Biography

After learning classical guitar and discovering contemporary music in his adolescence, notably through Stravinsky and Gilles Tremblay, Marc Hyland pursued extensive musical studies in composition and analysis at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, where his principal teachers were Gilles Tremblay, Clermont Pépin and Yves Daoust. Since the 1980s, his works, deeply influenced by poetry and written mostly for voice and chamber ensembles, have been heard in concert and on the radio in Canada, Europe and the United States, commissioned and performed by ensembles such as the Quatuor Molinari, the SMCQ Ensemble, the Fibonacci Trio, the Ensemble contemporain de Montréal, the Orchestre symphonique du Saguenay Lac St-Jean, and numerous soloists, including pianists Louise Bessette, Bruce Mather and Daniel Anez, baritone Vincent Ranallo, Ondes Martenot virtuoso Estelle Lemire and mezzo-soprano Ghislaine Archambault. Since 2007, Hyland is active again in electroacoustic and mixed music composition, integrating fixed media in his instrumental and vocal writing. After a 35-year hiatus, he is playing the guitar again, writing and recording works for his instrument. He can sometimes be drawn to writing and has published essays in Liberté and Circuit. In June 2017, he had a solo exhibit of his visual works created since the 90s. He is also an apprentice poet, a translator and lives in Montréal. Many of his works can be heard on his website marchyland.com