Bio
Edward St Moritz
photo credit: Laura Frederick
There was a time when Edward's public performances were from behind a pulpit. Then, in his words, “The deity had had a long running argument with me: she wanted me to follow music. I played at the clergy thing until she had enough of that foolishness. She gave me the unusual gift of a serious depression and put me in a soul lock until I relented.” After over a decade of experimentation, writing, composing, working stuff out, and working at day jobs, Edward is coming out the other side with two CDs and a purpose.
“Your music takes me to somewhere between the Renaissance and a more contemporary Troubadour/Balladeer. Great...funny, honest, interesting, compelling. Your talent has a "timeless" quality in that your amazing ability to articulate is both clear and emotive. You've struck a really authentic and lovely point in this regard. Your music is skillful both instrumentally and vocally.... authentic, diverse, delivered with mastery and passion “
Marg Gurr, sculptor.
At the moment, Ed makes Collingwood, Ontario his home. He has played on the east and west coast of Canada, He has opened for renowned folksinger/storyteller James Keelaghan in Midland, Ontario. He collaborated with Maestro Oliver Balaburski, conductor of Barrie’s Huronia Symphony Orchestra on an original commissioned 2014 Christmas holiday project “Sadie’s Door” writing the narrative portion of this musical work.
He creates and performs songs lyrically driven in a post-folk way, fusing elements of Celtic sensibility, classical Old World influence, and gritty observation. Love is there but with a distinct taste of cigars and well-aged single malt. Working with producer and musician Don Bray, Ed finished his CD of original songs “Small Things Shining Bright” in 2016. He recorded a second album “A Bit of Change”, produced by Ray Dillard in 2019 and released in September 2020.
As well as having taught music and English as a second language in his private studio, he plays rhythm guitar in a local gypsy jazz combo, The Huronia Hot Strings, and was second violist for the Huronia Symphony Orchestra. He has recently joined a local choir, ChoralWorks in Collingwood.
He has just finished a six-week summer stint with Theatre Georgian Bay as their composer/performer for the incidental music and songs of their production of Shakespeare's Tempest.
Edward is now working on another set of songs for a third album, a series of art pieces converting photographs into soundscapes, and writing a novel about the long-lasting effects of a grandmother's secret diaries written during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia during the Second World War.