APPLICATION MATERIALS

Biography

JUNO award-winning Canadian composer Jordan Nobles is known for creating music filled with an “unearthly beauty” (Mondomagazine) that makes listeners want to “close (their) eyes and transcend into a cloud of music” (Discorder Magazine). Jordan has won numerous awards throughout his career including the distinguished Azrieli Music Prize (2024), a JUNO Award (2017), a Western Canadian Music Award (2018), the International Composition Competition of the Unbound Flute Festival (Brisbane, Australia 2016), the Sacra/Profana (San Diego 2013), Vancouver Bach Choir (Vancouver 2008), and Polyphonos (Seattle 2011) International Composition Competitions. 
In 2017, Jordan was the recipient of the Jan V. Matejcek Award from SOCAN in recognition of “overall success in ‘New Classical Music”. He has released 11 albums of his compositions and has been performed around the world by orchestras, ensembles, and choirs.
He lives in Deep Cove, BC with his wife Kelly, and child Julian.

Jordan Nobles’ Curriculum Vitae
Project Description
Music Composition Samples
Visual Art Samples

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PROJECT DESCRIPTION

During the residency at La Napoule, I plan to create a brand new composition inspired by the architecture and environs of the Château de la Napoule.

This will be a new composition for large spatialized ensemble—possibly for string orchestra, though the final instrumentation will determined during the composing process. My goal is to compose a work that surrounds the listener, using spatial distribution and subtle harmonic movement to create a contemplative, immersive sonic environment. The piece may eventually be realized in multiple formats: as a live performance, a multi-channel sound installation, and/or a spatial audio recording for commercial release.

While at La Napoule, I will plan daily hikes to explore the château and coastline  and use photography and video to capture visual materials that may later influence the form or structure of the composition. These images and textures may inform the mood, pacing, or sonic palette of the composition, and even be incorporated into a video-based presentation of the piece.

I have access to 12 professional sounding iPad Pros, and display stands for them, which I can bring to La Napoule if it is of interest. Depending on what the space and context allows, I can develop a demonstration version of my work as a sonic/visual installation using them, each functioning as a portable audio-visual “voice” in the piece. This demonstration would be suitable for quiet environments as an intimate presentation. They can be positioned in architectural spaces like cloisters or stairwells, or the gardens creating a diffuse constellation of sound and image. This format allows me to explore the intersection of composition, visual media, and the spatial experience—extending my musical practice into an interdisciplinary dimension.
* If appropriate, and desired, I would also be happy to support other artists in using this ipad system for demonstrations or installations of their own works.

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COMPOSITION SAMPLES

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VISUAL ART SAMPLES

While I am applying to the La Napoule Canadian Artist Residency as a professional COMPOSER, I am also an emerging visual artist. I’ve recently begun exploring photography and video as a means of extending my compositional practice—looking at how sound and image can intersect in my artworks. This residency offers a valuable opportunity to further develop that intersection and consider how these two creative paths might converge in future projects.

FROZEN LIGHT

FROZEN LIGHT is a photographic series capturing Arctic sunsets refracted through ancient glacial ice, created during an artist residency on a tall ship in the High Arctic. October 2024.
For most of my creative life, I’ve looked to nature as both a collaborator and a guide. As a composer, I’ve drawn deeply from the movement of water, the silence of fog, and the invisible forces that shape the environment — from oceanic tides to atmospheric light. The Frozen Light photography series continues what has long driven my music: reverence for the natural world.
This series was born during a recent artist residency aboard the tall ship Antigua in the High Arctic (thanks to thearcticcircle.org ). Surrounded by glaciers, the late Arctic sun, suspended in fragments of glacial ice sculpted by water, weather, pressure, and time, became an endless source of inspiration and quiet focus. These photographs are unmanipulated.

WATERS

WATERS is an ongoing video series of light refractions on moving water, slowed down to reveal the subtle choreography of light, motion, and rhythm. These are low resolution excerpts.