John Korsrud is a composer, producer and trumpet player based in Vancouver, Canada.
 

He is the leader and principal composer of the 18-piece Hard Rubber Orchestra, a jazz/ new music ensemble he formed in 1990. HRO has toured across Canada several times, to Europe, and released five CDs, most recently the JUNO-nominated Iguana (2022), and Kenny Wheeler's Suite for Hard Rubber Orchestra (2018), Wheeler's last large work before his passing, commissioned by the Hard Rubber Orchestra in 2013. 

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As a composer, John has been commissioned by The American Composers Orchestra (Carnegie Hall, NY), The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, The CBC Radio Orchestra, the Albany Symphony New Music Festival, Vancouver New Music, Turning Point Ensemble, The Standing Wave Ensemble, and several Dutch ensembles such as LOOS, Combustion Chamber, and De Ereprijs. His score for the documentary Heroines (2002) earned him Leo and Golden Sheaf Awards and a Gemini Nomination. His score for Prisoners of Age (2005) a Leo Award.

 

John has produced many large multi-media extravaganzas including The Ice Age: The World’s First New Music Ice Show for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. In 2005 CBC Television produced a 60-minute, commercial-free, nationally-televised "Cantata for the King" for their program “Opening Night”.
 

John graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1990, was a frequent participant at The Banff Centre between 1984 and 1994, and studied composition with Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatory of Music in the Netherlands from 1995 to 1997. He is the recipient of the 2001 Canada Council Joseph S. Stauffer Prize, 2003 Civitella Ranieri Fellowship, the 2012 City of Vancouver’s Mayor’s Arts Award for Music, and the 2015 Canada Council Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award. 

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As a trumpet player, John’s wide range of experiences include everything from performing with international improvisors such as George Lewis, Anthony Braxton, Han Bennink, Barry Guy and Kenny Wheeler to punk legends DOA to with The Vancouver Symphony. John has performed in the jazz festivals of Berlin, Havana, Chicago, Lisbon, Amsterdam and Montreal. John teaches at The School of Music at Vancouver Community College and Capilano University.

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