Jeff Smallman

 

Jeff was born in 1965, in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. At the age of eight, he began piano lessons and began writing music soon after.  He attended the University of Western Ontario and, in 1987, graduated with an honours degree in Theory and Composition. While at Western, he studied with Alan Heard and Gerhard Wuensch, and found many different influences from as early as the Medieval period. Various 20th-century techniques, including serialism, aleatoric, 12-tone, etc., failed to attract Jeff, whose melodic talents incorporate a blend of Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Impressionist styles.

Jeff has written for a wide variety of ensembles, ranging from solo instruments to full orchestra, covering a range of styles and difficulty levels. This variety of styles has led people to compare his music to such composers as Bach, Ravel, Debussy, Mahler, Poulenc, Ibert, and Shostakovich. His numerous commissions include pieces for concert band, solo flute, clarinet choir, saxophone quartet, and choirs of various sizes. His trumpet sextet, "Fanfare for Prince Henry", was written in celebration of the birth of Prince Henry of Britain, and was accepted by the Princess of Wales in 1984.

Performances of Jeff's compositions have been given throughout Canada, and in the United States, Hungary, Holland, Lithuania, Poland, and China.

Two of Jeff's choral works, "Brier" and "Sentinels of Glory", were declared competition winners in 2004. "Brier", the winner of the ACCC (Association of Canadian Choral Conductors) Associated Publishers Composition Competition, was published by Kelman Hall Publishing in the summer of 2004. Subsequent to these wins, Jeff was admitted to the Canadian League of Composers.

Jeff's webpage:  http://www.jeffsmallman.com