Nicholas Ryan Kelly - Composer

It's September... or December, Part I if you're a choir director. Since mid-August, I've been receiving multiple requests a week for this unusual winter piece--and there's still time to join the consortium to premiere the SATB version this winter.

Cold Moon (TTBB + piano) | Chor Leoni A Christmas song for people who hate Christmas songs. As usual, this piece is about a sort of transformation, so the music gradually blossoms into something ...

As a "choral" composer with a film scoring background, I especially love writing for choirs accompanied by orchestras (and other instrumental ensembles!)

This piece (AGAIN with lyrics by Wendy Jean MacLean of Ontario) won the Guelph Chamber Choir's composition competition. I'll be posting short excerpts of the live performance shortly... but first, here's the ENTIRE mockup! (With the Cantamus app and high-quality string samples)

The Colour of Earth | SATB + string orchestra (or quintet) | Nicholas Ryan Kelly A new piece by a Canadian composer-poet team! This lush, sweeping, but ultimately gentle composition would pair well with a requiem on a concert program. It ...

Today was a rainy day here in one of Canada's most water-scarce regions. There are many kinds of trees that can thrive in this dry climate, but they're still thankful for the rain... as am I.

So here is a song about what we can learn from trees on a rainy spring day like this one--with lyrics from Wendy Jean MacLean's 2022 book "On Small Wings".

Green Me (Mezzo-soprano and string orchestra) A new art song by a living Canadian composer-poet team about rain, spring, and what humans can learn from trees.Music by Nicholas Ryan Kelly, 2023 (www.nicho...

A lot of you are fellow composers or other creatives, so I hope you'll appreciate this as much as I did.

It's not so much about "insane work ethic" as it is "willingness to trust oneself and (as it were) let it be". I think this especially applies to composers who have completed their training and already have a solid understanding of their craft.* We don't need to be the perfectionists we probably were when we were still learning the craft and forming our musical identities.**

I'm especially intrigued by the bit about music notation sometimes being an unnecessary crutch, which (since I learned to read music as a performer before I started composing) I never even thought about.

But it resonates. As I become a better pianist, improviser, and singer (and a dad with less time to endlessly tinker with my compositions), I've been trusting myself more not to write full sections of music (if not entire short pieces) down until they're mostly formed in my head... they tend to stick in my memory if they're good enough.

Do you still struggle with perfectionism (even if you're a professional musician in some capacity)?

https://youtu.be/Ht62CQnT1PQ?si=OOI-NL2hmkyN6_oc

*Which the Beatles DID have--in a very different way--from years of playing in clubs before they recorded their first single.

**Which, yes, is still an ongoing process to some degree.

The Beatles insane work ethic In the space of just 7 short years, The Beatles were able to produce some of the most inventive music ever. To achieve this, they also needed to work unlike ...

I'm excited to share my largest-scale composition to date, "Earth, beloved" for SSAA choir and orchestra.

If you have 12 minutes and a decent set of headphones, I invite you to take a break and have a listen.

This was premiered about a month ago by the Elektra Women's Choir and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra -- but this is a fake recording. (Thanks, Cantamus app, for the robot vocals with actual words!)

The initial idea was to have a piece that could pair with The Planets by Holst -- specifically, to highlight the choir (who, in The Planets, have to wait around for half an hour only to sing for about 3 minutes at the end). But I think it stands on its own--largely thanks to the beautiful lyrics, written specifically for this project by Wendy Jean MacLean of Ontario (composers, check out her work... she writes amazing poetry and loves hearing it set to music.) It's about the evolution of life on Earth (of which humans are only a small part) in a cosmic, biological, and spiritual sense.

No sheet music video because the score is over 50 pages and, with a small child around, I don't really have the time to sync that whole thing to the music. So you can enjoy Wendy's words on the screen instead. And even though the recording is fake, I DID take a lot of time making it and it's fairly accurate... please use headphones to get the full spectrum of the orchestra!

Thanks again to Morna Edmundson and Elektra Women's Choir for this amazing opportunity.

Earth, beloved (SSAA + orchestra) Since Holst didn't write an Earth movement--and the Planets requires a treble choir to come in just for a few minutes of anticlimactic singing at the end--wo...

What a joy to have been back in Vancouver last weekend for the Phoenix Chamber Choir's premiere of my composition "Edge of Dawn". I'm so thankful to the choir for all their wonderful work bringing this music to life.

And, as you can see from the pictures, it was a fun concert overall! Congratulations to Nicholle Andrews, Dave Rosborough, Dr. Jace Saplan, and all the students in the Phoenix Choral Experience for a grand time.

The first time I have set the word "spiders" to music, AND the first time I've given choral singers a melodic 9th.

Coincidence? Find out at the Phoenix Chamber Choir's "Be the Light" concert--tomorrow (Saturday) at 3:00 at St. Andrew's Wesley Church in Vancouver! Featuring the world premiere of "Edge of Dawn," with music by me.

Congratulations to Elektra and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra on this weekend's performance! It was a thrill to hear my new composition brought to life by these wonderful ensembles.

Extra thanks to poet Wendy Jean MacLean for writing such breathtaking lyrics for this piece. As a composer, I felt like I was just nurturing the music that was there in her words.

And immense gratitude to Morna Edmundson for her vision, persistence, and advocacy in bringing this project together--as well as her sensitivity and musicality in bringing it to life.

It's so humbling to be at the Orpheum, where so many great musicians have performed. Including the Elektra Women's Choir and the VSO, who are sounding amazing in rehearsal! You can hear them TONIGHT and tomorrow in Vancouver.

Tonight, we perform the world premiere of Nicholas Ryan Kelly’s “Earth, Beloved” with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, directed by Maestro Otto Tausk. To learn more about the piece, check out poet Wendy Jean MacLean’s programme notes in the VSO app!

This is in less than a week, somehow. A premiere of my 12-minute composition with poet Wendy Jean MacLean. I'm so thankful to Morna for organizing this project, and to Elektra Women's Choir and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra for bringing it to life!

I will be going to Vancouver for this, and it would be wonderful to see you there!

Tausk Conducts Shostakovich & Adams - Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Maestro Tausk and violin virtuoso Paul Huang rise to the challenge of Shostakovich’s emotionally charged and frenzied First Violin Concerto.

The premiere in Guelph wasn't my only performance yesterday. Thanks to the Hebron Community Chorus and composer/conductor Andrey Stolyarov for giving what was surely the Connecticut premiere of "After the Wind"

(Since I can't tag the choir, I'll just reshare the University of Saskatchewan's recording of the same piece, quite approachable by community choirs. Enjoy!)

After the Wind (SATB + piano) REVISED | Greystone Singers Originally composed in 2018, the score was revised in 2021 (with better engraving thanks to Dorico). The revisions are quite small, but I wanted an excuse to...

TWO performances in Ontario over the next two weekends! (My music will be there, but I won't, unfortunately.)

The Guelph Chamber Choir will be premiering "The Colour of Earth" (accompanied by string orchestra!) On their Saturday concert "The Language of the Stars." The piece is based on a poem by Wendy Jean MacLean (also from Ontario).

And the DaCapo Chamber Choir will be performing "You Speak Violets" in Waterloo the following weekend on both Saturday and Sunday. This tender-yet-vibrant composition was commissioned by Edmonton's Chronos Vocal Ensemble a couple years ago, and is based on a poem by Shannon Bramer (ALSO from Ontario... Hmm, should I just move there?)

Concert links in the comments below.

Such an honour!

We are delighted to announce share the results of the Guelph Chamber Choir 2024 Emerging Choral Composer Competition!

The first place winner is Nicholas Kelly for his composition “The Colour of Earth,” with lyrics by Wendy Jean MacLean. Nicolas first decided to pursue composition to compose film scores. However, he discovered that because of his interest in melody and poetry, this urge to tell stories through music was better suited to choral music.

To learn more about our finalist, visit https://guelphchamberchoir.ca/2024/03/22/announcing-the-gcc-2024-emerging-composer-competition-finalists/

Join us at our final season concert "Language of Stars" on April 14, 2024 to experience the wonder of this composition.

I was so happy to be commissioned to write this piece for True Concord Voices in Arizona after winning the Stephen Paulus composition award (open to all US citizen composers under age 40--sometimes my US citizenship comes in handy!)

It ended up being one of my favourite things I've ever written (and containing perhaps the most vibrantly joyful music I've ever written, in the 2nd half), which resulted from an abnormally-long composition process and some soul-searching. (More on that if you're on my personal page!)

Janet Ruth--the choir's poetry contest winner--wrote this wonderful, joyous sonnet that allowed me to get off my high horse and just PLAY with musical materials for once. And--perhaps thanks to the virtuosity of the True Concord Voices--I think the result is joyful in an original way (something they always told us was hard to write in music school).

A World that Shimmers (SATB, cello, piano) | True Concord (Remastered) Commissioned by True Concord Voices as the winner of the Stephen Paulus Emerging Composer prize.Words by New Mexico-based poet Janet Ruth.Music by Nicholas R...

What better way to end a lullaby than with a plain old descending C major scale? It's been great writing this piece for Cantiamo Choirs of Ottawa--based on a whimsical, surreal children's poem by Shannon Bramer of Toronto. (You know you have a good text when porcupines aren't even the only animal in it!)

On the longest night of the year, please enjoy this new composition, commissioned and performed by Edmonton's Chronos Vocal Ensemble. Based on a poem by Shannon Bramer, this piece balances the darkness and mystery of the night with the warmth of a loved one's presence.

Owl Secrets (SATB div.) from Zoo Nocturnes | Chronos Vocal Ensemble Music by Nicholas Ryan Kelly (2023) www.nicholasryankelly.comWords by Shannon Bramer, from Climbing Shadows: Poems for Children (Toronto: House of Anansi Pre...

Something unusual from me: a reasonably easy choral piece! This is one of my older and (because of its simplicity) more popular choral compositions, but I revised it slightly in 2021. And I can't resist sharing this beautiful new recording from the University of Saskatchewan's Greystone Singers!

After the Wind (SATB + piano) REVISED | Greystone Singers Originally composed in 2018, the score was revised in 2021 (with better engraving thanks to Dorico). The revisions are quite small, but I wanted an excuse to...

Here's a new recording just in time for Hallowe'en! Sometimes ghosts are just kittens in disguise...

With thanks to Chronos Vocal Ensemble and Vancouver Cantata Singers for commissioning this piece, and to Shannon Bramer for allowing me to use her poem. (From Climbing Shadows: Poems for Children... a truly wonderful book!)

The rest of the set will be posted soon, I hope.

Climbing Shadows (from Zoo Nocturnes) | SATB unaccompanied Words by Shannon Bramer (from Climbing Shadows : Poems for Children. Used with permission of author and Groundwood Books).Music by Nicholas Ryan Kelly www.ni...

For us composers of choral music, good lyrics are so important--and I've been fortunate to work with many talented poets on new lyrics over the years.

On my trip to Tucson last week, I finally met Janet Ruth--whose poem won True Concord's poetry contest. I was commissioned to set it to music as the winner of their composition contest, and her poem gave both me and the choir a chance to express our joyful sides. I can't wait to share the recording!

How delightful to see my name--along with many of my composer colleagues--on the Alberta Youth Choir's program! (Asterisks denote living, Canadian composers.) I wish I could have been there. 🎼

This is a piece I wrote with local poet James Iwasuk in 2019, around when the Greyhound bus line stopped running in western Canada. I was so delighted to hear that the choir sang this piece for fun on their tour bus!

And now for something completely different... an orchestral miniature (Just 1'35" in length--perfect for social media attention spans!) I wrote this in an afternoon last year around this season (more details in the video description), and I think it holds up.

Happy almost Hallowe'en!

Vale of Spectres (October 2022 Composing Challenge) Noteperformer mockup. For chamber orchestra (1.1.1.1 / 2.0.1.0 / 1 / harp /strings)I procrastinated writing choral music by writing this little piece for Rya...

New release! The full score to "Memory's Voices" is now available for perusal and purchase.

This piece won the Ruth Watson Henderson award from Choirs Ontario in 2019-2020, and then we all know what happened... but it was finally premiered in 2023 by several choirs across Ontario!

Here's a quick 1-minute excerpt. The full score can be viewed at my website (link in comments) and a full recording will be posted this fall.

EXCERPT from Memory's Voices (SATB unaccompanied) This piece was awarded the Ruth Watson Henderson prize from Choirs Ontario in 2020, and then we all know what happened. It was finally premiered by several c...

I'm honoured to have been chosen as this year's winner of the Stephen Paulus Emerging Composers Prize. Back in January, I was selected to compose a new piece for this Grammy-nominated choir from Tucson, AZ based on my portfolio of prior works. This is really humbling, since the competition was open to all US citizens under the age of 40. (Yep, my dual citizenship comes in handy!)

I'm thankful for this opportunity, and just putting the finishing touches on my score. Usually, I try not to think about whether I like a piece or not until it's done, but I'm abnormally excited about this one. Writing a slightly longer-than-average piece for a professional choir with several accompanying instruments gave me the chance to explore a slightly more symphonic sound than I usually can, and it's the kind of thing I hope to do more often in the future.

I was also honoured (and challenged to do new musical things) to set text by the winner of their poetry contest, New Mexico poet Janet Ruth.

On to the next project, which is even bigger!

2023-24 - Songs of America * True Concord Voices & Orchestra With his Voiceless Mass, Raven Chacon became the first Native American winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Music. Chacon, from Fort Defiance, Navajo Nation (Arizona), has had performances in prestigious halls all over the world including Washington DC, Berlin, San Francisco, Sydney, Los Angeles and New....

And now for something completely different... my first piece for children's choir! Thanks to Diana Clark at Coastal Sound for taking a gamble on me with this one.

Some background: I wanted to write something completely unlike other children's choir pieces--and for me, that meant starting with an unusual text and theme. So I asked my pal Ira K. Murphy (which might be a pseudonym for... me?) to write a simple poem about evolution, de-centering humanity in nature. This is a theme that's on my mind a lot as we continue to do largely-unnecessary harm to the planet.

Then, in creating music for these words, I went back to my training in modernist composition to create a piano part that lends a sense vastness and intricacy to the music--while keeping the singers' parts tuneful and relatively simple.

I hope you have enjoyed this completely-unsolicited look into my process, and that you enjoy the music even more. I gotta say, I love this performance... the kids really went for it in the fortissimo passages, and it creates an edge to the sound that's quite agreeable to my secret punk rock sensibilities.

Origin (SA + piano) | Coastal Sound Children's Choir My first children's choir piece! Words by Ira K. Murphy, which may or may not be a pseudonym.Music by Nicholas Ryan Kelly. Score available from the composer ...

https://youtu.be/mJ8y081fOG0
Here's a short, fun piece I wrote for the Elektra Women's Choir's Lost Words project back in 2020 (I've posted about this extremely ambitious, 10-composer project before, but I'll link it in the comments).
Although I wrote this over 3 years ago, I think it's a good example of where my brain has been musically, and where I want to go. Most of the elements of this piece (whimsicality, text by a living poet, voices with instrumental ensemble... even the fact that it's a children's poem) are things I'd like to explore more in future pieces. But I think there's no reason this same playfulness with materials can't be applied to more consequential subjects as well.
Anyway, please enjoy this lovely recording!

Dandelion (SSA & chamber ensemble) | Elektra Women's Choir Written as part of "The Lost Words: A Spell Book"--a collaboration between Elektra Women's Choir and 10 different Canadian composers. To learn more about the...

The score I posted last week is now available for purchase on Musicspoke. If you're looking for an exciting, uplifting concert closer, please give a listen!

The Diver| Nicholas Kelly | MusicSpoke Nicholas Kelly's energetic, cinematic setting of a text by Amy Lowell

I wrote this piece for the Coastal Sound Youth choir near Vancouver, and had the opportunity to workshop it with them in March. We talked a lot about my early interest in film scores... which continues to inform my choral music even more than I realize, I think. (Especially this piece, which ends with a fanfare that might have some John Williams influence!)

The Diver (SATB + piano) | Coastal Sound Youth Choir Premiered by the Coastal Sound Youth Choir, conducted by Will de Sousa. Commissioned by Coastal Sound Music Academy; Diana Clark, artistic director.Music by ...

Are you looking for repertoire for 2023-2024? I'd love to hear from you about giving the regional (or perhaps even international) premiere of one of these brand-new pieces!

I'm so thrilled to have been commissioned by these wonderful groups... but it would be wonderful to hear them take on new life with new ensembles. Perusal scores for all of these are up on my website, as are audio recordings for most of them.

https://www.nicholasryankelly.com

Old news now, but I was a finalist in Voces8's composition competition! One of the top 8 out of 600 composers from around the world ain't too bad.

Last month, I also had the pleasure of meeting Luke Mayernik, whose piece was selected as the winner. I'm really looking forward to hearing it sung by this incredible group!

We are thrilled to announce that the winner of the 2023 VOCES8 Composition Competition is Luke Mayernik for his piece ‘The Lamb’. The judges were captivated by Luke’s tender and subtle setting of William Blake’s famous poem. We’ll be starting to rehearse and record it soon and can’t wait to share it with the world in concert, online and in print.

The judges had the pleasure of considering 8 thoughtful, creative and diverse pieces. Congratulations to the other shortlisted composers:

Ian G Coleman
Anuj Bhutani
Nicholas Ryan Kelly
Joel Clarkson
David Von Kampen
Judith Ward
Richard Barnard

We were so pleased to have had over 600 entries and would like to say thank you to everyone who submitted a piece. Keep an eye out in a few months for news of the 2024 Competition.