Owen Belton

Owen Belton has been composing music for dance ever since he created "Shapes of a passing" in 1994 for the dance piece by Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite for the Toronto-based ballet Jorgen. After that he wrote the music for the acclaimed short film "Hollow Place", directed by Dan Sadler. Since then he has written numerous compositions for dance companies such as Kidd Pivot, BJM Danse, the Canadian National Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Ballet BC, Ballet Frankfurt, Nederlands Dans Theater and Cullberg Ballet. In addition, Owen Belton composed the music for various short films and plays, including the acclaimed piece "Clark and I in Connecticut" (2008). In June 2009, the composer won the Dora Mayor Moore Award for Best Dance Composition for the piece "Emergence" by Crystal Pite, which premiered by the Canadian National Ballet. Owen Belton received his degree in 1993 from Simon Fraser School of Contemporary Arts, where he studied composition with Owen Underhill and Barry Truax. In his studies in the field of computer music, he got to know the granular synthesis, which is an essential element in many of his compositions. He also integrates a wide range of acoustic and electronic instruments into his music, as well as occasionally random and everyday noises. Nothing can be strange enough to be considered. In his own recording studio he then weaves on his sound nets. In addition, he works as a sound engineer for composers and musicians and acts as a singer / lyricist with his band "Lost Hombre". So far, Owen Belton has composed music for the ballets "Cyrano", "Latent" and "Don Quixote" for the Staatstheater Nürnberg Ballett. Last season the compositions were added to "Dürer's Dog", "Imponderable" and most recently the music for "Midsummernight's Dream" and "M". In season 2019/2020 Owen Belton’s composition is part in Goyo Montero’s creation „Submerge“.

Photo © Michael Slobodian