Neoclassical Suite is a column that will present 7 recent, distinctive tracks of the neoclassical-modern classical-contemporary -and beyond!- music field.
The Players
Lumiere
(modern classical, electronica, cinematic)
Thanos Christodoulou was born in Athens, lived in France and has travelled all around Europe and Asia during the last decade. He has been composing music since he was a teenager. His first band, Serpentine, had gained recognition as one of the leading indie rock bands of the 00s in Greece, with gigs in Athens’s biggest live venues. He started writing instrumental music in 2015 (as “Lumiere”) and has collaborated since with jazz, pop and classical composers/musicians for a number of critically acclaimed projects.
Kepa Lehtinen
(neoclassical, cinematic)
Kepa Lehtinen is a native of Helsinki, Finland. He began to study music as a child and eventually went on to study Sound Design at Finland’s Aalto University and has since written music for many films, commercials, and TV productions. He plays the piano, synthesizers, theremin, After college Kepa continued his work as a composer, sound editor, and sound designer. His music has appeared in award-winning Finnish titles such as Kimmo (TV series), Almost 18 (feature film), and A Stone LeftUnturned (short film). He released his first solo album, Playing Theremin, in 2018. In 2019 he released Helsinki in November and 2020 It is ok to be sad and dark. Kepa is also an avid skateboarder also runs a sound studio for film and tv.
Morgan Doctor
(neoclassical, ambient, post rock)
Morgan Doctor is a Juno and Dora nominated performer and creator. She currently plays with Andy Kim (Arts and Crafts), Jill Barber, Amanda Rheaume, and Fefe Dobson. She has drummed with The Cliks (Warner/Tommyboy),Chantal Kreviazuk, Raine Maida, Ron Sexsmith, Kevin Drew, Alex Lifeson Feist, Sandra Bernhard and many others.
Morgan Doctor has performed and appeared on live National TV (MTV Live, David Letterman,MTV CRIBS, MTV Total Request Live, IFC, CNN, Craig Ferguson, etc) and live radio shows, awards ceremonies, TV and radio commercials, sold out theaters and arenas, music videos, and countless full length albums. Morgan also performed and won at MTV LOGO’s “Artist on the Brink” Award for 2008 with The Cliks. She received a Dora nomination for her sound design for Between Us Goddess in 2005 and earned a Juno and Dora nomination with her work with The Toronto Tabla Ensemble in 2001. Morgan’s session drumming can be heard on such TV and Film Soundtracks as the CBC Metro Morning, The L Word, and Grey’s Anatomy. Morgan is a big advocate of music education and teaches at Girls Rock Camp Toronto as a drum instructor and band coach.
In 2006 Morgan signed with Aporia Records and has released three solo albums. Her solo work has been used for TV shows such as WordTravels (OLN/National Geographics Channel, Food Network), and radio shows such as DNTO, Hear and Now and The Signal (theme song). Her most recent release, “Major Over Minor” is her first full length instrumental album. “… it is a rare musician who can make an instrumental album that seems confessional” – Toronto Star
Johan Famaey
(neoclassical, cinematic)
Belgian composer and pianist Johan Famaey performed and composed countless works with and for different ensembles in Europe and China. He has won the ‘Verdi Keurmerk’ and ‘Cantabile Piano’ composition contests in 2019.
John Bickerton
(neoclassical)
John Bickerton is a composer and pianist with a background in both classical composition and jazz improvisation. His latest release is entitled “Heartland” – 18 solo piano pieces in a variety of styles – neo-classical, atmospheric piano, compositional ambient, jazz, blues, gospel, soundtrack.
Stephen Caulfield
(neoclassical, orchestral, epic)
I am a musician and composer that has been making music for a long as I can remember.
My new album, ‘Circuits’ kind of took me by surprise, I wasn’t planning on making it and all of a sudden, there it was. I had been working on music for a number of different projects and when I put them together I realised that they worked well together and formed a cohesive album that I really like. On the album I have continued to explore ambient and piano led composition, but I have also introduced some stronger orchestral elements too which I think provide some nice dynamic range over the course of the 15 tracks.
As well as the music on Circuits, I have made videos for each track on the album using a series photographs of light manipulations I made that I then animated.
In addition to making music, I also love photography and travel and can usually be found editing photos and planning my next visit to Iceland.
Goldmund
(neoclassical, ambient)
Pennsylvania native Keith Kenniff’s output as Goldmund has established him as one of the preeminent composers of minimal piano-based ambient music alongside peers like Hauschka, Dustin O’Halloran, and even Ryuichi Sakamoto, who himself once described Kenniff’s work as “so, so, so beautiful”.
His recordings tread sincerely along paths laden with dusty timbres, diffuse synthesizer, and soaring string textures tinted by the muted glow of a cloudy analog sky above. On The Time it Takes, his newest book of aural polaroids out October 16th via Western Vinyl, Kenniff somehow manages to deepen the emotionality of his already affecting project, creating a space in which to unfold the sorrows of a troubling age and revel in the hope and beauty that follow thereafter. In this sense, The Time it Takes tackles grief head-on, unadorned by themes of escapism or pastorality, and marks another entry in an impressively consistent body of work.
The Music
Christos Doukakis