Joel Toews is a contemporary Canadian composer, arranger, songwriter and pianist from Toronto, CA. He studied at Berklee College of Music from 2012-13 and received a Bachelor of Music in Jazz and Contemporary Popular Music from MacEwan University in April 2018.  He is currently studying his Master of Arts in Music Composition at York University with a specific focus on composing music dedicated to Canadian National Parks and their ongoing sustainability.

     

         During his time at MacEwan, Joel had the opportunity to write and arrange for string quartet, choir, jazz big band, piano trio, a Cappella ensemble and much more while studying under acclaimed faculty Dr. Allan Gilliland, Kent Sangster, and John McMillan. In 2018, Joel’s work Influence for classical piano trio placed fourth in the International Keuris Composers Contest. In February 2019, he premiered his orchestral work Ra’ah' with the Borealis Orchestra in Edmonton and composed an original score for the film “The Transit Lodge” directed by Kalyan Acharya. In 2021, Joel was accepted into the Explore the Score program with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. This included mentorship from affiliate composers and conductors with the TSO, as well as a recorded reading session of his orchestral piece, Athabasca,  which went on to win the first annual Composition Contest put on by Litha Symphony Orchestra, resulting in a public performance in New York, July 2022. 

     

        In late 2021, Joel was commissioned by MacEwan University to write an original Big Band piece, Miriam, to be recorded at the University as part of their project, “Generations.” He went on to collaborate with Canadian cellist Sahara von Hattenberger to write a three-movement Suite for Pano and Cello inspired by blending elements of Canadian and Japanese culture. This project, funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, paired audio recordings of the compositions with visual accompaniment and was released on YouTube in February 2022. In July 2022, Joel participated in the Sofia Symphonic Summit, leading to him premiering his orchestral work Mirrors in Haida Gwaii with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra in Bulgaria. Joel continued his goal of writing a suite of orchestral works inspired by Canadian landscapes with his orchestral composition, Sleeping Giant, commissioned by Orchestra Toronto for their 2022 The Composer Prize competition. In 2023, Joel was commissioned by the River City Big Band (Edmonton) to compose a new work for Big Band celebrating the planets and he took this opportunity to reimagine the opening of Also Sprach Zarathustra as a work for Big Band.

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          In February 2025, Joel's music will be heard in New York City as a winner of the New Conductors Orchestra's Call for Scores. 

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        Joel currently lives and works in Toronto, ON. He is a piano, theory and composition teacher for children, youth, and adults; he works as a freelance composer, arranger, and songwriter; and he is Orchestra Manager of the Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra.

 

Use the contact form below for any composition or teaching inquiries.