Field recording on the Detroit River (2017)
Brian Garbet composes acoustic and electroacoustic music for film, theatre, and the concert hall. His work often incorporates field recordings or found sound through transcription, spectral analysis, and fixed audio playback.
He received a BFA from Simon Fraser University, where he studied with Barry Truax and won a Jeu de Temps/Times Play national prize for his composition Ritual. He would also contribute to the World Soundscape Project by digitally archiving the original master tapes for the entire European and Canadian collections.
After years of touring and recording with the rock band Crop Circle, Brian studied in Vancouver with Rodney Sharman, Hildegard Westerkamp, and completed his Master of Music degree at UBC, where his teachers included Bob Pritchard and Keith Hamel. He recently completed his PhD at the University of Calgary under the supervision of Laurie Radford where he also studied with Allan Bell.
He has presented research in Canada, England, Japan, and Korea and has published in the proceedings of the Electroacoustic Music Studies Network (EMS), the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), and in eContact! (Canadian Electroacoustic Community). He has enjoyed two residencies at the Banff Centre and was twice a participant at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse. He spent an extended research residency in the United Kingdom, where he worked with Joseph Hyde, P. A. Tremblay, and Trevor Wishart. In 2020 he contributed a chapter to the publication John P.L. Roberts, the CBC/Radio Canada, and Art Music (Cambridge Scholars Press), a landmark study of the contribution of JPLR to music in Canada and abroad.
Brian has taught electronic music at the University of British Columbia, and at The School of Music at Vancouver Community College, and is currently the Audio and Music Technician at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. He has also scored music for short films, done sound design, and produced, edited, and engineered multiple releases for other artists.
Garbet’s music has been performed by François Houle, Quatuor Bozzini, Standing Wave, the Victoria Symphony, Turning Point Ensemble and Nu:BC; he has been commissioned by the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, American poet Christine Hume, Land’s End Ensemble, and twice by the Strata Festival. His music regularly receives airplay and performances across Canada as well as Austria, China, Finland, Germany, New Zealand, and the United States.