Graham Campbell is a composer and guitarist whose work spans concert halls, film, and television. His concert music blends the spontaneity of jazz, and the narrative sensibility of film music, and the immediacy of indie-pop hooks, all shaped by the development and refinement of classical tradition. As a guitarist, he performs an eclectic mix of styles including jazz, psychedelic rock, klezmer, Brazilian samba and choro, and reggae. He is based in Toronto, Canada, a culturally diverse city that has nurtured his love and curiosity for music of all kinds.
His film scoring credits include sci-fi, drama, thriller, comedy, animation, and documentary. His orchestral score for the animated short Predestination won Best Original Score at the Anatolia Film Festival. Recent projects include the feature documentary Analogue Revolution: How Feminist Media Changed the World, and the satirical comedy show The Squeaky Wheel, both nominated for Canadian Screen Awards. His music has been featured internationally on networks such as the BBC, PBS, ABC, and Univision.
His music for chamber ensembles has been featured at major festivals across Canada and Europe, including the Ottawa Chamberfest and Stratford Summer Music. His most recent work, Suite for Cello and Piano, was commissioned by cellist Cameron Crozman and premiered at the Festival of the Sound. From 2014 to 2019 he helped create and present over 20 risk-taking and adventurous concerts as an artistic producer with Spectrum Music, a Toronto-based composers collective. He collaborates often with his father, world renowned clarinetist James Campbell, including their full-length album As You Near Me, which features Graham as a composer, arranger, guitarist, and producer. In 2023 he released Palms Upward, a full-length album of his chamber works.
Graham has performed with some of Canada's best musicians including violin virtuoso Mark Fewer, jazz singer and pianist Laila Biali, jazz icon Gene DiNovi, the award-winning Afiara String Quartet, and Brazilian/Canadian singer and percussionist Aline Morales. He is a member of psychedelic Brazilian rock band Os Tropies, reggae band The Human Rights, Brazilian choro trio Manjericão, and avant-klezmer group Queen Kong. In 2016, his indie band Words Around the Waist released House, a full-length album produced by Jean Martin and featuring many of Graham's songs.
As an arranger, Graham has been commissioned by artists such as Brazilian/Canadian singer-songwriter Bruno Capinan, fiddler and step dancer Dan Stacey, and musical theatre star Robert Pilon.
A passionate music educator, Graham has spent over 10 years working with Strings Across the Sky, a program that teaches traditional fiddling to indigenous children. He has shared the gift of music in dozens of public schools around Ontario. Although an experienced teacher, he considers himself a student for life and sees every project as an opportunity for personal and artistic growth.
PRINT INTERVIEWS
-
Meet the Artist (Aug 14, 2023)
-
Fanfare (Sept/Oct 2023)
-
Canadian Music Centre (April 2024)