BIOGRAPHY

Helen Hall is a Canadian composer and filmmaker whose work explores the intersection of art, science, energy and perception.

Drawing on acoustic principles of resonance, harmonics, and tuning, and informed by traditions ranging from Eastern Orthodox chant to the avant-garde lineage of John Coltrane, she weaves together music, research, and film.

Born in Montreal, she has been fascinated with vibration and sound from an early age. She studied classical guitar at the University of British Columbia, and at McGill University in Montreal, where she also immersed herself in electronic and computer music, the physics and acoustics of sound, and sound engineering.


Her music has been performed and broadcast in North America and Europe, and has been featured on CBC Radio’s Two New Hours, Radio-Canada’s Musique Actuelle, Le Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville (Quebec), The Scotia Festival of Music (Nova Scotia, Canada), New York’s Bang on a Can, Sonic Disturbance Festival of Sound in Ohio and the Subtropic Music Festival in Florida. She has received commissions from Hemispheres Orchestra, The Music Gallery (Toronto), Le Grand Ensemble de Saxophones de Montréal, S.O.I.L. (Belgium) and is an associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre.

Her independent research into the physical basis of music and its relationship to energy has led her to extend her work into film. Powerlines, her first documentary, began as a musical score composed from the sound waves of artificial electromagnetic radiation, and evolved into a cinematic exploration of the mystery of electromagnetic fields. The film won the International Jury Award at the International Festival of Films on Energy in Switzerland, and has since screened at Culture Unplugged and other festivals and events in Canada, the United States, and Europe. It has been featured in the book Design Noir (Anthony Dunne, UK) and Musicworks magazine (Toronto), and the soundtrack for the film was released independently.

She is currently completing Pictures of Infinity, a feature documentary exploring Nikola Tesla’s later work and his understanding of nature through sound, vibration, and energy.
She is also developing Star Music, a documentary that explores the resonant voices of stars and translates their frequencies into music and film.

Her interdisciplinary work has led to invitations to speak in music, literature, visual art, and film departments, as well as libraries and museums in Canada and the United States. She also taught music and sound design at the National Theatre School of Canada for ten years.

Hall’s work has been supported by er work has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund, the National Film Board of Canada, and other Canadian and international organizations.

Helen Hall lives and works in Montreal, Canada.