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Women composers

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

Ave Verum Corpus: a silver lining story

This is the true story of a little piece of music called ‘Ave Verum Corpus’. If you are a fan of choral music, you’ll probably be familiar with the text ‘Ave Verum Corpus’. If you sing in a choir, you might have performed settings by Mozart, William Byrd, or Elgar.  ‘Ave Verum Corpus’ was the first piece that I wrote for the Gallery Choir of the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene back in March 2007, and it’s a classic tale of ‘a cloud with a silver lining’. On a dark Thursday night, one of those monstrous March snowstorms descended on… Read More »Ave Verum Corpus: a silver lining story

Howard Dyck’s review: ‘The Sun, the Wind, and the Man with the Cloak’

Pax Christi Chorale, a 100 plus voice Toronto choir, scored another impressive triumph yesterday with the world premiere of Stephanie Martin’s new oratorio “The Sun, the Wind, and the Man with the Cloak”. David Bowser, Stephanie’s successor as Artistic Director of PCC, gave us fine readings of English repertoire (Britten, Elgar, Vaughan Williams) before the intermission. The new choral work is a charming retelling of the famous Aesop fable about the sun and the wind arguing who is the more powerful. Stephanie Martin’s highly effective score was enhanced in no small measure by playwright Paul Ciufo’s delightful libretto. This is… Read More »Howard Dyck’s review: ‘The Sun, the Wind, and the Man with the Cloak’

Babel

Babel: a choral symphony – the video

Due to the forward thinking folks at Wilfrid Laurier University, the premiere performance of my choral symphony “Babel” is now up on Youtube for you to see and hear. I’d love to share this with you. If you have 45 minutes to spare, click through to the video and watch. Here’s the link to the movie: Babel: a choral symphony There is no scrolling text in the video so if you want to reference the words of Cori Martin’s beautiful and thought-provoking poetry, you can click on this link here: BABEL How did the premiere go you ask? Very well.… Read More »Babel: a choral symphony – the video

An open letter to students boycotting my work

Rehearsals are underway for the first performance of my choral symphony at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo. I am saddened to hear that some students are boycotting my work since they consider it “blasphemous.” I believe a Canadian university must be a safe place to discuss controversial topics and respect differences – a haven for critical thinking, experiment and inquiry – and I hope every student pouring their hard work and musicianship into this project can feel safe and proud performing my piece. I post this open letter not to judge, but to invite reflection and reconciliation. Dear Students, Love… Read More »An open letter to students boycotting my work

The blog days of summer

Out of the blue, while holidaying in the fabulous fresh air of friendly British Columbia, I received an email from England. Tomorrow I’ll be going down to a Toronto studio to be interviewed for a BBC 4 radio show about Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius. That’s all because of this blog and my posts about that composer. So, I keep on blogging, even though here, on a weekend break with my parents, the Ontario summer is so hot and humid one can barely summon the strength to lift a cold beer. Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to hearing a couple of my… Read More »The blog days of summer