ASL 2015: Guest Composer, Neil Weisensel

photo credit: Aaron Kostuik

Neil Weisensel is a composer, conductor, and sound designer whose career is the essence of collaboration. He has written for opera, theater, film and television, and of course art song!

Most recently, Neil was commissioned by Vancouver Opera to compose Stickboy, in collaboration with spoken-word artist Shayne Koyczan. Weisensel's score incorporated spoken-word recordings of Shane, with live sung text, while the production blended traditional staging with stunning animation and video design.

It's clear that Neil is working at the cutting edge of where words meet music - exactly what we want to explore at ASL 2015!

Apply today at www.artsonglab.com. 


Neil Weisensel is a composer and conductor based in Winnipeg, Canada. His six operas, which have been critically and popularly acclaimed, have been performed across Canada, and he receives commissions, awards and prizes from arts organizations in Canada and the U.S. Mr. Weisensel has composed and arranged music for feature films, stage works, documentaries, and animation for networks including the CBC, Bravo!, and CTV.

Composing in a wide variety of genres, including jazz, rock, ethno-cultural, and world beat, he has also performed and recorded with artists such as Michael Buble, Russill Paul, Noirin Ni Riain and Brian Tate, and with vocalist Rachel Landrecht for luminaries such as Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

Neil is equally at home composing for the concert hall, opera, and dance. Internationally, he has produced music for large-scale multi-media installations such as the German pavilion at Expo 2000 in Hanover, Germany. Also in 2000 he garnered a Genie nomination in the Best Song category for work on the theme music to the feature film Here's To Life, which he co-wrote with Michael Bublé.

Neil has received grants, awards and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (U.S.), the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Manitoba and British Columbia Arts Councils, and the Banff Centre for the Arts, among others. His concert music and stage works have been performed by the Victoria Symphony Orchestra, Opera Lyra Ottawa, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Vancouver New Music, the Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir, the Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra, Edmonton Opera, Vancouver Opera, the Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra, and Edmonton’s Hammerhead Consort. Neil lives in Winnipeg, Canada with wife Rachel and daughter Miracle.