Ron Hannah Resume

      Mr. Hannah was born in 1945 at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and has resided most of his life in various parts of Western Canada. He studied piano and clarinet as a child, and later took cello lessons in order to better understand how to write for strings. In 2009 returned to his homeland after several years of backpacking the world.

His interests are eclectic, ranging from travel and the sciences to Eastern philosophy. In 1969 he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music degree (student of Violet Archer and Malcolm Forsyth) from the same institution in 1973 and 1975 respectively. He taught in public schools in Edmonton after receiving a Diploma in Education in 1980, finally burning out in 1996 from the years of patiently trying to present a rich and thoughtful music curriculum to people with a hockey mentality. At his website, visitors can listen to and download many of his pieces of music and read his lively descriptions of same.

His works have been performed in Canada and internationally, and many of them appear on CDs produced by the Edmonton Composers' Concert Society (now Tonus Vivus Society), of which he was the founding president. He is also a reviewer and essayist, and some of his writings may be read at his website.

His catalogue includes some eighty works: choral, chamber, song cycles, orchestral, two ballets and three operas, the most recent being based on the tragic history of Guatemala where he lived during its composition. He prefers texts and stories that express the human condition in a vivid and honest manner, and that are colorful in language and irreverent in tone. His music tends toward the conservative, written in a style that he describes as "dissonant tonality", but elements of the atonal, of textural writing, of minimalism, and of randomness can also be found. He has received commissions from many sources.
Updated:  March 4, 2010

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