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.

Project Description
Visual Art Samples

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PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Watershed Moments is an immersive environmental installation created from field recordings, photos, and video captured from the countless unnamed tiny creeks and streams that flow down the misty North Shore Mountains in North Vancouver. The first showing of the installation will be presented in a small gallery as a walk-through environment using 12 iPad Pros, so the sound and imagery of these overlooked waterways surround visitors as they move throughout the space.

An online version, and spatial audio album, will also be created to extend access and engagement.

Water is the greatest source of inspiration in my work, in all its forms: droplets, steam, mist, rain, rivers, tides, glaciers, etc. While I’ve been a professional composer for more than 3 decades (with 11 albums and numerous International Awards to my credit) I am also an emerging visual artist.

My recent exhibition ‘Frozen Light’ was of Arctic sunsets refracted through ancient glacial ice, created during an artist residency on a tall ship in the High Arctic. https://jordannobles.com/frozen/

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 will eventually be realized in multiple formats: as a multi-media exhibition/installation, an online version, and a spatial audio recording for release on streaming services such as Apple Music.

I have access to 12 professional sounding iPad Pros, and display stands for them, which I will bring to the gallery. This demonstration would be suitable for quiet environments as an intimate presentation. This format allows me to explore the intersection of composition, visual media, and the spatial experience—extending my musical practice into an interdisciplinary dimension.

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VISUAL ART SAMPLES

Watershed Moments will be made directly from audio/video/photos of the countless, unnamed tiny creeks running down the North Vancouver mountains. I film close up footage at accessible creek sites, focusing on light refractions and the rhythms of the current and ripples. I also record the very complex sounds of the burbling, gurgling water and layer it artistically as the audio element.

The installation will be created in North Vancouver (located on the traditional, unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Squamish Nation, and səlilwətaɬ Tsleil-Waututh Nation) and first presented locally as a multi-screen work, then shared with other galleries, and finally presented as an online version so the project can be experienced beyond the physical installation.

Sample video showing some of my explorations of slowed down water refractions and reflections (low res samples)
The music in this example is from my 2020 album Chiaroscuro (for large chamber ensemble) which was nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award. https://redshiftrecords.org/catalogue/2020-releases/tk477/