Andrew Penner (musician)
Andrew Penner | |
|---|---|
| Born | Leamington, Ontario, Canada |
| Origin | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Instrumentalist, Composer, Sound designer, Producer, Music Director, Sound Mixer, Sound Engineer, Actor |
| Website | andrewpenner |
Andrew Penner is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist, performer, composer,[1] actor, sound designer, and producer currently residing in Toronto, Ontario. He is a member of Americana duo Harrow Fair, and folk rock and roll band Sunparlour Players.[2] Penner is also an actor and has appeared in Soulpepper Theatre’s Spoon River and As You Like It, Ghost Quartet (Crows Theatre). He has composed music for Soulpepper Theatre’s Blood Wedding, Stratford Festival’s Grapes of Wrath[3] as well as films Eadweard (film) and Small Town Murder Songs, FX show "Lost Girl" and many others.
Early life
Penner grew up in a Mennonite family on a farm in southern Ontario.[4]
Career
In 2005 Penner formed the band, Sunparlour Players, and in 2007 released their debut album, "Hymns For The Happy". In 2009 they released, Wave North.[5] On the band's 2011 album, Us Little Devils, Penner played eleven instruments.[6] He wrote many songs for the group.[7] In 2014 Sunparlour Players released "The Living Proof" and toured heavily in North America and Europe.
Penner and his wife Erin Brandenburg are the organizers of Kitchenband, a Toronto theatre collective. The collective has a number of original works including Reesor, Petrichor, Detroit Time Machine and BOBLO,[8][9] the latter of which earned Penner a Dora Mavor Moore Award in 2013 for outstanding sound design/composition.
Penner appeared in and composed music for Soulpepper Theatre’s 2016 production Blood Wedding,[10]
Also that year Penner formed a duo, Harrow Fair, with violinist Miranda Mulholland.[11] The pair released an album, Call to Arms.[12] In 2020 Harrow Fair released their sophmore album "Sins We Made".
Penner has created and performed for theatre at The Stratford Festival, Soulpepper, Crows Theatre (**award-winning production of "Ghost Quartet"), CanStage, Native Earth, Obsidian and many others.
He has either won or been nominated for several awards for this work in theatre and film including the Dora Awards, Toronto Theatre Critics Award, Summerworks Jury Award, Leo Awards ("Eadweard")
References
- ^ "Sunparlour Players Announce New Album, Front-man Debuts Musical". Exclaim!. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
- ^ 'A play about a band, starring that band'. The Globe and Mail Apr. 18, 2019
- ^ "Triple Threat: Andrew Penner". Musical Stage Company. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
- ^ "Green in the scene: Sunparlour Players released their third album Us Little Devils". Queens JOurnal, November 25, 2011 Asad Chishti
- ^ "The Tranzac Transcripts: Andrew Penner". The Torontoist, By Steve Fisher • December 2, 2010
- ^ "Sunparlour Players Talk 'Us Little Devils,' Reveal Canadian Tour Dates". Exclaim!, By Kerry Doole, Oct 19, 2011
- ^ Sanders, Rachel (21 May 2009). "Sunparlour Players Pull You In". Exclaim!. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
- ^ "Bob-Lo theme park memories revived in show". The Toronto Star. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
- ^ "Parkdale musician heads out on tour with home preserves". Toronto.com. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
- ^ "Brave, but foolhardy: In Blood Wedding, you can’t see the actors for the trees". National Post, Robert Cushman, March 30, 2016
- ^ "What actor Shawn Doyle is reading and listening to". The Globe and Mail, Mar. 15, 2017
- ^ "Harrow Fair sounds a Call to Arms with their debut album in the NP Sessions Studio". National Post, December 15, 2016