About
English:
Philippe Macnab-Séguin is a composer of instrumental, fixed-media, and mixed music whose work combines, collides, and refracts diverse styles through the lens of new media technologies such as spatial audio, live electronics, video, and smart phone applications. His compositions interrogate the individual’s relationship to culture, and how technology reshapes these dynamics. Drawing on inspiration from Jungian psychology, he often exploits the hallucinatory quality of today’s early AI technologies to evoke dreamlike states. His music reflects his eclectic musical background as an electric guitarist in metal and jazz, his lessons in konnakol (south Indian vocal percussion) with Ghatam Karthick, his experience in Barbershop singing and arranging, and his study of Hyperglitch music and production with the producer Woulg (Greg Debicki). He and producer Nicolas Gaumond form the prog-pop duo Greetings From The Hole.
One of his primary research interests is Aural Sonology, a method developed by Norwegian composer Lasse Thoresen, which aims to transcribe, describe, and analyze music-as-heard, without the support of a score, and independently of style. He has given over to participants of all levels of musical training, often with his colleagues Dominique Lafortune and Gabriel Dufour-Laperrière. This research informs his compositional work immensely, keeping it firmly grounded in perceptual principles, and allowing him to make cross-stylistic comparisons using the same conceptual framework.
He has received over 20 scholarships and awards for his work, including the Prix d’Europe, a BMI award, four SOCAN young composer awards, a JTTP award, and funding from the SSHRC and FRQSC. He received his D.Mus in composition from McGill University under the supervision of Jean Lesage, and has received mentorship from Denys Bouliane, Lasse Thoresen, Pierre Alexandre Tremblay, Matthew Shlomowitz, Philippe Leroux, Du Yun and Steve Takasugi, among others.
Français:
Philippe Macnab-Séguin est un compositeur de musique instrumentale, de musique fixe et de musique mixte dont le travail combine, confronte et réfracte divers styles à travers la lentille des nouvelles technologies médiatiques telles que l'audio spatial, l'électronique en direct, la vidéo et les applications pour téléphones intelligents. Ses compositions interrogent la relation de l'individu à la culture et la manière dont la technologie remodèle cette dynamique. S'inspirant de la psychologie jungienne, il exploite souvent la qualité hallucinatoire des premières technologies d'intelligence artificielle pour évoquer des états oniriques. Sa musique reflète son parcours éclectique de guitariste électrique dans le métal et le jazz, ses leçons de konnakol (percussion vocale de l'Inde du Sud) avec Ghatam Karthick, son expérience du chant et de l'arrangement Barbershop, et son étude de la musique et de la production Hyperglitch avec le producteur Woulg (Greg Debicki). Il forme avec le producteur Nicolas Gaumond le duo prog-pop Greetings From The Hole.
L'un de ses principaux domaines de recherche est la sonologie auditive, une méthode développée par le compositeur norvégien Lasse Thoresen, qui vise à transcrire, décrire et analyser la musique telle qu'elle est entendue, sans le soutien d'une partition et indépendamment du style. Il a donné des cours à des participants de tous niveaux de formation musicale, souvent avec ses collègues Dominique Lafortune et Gabriel Dufour-Laperrière. Cette recherche nourrit énormément son travail de composition, l'enracinant dans des principes perceptifs et lui permettant de faire des comparaisons inter-stylistiques à partir d'un même cadre conceptuel.
Il a reçu plus de 20 bourses et prix pour son travail, dont le Prix d'Europe, un prix BMI, quatre prix SOCAN pour jeunes compositeurs, un prix JTTP, ainsi que des financements du CRSH et du FRQSC. Il a obtenu un doctorat en composition à l'Université McGill sous la direction de Jean Lesage, et a bénéficié du mentorat de Denys Bouliane, Lasse Thoresen, Pierre Alexandre Tremblay, Matthew Shlomowitz, Philippe Leroux, Du Yun et Steve Takasugi, entre autres.
List of awards
2024 JTTP Yves Gigon Award for the most outrageous electroacoustic work; Gone For Eggs
2023 SOCAN young composers award: 1st prize, electroacoustic category; Gone For Eggs
2023 Prix d’Europe in Composition. $10,000 prize and commission from the SMCQ
2020 Alvarez Chamber Orchestra composition competition: distinguished mention; Seizing to be Ceased
2020 Luba Zuk Piano Duo Composition Prize
2020 Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement
2019 SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship - Doctoral
2019 McGill Graduate Mobility Award: for research visit at Norwegian Academy of Music with Lasse Thoresen
2019 Andrew Svoboda Memorial Prize (McGill Symphony Orchestra Commission)
2018 SOCAN award for emerging composers: 3rd prize, large ensemble category; Seizing to be Ceased
2018 Shortlisted for NOOSA ISAM Piano Competition, for A Dozen Tics (2018)
2017 FRQSC Fellowship
2017 McGill Graduate Fellowship
2017 McGill Dean’s Essay Prize. 2nd place. For “The circle of fifths as a perceptual
model for the analysis of spectral music.”
2017 McGill Dean’s Essay Prize. Audience choice award.
2015 McGill Graduate Excellence Scholarship
2015 SOCAN award for emerging composers: 1st place, chamber music; Percussion Sextet.
2015 SOCAN award for emerging composers: 3rd place in electroacoustic category for
Through the Cracks, for electric guitar and live processing.
2014 Andrew Svoboda Award for music composition.
2014 Maurice Pollack Foundation Scholarship.
2014 Schulich School of Music scholarship.
2013 Andrew Svoboda Award for music composition.
2012 Vanier College – Robert F. Jones composition scholarship.
2012 BMI student composer award, for Ubiquity, for fl, cl, pno, vln and vc.