Heather Taves

Western Classical Piano

Heather Taves is one of Canada’s most acclaimed and beloved pianists, a career she melds with those of composer, improviser, and writer. Her performances are described as “radiantly beautiful...commanding and authoritative” (The Guardian), and her compositions “brilliant in her conjuring of diverse worlds of sounds and texture...superlative music for our time and beyond” (Stephen Preece, The Record). Her openness, warmth and humor connect with people as she communicates her expertise in an enormous range of diverse music. Heather Taves has toured internationally in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, in such venues as the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto, Place Des Arts in Montreal, Merkin Hall in New York City, Radio Zurich, and the Madras Philharmonic Society. She has performed collaboratively with the Penderecki String Quartet, pianist Jamie Parker, The Elora Festival Players, NUMUS, Jaap Schröder, and many others. She has premiered works including the Triple Concerto by Glenn Buhr performed with the CBC Vancouver Orchestra, and performed a myriad of piano music by diverse living composers, including Israeli composer Oded Zehavi, Palestinian-Canadian composer John Kameel Farah, Turkish composer Can Kazaz, British jazz pianist Julian Joseph, and many more. For CBC Halifax, she presented a four-part series performing and discussing 20th century piano music. Internationally known as an innovative educator, she is an Associate Professor at Wilfrid Laurier University where her research is centered on creative improvisation.