Dr. Quinn Jacobs (he/him) is a Toronto-based composer, artistic director, and educator.
As a COMPOSER, Quinn works primarily in contemporary classical and jazz idioms, in North America and Europe. His recent collaborators include classical ensembles like Bakarlari (Montreal), Esprit Orchestra (Toronto), the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, and NOW Ensemble (NYC), and jazz ensembles and performers like the Chamber Jazz Consort (Brussels/ Amsterdam), Edson Ensemble (Amsterdam), Thinkin’ Big Band (Boston), Aaron Parks (USA), and Lars Danielsson (Sweden). Quinn also composes for visual media, working on projects with Toronto-based organizations Angela Blumberg Dance, The Secret Shakespeare Series, and 90th Parallel Productions.
Over 45 of Quinn’s compositions and arrangements have been performed nationally and internationally, at venues like The Music Gallery (Toronto), The Berkeley Street Theatre (Toronto), Crow’s Theatre (Toronto), The House of Jazz (Montreal), Ryles Jazz Club (Boston), Ganz Hall (Chicago), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), RASA (Utrecht), Full Circle House (Brussels), Organum Hall (Vilnius), and Espacio Disparate (Buenos Aires). His works have also been heard at festivals including Fresh Inc (Wisconsin), TUTTI (Ohio), Gaudeamus (Utrecht), Grachtenfestival (Amsterdam), The Nordic Saxophone Festival (Finland), Talis (Switzerland), and Tammefestival (Estonia).
As an ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, Quinn founded and operates the non-proscenium performing arts company Din of Shadows. The company is dedicated to the production of interdisciplinary works which are presented in non-traditional spaces and formats (i.e., not on proscenium stages). Since its inception in 2017, Din has collaborated with 92 artists and technical personnel toward 24 world premiers across seven multimedia events.
A music EDUCATOR since 2012, Quinn has inhabited roles as both a practitioner and a researcher. He has worked as a Sessional Lecturer and Teaching Assistant at the University of Toronto, a Core Music Tutor at Berklee College of Music, a Course Developer’s Assistant at Berklee Online, a Composer Mentor with Esprit Orchestra, and a 1-on-1 and Ensemble Instructor at small academies and independently. Quinn’s education research centres around knowledge hierarchies, personal and community inquiry, graduate employability and success, musical culture and identity (with Dr. Roger Allan Mantie), and play- and game-based learning (with Dr. Leslie Stewart Rose).
In addition to the three roles noted above, Quinn has worked as a performer, a tabletop game designer, and has held other positions in arts leadership. He played guitar and bass in eight bands from 2011–2023 (primarily jazz, rock, and pop), performing approximately 250 total concerts, including three regional tours. He is the inventor of Noteplay, an educational music card game which aims to make music theory pedagogy engaging for students ages six and up. His arts leadership positions include serving as a Board Member of Angela Blumberg Dance since 2019, and Music Director of The Secret Shakespeare Series from 2016–2017.
If you have already made it through 446 words of this biography and still want to know more about Quinn Jacobs, perhaps you will be interested to read this list of his degrees, grants, and professional affiliations?
He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in Composition from the University of Toronto, a Master of Music (MMus) in Composition from the Utrecht Conservatory, and a Bachelor of Music (BMus) in Jazz Composition and Performance from Berklee College of Music. He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum & Pedagogy at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto. Quinn has been awarded grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Council, and the SOCAN Foundation. He is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre (CMC), and a member of the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), the International Society for Music Education (ISME), and the Ontario Music Educators’ Association (OMEA).
Interviews: text interview with the Canadian Music Centre (2022), video interview with Esprit Orchestra (2020), video interview with Ludwig Van (2019).
Academic Curriculum Vitae (PDF)