When the world shut down in early 2020, Frank Horvat wanted to raise spirits and create music for those forced into self-isolation. In just 6 weeks he composed 31 short solo and duo works for a variety of instruments and voice. The musical community responded, with over 150 musicians worldwide sharing their experience of self-isolation and posting their performances online.

A new recording of these works is due for release on April 9th, performed by some of Canada’s leading musicians and recorded at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall. Sarah Baker spoke to Frank about the experience of composing for self-isolation.

Sarah Baker: When the pandemic first began, how did it affect you personally? Working in the music industry, you must have had many concerns and stresses? 

Frank Horvat: Like so many others in the music industry, one by one, I started to see years of work, planning and preparation on projects start to evaporate. I released a ten-year anniversary album at the end of March 2020 and had a series of concerts planned. We kept on scaling back those plans until we were just going to do one livestream and then because of more stringent lockdown measures, that had to be canceled too.

I had several projects in 2020 like that that were meant for that moment in time and I’ll never get them back. But others I still hold out hope for that one day they will come to fruition when the time is right again.

I don’t think anyone didn’t have stress at that time over their personal situation and the global one but it was the plight of my performing colleagues that gave me the most anxiety. I was devasted to see their near-term and then longer-term livelihoods just vanish in the span of a couple of weeks. That was hard to witness.

SB: What originally inspired you to begin composing these 31 pieces?

FH: It was seeing all the announcements on social media of cancelled concerts, cancelled summer tours, that made it really hit home to me how so many people I know would be having intense financial struggles and as I began to realize that lockdowns weren’t just going to be for a week or two, I was really concerned about mental health issues developing because of isolation, financial worries and loss of hope for the future.

With Music for Self-Isolation, I wanted to give performers back a purpose, plus a little distraction while they were isolated at home. So, I just started composing solo pieces. I didn’t have a number in mind, I foolishly dedicated myself to writing a new piece every day while the lockdown lasted. Then the lockdowns were extended and extended some more, so I started taking a couple days off from writing each week as a breather.  As the lockdown continued, the pace of this project was starting to affect my own mental and physical health. At that time, I realized I had composed a month’s worth of pieces, so decided I needed to take a breather.

SB: What was your approach to the composition of these pieces? You composed for a wider variety of instruments, so did you work with the musicians to create something for them specifically, or was this a more solitary experience? 

FH: It definitely started as a solitary experience. I’d pick an instrument at random, start composing, create a score and put it out on social media. Then musicians started responding. First by posting videos of those initial pieces I’d written to their social media channels for their friends and fans to see. Then people started asking me to write for their instrument or for them and an instrumentalist they were in lockdown with.

There are definitely instruments I’ve shied away from writing for before, especially in a solo context, but I kept on getting requests for more and more varied instruments so I did rely on the help of certain instrumentalists to ensure what I was creating was not only playable but I didn’t want any of the pieces to be overly challenging, therefore creating more unneeded stress on performers. However, the second piano piece and the second violin piece I composed for this project are definitely more challenging because some people did want that challenge.

SB: Did you find composing helped you through this time?

FH: For me, composing is definitely a space I get to inhabit where everything else falls away, where things seem easy and in the flow. It was definitely a privileged space to get to go to during this pandemic because it brings me so much joy.

Each day when I wasn’t composing or feverishly reading the news, I’d spend my time reading people’s emails about this project or responding to them on social media. Each of them had a story to tell about what it was like in their corner of lockdown and the world. It really helped me feel less isolated because we were all going through this together. I also had so many people waiting for me to compose for their instrument that it definitely helped keep my energy up. 

SB: This is such a unique approach to an album. Do the tracks link together, musically and emotionally, and if so, how?

FH: Each composition was a response to how I was feeling that day during the pandemic. At that time, I had some really down days and some very light and hopeful days. Looking at the collection, it actually feels like a 50/50 split, that was just by chance or perhaps by design of what it is like living through a pandemic. You have to always try to keep looking for the positive in the world. You have to be honest with your emotions but you can never end the search for happiness.

Ordering the tracks on the album was an interesting process. I didn’t feel that ordering them in the order that I composed them would do the album justice. Some of my most favorite pieces have ended up in the middle or the end of the album. I feel that there’s an interesting flow and energy if you listen to the album from beginning to end, it takes you on a bit of a journey.

SB: You have worked with some very talented musicians on this recording. How have they described working on this project and how it has impacted their emotions during this time?  

FH: I was so fortunate to work with so many amazing performers on this album. They all infused themselves and their own pandemic experience into their performances on this album. You can definitely hear it in the sound.

I know for many of the musicians, it was a special experience to find themselves center stage as a soloist in one of Canada’s most prominent concert halls, even if it was just for an audience of one. But what really struck me as each person took the stage was the supreme joy they felt, like a missing puzzle piece had been put back into place as they stepped out onto the stage and were able to fill a concert hall with sound again. I know they would have preferred an audience but musicians do what we do because of the love of music and being able to hear it live, in an acoustically beautiful space, filled them with a joy they had been missing for so long. It was truly magical to be able to witness this but it did leave me with a melancholy for what we’ve all missed during this year.

SB: The documentary is due out in the early summer. What can you tell us about this?

FH: Throughout this project, so many musicians shared their struggles with me, as well as their hopes for coming out of this pandemic. They all had stories and perspectives to share. I really wanted to share their stories so I started by interviewing eight of the musicians who participated in the Music for Self-Isolation project and created an audio documentary composition for each of them that intertwines new music with audio from their original social media performance and their interview. These Pandemic Stories can be heard on the digital release of the Music for Self-Isolation album.

But, there have been over 150 people who’ve participated in this project, so I wanted to broaden our ability to tell more stories. This is where filmmaker, Adam Crosby, from Tiny Pictures, came into this process, capturing the story of the making of this album at the empty Roy Thomson Hall and interviewing as many of the participating musicians as possible. I’ve seen a few snippets and there are so many beautiful souls who’ve shared of themselves for this film. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this documentary turns out myself!

SB: Now that a year has passed since the pandemic began, how do you hope or expect that this music will affect the listener? What do you hope listeners will take away?

FH: To be honest, I’m not quite sure. A year ago feels like a long time ago, a year and a half ago seems like another lifetime. I conceived this album idea back in April 2020 and my vision of the release of this album was quite different than our current reality. I didn’t foresee us being in pretty much the same position twelve months later. I think I’m still processing this reality myself so I’m not sure where everybody else is at.

This album will premiere a new piece, Together in Spirit. It is a large ensemble piece where all the soloists come together for the joy of making music together again. We did have to record each part individually but thanks to technology we are able to bring everyone together in this celebratory piece. I’m hoping the whole album will help in the healing we all need and provide much needed hope. 

SB: Are you working on any new projects?

FH: I’m fortunate to always have a series of projects in different stages of creation. 2021 will be a year of albums for me. In January, I released an ambient electronic album called Happiness in a Troubled World, which was inspired by the words of The Dalai Lama. Of course, Music for Self-Isolation is coming out April 9 and then an album, Project Dovetail, that was delayed due to the pandemic is coming out this Fall. This album contains my compositions that were inspired by other works of art. I’m hoping it will come out at a time when we have more freedom to experience all the art that is available around us.

I’m just starting to work on a huge project called Moments d’enfance sans fin (Never ending childhood moments) with film artist, Gunilla Josephson. Its aim is to free ourselves from the film that loops inside our heads. Memories of childhood fears and traumas, sometimes crippling, constantly echo in many of our minds, progressively forming a distorted view of the world and of ourselves. I hope this 12-hour visual, sound, performance art installation/exhibit will help us break our current global cycle of pessimism and give audiences time and space to get outside their everyday lives.

In the past decade, I’ve done a lot of work/music around climate change with my Green Keys Tour and Earth Hour in-the-dark piano performances. I hope to continue along this path with new, bigger and more impactful works on this theme. I’ve been invited to live and work on-board an Arctic Tall Ship to visit the Arctic Archipelago and learn from scientists onboard. This expedition was set for 2020 but now we’re hoping to set sail in 2022. I’m really looking forward to the potential of this project and the opportunity to find new collaborators and partners who are also passionate about our planet and using art to help build an exciting new future.

Learn more about Music for Self-Isolation.

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