Paul Cram

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PAUL CRAM Composer/Bandleader/Artistic Director Saxophonist/Clarinetist/film Scoring www.paulcram.comPaul Cram has a career that spans over thirty years from coast to coast in Canada. Originally from Vancouver he spent his formative years playing in R&B bands and burlesque houses . In the late seventies he studied composition at the University of British Columbia and earned a Bachelor of Music Degree. After graduation he co-founded the New Orchestra Workshop, an organization that continues to this day to develop new ways of juxtaposing composition and improvisation in a large ensemble context. In 1982 he moved to Toronto and worked there for seven years. He toured Canada extensively and was nominated twice for Juno Awards for Best Jazz Album. In this period he developed a strong interest in writing music for theatre and film which led him to embrace technology before moving with his family to Nova Scotia in 1989.For several years he has been Arttistic Director of the UpStream Music Association, a musician-based collective that produces cutting-edge collaborations in Halifax of local, national and international artists who share an interest in the flourishing of creative music. He has performed with top international artists: Barry Guy, Julius Hemphill, Peter Lieberson, Alain Trudel, Jean Derome, Matt Brubeck, Lori Freedman and Han Bennink to name a few. His CD ..Campin Out.. with the Paul Cram Orchestra was released to rave reviews and nominated for National Jazz Awards in two categories: best composer and best big band. The Orchestra performed at the prestigious Jazz em Agosto Festival in Lisbon, Portugal in 2004 and released ..Live in Lisbon.. on Ombu Records.Selected film and television work includes : Silent Messengers (2005) .. a feature documentary for the National Film Board, Foodessence - 39 episodes for the Life Network, Stanton T. Friedman is Real - documentary for Space Channel, Gullage..s - a 13 episode comedy series for CBC shot in St.John..s, Newfoundland and One Heart Broken into Song, a CBC MOW that won him a FIPA D..OR for best dramatic score from the Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuel in Biarritz, France. In theatre he has written scores for Neptune, Mulgrave, Eastern Front, Ship..s Company, Mermaid Theatre and CBC Radio Drama. He has been commissioned to write concert music by Bradyworks, UpStream, New Orchestra Workshop, Hemispheres and Symphony Nova Scotia.Currently, he performs as a saxophonist/clarintetist with the UpStream Orchestra, various PC configurations and Guerrilla Vacation. He writes for television, theatre, and concerts. He is a member of the Canadian Music Centre, SOCAN, The American Federation of Musicians, Local 571 and the Guild of Canadian Film Composers. He runs Logic Audio music software on a MacIntosh computer. He resides in Dartmouth and Parrsboro, Nova Scotia with his wife Mary and daughters Katharine and Laura.He is in the midst of writing a series of scores for silent films: Buster Keaton and Lon Chaney films have so far been screened with his recently formed five-member Sunrise Film Orchestra.