Based in San Francisco, composer Aaron Gervais (b. 1980) enjoys frequent performances of his work by leading ensembles, presenters, and festivals in North America and Europe. His output focuses primarily on chamber music and opera but also includes orchestral music, live electronics, solo works, and music for theater and dance. Lauded for his uncompromising approach to modern classical composition, she draws upon humor, quotation, pop music influences, extra-musical sources, cultural references, and found materials to create idiomatic pieces with strong resonance for contemporary audiences.

Gervais’s approach has led to a steady stream of commissions and performances by groups such as the Nieuw Ensemble, Tapestry New Opera, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Knights Orchestra, Ensemble Klang, the London Sinfonietta, Artists’ Vocal Ensemble, and the Arditti Quartet. He has also appeared on prominent festivals, including Amsterdam’s Gaudeamus Music Week, New York’s MATA Festival, and San Francisco’s Other Minds Festival. Awards include the orkest de ereprijs’s International Young Composers Competition, an ASCAP Gould Award, six prizes in Canada’s SOCAN Awards for Young Composers, and numerous other prizes.

In addition to writing music, he blogs extensively on his website on the philosophical and social issues facing classical music today. He holds a B.Mus from the University of Toronto and a master’s degree in composition from UC San Diego. When not composing, he enjoys undertaking culinary projects and throwing dinner parties. He is represented by Art Music Promotion

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