Steven Naylor’s early career was focused on performing, arranging and recording popular music; credits in the 1970s included albums with the celebrated bands Lougarou (later called Garolou) in Québec, and RAM in Nova Scotia. He also performed frequently as a session musician on other recordings and broadcasts.
By the early 1980s, Naylor had shifted his attention to television, film and radio; he composed and produced numerous original scores and programme themes for CBC Radio and TV, The National Film Board, Parks Canada, and independent producers. At the same time, he began what has become a long-term professional relationship with Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia, Canada’s best known and most widely exported producer of original theatre for young audiences. Naylor continues to create original scores for the company’s international touring productions, and serves as Mermaid’s artistic advisor for music and sound design, and director of media development.
In 1990, Naylor became involved with Upstream, a contemporary music organisation rooted at the confluence of improvisation and through-composition, and began to devote more time to personal creative work, both instrumental and electroacoustic. During more than a decade of work with Upstream, Naylor participated in an annual concert series featuring the Upstream Ensemble; produced a CD for the ensemble; performed in a number of collaborations with Symphony Nova Scotia; and performed several times at Scotia Festival of Music and other festivals with the Upstream Orchestra. He composed and premiered many original works during this period, and was frequently a featured soloist on works by other composers. Naylor also served periodically on the organisation’s Board of Directors, and as a co-Artistic Director.
As a professional pianist, Naylor has also worked with the Canadian ‘avant jazz’ ensemble, The Paul Cram Orchestra, on recordings and at major jazz festivals in Canada and abroad. The group’s second CD, Live in Lisbon, was released in 2005.
In 1994, Naylor joined the faculty of Dalhousie University, initially to teach an existing class in electronic and experimental music. After developing a substantial curriculum in electroacoustics and music technology for the University, he left that position in 2001 to concentrate again on personal work and to complete the PhD in musical composition under Jonty Harrison at the University of Birmingham, UK.
In addition to his work as a composer and teacher, Naylor is also regularly involved with research and support activities related to electroacoustics, including co-production of the Oscillations Festival in 2003, 2005, and 2008; a term as President of Canada’s national electroacoustic music association, the Canadian Electroacoustic Community; and serving as a consultant to a research study on the sociology of creative technology, at Acadia University.
At present, Naylor continues to compose and produce electroacoustic and instrumental concert music, particularly for his own ensemble, subText, and create theatre scores for Mermaid Theatre. His work is performed regularly throughout North America, Asia, and Europe. He also teaches, part-time, in the Acadia University School of Music, where he presently holds a non-remunerated appointment as Adjunct Professor.
Steven Naylor is married to Pamela Ritchie, an artist and professor at NSCAD University in Halifax. They have two daughters, and live near Halifax, Nova Scotia.
