About

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Kolby Zinger-Harris is a composer and musicologist based in Toronto, Ontario. As a composer, Kolby strives for emotional immediacy by experimenting with texture and timbre to create music described as “spine-tingling” and demonstrating “excellent use of orchestral colour” (Kelowna Capitol News). In May 2019, Kolby’s piece Three Views of the Okanagan was commissioned by the Okanagan Symphony Youth Orchestra for their 30^th anniversary, and the piece had a second performance by the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra in February of 2020. Kolby’s music has also been performed in a variety of venues in Toronto; in 2017, Kolby collaborated with six other composers to create the new opera Prima Zombie for the University of Toronto Opera Company. Another highlight includes Kolby’s song cycle Precarious, based on texts by Toronto poet Aparna Halpé, which was performed in 2018 as part of the Music Gallery’s Emergents series in collaboration with the Sounds of Silence Initiative, a commissioning project with the goal of highlighting poets who identify with marginalized communities.

Kolby is now pursuing a Master of Arts in Musicology at the University of Toronto. Their research focuses on LGBTQ+ labour and representation in new music, with a special interest on the construction and performance of queer identities in the neoliberal context. Kolby writes a blog dedicated to discussing various topics related to musicology and media research in a way that is open and accessible to the public.