Jana Skarecky

Jana Skarecky is a Canadian contemporary classical composer of vocal and instrumental music – for solo voice, choir, solo instruments, chamber groups, and orchestra.
She was born in Prague, in the Czech Republic, in 1957, and came to Canada with her family in 1968. In 1980 she received a Bachelor of Music degree in Honours Composition from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, where her primary composition teacher was Barrie Cabena. She also studied piano with Erhard Schlenker and French horn with Felix Acevedo. She is an Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, in piano performance. In 1987 she received a Master of Music degree in composition from the University of Sydney, Australia, where she studied with Peter Sculthorpe.
Ms. Skarecky's compositions cover a wide spectrum of instrumental and vocal resources. Her music has an expressive lyricism, and integrates a variety of influences from Gregorian chant to Czech folksong. Her compositions have been performed in Canada, the United States, Europe, Australia, and Japan. Her one-woman opera Emily, the Way You Are was premiered to great acclaim in 2008 at the McMichael Gallery in Kleinburg, Ontario by mezzo-soprano Ramona Carmelly and The Talisker Players, conducted by Gary Kulesha. Her orchestral work Streams opened Hammerson Hall of the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga in 1997. She loves writing for the voice, both solo and choral works, and setting poetry to music.
Jana Skarecky is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre. She was Chair of the Association of Canadian Women Composers for two years, and served for five years as a member of the National Council of the Canadian League of Composers.
In addition to Ms. Skarecky's work as a composer, she is active as a visual artist (primarily painting with acrylics). She often composes and paints in parallel, finding that the two media interact and lead in new directions. She teaches piano and theory at the Royal Conservatory of Music.