Don’t be surprised if James O’Callaghan’s convocation this month inspires him to compose an instrumental composition marrying sound and music that professional orchestras will rush to play.

O'Callaghan, who is graduating with a bachelor of fine arts degree from SFU's Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology, never misses a chance to combine sound and music with meaningful messages and experiences.

In the last two years orchestras including the Vancouver Symphony and the Victoria Symphony have premiered four of the 23-year-old’s compositions.

O’Callaghan uses sketches, computer software and sometimes guitar strumming to interweave sounds, visuals, music and themes into auditory visions for orchestras, chamber musicians, electro-acoustic recordings and films.

“I try to connect the naturally abstract and aesthetic qualities of music with ideas of social justice and the environment,” he says.

The young composer has created a piano score for poet Shannon Rayne’s What Remains that a singer and pianist will perform June 19 at Art Song Lab 2011 at SFU Woodward’s Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre.

He also wrote a piece for eight musicians who were scheduled to perform his instrumental translation of sounds from sirens, truck horns and a busking saxophonist June 7 on three levels of the Vancouver Art Gallery rotunda.

“I’m constantly looking for new ways to make music about something beyond just sounding interesting,” says O’Callaghan. “Often I’m exploring how I can use classical instruments to imitate environmental recordings.”

O’Callaghan credits his acceptance at several graduate schools to the publication of an article he wrote about Denis Smalley in Organized Sound, a high-profile journal on contemporary sound and music. Smalley is an important music theorist.

This fall, he’ll pursue a master’s degree in music at McGill University with $20,000 in scholarships.

“We’ve had many award-winning young composers come through our program over the last 30 years,” says David MacIntyre, one of O’Callaghan’s professors. “But James is a real standout.”