To obtain photos for use in printed programmes and online posts, please, CLICK HERE
Download a biography in English and French HERE
Composition engagements:
North America:
Ensemble Triade (2023); Choeur de l’Université de Montréal (2022); La Ville de Montréal (2022); Médiation culturelle Montréal (2022); Ensemble Paramirabo (2022, 2020, 2017-2018, Canada); Innovations en concert (2020-2022, Canada); ArtsX (2021, USA); Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra (2020, 2021, USA); L’Orchestre à vents non identifié – OVNI (2018, Canada); Les Productions Benedictus, ELGEA, Inc., and Anatoli Kanev (2016, Canada-Bulgaria); Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble (2016, USA); Le Quatuor Molinari (2016, Canada); Les Amis de l’orgue de Montréal (2015, Canada); Newman Centre of McGill University (2013-14, Canada), Loboe Project (2014, USA), New Score Chamber Orchestra (2013, USA), ELGEA, Inc. (2012-13, Canada), Trinity Wall Street choir (2011, 2012, USA); Houston Heights Orchestra (2012, USA), Trio Passionné (2012, USA); Arcadian Winds (2011, USA), Orchestre de la Francophonie (2011, Canada); Designs in Harmony series (2011, USA); Cluster Music Festival (2011 Canada); Trio 86 (2011, 2012, Canada); Ansea Ensemble (2011, Canada); thingNY Ensemble (2010, 2011, USA); Twickenham Fest (2010, USA); Fujit Choir (2010, USA); Codes d’Accès (2009, Canada); Sound Symposium International Festival (2008, Canada); ELGEA Inc, CryptoSémio Inc. and Yves Royer (2008, Canada); The Shakespeare Company and the New Fromm Players (2007 USA); McGill Symphony Orchestra (2006 Canada); Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (2005, 2006 Canada); Smith college choir (2005, USA); Image-Movement-Sound Festival (2003, USA); Boston University Chamber Orchestra (2001, USA)
Europe:
Sofia Soloists (2022, Bulgaria); El Perro Andaluz (2022, Germany); Gabrovo Chamber Orchestra (2021, Bulgaria); City of Yambol and Regional History Museum, Yambol (annually since 2017, Bulgaria); London New Winds Festival (2017, Great Britain); Sofia Wind Orchestra (2017, Bulgaria); Fleurs rejétées series (2016, Austria); Trakart Foundation (2016, Bulgaria); Hungarian cultural centre (2016, Bulgaria); Bulgarian Cultural Institute and Canadian Cultural Centre (2016, France); Collegium Musicum Berlin (2015-16), Germany); temp’ora (2012-14, Europe); Parkensemblet (2013, Europe); Levon Manukyan Collegium Musicum (2013, Bulgaria); Lachert Foundation/Duo Maclé (2013, Belgium/Italy); Neues Atelier (2013, Austria), Duo Harpverk (2012, Iceland); CoMA ensemble (2012×2, Britain); CYE Ensemble (2010, 2011 Sweden); Warsaw Autumn Festival (2010, Poland); AmBul Festival (2010, Bulgaria); Red Note Ensemble (2010, Scotland); orkest de ereprijs (2008, 2010, the Netherlands); British School St. Catherine (2009, Greece); Gaudeamus Festival (2008, the Netherlands); Dutch Ringtone Society (2008, the Netherlands); Sofia Symphony Orchestra (2007, Bulgaria); St. St. Cyril and Methodius international foundation (2005, Bulgaria); Bulgarian-Swiss cultural festival (2004 Bulgaria and Switzerland); American Music Week in Bulgaria (2000, Bulgaria); Percussion ensemble Accent (1999, Bulgaria); Hors string quartet (1999, Bulgaria)
Asie:
Payan University (2021, Thailand)
Film music:
Solstice ritual on Zaychi Vruh (2017, released 2020, Bulgaria)
Ancient Thrace: Door to Immortality (2014, Bulgaria) Trailer | Full movie
A Man of Action (2009, Bulgaria) Collage of scenes on youtube done by a TV programme
Composition prizes:
Roberta Stephen Award (2021, Canada); Third prize and audience prize the Molinari 6th International string quartet composition competition (2015, Canada); Third Prize at the SOCAN Awards for Young Composers (2010, Canada); Leonard Bernstein Composition Fellowship (2007, Tanglewood Music Center, USA); Finalist for the Gaudeamus Prize in Composition (2006, the Netherlands); Composition fellow at the Young Artists Composition Program (1999, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, USA); Laureate of the Second International World Children’s Music Festival, (1994, Tachikawa, Japan); First prize at the National Composition Contest “The child and the family”, organized by the papal nuncio in Bulgaria, Monsignor Mario Rizi (1994, Bulgaria)
Publisher:
Canadian Music Centre
Organ engagements:
Director of music and titulair organist at St James United church (2021 – present, Canada)
Titular organist at Missione Maria Ausiliatrice (2017 – present, Canada)
Contracted organist at Missione Maria Ausiliatrice (2014-2016, Canada)
Organist for the annual pilgrimage of the Conference of Italian Priests of Montréal
(2015 – present, Canada)
Guest presenter, Montréal Organ Festival – joint RCCO-AGO convention (2017, Canada)
Titular organist [and conductor] at Sainte-Angèle parish in Montréal (2006-2014, Canada)
Titular organist at Webster Baptist Church (2003-2004, USA)
Assistant-organist à Boston University March Chapel (2001-2002, USA)
Concerts in the United States, Canada and in Sweden (2001 – present) Commissioning and world premieres of works by a. lanza, A. Fol, T. Tidrow, M. Novotny, T. Grahl, S. Perkins, L. Iogansen, D. Pesca, C. Otto, C. Coyne, J. Lesage, P. Bjuhr and others.
Conducting engagements:
Société pour la Promotion des Bienfaits de l’Apprentissage de la Musique (2017, Canada)
Sinfonietta Sofia for Studio Tourneson (2015-16, Canada)
Conductor [and organist] at Missione Maria Ausiliatrice (2014-present, Canada)
Titular conductor [and organist] at Sainte-Angèle parish in Montréal (2013-2014, Canada)
Music Director and Conductor of the Montréal West Operatic Society (2011-12, Canada);
Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble for Vermont MIDI Project [now Music-Comp] (2009, USA)
Music Director and Conductor of the McGill Savoy Society (2007-09, Canada)
Guest conductor for Musique 21 (2011, Canada) Guest conductor for the Contemporary Music Ensemble at McGill University (2007, Canada); World premieres of works by composers A. Fol, L. Iogansen, T. Grahl, T. Tidrow, E. Britton, T. Brook, M. Novotný, L. Rogener, C. Goddard; other composers include J. Juasa, W. Walton (2000 – present)
Recording engagements:
Innovations en concert (2022, Canada); Les Productions Benedictus (2019, 2018, 2016, Canada); Studio Tourneson (Canada, 2016); Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble (2016, USA); Standing Wave Audio Productions (USA, 2001, 2002)
Publications:
Fol, Alexandra & Mills, Randy. “Place à la musique canadienne! Make way for Canadian music!” Orgue Canada. Organ Canada. Hiver/Winter 2023. Volume 36 No. 1. Collège royal canadien des organistes. Royal Canadian College of Organists. Toronto (2023, Canada). pp. 21-22
Fol, Alexandra. “Consequences of forced originality of (institutionalized) music commissioning” Art and Society. Art readings: Thematic Peer-reviewed Art Studies Annual, Volumes I–II. Institute of Art Studies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Sofia (2023, Bulgaria). ISSN: 1313-2342. ISBN: 978-619-7619-22-5. pp. 381-385
Fol, Alexandra. “Ontological topis of music composition”. Ancient Egypt,the World of the Mediterranean and the East. Bulgarian Institute of Egyptology, New Bulgarian University, East-West Publishing House. Sofia (2022, Bulgaria) ISBN 978-619-01-1121-4 pp. 179-196
Fol, Alexandra & Fol, Valeria. “Пазители на уменията”. Torchbearers XXXII. Licht, mehr Licht! O Pismeneh Publishing house, SULSIT, Sofia (2022, Bulgaria) ISBN 978-619-185-558-2. Е ISBN 978-619-185-559-9. pp. 1178-1182
“Разпознаване на музикални инструменти от непълни археологически находки и тълкуване на образи върху тракийски предмети”. ThraciaXXVI. In honorem Valeria Fol. Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia (2022, Bulgaria)
“Defining beauty in art: five provisi and six conditions sine qua non“. Études balkaniques. Guest editor: Vanya Lozanova-Stancheva. Académie bulgare des sciences, Sofia (2022, Bulgarie) LVІІІ / 1. ISSN 0324-1645
“Recognizing musical instruments: partial and complete excavation finds, and depiction on Thracian cultural objects”. Harmony in Diversity. Editors and compilers: Georgeta Nazarska, Svetla Shapkalova. Za buikvite – O Pismeneh Publishing house, SULSIT, Sofia (2021, Bulgaria) ISSN: 2767-7899
“Technology and music: ethical and moral issues” Антропология: Списание за социокултурна антропология / Anthropology: Journal for Sociocultural Anthropology South-West University „Neofit Rilski“, Bulgaria (2020, Bulgaria); (2020): ISSN 2682-9649 (Online), ISSN 2367-573-X (Print); Volume 7, pp. 118-127
“The painted trumpets in the Kazanlak tomb: parallels with Tutankhamun’s trumpets, instrumental and performance hypotheses”. Ancient Thrace and the Thracians Encyclopaedia. (2020, online, Bulgaria) ISSN: 2683-0590 Text in Bulgarian and in English. Also published in Thracia, volume XXV, a series by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
“Harmony, or the art of living together: a music metaphor” in Harmony in Diversity, published by Za bukvite – O Pismeneh Publishing House, SULSIT. (2018, Bulgaria) ISSN: 2367-7899
“Homo universalis, a path still relevant today” in Musforum, November 2018
co-authour with Valeria Fol of “Music in the Sacred Spaces of the Thracians” Сборник в чест на 85 години от рождението на Александър Фол, д. н. [Collection in honour of 85 years since the birth of Alexander Fol, Doctor of Science]. Bulgarian Institute of Egyptology at New Bulgarian University. (2018, Bulgaria) ISBN: 978-619-01-0340-0
Roger Sessions and his opera Montezuma Gutenberg Publishing House (2018, Bulgaria) ISBN: 978-619-176-115-9
Articles in the Journal for Sociocultural Anthropology (2017, 2016);
co-author of “Methodology of Archaeoacoustic research”, published by National Military University, Bulgaria (2017);
co-author Fables Poetry Psalms Басни Поезия Псалми Gutenberg Publishing House (2016)
Revue Mixtures (2015);
Revue Laudem (2014);
Organ Canada (2014);
Royal Canadian College of Organists (2015, 2014, 2011, 2010, Canada);
Grin GmbH (2011, Germany) ISBN (eBook): 978-3-656-06214-1; ISBN (Book): 978-3-656-06175-5);
Journal of the Canadian Viola Society (2011, Canada);
Social Science and Research Network (2009, 2010, www.ssrn.com);
Journal “Problems and Research of Thracian Culture” (2009, Bulgaria);
The Phonograph (2007, 2008, 2009, Canada); Weekly articles in “The Campus times” (2003-04, USA); Various articles, essays and opinion pieces in AzBuki, Music. Yesterday. Today, Musica Viva, Zname (1997-99, Bulgaria) and The Daily Free Press (2000-02, USA)
Research:
Associate member of the Institute of Art Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (2022-2026, Bulgaria)
Panacademic project of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences “The Thracians – genesis, cultural identities, civilizational interactions and heritage from the Antiquity” Theme 5: Acoustical research of sacred Thracian sites. (2017, Bulgaria)
Grants, scholarships, fellowships:
Canada Council for the Arts recording grant (2022, Canada); Canada Council for the Arts (2018, Canada); Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec (2010, 2012, Canada); SOCAN Foundation Composer’s Residency grant (2011); Travel Grants from the Canada Council for the Arts (2007 (declined), 2008, 2009, Canada); Ministry of Culture (2007, 2009, Bulgaria); Leonard Bernstein Tanglewood Music Center Fellowship (2007, USA); Finalist for the Gaudeamus Prize (2006, the Netherlands); McGill University J. W. McConnell Memorial Fellowship (2005-08, Canada); Eastman School of Music (2002-04, USA); St. St. Cyril and Methodius International Foundation (2000-02); Trustees of Boston University (2000-02); Europa Antiqua International Foundation (2000)
Teaching experience:
Composition teacher for Music-Comp (formerly Vermont MIDI Project, 2009-12, USA); Teaching assistant and course lecturer for counterpoint, music theory, musicianship, art of listening, orchestration (McGill University, 2004-2009, Canada)
Important institutional affiliations:
Canadian Music Centre; The Royal Canadian College of Organists; LAUDEM, l’Association des musiciens liturgiques du Canada; International Research and Information Centre “Thracica”; temp’ora; Board of Directors, Grafimuse competition 2011; SOCAN; Musicautor
Education:
Certificate in Theology and Ministry (USA’s Princeton Theological Seminary, 2014)
Doctor of Music in composition (Canada’s McGill University Schulich School of Music, 2011)
Master of Music in composition (USA’s Rochester University, Eastman School of Music, 2004)
Bachelor of Music in composition and theory (USA’s Boston University College of Fine Arts, 2002)
Professional degrees in piano and music education (Bulgaria’s National Music School, 1998)
Languages:
Bulgarian (native speaker);
German, English, French (fluent)
Italian (advanced);
Russian (advanced reading and comprehension)
Serbian (intermediate reading and comprehension)
Honours:
Heraldic insignia granted by the Canadian Heraldic Authority (2019)
References and list of conference engagements available upon request
Alexandra Fol 