Ted Runcie was born in Jamaica and grew up in Scarborough where as a teenager he played violin in the Scarborough Schools’ Youth Orchestra and sang in the Scarborough Schools’ Youth Choir as a teenager. Runcie is a graduate of McGill University where he studied composition, voice and conducting. Runcie did further studies in composition studies with Christian Wolff in the U.S.A and further conducting studies in Finland with Jorma Panula of the Sibelius Academy.
Over the years Runcie has composed a varied body of work including chamber music, solo instrumental works, choral works, art songs and symphonic works. He has written two ‘sinfoniettas’ based on Jamaican history. His Jamaica Quartets No. 1 & 2 have been recorded by SPO’s ensemble-in-residence, the Odin Quartet.
Runcie spent more than two decades as a conductor and educator in Taiwan where was Music Director of the Hsinchu Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hsinchu Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and where he taught at Changung University.
