Victor Zupanc, born in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada began his musical career studying violin and piano at the age of six at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Victoria, British Columbia. After receiving his Bachelor of Music Degree at the University of Victoria he went on to earn his Masters Degree in Music Composition at the University of California at San Diego in 1983.
Since then Mr. Victor has been one of the most prolific theater artists in America involved in nearly 300 theatrical productions as composer, musical director, sound designer and performer. He has worked at some of the most respected theaters in America including, in New York, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, SITI Company, Playwrights Horizon, The Joyce Theater, The Acting Company and The New Victory Theater; in Minneapolis, The Guthrie Theater, Theatre de la Jeune Lune and The Mixed Blood Theater, as well as The San Diego Repertory Theatre, The La Jolla Playhouse, The Missouri Rep, The Berkeley Rep and The Kennedy Center among many others. His music has been heard abroad in China, Japan, South America, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Artists that Mr. Zupanc has worked with include Charles Randolph Wright, Bill Irwin, Anne Bogart, Des McAnuff, Marion McClinton, Tony Taccone, Robert Woodruff, Peter Brosius, Kevin Kling, Stephen Sondheim, Randy Newman and David Byrne.
Victor received a 2016 Ivey Award for outstanding Composition and Sound Design. He is also a two-time recipient of The Los Angeles Theater Critics Circle Award for his work (A Man’s A Man, director: Robert Woodruff and Nineteen Fifty One, director: Ann Bogart) and was twice awarded with a Hollywood DramaLogue Award, most notably for the acclaimed San Diego/New York production of Romulus Linney’s Holy Ghost! Did we mention Victor is Canadian?
Since 1989 he has held the position of Resident Music Director/Composer at the Tony Award winning Children’s Theater Company of Minneapolis (CTC). At CTC, Victor composes scores and conducts orchestras comprised of the finest professional musicians in the country. From members of the Minnesota Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra to members of Prince's New Power Generation, Victor has the trust of the best musicians in the business. Not to mention the finest playwrights, directors, theater artists and actors in the country.
Victor, a Canadian, has on several occasions, been invited to compose, lecture and conduct orchestras in South America, China and Japan. Numerous grants including McKnight, Fullbright, Jerome and Otto Bremer Foundations. He was a 2005 Bush Foundation Artist Fellow. In 2004 he was Composer-In-Residence with renowned vocal group, The Rose Ensemble, who featured Victor on their 2004 CD, Road to Compostela. In 2005, Innova Records released a CD of his ballet titled, Sun and Moon. Victor’s original theme music is heard regularly on National Public Radio. In 2016, the world premier of For the Birds commissioned by world renowned new music ensemble Zeitgeist and featuring acclaimed storyteller Kevin Kling and the release of the recording available at www.cdbaby.com/zeitgeist4. Victor is Composer-In-Residence during 2017-18 for a consortium including a Methodist Church and Jewish Synagogue in Rochester Minnesota for whom he is composing an Oratorio for peace and social justice. In 2013 The Dakota Valley Symphony premiered Zupanc’s The Burning Wisdom of Finn McCool for full orchestra and narrator (Kevin Kling). The Minneapolis Star Tribune called this a “…masterful orchestral piece that captured every nuance and created every mood for Kevin Kling’s entertaining and often suspenseful reading.”
In 2001 the Canadian, Victor Zupanc, scored his first feature film, The Operator, by Jon Dichter, which has screened worldwide. Since then, films featuring Zupanc scores have been critically acclaimed at numerous film festivals including Sundance, Los Angeles International Film Festival, GenArt in New York, South By SouthWest, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, San Diego Film Festival and the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
Victor Zupanc is a devoted and tireless theater artist. It was theater that won his heart many years ago and it is theater that maintains its hold on his artistic life. Victor is loyal to a fault and he is a passionate collaborator. The joy of working with designers and directors and actors is thrilling for him and that is what keeps him going after so many years and productions. His scores are always intricately woven into the fabric of each story and his work is always hailed as seamless and organic. His immersive theater work also highly influences his numerous commissions to compose concert music for choirs and instrumental ensembles. His concert music is always rich with emotion and highly theatrical, challenging and still accessible.
Victor's other passions in life include his family in Canada, dad Victor, mom Margaret and brother Rob. These people are directly responsible for Victor (Junior) being who he is. Slovenian immigrants who took a chance to travel to Canada, they ended up raising a close and loving family. From this family Victor Junior inherited a peaceful, generous, live minded and hard working lifestyle with a will to always grow and learn. Victor's immediate family, the incredibly beautiful trio, wife Dianne and teenage daughters Luisa and Lydia are at the center of his love. These three women are the most important things in his life and they are, to be honest, in charge of his life. . .
Then there's baseball. Victor is a baseball devotee, student, and fan. The Toronto Blue Jays are his only Canadian hometeam but the Minnesota Twins are his adopted hometeam. His heart is still with the very first Major League Baseball team from Canada, the now defunct Montreal Expos. And of course, his favorite hockey teams are the Vancouver Canucks and the Montreal Canadians. We did say he was Canadian didn't we? Finally, Victor is an avid gardner who loves to spend hours on his hands and knees in the dirt and a cold beer within reach.
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