Grace Scheele is an unconventional artist noted for her innovative take on experimental and ambient forms.
She masterfully interweaves harp rumblings, cinematic drones, textural loops, and candid tape confessions into music that celebrates that liminal ‘in-between’; a place of question, blank existence, or wonder.
An interdisciplinary artist, electroacoustic harpist, and composer, she works across a wide range of disciplines.
photo by Ricardo Adame
"The result of her vision and exhaustive research into her instrument... is a pliable, fluid, continuum of sound that's as beautiful as it is unconventional."
- Canadian Music Centre
Grace Scheele
interdisciplinary artist
^_^ working in music, recording, theatre, video art, film scoring, and composition
SHORT BIO Grace Scheele’s music hones minimalistic textures within noise landscapes – creating a sound that is “a pliable, fluid, continuum…that’s as beautiful as it is unconventional” (Canadian Music Centre). She is a interdisciplinary performing artist, electroacoustic harpist, and composer working across a wide range of disciplines.
MEDIUM BIO Grace Scheele’s music hones minimalistic textures within noise landscapes – creating a sound that is “a pliable, fluid, continuum…that’s as beautiful as it is unconventional” (Canadian Music Centre). She is a interdisciplinary performing artist, electroacoustic harpist, and composer working across a wide range of disciplines. She masterfully interweaves harp rumblings, cinematic drones, textural extended technique and candid tape confessions into music that celebrates that liminal ‘in-between’; a place of question, blank existence, or wonder. She made her Roy Thompson Hall debut in 2023 with the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra; improvised alongside Juno-nominated Indigenous cellist Cris Derksen, vocalist Teiya Kasahara, and pianist Darren Creech in Olivia Shortt’s Fauxstalgia (Soundstreams, Toronto); premiered and performed short film scores during Toronto International Film Festival’s Next Wave, winning the Audience Choice Award for Best Score; and performed Suzanne Kite’s Iktómiwiŋ (A Vision of Standing Cloud) with Thin Edge New Music Collective (Toronto) in 2023. Grace is currently an Artist-in-Residence alongside longtime collaborator violist and composer Arie Verheul van de Ven at the Tranzac Club (Toronto).
LONG BIO Grace Scheele’s music hones minimalistic textures within noise landscapes – creating a sound that is “a pliable, fluid, continuum…that’s as beautiful as it is unconventional” (Canadian Music Centre). She is a interdisciplinary performing artist, electroacoustic harpist, and composer working across a wide range of disciplines. She masterfully interweaves harp rumblings, cinematic drones, textural extended technique and candid tape confessions into music that celebrates that liminal ‘in-between’; a place of question, blank existence, or wonder. She made her Roy Thompson Hall debut in 2023 with the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra; improvised alongside Juno-nominated Indigenous cellist Cris Derksen, vocalist Teiya Kasahara, and pianist Darren Creech in Olivia Shortt’s Fauxstalgia (Soundstreams, Toronto); premiered and performed short film scores during Toronto International Film Festival’s Next Wave, winning the Audience Choice Award for Best Score; and performed Suzanne Kite’s Iktómiwiŋ (A Vision of Standing Cloud) with Thin Edge New Music Collective (Toronto) in 2023. Last April, she invited her audience to ponder joy and share their stories/thoughts in her fundamentally interactive cassette booth confessional interdisciplinary work i count it all joy, premiered during Din of Shadows VII with The Music Gallery. Additionally, her music/theatre/film/motion-captured avatar theatre show not yr angel bby harpist premiered to a sold-out audience at Catalyst137 during Open Ears Festival of Music and Sound in 2022. Her interdisciplinary performance has been featured at The Music Gallery (Toronto), Canadian Music Centre (online/Toronto), Stretchmetal (Chicago), Soundstreams (Toronto), Numus Concers (Kitchener), Women from Space Festival (Toronto), Oh My Ears’ New Music Festival (Phoenix, USA), and Din of Shadows (Toronto). Grace is currently an Artist-in-Residence alongside longtime collaborator violist and composer Arie Verheul van de Ven at the Tranzac Club (Toronto). She has composed and premiered film scores during the Toronto International Film Festival’s Next Wave, winning Audience’s Choice for Best Score alongside her ensemble HARP+ in 2019. She recently scored the short film Notes on a Performance by writer/director Jennifer Law-Smith which was a finalist in the Vancouver Independent Film Festival and Toronto Independent Film Festival of CIFT in 2021. Grace was awarded the 2019 Audience Choice Award for Best Film Score at TIFF Next Wave, and was the winner of the 2018 NUMUS Emerging Curator Competition.
