MARCH 28, 2023 – OTTAWA (Canada) – Canada’s National Arts Centre is mourning the loss of Jocelyn Morlock, a remarkably gifted Canadian composer and a bright light for contemporary music in Canada. Her work was celebrated by many, including the National Arts Centre Orchestra, who commissioned her JUNO Award-winning work My Name is Amanda Todd as part of the landmark multimedia commission Life Reflected.
My Name is Amanda Todd premiered on May 19, 2016. It was performed at the Luminato Festival Toronto in 2017 and in performance halls across Western Canada during the Orchestra’s Canada 150 Tour. In 2018, it won the JUNO Award for Classical Composition of the Year. The Orchestra also performed it during its 50th Anniversary European Tour in 2019.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of Jocelyn Morlock, an extraordinary Canadian composer who left us far too early,” said NAC President and CEO Christopher Deacon. “We will always remember Jocelyn’s incredible contributions to Canadian orchestral music. On behalf of the National Arts Centre, we send our heartfelt condolences to Jocelyn’s family and friends during this difficult time.”
“Far too soon the wonderfully kind, empathetic, beguilingly fun and brilliant artist that was Jocelyn Morlock has left us,” said Alexander Shelley, Music Director of the NAC Orchestra. “I cannot help but smile as I recall her charm, wit and quirky humour, her generosity, her razor-sharp mind and her x-ray like perception as we worked together at the NAC on My Name is Amanda Todd. That beautiful, special work, which has contributed so much to the conversation around cyberbullying and for which she justly won the JUNO Award for best composition, now another layer of tragedy etched into its contours. We will miss you very deeply, Jocelyn, and are endlessly grateful for the friendship, artistry and music that you gave us. For us all, you are gone far too soon.”
“All of the NAC Orchestra musicians and colleagues are mourning the loss of Jocelyn Morlock,” said NAC Orchestra Managing Director Nelson McDougall. “She was a brilliant composer, a generous collaborator, and a wonderful colleague and friend to all of us.”
On October 31, 2020, in the midst of lockdowns due to COVID-19, the NAC Orchestra performed Jocelyn’s work Solace during its first-ever NACO Live concert, part of a series of livestreamed and on-demand performances. Her first commission from the NAC Orchestra was Cobalt, a concerto for two violins and orchestra, in 2009. Her first full-length CD, also titled Cobalt, was released on the Centrediscs label in 2014.
The NAC flags will fly at half-mast in honour of Jocelyn Morlock.
