Photo: Gary Sean Loewen
Jocelyn Morlock came to classical music in late adolescence, by way of the film Amadeus, and felt like she’d passed through a magic portal. Since then, she’s been inviting herself into the musical worlds of great western art music composers of the past, and making herself at home. Her music is inspired by birds, insomnia, nature, fear, nocturnal wandering thoughts, lucid dreaming, or a peculiar combination thereof.
Morlock won the 2018 Juno for Classical Composition of the Year for her work, My Name is Amanda Todd, an elegy for and celebration of the life of Amanda Todd, a young woman whose message of hope, empathy, and tolerance has since caused a worldwide groundswell of support and awareness of bullying, cyber abuse and internet safety. She believes in the proliferation of positive energy that a large group of people can create together through many small actions.
“half-light, somnolent rains” was written for the Yarilo Ensemble, pianists Jane Hayes and Anna Levy.