Canadian pianist and composer J. Gary Sill was born to a band leader father and journalist mother in the small town of Fort Macleod, Alberta, on September 28, 1944. He has been a musician, composer and teacher in Banff, Calgary and Edmonton and now lives with his wife Carole Harmon in the Canadian west coast town of Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia where he records and produces music in his own custom designed studio.
Through the Banff Centre For The Arts, Gary has worked or studied with:
• Steve Reich, John Cage, R. Murray Schaffer, Oscar Peterson, Carl Berger, Ursula Oppens, and other influential contemporary composers.
• Stephen Temmer, (audio engineering) and Gene Youngblood, (future of electronic media).
Music Studies at The University of Calgary:
• Composition with Luigi Zaninelli and Piano with Gloria Saarinen.
• Electronic Music with Dr. Stan Finn
• Film History with Miroslav Malik (Czeck pioneer of holography in art).
Private study included music theory with Gordon Delamont, Native Indian Culture with Abe Burnstick and Improvisational Acting with Keith Johnstone (University of Alberta).
Instructor at Grant McEwan College (Jazz Program):
• piano, ensemble performance, music theory, sight singing and ear training, vocal accompaniment.
Gary studied with French composer, Hidayat Inayat-Khan, son of the the Sufi mystic and musician, Hazrat Inayat-Khan.