
John Roby has been a mainstay of the Toronto music scene composing music for theatre, radio, television and feature films.
He composed the music for more than 20 theatre musicals. With George F. Walker he composed the music and songs for King of Thieves produced by the Stratford Festival 2010. He has won two Dora Mavor Moore Awards: George F Walker’s Theatre of the Film Noir (score) and Best Musical for Girls In The Gang (with Raymond Storey). Collaborations with Storey include Country Chorale and The Dreamland. Other plays include: The Old Man’s Band (book and music); Country Hearts (with Ted Johns); the Dora nominated Jacob Two-Two’s First Spy Case (with Mordecai Richler).
Recorded works include: 2012 Gin Joint; 2011 Stride (with Doug Riley and Tyler Yarema) which won The Canadian Collector’s Congress Award for best recording of 2005; and For Helen – A Sort Of Requiem, recorded by Montreal’s award-winning Ardesco Vocal Ensemble.
Prior to the pandemic, John was a mainstay at Sassafraz in Yorkville and on Thursdays at Jacob’s Steakhouse in Toronto’s Entertainment District.