Chris Crilly

Chris Crilly is a Canadian musician and composer. He was born in County Down, Northern Ireland in 1948 and educated in England and Canada. He did his choral training in the Schola Cantorum tradition under Geoffrey Tristram of St. Peter's School and Christchurch Priory, Dorset UK and studied piano with Audrey King LRAM, ARCM. Crilly was exposed to West African music while his family was stationed in Ghana during the 1950s and 60's. Moving to Canada in 1967 Crilly was also trained in filmmaking at Loyola College. He teaches in the Concordia University departments of Cinema and Communication and lives in Havelock, Quebec.

His rhapsody for violin and piano, The Eagle and the Loon (1997) was commissioned by Mohawk violinist Tara-Louise Montour and premièred the same year in the Church of Kateri Tekakwitha, Kahanawake, QC. Crilly won a Genie Award for Best Original Score at the 22nd Genie Awards in 2002 for Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner. He has also composed music for television series, animation and documentary films, including: Strings/Cordes, The Boys of St. Vincent, Frank the Wrabbit, Short Infinity, and Eckhart. In 2016 Crilly collaborated with singer/composer Tanya Tagaq on the score for Searchers.

Crilly, who holds Irish and Canadian citizenships, is a former music editor at the National Film Board of Canada, and has performed and recorded with both Celtic folk and classical music ensembles in Canada, including Barde, Stan Rogers, Teresa Doyle, the St. Lawrence Choir, Montreal Symphony Orchestra Chorus (under Iwan Edwards), and directs the Carolan Chamber Orchestra.