biography - 250 words
Luke Blackmore is a Canadian composer, sound artist, and saxophonist based in Toronto and St. John’s.
His current artistic practice centers around works that explore acoustic and electronic spaces, and he is interested in exploring the connections and divisions between these two sonic environments. Luke’s work seeks to investigate how these boundaries can be exploited, assured, and otherwise manipulated in order to subvert the collective expectations of audiences. He is invested in creating music that is exciting for listeners and performers alike, synthesizing influence from a broad palette of musical genres and eras.
Born in St. John’s, Luke studied at Memorial University under Andrew Staniland and Clark Ross before beginning his master’s degree at the University of Toronto. Luke currently resides in Toronto, pursuing a D.M.A in composition, where he studies under Kotoka Suzuki and Eliot Britton.
Luke has worked with performers such as Ryan Scott (percussion), Naomi McCarroll-Butler (saxophone), Jing Xia (guzheng), Jack Campbell (violin), Anna Graham (bassoon), among others. He recently received a commission from Montréal based guitarist Ben Diamond, which premiered at Sound Symposium XX with funding from ArtsNL. Luke also recently received a SSHRC CGS-M award for his ongoing creative research into performer-computer interactivity through the lens of computer-controlled instruments such as the Disklavier. Luke is currently the composer in residence with the UofT guitar ensemble. Other collaborations of his include the Canadian Music Centre’s ACTIVATE program, the Toronto Strings Composition Workshop, the Newfound Festival, and others.
Luke spends his spare time exploring cooking, urbanism, film and tv, cycling, and more.