Gjeilo comments, “Named Prelude despite its Latin text, I conceived of this piece as a concert opener, a type of introductory or entrance music.
It creates a sound that can be so amazingly evocative and warm, especially when doubled by a string quartet.” PreludeĬomposed in 2006, Ola Gjeilo’s Prelude shows the influence of Gregorian chant and early polyphony. As he comments in the introduction to his composition, Dark Night of the Soul, “I just love the sound of voices singing chords on ‘Ooh’ or ‘Mmm’. In addition, he also enjoys doubling voices with a string quartet. To him, the piano often is an equal partner in his compositions. He notes that he has been influenced especially by Keith Jarrett, Thomas Newman, Howard Shore, Philip Glass and John Adams. He is especially interested in composing vocal, orchestral, and piano music. Ola Gjeilo has his own voice and musical language, influenced by classical, jazz, and folk music.
Many times, he has performed with choral groups presenting his music. As a performer himself, Gjeilo has performed all over the world. His music also has been featured on PBS in the United States, and the major Scandinavian television channels. Gjeilo’s music has been performed in over 30 countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, France, and Belgium. His choral music has been performed by the Kansas City Chorale, Conspirare, the World Youth Choir, VocalEssence, Mogens Dahl Chamber Choir, Brigham Young University Singers, Norwegian Soloists’ Choir, and the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation’s Radiokören.
Olaf College, Ensemble Mendelssohn, the Choral Arts Ensemble, and Voces Nordicae. He has received a number of commissions, from various artists and groups, including American soprano Barbara Bonney, the Phoenix Chorale, Philip Brunnelle, the Edvard Grieg Society, St. He composes jazz, as well as classical music. He also has composed music for solo piano, instrumental ensembles, and orchestras. Ola Gjeilo has composed over 30 published choral works, both a cappella and accompanied, that have been performed world-wide. At present, he is a full-time composer, based in Santa Monica, California. In 2009-2010, he was Composer-in-Residence for the Grammy-award winning Phoenix (Arizona) Chorale, conducted by Charles Bruffy. Gjeilo returned to New York soon after 2007, performing as a pianist and continuing his composition work. In addition to film music, he is interested in electronic music and synthesized sounds. A lover of film, he has created a number of film scores for short films, although no feature-length ones. In 2006-2007, he and fellow composer Asmund Skuterud created a film music company called Nordic Screen Music, based in Oslo and New York. During this time, he also worked in Los Angeles as a freelance composer and concert recording artist. In 2006-2007, he moved to Los Angeles to study film composition/scoring at the University of Southern California, following up his interest in film and film music. He composed a variety of works while at Juilliard, and received the Gretchaninoff Memorial Prize, as well as winning the 2005 Juilliard Composers’ Orchestral Work Competition. In 2001, he began studying composition with Robert Beaser at the Juilliard School of Music. Gjeilo received his Bachelor’s degree from the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, and then attended the Royal College of Music in London, where he received a degree in composition. By 1999, he began to concentrate on composing concert music.
By the time he reached junior high school, he had one teacher who finally forced him to concentrate on his technique. He had a number of different piano teachers. At times, he would write down his improvisations as formal compositions. He can’t even remember when he began composing. He loved improvising and playing piano by ear, so he didn’t learn to read music immediately. He began taking formal piano lessons when he was seven, as well as studying jazz and composition. A talented child, he began to play piano by ear when he was three or four. A Choral Christmas Featuring Prelude, A Spotless Rose, and The Ground by Ola Gjeilo (1978-)ĭynamic young composer and pianist Ola Gjeilo was born in Oslo, Norway, in 1978.
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