Eugene Astapov

One of the brightest young voices of Canadian new music, Eugene Astapov is a composer whose music combines the “richness of harmony” (New York Times) with a “haunting and soothing” narrative atmosphere (Calgary Herald). A graduate of The Juilliard School who studied with Christopher Rouse and Robert Beaser, Astapov has shared his music with audiences of different nationalities and backgrounds around the globe. The stages of New York’s Lincoln Center, the Salle Cortot in Paris, the National Arts Center in Ottawa, Sejong Hall in Seoul, the Banff Center (where he was 2014 Composer in Residence), and the Ravinia Music Festival are a few venues among many others at which his work has been performed.

   As a prolific creator of music for large orchestral forces, Astapov’s music has been read and performed by major orchestras and ensembles including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Moravian Philharmonic, Esprit Orchestra, the Juilliard Orchestra, the Eastman Philharmonia and L’Orchestre de la Francophonie Canadienne, which enabled him to introduce his music to conductors including Peter Oundjian, Bramwell Tovey, Joel Sachs, Jeff Milarsky and Jean-Philippe Tremblay, to name a few. Astapov’s current scheduled performances include the premiere of his Ictus Solis, to be performed by the Victoria Symphony Orchestra in 2016 and Olympus Mons, a Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra to be given its world premiere in Belgium 2017.

   In addition to his orchestral works, Astapov is an active composer of solo and chamber music, and is currently working on Contemplations, a project that creates sets of pieces for various solo instruments. His solo music has been recorded at the TelDec studios in Hamburg, Germany and released on that label. Astapov’s artistic activity is supported in part by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Ministry of Education, and the University of Toronto where he is nearing completion of his doctoral studies under the advisorship of Christos Hatzis and Gary Kulesha. astapovmusic.com