Cherney, Brian
CHERNEY, BRIAN
CHERNEY, BRIAN (1942– ), Canadian composer, musicologist, teacher. Cherney was born in Peterborough, Ontario. During his childhood he commuted several hours each week to study composition with Samuel Dolin at Toronto's Royal Conservatory. He went on to study composition with John Weinzweig at the University of Toronto and completed a Ph.D. dissertation (1974) on the Bekker-Pfitzner controversy during the Weimar Republic. While still a graduate student, he encountered Ligeti and Stockhausen at the Internationale Ferienkuerse fuer Neue Musik in Darmstadt and taught composition and theory at the University of Victoria and McGill's Faculty of Music, continuing there throughout his career.
Influenced by Messiaen, Ligeti, Lutoslawski, Carter, and Crumb, Cherney aimed for "a sense of poetry and mystery through lyricism, color and multilayered textures." Commissioned by I Musici of Montreal, his Illuminations (1987) is also influenced by certain aspects of Jewish mysticism, and in turn, his compositions have inspired such works as Vivie' Vincent's In the Stillness of the Seventh Autumn (1991). Later works include La Princesse lointaine, a double concerto for harp and oboe (2002).
Cherney is author of the only major biography of Canadian composer Harry Somers (1975). He has also had compositions commissioned by such organizations and performers as the Canadian Jewish Congress, the New Music America Festival, and Rivka Golani, who has premiered several of his works, including Chamber Concerto for Viola and Ten Players (1975); String Trio (1976), which tied for first place at the unesco International Rostrum of Composers in Paris, 1979; Seven Miniatures (1978); and Shekinah (1988).
Cherney's works have been performed and broadcast throughout Canada, the United States, Europe, Japan, South America, and Israel. Cherney's River of Fire, written for oboe d'amore and harp, was recorded by his brother, Lawrence (Larry; "Canada's Ambassador of New Music"), and Erica Goodman, and was awarded the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music (1985).
[Jay Rahn (2nd ed.)]