ALLAN GILLILAND, M.Mus.
Section Head, Composition Department

One of Canada's most commissioned and performed composers, Allan Gilliland was born in Darvel, Scotland in 1965 and immigrated to Canada in 1972. He has written music for solo instruments, orchestra, choir, brass quintet, wind ensemble, big band, film, television and theatre.

His music has been performed by many ensembles around the world including: the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the St. Lawrence String Quartet, the Canadian Brass, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Alberta Baroque Ensemble, ProCoro Canada, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, Hammerhead Consort, the Boston Pops and the brass section of the New York Philharmonic. For five years (1999-2004) he was Composer-in-Residence with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, writing 11 works for the ESO including concerti for violin, trumpet, two harps, and clarinet.

Other highlights include; The Winspear Fanfare composed for the opening of the Francis Winspear Centre for Music, An Overture for the Worlds commissioned for the opening ceremonies of the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Dreaming of the Masters I a jazz concerto written for clarinetist James Campbell and given its American premiere in 2004 by the Boston Pops, and the musicals The Seventh Circle and Dead Beats.

In 2002 his orchestral work On the Shoulders of Giants took first prize at the prestigious Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's Centara New Music Festival Composers Competition. Allan has also won composition contests sponsored by ProCoro Canada and the Alberta Band Association as well as first place in the Jean Coulthard Competition for Composers and the Lydia Pals Composers Competition.

He holds a diploma in Jazz Studies (trumpet) from Humber College, a Bachelor of Music degree in performance and a Master of Music degree in composition from the University of Alberta. Allan has taught at the University of Alberta and Red Deer College and is now Head of Composition at MacEwan in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.