A Woman for All Seasons

I’m please to share that my one of my songs for voice and piano, called Night, will be performed on Thursday, November 21 at the University of Toronto. Clarisse Tonigussi, U of T graduate and creator of the Canadian Women Composers Project, is curating a program of season-related songs by female Canadian composers to be performed by graduate students in the music program at U of T. Night contains autumn imagery and will be included in that section of the program.

Check out the details for the concert here.

Last time this piece was performed (by Clarisse herself) I was unable to make the concert so I’m please to be able to see it this time!

Marla

Open for Business

As of this week, I’m embarking on the journey of freelancing! It’s exciting to have the possibility of working on any kind of project. Currently the plan is to juggle a combination of contract audio work - editing, engineering, mixing, etc. - with freelance music gigs - arranging, composing, scoring, notation, etc. I’ve already made some contacts for the first and I’ve landed my first job for the second, so I’m hoping I can get up and running quickly.

To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what my ideal balance would be, so at this moment I will be taking anything that comes my way and applying to anything that looks intriguing to see what piques my interest the most.

I’m surprised I’m not more apprehensive about diving into the freelance world but mostly I’m just excited. It feels good that I’ve developed the skills and network of contacts that being able to do this is a feasible option, and I’m planning to take full advantage of that to build the most fulfilling career for myself as possible!

So if you or anyone you know need any of the above services or anything even remotely related - hit me up!

Marla

Seeing Sound: A Showcase of music by Canadian female composers

Earlier this year I was contacted by Clarisse Tonigussi of the Canadian Women Composers Project. She had heard of me through a friend of a friend and was interested in performing some of my music at a concert she had coming up in the fall in Toronto.

Fast-forward a few months later and that concert is fast approaching. Seeing Sound: Where Music and Visual Art Meet is promising to be a great night of art and music. Ms. Tonigussi, a soprano, will be performing over an hour of music by Canadian female composers, accompanied by pianist Narmina Efendiyeva. While she sings, artist Alexandria Harding-Costa will use the music as inspiration to paint a masterpiece that will be auctioned off at the end of the night, proceeds going to Sistering, a Toronto charity supporting at-risk women.

Two of my pieces will be on the program: There Will Come Soft Rains, which I wrote in university but has never been performed by a soprano (for which it was originally intended); and Night, a more jazz-influenced piece that is getting a brand-new classical spin. I’m very excited to see my music included in such a great event and it’s very unfortunate that family obligations will have me across the country while the concert is going on.

The concert will take place at Grace Church on the Hill in Etobicoke, 300 Lonsdale Rd., at 7pm on Saturday October 6th. Tickets can be purchased by clicking the event link above. I hope you will consider supporting such a great cause at what promises to be a highly enjoyable evening!

Marla

The Mississauga Festival Choir

I was recently asked to arrange some songs for the Mississauga Festival Choir's Christmas concert. Their guest artists are The Barra MacNeils and the choir is to sing some songs with the band, and my job is to write the choir parts.

It's looking to be a pretty fun concert! The choir gets better every year and the Barra MacNeils are a rousing east coast band. You can find more info and tickets here.

Marla

Amadeus Compositions

I used to sing with the Amadeus Choir of Toronto, a large choir conducted by Lydia Adams. Every year they hold their Seasonal Song-Writing Competition in which composers are invited to submit newly-composed Christmas works; the competition is aimed towards youth but every other year adults are invited to participate. 

I entered the competition twice, in 2009 and 2011, the first year writing a piece called Sweet Flowerets of the Martyr Band based on a poem by Aurelius Prudentius, and the second called This New Snow, with lyrics written by my good friend Hayley Preziosi. This New Snow won an Honourable Mention in the 2011 competition.

I know this isn't really the time of year for Christmas music, but I recently dug up recordings of both pieces so I thought I'd add them to my site. Neither were ever professionally recorded, but I'm glad to have at least these copies of them!

Hope you enjoy!

Marla

Projects on the go

Haven't posted in awhile - I've been incredibly busy with numerous different projects!

The main reason for being busy is that we're in the midst of  The Amazing Race Canada at work! The schedule sets a frantic pace but it's a very rewarding show to work on. It's fun to see the public response it gets when each episodes airs. That goes until mid-September, so it's going to be a busy summer!

I've had a few other projects on the go, as well. This past Saturday, I did a photoshoot with Scott Murdoch of Five by Five Photography, which means I'll have some new modelling photos to share sometime in the near future! I also recently finished a new arrangement for Countermeasure of Hawksley Workman's We Will Still Need a Song, which we'll be performing at the wedding of one of the group members next weekend. I've also been working on my solo singing and guitar playing for a few other little side things, as well! Whew.

Countermeasure has a new video out and I also managed to find a recording of an older composition of mine, so I'll be posting a bit more material in the next few days. Eventually I'd like to start writing posts in more of a blogging style rather than just updates on projects, too. But in the meantime, have a couple of photos that I've taken recently that I like!

Marla

There Will Come Soft Rains

Back in university, probably around 2007, I wrote an art song with the text of Sara Teasdale's poem There Will Come Soft Rains for a student composer's concert. Due to various complications it never ended up being performed.

Flash forward to this year, when my dear friend Katy Harmer performed it in a recital. It was up in Yellowknife so I was unable to catch it, but she sent along this recording - so I finally have a copy of the piece, eight years later! Thanks, Katy!

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools, singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white,

Robins will wear their feathery fire,
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,
If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone.

Marla

New Song!

As I mentioned awhile ago, I've been in the process of recording and re-recording some songs, so that I have half-decent versions of my stuff to post. Well, I finished one! Here is The Longest Night, a song I wrote a little while ago when I wanted something a little different from your typical breakup song.

Enjoy! :)

Marla

New Piano Solo!

Back in the fall, I wrote a piece called Subtlety Is Not Your Specialty, for Soup Can Theatre's production of Circle Jerk. The line was given to me as inspiration, so I wrote a lovely piece for piano, flute and cello - and then the clarinet comes in an stomps all over it.

I was kind of sad that the piece ends up ruined by the clarinet, so I adapted it for piano solo, in which the original pleasant piece doesn't get interrupted - and decided to just name it Subtlety, since the spirit of the original title was no longer there.

It was an interesting experience, trying to condense a piece for four instruments into a solo. I find a lot of my piano writing tends to be simple, because I write what I can play immediately while sitting in front of the piano. This was different - since I was trying to conserve as many of the original instrumental lines as possible, it ended up being much more difficult than the piano music I usually write. A fair bit of practice went into being able to play it properly!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!

Marla

New Music Imminent

I've lately been inspired to record more of my music. I have some songs that I have low-quality recordings of on Youtube which I'd like to improve upon, and I have some newer ones that I haven't gotten around to posting ANY version of yet.

I spent my day recording takes for Subtlety, the piano solo that's adapted from my chamber music piece Subtlety is Not Your Specialty, written for Soup Can Theatre's production of Circle Jerk, in fall 2014.

I also spent some time mathing out tempo maps for Dancing, the first pop song I ever wrote, and The Longest Night, my most recent song which has a bit of musical theatre feel. Due to limited recording facilities at home I'll have to wait until I get to work to make more progress on them (and on editing Subtlety) but hopefully I'll be able to post all three of them in the next few weeks. :)

This website has been good for my productivity!

Marla

Art Song Premiere

A good friend of mine, Katy Harmer, will be premiering a piece of mine tonight at the Yellowknife Music Festival! It's very exciting for me - the piece was one I originally wrote in university for a specific purpose but due to various circumstances it was never performed. It's called There Will Come Soft Rains, the text from a poem by Sara Teasdale.

Katy will also be performing it at her recital in June, so perhaps I will be able to post a recording of it in the compositions section of my site in the near future. 

Exciting to tie up loose ends!

Marla