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Reconciling with Brahms

My complex relationship with Johannes Brahms goes all the way back to my childhood, and now, after half a century of memories, we come full circle. ‘Behold, all flesh is as the grass…’ My first serious encounter with Brahms remains a sublime mix of elation and trauma.  In 1976 I was one small chorister in a huge performance of Brahms’ German Requiem organized and conducted by my father. Fortunately, for 14-year-old me, the German Requiem was sung in English translation, so those Biblical passages come back to me, even now. That project took months of rehearsals led by my Dad… Read More »Reconciling with Brahms

Winter Nights UK premiere

I’m back home after 50 days travelling in Malta, Italy, Switzerland and England. There’s so much to process, I think I could probably write a book, but for now I’ll let someone else do the writing. My cantata ‘Winter Nights’ was performed at the University of Kent in Canterbury. Conductor Dan Harding just posted his blog about the experience, so I will re-post his prose and pictures here for you to enjoy.

The time required

‘You can’t think that way’. Her words come back to me today as the big pot boils up pungent vinegar and spices – my forearms stickied with warm juicy bits of fruit peelings and tomato seeds. Rewind 25 years or so. Mary-Katherine Finch and I were preparing for an early music recording, sharing our various time-management woes, and how long it takes to prepare for a recording session. ‘I’ve been practicing 4 hours a day for weeks, and then the group rehearsals and the recording sessions. If I do the math I’m being paid well beneath minimum wage for this… Read More »The time required

Cori Martin

How can I eulogize a sister, or sum up a lifetime in words? Memory doesn’t live in letters on a page, or in faded pictures in photo albums. It’s a sketchy patchwork – flashes of feelings, recollections of food and fragrance, snatches of action from decades of living and learning. To unravel the complexities of the Cori Martin who lived here on earth for 64 years is quite impossible in a blog. But here it is. Girls and women who have an older sister will understand it’s a very good thing. We have had someone to pave the way, to… Read More »Cori Martin

Steph at black board

Ma fin est mon commencement

Today I am starting something new. I’m launching this new website! With the help of expert web designer Mary Bella the new site launches with current photos (of my mature self) , a refreshed blog where you can read and leave your own thoughts and comments, a complete catalogue of compositions with links to publishers, and a gallery of videos, recordings and photographs. You can check out Mary’s company Maestra Web Design on her website. I can highly recommend her work. She is thoroughly skilled in web design, and she’s also very patient with someone who is just learning :… Read More »Ma fin est mon commencement

WATER oratorio premiere

Coming down from ‘WATER: an environmental oratorio’

It happened! Two years of imagining, researching, learning, writing, composing, and workshopping during the pandemic finally culminated in the full orchestral and choral première of our brand new choral and orchestral piece ‘WATER: an environmental oratorio’. Soloists Marion Newman, Jean-Phillipe Lazure, Phillip Addis and Katy Clark brought the characters of Helen the Mayor, her activist son, a shady businessman, and Water herself to life before a receptive audience. Mark Vuorinen conducted the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, and the entire Grand Philharmonic family of choirs, including the adult choir, the youth and children’s choirs who brought so much to this performance. A special… Read More »Coming down from ‘WATER: an environmental oratorio’

Water

WATER: an environmental oratorio

Wednesday is World Water Day (March 22, 2023) and that’s a good reason to let you know about some new Canadian music that’s all about water. ‘WATER: an environmental oratorio’ imagines two different worlds. In a fantastical world, Water is personified, surrounded by singing spirits. In the everyday world, played out in a fictional Northern Ontario town, a beleaguered Mayor must decide whether to support a developer’s factory, or protect the purest water on the planet. Soloists Katy Clark,  Marion Newman, Jean-Philippe Lazure, and Phillip Addis bring these roles to life on May 28, 2023, at 3pm with the  Grand… Read More »WATER: an environmental oratorio

Resound choir

‘Songs My Mother Taught Me’

When Thomas Burton asked me to compose a new choral piece for ‘RESOUND’  on the theme of motherhood, it did not take me long to find the perfect text. My mum, Shirley Martin, turned 90 last April and my sister Cori Martin wrote a poem in her honour entitled ‘Mother’. That is the text and the resulting choral piece you will hear on Saturday March 25, 2023 in Port Perry, Ontario at the historic Town Hall Theatre. Thomas Burton, conductor and collaborative pianist Cheryl Duvall will premiere ‘Mother’ for SATB choir and piano. Two other new works will also premiere on… Read More »‘Songs My Mother Taught Me’

Tenebrae

Singing again

Through a mask, darkly, cradling hand-written chant in one hand and a tapered candle in the other, I croak my way through the ancient service of Tenebrae.   A ragtag crew of rusty, veteran singers returns to St. Mary Magdalene’s this week to sing the 8 choral services required during Holy Week, the slow and solemn march toward Easter Day.   I am one of that old guard asked to brush up their vocal armour and return to the choir. After two years (or ten years) of non-singing, this Quixotic company of comrades requires courage, and a letting go of… Read More »Singing again

P.S. A Frost Sequence video (with subtitles)

As a quick follow up to my last blog, I am pleased to be able to publish this link to the video of ‘A Frost Sequence’ performed by The Elora Singers under the direction of Mark Vuorinen as part of the Elora Festival Online last summer. Thanks to all who worked so hard in August 2021, under strict COVID regulations, to make this music come to life against all odds : ) Watch on YouTube: ‘A Frost Sequence’ The three pieces are now published as a trilogy by Renforth Music in New Brunswick. You can find all the information here:… Read More »P.S. A Frost Sequence video (with subtitles)