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I’m thinking of the Windermere String Quartet as they prepare to play the premiere of my piece tonight. If they are like me, they are avoiding going out into the snow that continues to fall on Toronto this afternoon. Maybe like me they are practicing, and have persistent pets like my cat (pictured here, with her permission) who expresses her opinion of music by sitting on it. My cat apparently approves of Willan Missa Brevis #4. The string quartet we will hear tonight is called “From a distant Island.” I wrote most of the quartet while on sabbatical on the Isle… Read More »Snow and string quartet

The last carols have been sung, dollar store treasures unwrapped and devoured, remnants of Christmas feasts boiled up for soup, midnight masses faded, snow finally falls on our city and there is a fleeting moment to stop and take stock. Deep and even gratitude for friends and family adorns my silent night, and my heart nearly bursts with the profound joy that all this music brings. I am grateful for the wonderful people that surround me, the prodigious and varied gifts that they share willingly and without question, and for everyone who willingly receives these handcrafted blessings. I’ve spent a brilliantly… Read More »Fourth day of Christmas

Benjamin Britten writes in his introductory notes to Saint Nicolas: “The conductor must be cool-headed and should turn to the audience to conduct them in the two hymns.” I needed that sound advice on Sunday afternoon as we began our Pax Christi concert, only to discover the organ at Grace Church on-the-Hill would not  start up. The first half of the concert could be sung largely without the organ, but the prospect of performing a half-hearted St. Nicolas without the “King of Instruments” was a dreadful disappointment to both choir and audience. But apparently miracles still happen. Why was Tom Fitches in… Read More »Keep calm and carry on

St. Mary Magdalene Gallery Choir 1967 I want to post a brief tribute here to my friend Patricia Harton-McCord, a wonderful person and marvelous musician. She’s pictured here at choir practice with the Gallery Choir under the direction of Healey Willan in 1967. She’s the young singer in the second row, fourth from the right. She often recounted stories about those days and how Dr. Willan had been so generous with his time, mentoring and nurturing her obvious musical talents. I first met Patricia as a student at U of Toronto and got to know her again as a colleague… Read More »Farewell to a friend

Our eyes are blinded by the holiness you bear. The bishop’s robe, the mitre and the cross of gold obscure the simple man within the Saint. Strip off your glory, Nicolas, and speak! “Across the tremendous bridge of sixteen hundred years I come to stand in worship with you as I stood among my faithful congregation long ago. All who knelt beside me then are gone. Their name is dust, their tombs are grass and clay, yet still their shining seed of faith survives in you! With you it stands like forest oak or withers with the grasses underfoot. Preserve the… Read More »In search of Saint Nicolas

In four weeks my oratorio choir will sing the first performance of my new cantata “Winter Nights.” The four movement cantata is scored for strings, keyboard and percussion (yes, just like Benjamin Britten’s Saint Nicolas) SATB choir and tenor soloist. The poetry is from various sources, but I’ll admit my favourite poem was written by my sister Cori Martin. It’s called “Christmas Cattle” and it goes like this: Could it be true, old Thomas Hardy’s tale: at midnight, Christmas Eve, the oxen kneel to Bethlehem? Our parents slept. We kept a vigil till the magic hour, then crept outside, across… Read More »Winter Nights

Bruce Owen is an extraordinary person who, with a team of dedicated supporters, presents a wonderful series of classical concerts in Barrie, Ontario, about an hour drive north of Toronto. Pax Christi, my 100-voice oratorio choir, with our amazing soloists and orchestra, performed our Salieri and Mozart programme there to an appreciative full house, after being fed a roast beef dinner. Does it get any better? My question on this blog is to singers, orchestra players and audience. I found last night on arriving at the venue that we didn’t have a  lot of extra room, and the soloists ended… Read More »Salieri and the stick

Medieval music was one of my earliest passions. As a kid I listened over and over again to an old Archiv recording of Machaut’s “Messe de Notre Dame” which struck me as so strange and beautiful. It’s amazing to me now that I have found 5 other women who want to sing the same music with me. Schola Magdalena has been singing Gregorian chant and medieval polyphony together now for 5 years, and this Saturday we are launching our second recording “Virgo Splendens.” The CD contains the four Marian Anthems for the liturgical year, chants by Hildegard von Bingen and… Read More »Schola Magdalena launch

On March 27th I had the great privilege of attending the Kingston Symphony’s performance of the Requiem by Healey Willan. I sat with Mary Willan, Dr Willan’s daughter, and we chatted about the circumstances facing her family during those early years, and why Willan did not complete this work. Singing in the choir was Martha Clarke, widow of F.R.C.Clarke who was the musicologist who completed the Requiem from sketches and orchestrated the work. The whole event was very festive, and the conductor, Brian Jackson, signed my score after the concert. He had also conducted the premiere performance 23 years earlier… Read More »Willan Requiem

I am arranging some hymns for brass quintet for Easter Day, but other items just keep piling up on my piano! It’s like there’s a great magnet sunk deep under the strings somewhere, so that everything in the house that requires a surface comes to rest here eventually. Holy Week happens every year, but every year I am astonished at how much musical preparation is required to pull off this epic liturgical event at St. Mary Magdalene. There are 11 musical services between Palm Sunday and Easter Day involving scores of selfless volunteer musicians and an incredible list of music:… Read More »Heading into Holy Week