Gregory Oh gained his notoriety as a “new music revolutionary” but his wandering of the genres has seen him appear in places from the legendary techno club Berghain to the Beijing Modern Music Festival, and the Ubumuntu Festival in Kigali to Lincoln Centre in New York City.
As a pianist, he was praised in the National Post for his “mesmerizing performance…intelligence and soul; imagination and insight. He revealed a visceral sense of tempo, excellent voicing, a wonderful pianistic palette, and a warm honest sound,” and lauded in the Toronto Star for “a superhuman interpretation of André Ristic’s keyboard-smashing avalanche of notes.” Gregory “is clearly on his way, through performances, commissioning and programming, to making a lasting contribution to new music in this country.” (National Post/CAN).
He holds graduate degrees from the University of Toronto, where he completed his studies with Marietta Orlov as the top graduating pianist, and the University of Michigan, where he worked with Martin Katz.
A rising music director and conductor, he recently received the 2022 Dora Mavor Award for Outstanding Music Direction for his work on the premiere of RUR: A Torrent of Light by Nicole Lizée and Nicolas Billon. Other credits include The Cave by John Millard and Tomson Highway, Bearing with director Michael Greyeyes (Signal Theatre/Luminato), Ride the Wind with AACM founding member Roscoe Mitchell and the Montreal-Toronto Art Orchestra, The Raven (University of Toronto), Melancholiac: The Music of Scott Walker (Bad New Days/Summerworks), Cold Spring (2011) at New York’s EMPAC and Native Earth’s Giiwedin (2010).
Known for his imaginative programming ideas, he has programmed at The Music Gallery, the Open Ears Festival of Music and Sound and most recently at the Harbourfront Centre. He has taught at Memorial University of Newfoundland, and currently teaches at the University of Toronto and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.
SHORTER BIO
Gregory Oh tends to wander the genres, appearing in places from the legendary Berlin techno club Berghain to Lincoln Centre. Recently he conducted RUR A Torrent of Light (Nicole Lizée/Nic Billon) for which he received the 2022 Dora Mavor Moore award for Outstanding Musical Direction, as well as The Cave (Tomson Highway/John Millard) and Bearing (Michael Greyeyes/Signal Theatre) for the Luminato Festival, and the recording Ride the Wind with Roscoe Mitchell and the Montreal-Toronto Jazz Orchestra. On piano he premiered Scott Good’s Hands of Orlac with the London Symphonia and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, toured Rwanda and the UK with Neema Bickersteth and Century Song (Volcano), and was featured as conductor and pianist at the Shanghai New Music Festival. He has worked with hundreds of composers including Steve Reich, Phillip Glass, Kaija Saariaho and Jörg Widmann. He teaches at the University of Toronto and NYO Canada and programs Summer Music in the Garden at Harbourfront Centre.
Do you have a short bio I could use for this OAC grant?