in a Italian television to try to be selected as a character for a tv-spot; after the selection a man comes to me and told me “Choose whatever you want, we want to give a gift to you for the participation”. I don’t know why, but in all of that gift (tons of toys for childrens…), I selected a mini-keyboard and I was the happiest children in the world.
I think that was the time I remember that life gaved me also the joy to be a musician and make art.
The Music
Christos Doukakis