Oliver Schroer
Oliver Schroer | |
---|---|
Born | June 18, 1956 |
Origin | Canada |
Died | July 3, 2008 |
Occupation(s) | instrumentalist, composer, music producer |
Instrument(s) | Fiddle, violin |
Years active | 1993–2008 |
Website | OliverSchroer.com |
Oliver Schroer (June 18, 1956 – July 3, 2008) was a Canadian fiddler, composer, and music producer.
Early life
Oliver Schroer grew up in Vandeleur, Ontario, a small farming community near
Schroer was dissatisfied with university life, and began to
Recording career
Schroer was a prolific composer, recording ten CDs in 14 years. He performed in Europe and North America in clubs, cathedrals, and New York's
Toronto critic Robert Everett-Green described his style as a "fusion of Ontario fiddling traditions with the kind of architectural, string-crossing music of Bach's solo violin works."[3] Schroer's music also frequently employs violin harmonic and double stop techniques to create distinctly modern sounds.
Schroer taught music and mentored extensively in Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast, and Smithers, British Columbia, in Northern British Columbia during the last seven years of his life. He wrote a piece of music for each of his 59 young students in Smithers, and recorded each with Emilyn Stam, a young pianist from Smithers. His album Smithers is a thank-you album dedicated to the town.
During his time as a music educator, Schroer established a series of groups of young fiddlers and other musicians that he called The Twisted String. Schroer composed large orchestral arrangements for these groups and performed with them at Music festivals throughout Canada.
His album Camino was recorded in churches along the
In 2007, Schroer was diagnosed with
Schroer's last concert was performed on June 5, 2008. In a letter to his fans on April 30, when he first announced his intention to do this concert, he called it "Oliver's Last Concert on his Tour of this Planet". He asked that his sold-out audience clap, not cry, and apologized for not being his normal glad-handing self; the risk of infection from personal contact would have been much too great. A subsequent review in The Globe and Mail called Schroer "an investigative fiddler". Schroer was guested at the concert by long-time friends, musical collaborators and students; David Woodhead, Ansgar Schroer, Jaron Freeman-Fox, Emilyn Stam and Chelsea Sleep. Schroer died just shy of one month later.
During his final stages of his illness, Schroer said of his compositions, "I used to write a lot of jigs, reels and waltzes – as a matter of fact I still do. But over the years new kinds of melodies emerged – more rarefied, harder to pin down. There were prayers, incantations, whimsies, melismas, mysteriosos, heisenbergs, fractal reels, forest blues, blessings.... They are not so much entertainment tunes, but music that expresses other important things about my relationship to life. This music is, dare I say, more spiritual."[7]
Schroer shared a tune he called, Poised with two of his students on July 2, 2008.[8] He died of his illness the following morning.[9] His final words were, "Well, I guess no excursions today."[10]
Three months after his death, Schroer's CD Hymns and Hers was nominated for four Canadian Folk Music Awards:[11]
- Pushing the Boundaries
- Contemporary Album of the Year
- Solo Instrumentalist
- Producer
Hymns and Hers subsequently won two Canadian Folk Music Awards on November 23, 2008, in the categories of "Pushing the Boundaries" and "Solo Instrumentalist".[12]
"Enthralled", a duo album Oliver recorded with Irish flautist and singer Nuala Kennedy, was released in 2012 on Borealis Records and was nominated for Instrumental Group of the Year and Ensemble of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards 2012.[13]
Discography
- Jigzup (1993), Big Dog Music – Nominated for a Juno Awardin the Best Roots or Traditional Album category
- Whirled (1994), Big Dog Music
- Stewed Tomatoes (1996), Big Dog Music
- Celtica (1998), Avalon
- O2 (Double CD, 1999), Big Dog Music
- Restless Urban Primitive (2001), Big Dog Music
- A Million Stars (2004), Big Dog Music
- Camino (2006), Big Dog Music
- Celtic Devotion (2006), Avalon Records
- Hymns and Hers (2007), Big Dog Music
- Smithers (Double CD, 2007), Big Dog Music
- Freedom Row (2010), Borealis
- Enthralled Oliver Schroer and Nuala Kennedy, (2012) Borealis
References
- ^ Flesherton, Ontario: Grey Highlands Secondary School. June 1974.
- ^ John Terauds (April 27, 2006). "Music to inspire the pilgrim soul; 'Crazy Canadian' with violin both welcomed, ejected from churches". Toronto Star.
- ^ a b David Gordon Duke (December 2, 2006). "Camino project weaves a rich aural tapestry". The Vancouver Sun.
- ^ "Oliver Schroer – On the Camino Trail: The Diary". Archived from the original on December 10, 2006. Retrieved February 18, 2007.
- ^ John P. McLaughlin (December 1, 2006). "A musical pilgrim's progress: Concert brings to life Oliver Schroer's aural travelogue". The Province.
- ^ Flacks, Diane (July 5, 2008). "Oliver Schroer, Gracefully taking leave of life". Toronto Star. Retrieved July 5, 2008.
- ^ "Oliver Schroer O2 Essay". Archived from the original on January 13, 2006. Retrieved February 18, 2006.
- ^ "Oliver Schroer: Official Website". Retrieved October 9, 2008.
- ^ "Prolific fiddler Oliver Schroer dies of cancer". CTV News. July 4, 2008. Retrieved July 5, 2008.
- Owen Sound Sun-Times. July 5, 2008. Retrieved July 5, 2008.
- ^ "Late fiddler Oliver Schroer leads Canadian Folk Music nominations". CBC News. October 8, 2008. Retrieved October 8, 2008.
- ^ "CFMA/PMFC Winners 2008". Archived from the original on January 29, 2009. Retrieved December 9, 2008.
- ^ "Results 2012 | Canadian Folk Music Awards". November 18, 2012.