Veda Hille was born in 1968 in Vancouver Canada. She started playing piano when she was 6. Her family moved around a lot, from the city to the country and back again. Veda ran around in the woods and the streets, practiced piano, read books, used her Junior Scientist Microscope, and thought that maybe she would be a psychiatrist. Alas, those piano lessons had a firm hold. Classical music, then pop music, a little bit of jazz, plus a few years at art school all led Veda to try her hand at songwriting. It was compelling, and she soon found herself doing little else. She put her first album out independently in 1992, and has released a new record roughly every 18 months since then. The songs live somewhere in the murky lands of folk music, art song, and esoteric rock.
Since the mid 90s Veda has been touring in Canada, the USA, and Europe, both solo and with her band. She has also written extensively for dance, theatre, film, and Special Occasions. She plays piano and tenor guitar, dabbles in banjo, accordion, and protools, and has a new love affair going on with a nord electro keyboard and a handful of casios. She writes about the natural world, the trickiness of love, the constant threat of tragedy, and anything else that amazes her.
Lately the Hille empire has been diversifying further. Veda is a member of two new bands: Duplex! (rock music for kids) and The Fits (vaudeville duets). She continues to make her own records, and does so in cahoots with Ape Records, run by XTC’s Andy Partridge. Her latest album, This Riot Life, was released on Ape in early 2008, and was followed by touring in Canada and Europe. Veda is the in-house composer for Theatre Replacement and collaborates with them on at least one show per year. She has also been performing with the CBC Radio Orchestra, writing for the Leaky Heaven Circus, and working on a new choral piece for the Winnipeg New Music Festival. Stay tuned, because as Veda frequently admits in her music and her life, nobody knows what the heck is going to happen next.
Recent Projects
Release of This Riot Life, January, 2008
Veda’s 12th CD. A song cycle originally commissioned by the PuSH Festival, a record of ecstatic personal songs performed by a stellar 12 piece band. CD release concert in Vancouver, March, 9, followed by UK, European and Canadian performances in spring, summer and fall.
Raft of the Medusa - Chorale work commissioned by CBC radio for performance with the University of Manitoba Choir at the Winnipeg New Music Festival, Feb. 3, 2008
The Great Canadian Songbook - Part Two - On April 20 Veda again took the stage at Vancouver’s Chan Centre for the Performing Arts with the CBC Radio Orchestra. In 2007 it was Buffy Sainte-Marie; in 2008 it was Neil Young. A record of these songs- some live and some recorded in studio will be released in 2009.
Jack Pine - Commission from Vancouver Opera for a young audiences opera for four voices and piano. Premieres in Feb. 2009 followed by 150+ schools tour in the fall of 2008.
For
more information download the Veda Hille Press Kit (PDF)
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