ABOUT
Danial Sheibani is an Iranian Canadian composer and conductor recognized by CBC’s 30 Under 30 Classical Musicians list as an emerging voice in contemporary music. His work spans concert halls and media, from composing the soundtrack for an Amazon Prime series to receiving a touring commission from the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. His music has been performed by leading ensembles including the Verona Quartet, the University of Toronto Opera and Symphony Orchestra, the Rhythm Method Quartet, and the Standing Wave Ensemble. Performances of his work have taken place at Koerner Hall, Winspear Centre, TCU Place, Sprague Hall at Yale, and Harbourfront Centre, as well as at major festivals such as the Norfolk New Music Festival and the Lake George Music Festival. His compositions have been broadcast by CBC and featured across major streaming platforms.
Alongside his composing, he is also the co-founder and conductor of the Blank Canvas Sound Collective, a contemporary ensemble dedicated to immersive, boundary-pushing concert experiences that serve as an underground vanguard championing the voices of the post-modern avant-garde.
Sheibani’s compositions explore themes surrounding the imperfections of the human psyche, working with evocative soundscapes that aim to create trance-like atmospheres and challenge the listener’s perception of time. With every piece, he seeks to evoke vivid imagery drawn from the listener’s memories and to introduce them to new worlds of sensation, thought, and feeling.
A graduate of the University of Toronto, where he was awarded the Carolyn and Robert Lake Graduating Award, Sheibani studied composition primarily with Christos Hatzis and Gary Kulesha, Richard Danielpour, and David Serkin Ludwig. He has also worked under the mentorship of leading composers of the 21st century, including Ana Sokolović, Martin Bresnick, Donnacha Dennehy, Reza Vali, and Philippe Leroux, as well as conductor Joe Miller. Several works from his catalogue have been published by Modern Sound Collective, Alea Publishing, and Sonaria.
The Blank Canvas Sound Collective before the inaugural concert.
Photography © 2023 Jingyi Zhou
He has also co-founded a media production company with his collaborator, Keanu Gathy, called Sonaria LLC which aims to work with diverse genres and styles of music. Recently, he joined as the lead singer, bass guitarist, and co-composer of a modern metal band called Ash Lake, based in Toronto, which is currently working on releasing its first album. He also teaches piano, voice, and theory in his private studio.
He has also taken part in the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music’s International Conducting Training Program where he conducted Sanctus and Benedictus from the Mozart Requiem with orchestra, chorus, and soloists. His mentors in the program were Joe Miller and L. Brett Scott. His conducting mentors include Thomas Burton (choral) and Gary Kulesha (orchestral) who have helped him grasp his technique and voice as a conductor. He is also an active vocalist, studying under Mark Daboll. Singing in many different choirs around Toronto has shown him a more human aspect in music which he hopes to present in works of his own. He has enrolled in summer studies at the Lake George Music Festival, Norfolk New Music Workshop, CCM Choral Intensive, Cascade Composers Workshop, Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance, and Compocon 2023 – Standing Wave.
He has also studied film scoring with George Oldziey and Orchestration with Tim Huling from the film scoring department at Berklee College of Music and has also workshopped with film composers such as James Newton Howard, Harry Gregson-Williams, Tom Holkenborg (aka Junkie XL), Christoph Beck, Christopher Lennertz, and Phillip Klein.