D.D. Jackson

I am a two-time Emmy Award-winning composer, producer, and Juno Award-winning jazz pianist and educator. As a composer, I specialize in writing, arranging, and producing memorable, custom-made music for t.v., film & other media. I consider myself an "artistic problem solver": I strive to get to the essential conceptual truth of what the client is looking for - and to express it in a creative and supportive way. [READ MORE] or [BIO]

my Trudeau opera

June 20, 2006  /  D.D. Jackson

Just got back from an intense, 3-day worskhop in Wolfville, Nova Scotia (Canada), outside of Halifax, where I was trying out for the first time the music I've been intensely writing for the new opera on Canada's notorious late Prime Minister, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, with librettist and Trudeau Fellow/Governor General Literary Award recipient George Elliott Clarke. The work will be scored for 5 vocalists and (ultimately!) orchestra, but for this workshop we focused on trying out the actual compositions with 3 wonderful singers - Janice Jackson and John Lindsay-Botten (both from Halifax), and Douglas Tranquada from Toronto. I'm still editing the demo, but will put some of it up here shortly for you to check out. In the meantime, check out my latest Podcast (#17) for an excerpt, plus a sample of a piece I wrote in memory of the late, great John Hicks, and a walking audio tour of my new "Serenity CD". And look for the Trudeau opera premiere at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto in May/07 (and beyond!)