News

John Estacio has been commissioned by the Cincinnati Ballet to compose an orchestral score for the new full length ballet King Arthur's Camelot. With choreography by Victoria Morgan, the ballet will have its world premiere on February 13, 2014.

Internationally reknowned baritone Russell Braun and the Grammy Award winning violinist James Ehnes will be premiering a new song cycle, Away and Awake. With words by John Murrell and commisioned by the Women's Musical Club of Toronto, the piece will be premiered at 1:30 pm on May 2, 2013 at Koerner Hall, Toronto, with Carolyn Maule on piano.

The National Arts Centre Orchestra with conductor Pinchas Zukerman will once again be performing Brio, Toccata and Fantasy for Orchestra. The NACO comes to Roy Thomson Hall for a special concert on April 20, 2013 at 7:30 pm with the composer in attendance.

The Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony kicked off their 2012/13 with a performances of Brio September 21-23 . John's latest orchestral work will also be performed by the Victoria Symphony and the Edmonton Symphony later this season. Upcoming performances of Frenergy include performances by the Sherbrooke Symphony, the Niagara Symphony and the National Orchestra of Paraguay. Light Eternal was performed October 21 and 26 2012 by Orchestra Toronto. Spring's Promise was recently performed by the Elgin Symphony in Illinois.

Daybreak, for voice and piano, was performed by the semi-finalists of the Montreal International Musical Competition May 28-31 2012. With a text by John Murrell, Daybreak was commissioned by the MIMC as the required piece, to be performed by the competitors. John was in attendance for all the semi-final recitals in Montreal.

Estacio's Triple Concerto was performed by the Edmonton Symphony at their Carnegie Hall debut on May 8. Recently revised, this was the first time the concerto had been performed since its premiere in 1997. The concert also included works by Allan Gilliland, Robert Rival and Martinu.

For more information about the Triple Concerto, click here to listen to the ESO's podcast featuring excerpts from the piece. Click here to listen to John's recent interview on The Unknown Studio.

Filumena, Estacio and Murrell's first opera, recently received its American broadcast premiere on KSPS, the PBS affiliate in Spokane. The opera is tentatively scheduled to air on the entire PBS network in the fall. Click here for a short trailer for the Filumena DVD.

Estacio and Murrell's new opera, Lillian Alling, was recently performed at the Banff Summer Festival. To listen to the Vancouver Opera's production of Lillian Alling, and for production photographs and the synopsis, go to the concerts on demand webpage at the CBC.

You can read more about John Estacio at the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada.

You can follow John on Twitter @EstacioComposer

Filumena, Estacio and Murrell's first opera, is available on DVD. Click on Filumena for more information about the opera and how to get a copy of the DVD. Click here for a short trailer of the DVD.