You come from a long line of famous composer-pianists. Have any in particular inspired you?

I think all of them did. I just loved how creative they were, how open they were to new things. They were always attending world premieres and had a hunger for searching out the newest sounds. How all of them were peers inspired me a lot. Schumann, Liszt, Chopin, they all knew each other and were aware of each other’s work. Of course, Bartók is an inspiration, and Rachmaninov who was an all-round musician – conductor, composer and pianist.

Stewart GoodyearStewart Goodyear. Photo © Andrew Garn

How did the two sides develop as you grew up? And is one of them dominant today do you think?

I don’t know if one is more dominant than the other. I find them both to be an equal passion of mine. The composing started when I was around eight years old. I attended a choral school in Toronto, so my first compositions were motets that I wrote for the choir to sing. I always wanted to write for orchestra so I started orchestration when I was around nine years old and was devouring as many...