Schaun Tozer
Born in Essex, England, Schaun Tozer is a Composer based in Vancouver, Canada. He has won multiple awards as a film & television Composer and Producer.
Early Career[edit]
Pre 1990[edit]
Schaun Tozer is a Composer born in Essex, England, to Irish/English parents. He took piano lessons from age 4, completing all Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music exams by age 16. His first ‘paid’ engagement, as a piano & drums duo, was performing at a palm court hotel lounge in Leigh-on-Sea playing jazz standards, and some not-so standards. As a result, the hotel proprietor decided to pay the duo in beer - at age 15. As a result, by the end of most evenings, the not-so standards began to overwhelm the jazz standards, and the duo was subsequently fired.
At age 18, Tozer was accepted into London’s Guildhall School of Music where ‘high’ art (classical) ruled, and ‘low’ art (everything else) was frowned upon. This created some fundamental problems because, as far as Tozer was concerned, there was no ‘high’ or ‘low’ , just ‘good’ and ‘bad’. Such cultural segregation pushed him away and eventually led to a place at the University of Sussex, where over a four year period, he studied music with Anne Boyd, David Roberts, Donald Mitchell, David Osmond-Smith, Carola Grindea, and Jonathan Harvey. After completing his B.A.(Hons) and M.A. in Music, Tozer went on to win a Fulbright-Hays Scholarship to study Music Composition at the University of California (San Diego).
Returning to London in 1980, his early professional career as a composer saw him actively engaged in a wide variety of musical styles which included work with orchestras, bands, ensembles, recording studios, touring, and a little teaching. He joined The Lost Jockey ensemble, originally performing music by Steve Reich and Philip Glass, before including the Jockey’s own compositions, which culminated in recordings at Abbey Road studios engineered by John Leckie. His two piano duo with Mark Lockett explored a more improvisational style and included some memorable concerts at the City University and Air Gallery in London, as well as residencies at Dartington College in Devon. Tozer was appointed ‘Composer-in-Residence’ (1982-1986) for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and stimulated a host of projects which included the construction of a modern, purpose built recording studio facility specifically for unemployed youth.
As a keyboard player, he was part of The Goose Band performing in the BBC’s Almeida Steve Reich Festival, as well as ZTT’s retrospective at London’s Ambassador Theatre with composer Andrew Poppy. His commissioned work included compositions for the Dreamtiger Ensemble, the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra, The London Youth Dance Theatre Company, and for media and sound artist Martin Riches at the Kunstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin. Tozer’s early interest in film took off with two music scores for the late boundary-pushing experimental film artist Stephen Dwoskin.
Tozer co-founded the group Man Jumping, whose debut album generated rave reviews and was a top ten album of the year selection by the Guardian, the Times, and Time Out. Man Jumping also branched out into the contemporary dance world, touring with the London Contemporary Dance Theatre Company and Second Stride. Enduring interest in Man Jumping saw the remastering and release of Jump Cut in 2017, and a new wave of recording artists remixing versions of early Man Jumping tracks for release in multiple formats in 2019.
Career[edit]
Post 1990[edit]
Since 1990 when he moved to Vancouver, Canada, Schaun Tozer has become a multi award-winning Composer and Producer whose music scores for film and television includes the Academy Award shortlisted film Facing Ali, the Emmy Award winning film Mighty Jerome, and Canadian classics Da Vinci’s Inquest, Hard Core Logo, and Intelligence. He has won ‘Best Music’ Leo Awards for The Romeo Section, No Clue, Blood Relative, I Am Bruce Lee, Mighty Jerome, Fathers & Sons, Terminal City, and My Father’s Angel, and he has been nominated in all Leo Award music categories 11 times.[1]. He has also received a Canadian Screen Award ‘Best Original Music’ nomination for The Romeo Section[2], and Gemini Award ‘Best Music’ nominations for Intelligence, and The Life. Tozer won the Dolby Sound Award at the Cannes Film Festival premiere of Off Key, and he was the first recipient of the ‘Christopher Dedrick Award for Live Musicians in Media Soundtracks'[3]
Several of Tozer’s film projects are also available as soundtrack albums and reflect his broad interests in a wide variety of music styles. They include Intelligence, The Good Son, the remix project Sidetracks and No Clue which features the Vancouver Film Orchestra.
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- ↑ IMDb, Internet Movie Database. "IMDb.com/schauntozer". IMDB Awards. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
- ↑ SCGC, Screen Composers Guild. "Screen Composers Guild". Screen Composers Guild of Canada. Screen Composers Guild of Canada. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
- ↑ SCGC, Screen Composers Guild. "The Christopher Dedrick Award for Live Musicians in Media Soundtracks". Screen Composers Guild of Canada. Screen Composers Guild of Canada.
