I have joined the CNMN board in 2008. As a guitarist, composer, instrument maker, sound designer and, for a couple of years, a co-artistic director of the Music Gallery in Toronto, I have become more interested in both helping my musical community and voicing some concerns as we continue to rework and refine our relationships with funders, presenters and our audiences. I am very excited by some of the music happening here in Toronto and across Canada and I’m very interested as the boundaries between genres blur and we see changes to our national broadcaster and arts councils as they adapt to these new challenges.” [2008]
Juno nominee John Gzowski is a musician of many interests, some instilled by studying with Alexina Louie, James Tenney, Ann Southam and Trichi Sankaran. He is a composer of music for modern dance, film, television and new music, a sound designer, an instrument maker and a guitar player with extensive experience in classical, experimental, rock, jazz and world music. He has performed with Elliot Sharp, John Zorn, Bobby Wiseman, N.O.M.A., Hemisphere’s, Maza Meze, Meryn Cadell and New Music Concerts. John has brought his unique style of playing to festivals such as St. John’s Sound Symposium, Whitehorse’s Frostbite, Victoriaville’s Festival International de Musique Actuelle, Open Ear Festival, the American Festival of Microtonal Music (New York), and most of Canada’s Jazz Festivals. He has written for Critical Band, Hemisphere’s, Mecca, Arraymusic, the Canadian Brass, the Madawaska String Quartet, Dancemakers, Kaeja D’dance, Kate Alton, Michael Sean Marye and Julia Aplin, among others. His theatre work won him 4 Dora Mavor Moore Awards. He has built instruments designed for the performance of music in alternate tunings.