I've added some new tracks to the music player on my main page.
Here are some quick descriptions of the pieces:
"Courage" - electronica with a world-inspired beat, and beautiful bansuri lead. "Head Count Theme" - a haunting journey into the darker parts of the mind, featuring classical and electric guitars. "AAAAAH! Theme" - is a wild ride through horror music styles, from classic to synth and a rock/metal closing! "Pawns Cue" - this piece is a twisted and mischievous little waltz, with string and wind sections, and a
singing saw lead! "Crackwalker Cue" - unsettling music and sound design from the recent stage production of The Crackwalker.
"Hard Lemonade" - an uplifting and groovy electro-rock anthem to Summer fun!
November
27th, 2008
AAAAAH!!
Indie Horror Hits, Volume 1 Trailer (2:26) - Music by Adrian Ellis
Get
a copy for yourself today. And don't forget about your friends,
loved ones, casual acquaintances, sworn enemies, and any one else
you want to impress with a quality gift of scary films.
October 8th, 2008
RAVE REVIEWS!!
"Adrian
Ellis' moody sound design is a near-perfect aural background for
the gloomy action."
Now in the
final week of it's run, Staged and Confused's production of The
Crackwalker has enjoyed fantastic critical reviews and popular
success, and many sold out shows. NOW
Magazine gave it "NNNN" and called it a "near-flawless
production", and it received 4 stars from Eye
Weekly, who called it "riveting theatre"
and said it "lives up to the legend and maybe even surpasses
it". Congratulations to all at S&C! The show closes
on Oct.11th, so if you've not yet seen it, this is your last chance!!
September 8th, 2008
The
Crackwalkergoes into tech this week. Being a part of
this production has been fantastically exciting, challenging,
inspiring and creatively fulfilling, and I'm very excited and
proud to see it open on September 18th. It's been amazing watching
the producer, director and cast, and designers develop the work,
and see it grow into something that is truly moving and gripping.
It's not to be missed. For a very cool behind the scenes look
at the production's design process (including sound design, of
course), check out this excellent featurette:
Sean Carley's
short film, "Pop. Six Billion", shot on a Motorola
cell phone as part of the TIFF Talent Lab 08, premiered at the
Royal Cinema on Sept. 3rd. Sean
not only managed to tell a captivating story in 5 minutes, but
was able to capture some pretty evocative imagery despite the
limitations of the medium. And all it cost him was a quart of
blood and the loss of about 158 hours of sleep! Congrats to him
on that success, and the ensuing and well deserved shoulder rubbing
with some of film's royalty.
August
13th, 2008
The end of
Summer has erupted into a full-scale production madness! I've
got my plate full with a number of exciting and challenging projects
- films, plays, video games, recording projects and even some
down-home corporate work... it's like a smorgasbord of projects!
Greg Breen's
short "Pawns" premiered on last Saturday. It
was a pleasure to score this clever and funny film about a couple
of low-on-the-totem pole workers in an office building who discover
that their chess board comes with some ... interesting extra features.
Like, causing their superiors to disappear. I also look forward
to scoring a short for TIFF Talent Lab participant Sean
Carley - congrats to Sean for being accepted!
The Crackwalker
is now in rehearsals, getting ready for it's September 16th opening
at Theatre Passe Murraille. Please see www.stagedandconfused.com
for information on the play, tickes, and company bios. The whole
production is going to be amazing - it's great material and presents
all sorts of challenges, which the talented team is more than
up for. There are rumors of a production diary 'mini-documentary'
being produced - more on this later!
The AAAAAH!!
Indie Horror Hits – Volume 1 DVD will be available on-line
in September, and will be holding the DVD’s WORLDWIDE DEBUT at
the Crypt Club Productions Inc. booth (#1216) the Rue Morgue Festival
of Fear here in Toronto, August 22-24 at the Metro Convention
Centre!!
AAAAAH!! Indie Horror Hits is a new feature length collection
of award winning independent short horror films - featuring a
frightfully tasty musical theme!
Last Wednesday,
I had a cue recorded to picture at CBC studios, on the wonderful
sounding Glenn Gould stage. It was captured by a number of hall
and surround mics, as well as close mics, and it was multitracked
through a NEVE 'VR' Legend Console to Protools. The ca. 25 piece
orchestra was made up of the advanced students of the Royal Conservatory's
Glenn Gould program, and they played beautifully. Seeing musicians
expressively play through music they've only just seen for the
first time 5 minutes ago never ceases to amaze me. Special thanks
to the GCFC for putting on another top-notch, professional orchestral
reading workshop, Darren Fung, Chris Dedrick, Josh Tidsbury, Susan
Alberghini, and everyone from the Glenn Gould School and the CBC!
Adrian
gets feedback on his score from the orchestra
GCFC
President Chris Dedrick discusses aspects of the score
Darren
Fung conducts the Glenn Gould Orchestra
January
30th, 2008
I'm thrilled
to announce that the first 2 episodes of Playing the Game, Season
1, are now live!
I'm also very
excited to announce that I've signed on as Sound Designer with
Toronto theater production company Staged
and Confused, for their upcoming Fall production of Judith
Thompson's "The Crackwalker". I'm looking forward to working with
the team at S&C and producing sound and music for this classic
and challenging Canadian play.
January
21st, 2008
This weekend,
I recorded the commentary tracks for the Playing
the Game, Season 1 DVD. Director/Producer/Writer Steve Hutton
and all the cast were totally hilarious - this will prove to be
a very entertaining extra for the DVD. The show itself is near
completion, and I can't wait for episode 1 to premiere on Youtube!
I sat in on
bass for a Q
Music session for the CBC, featuring Ron Korb, Levon Ichkhanian,
Robert Sibony, and Rick Shadrach Lazar. It was a great honor to
play with these accomplished veterans.
On the weekend,
I was part of a photo shoot for an article which will feature
myself and 3 other Toronto film/media composers. The article by
Fernando Fernandez will appear in Uncharted
Sounds in one of their upcoming issues. I'll post as soon
as I have a release date, but until then I urge you to check out
this great online publication which focuses on untapped Canadian
musical talent. Thanks again to Lisa and the team at Uncharted
Sounds for making it a crazy-fun, memorable experience!
January
14th, 2008
Happy New
Year! I'm looking forward to a fantastic 2008 and have many exciting
new projects and initiatives on the horizon. I wish my colleagues
and friends all the best and much success throughout this new
year! I completed my apprenticeship under Donald
Quan mid-December 2007. It was an incredible experience, both
on a personal and career level. I'm very grateful to the Guild
of Canadian Film Composers, and of course my mentor Donald
Quan, for making it all possible. Canadian musicians will be very
interested in Donald's new venture - a beautiful store specializing
in rare and esoteric instruments. Check it out online at Musideum.com
or at it's location in 401 Richmond St., Toronto!
The music
for Playing
the Game is complete, and the first episode should be appearing
online very soon! We are also producing DVD's with commentary
and extras, in which I will be featured on two episodes - "Wolf",
and "Counterpoint", where music played a central role. This project
was one of the most challenging and intensive - I think I composed
in every style of music except Death Metal!! I'm also going to
be featured, along with two other composers, in an upcoming edition
of Uncharted Sounds a great online publication which showcases
"undiscovered Canadian musical talent".
October
16th, 2007
I'm very thrilled
to have been accepted to the Apprentice/Mentor Program by the
Guild of Canadian
Film Composers this year. I'll be one of four Canadian composers
who will have the opportunity to mentor under a film/tv composer
for a 6 week period. Currently, I'm putting the final touches
on the theme for
AAAAAH! Indie Horror Hits Volume 1, as well as beginning work
on the first season of Steve Hutton's webisodic comedy, Playing
the Game. Scoring this presents some fascinating challenges,
including arranging Gilbert and Sullivan, as well as an episode
based on musical story of Peter and the Wolf. I'm also producing
music for Nomi Rakaposhi's song "I Could Never Be".
August
26th, 2007
Burning Down
the House! Last night, I performed in a live re-creation of the
classic Talking Heads concert film, 'Stop Making Sense', at the
Opera House in downtown Toronto. I was lucky enough to join this
motley crew, performing as rhythm guitar wizard Alex Wier. We
had it all - the songs, cues, and stage, the costumes, the props,
and most importantly, the MOVES! It was a wild, crazy fun night.
Opening was Robbie Hart and Final Warning (from the Wedding Singer),
and headlining was the mysterious and has-to-be-seen-to-be-believed
DJ Tekkno Von Hausbeat. We hope to do a reprise of this show (brought
to you by BNS productions and nufunk.ca) in the near future, as
this turned out to be a wildly popular event.
