Canadian Guitarist Aaron Brock Dies at 31
By Vivien Schweitzer
10 Aug 2006
By Vivien Schweitzer
10 Aug 2006
Aaron Brock
Aaron Robin Brock, guitarist, composer and professor at the
Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, died on August 3 at age 31.
The announcement came this week from the Montreal-based record
label Analekta.
Brock had just released Toccata, his debut CD, on Analekta,
and was preparing for a 2006-07 concert schedule that was to
include a performance with the Mexico City Philharmonic
Orchestra.
Brock received both his bachelor's and master's degrees in
music from the University of Toronto and his doctorate and
performer抯 certificate from the Eastman School of Music in
Rochester, where he was the inaugural recipient of the Andrés
Segovia Award.
He made his professional debut in 1996 with the Toronto Senior
Strings conducted by Victor Feldbrill. He won numerous prizes and
awards, including first place at the Rantoucci Guitar Competition
and the Appalachian Guitarfest Competition.
His website lists his defining musical moments as hearing
Glenn Gould's 1955 recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations for the
first time as a teenager, and listening to the St. Lawrence String
Quartet premiere his own first String Quartet.
According to the announcement, he was in good health, and died
in his sleep from unexpected heart failure.
His motto was "have guitar, will travel."
