Korsrud, who lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is a composer and leads the 18-piece Hard Rubber Orchestra. Korsrud studied composition with Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatory in Amsterdam. Korsrud has received commissions from the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, The CBC Radio Orchestra, and Dutch ensembles such as Ensemble LOOS, the Tetzepi Bigtet, the Zapp String Quartet, De Ereprijs, among others. Korsrud performed on his own trumpet concerto, Come to the Dark Side at Carnegie Hall in 2010 with by The American Composers Orchestra. Since 1990, he has led the 18-piece new music/ jazz ensemble Hard Rubber Orchestra, with which has appeared in Europe and across Canada, recorded three albums, and in 2005 won the Alcan Arts Award. The Hard Rubber Orchestra has commissioned over 50 works from composers such as Kenny Wheeler, Darcy James Argue, Brad Turner, Scott Good, Linda Bouchard, Rene Lussier and many others. Korsrud also leads the 20-piece Salsa/Latin-Jazz-Orchestra Orquestra Goma Dura, from which an album has appeared, and the 14-piece drum'n'bass ensemble The Drum & Light Orchestra. Korsrud has also created large multimedia projects like The Elvis Cantatas, The Ice Age: The World's First New Music Ice Show, and Enter/Exit, and The Drum & Light Festival. The CBC produced a 70-minute version of Elvis Cantata, entitled Cantata for the King. He won the Leo Award and the Golden Sheaf Award for the music to the film Heroines, and was nominated for the Gemini Award. He won another Leo Award for the film music to Prisoners of Age. Korsrud is the recipient of the Canada Council's "Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award", the City of VancouverMayor's Award for Music, The Canada Council's Joseph S. Stauffer Prize, and a fellowship from the Italian . Korsrud has performed as soloist with The Vancouver Symphony and The American Composers Orchestra.
Discography
Hard Rubber Orchestra: Cruel Yet Fair, 1997
Orquestra Goma Dura: Live, 2000
Hard Rubber Orchestra: Rub Harder, 2001
Odd Jobs, Assorted Climaxes, 2005
John Korsrud's Hard Rubber Orchestra: Crush, 2015
John Korsrud's Hard Rubber Orchestra: "Kenny Wheeler: Suite for Hard Rubber Orchestra", 2018
Multimedia projects
Solstice, 1991
The Elvis Cantatas, 1994, 1996
The Ice Age: The World's First New Music Ice Show, 2000
Enter/Exit, 2005
Drum & Light Festival, 2008, 2009
The New Ice Age: New Music Ice Show, 2010
Compositions for Chamber/ Orchestra
Stark Raving, 1994
Zippy Pinhead, 1995
Glurp, 1997
VAP DIST for symphony orchestra, 2000
Lather, 2002
In a Flash for symphony orchestra, 2002
Non Me Domabis, 2003
Gershwin & Fire, 2003
The Shadow of Your Smile, 2005
Wood Eye for symphony orchestra, 2006
Liquid, 2006
Woosh, 2007
Solid, 2007
"Come to the Dark Side" for symphony orchestra, 2010