Spring 2021

Journal

eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

Table of Contents

3 Notes from the Chair Carol Ann Weaver

8 From the Editor Fiona Evison

9 40th Anniversary of ACWC / ACC Diane Berry

12 The ACWC/ACC 20th Anniversary: Then, Now, and Beyond... A Festival of Music by Women Janet Danielson

17 Spotlight on Our Archives Elma Miller

25 Pioneering Compositrices of Canada Elaine Keillor

31 Anniversary Interview: Brenda Muller: Canadian Challenges for Women Com- posers, and the History of the Ardeleana Trio Patricia Morehead

40 Anniversary Interview: Sylvia Rickard: My Composing Life and Memories of Jean Coulthard / Entrevue: Sylvia Rickard Patricia Morehead

48 Panel Reports: Soundscapes and More / Muses Too Carol Ann Weaver

50 New Member Profiles

52 Member Opportunities and News

All writers in the Journal are ACWC members, unless otherwise indicated.

2 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

Notes from the Chair In Celebration as ACWC/ACC Turns 40: Finding Our “Necessary” Voices

Carol Ann Weaver

An anniversary 40 years in the making – reason enough to celebrate! In 1981 when Carolyn Lomax met with Ann Southam, Mary Gardiner, and others to form what was to become ACWC, little did she and the other Toronto-based composers know that their work would expand to become an association of over 100 members spread across Canada from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland, and from the Northwest Territories to the US and Europe, incorporating musical forms from soundscape to jazz improvisation, song to symphony, largely centred on innovative Western classical styles – music necessary to compose.

In the early 80’s when ACWC1 boasted a membership of some 15 – 35 members, few questioned its predominantly European-rooted membership. But now in the 2020s, with some 110 members, we begin to think more about inclusivity. Currently, 95% of ACWC have European roots, with around 5 % Asian, 1% indigenous, and 0% African roots. So how do we broaden our membership in the next 40 years?

At times we have been so focused on making musical statements as women that we have often lost the perspective that most of us are settlers, colonizers, and immigrants. (Nor is it effective for us to assume a position of guilt, which ultimately leads to paralysis.) Somehow, it remains our challenge to listen to the music of those who are indigenous Canadians, while also hearing music from our own various ethnic cultures, in a timeless effort to bring all our voices together. ACWC can become a powerful platform for dynamic musical/cultural dialogue if only we strike a match and light a fire of interaction with all our various ethnic communities in Canada. CBC Radio One sounds us into deeper levels of indigenous cultural issues and music via the Sunday evening shows, “Unreserved” and “Reclaimed.”2 Themes range from heartbeat to reconnection to Sixties Scoop survivors turning their stories into music. I rarely miss a show, hearing how

1 Francophone members prefer Association des compositrices canadiennes to the previous l’Association des femmes compositeurs canadiennes. So, we are now Association of Canadian Women Composers/Association des compositrices canadiennes (ACWC/ACC), still shortened to ACWC. 2 CBC Radio One: Unreserved at https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved and Reclaimed at https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-184-reclaimed, accessed May 10, 2021. 3 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

Canadian indigenous music often expresses an earthy necessity that I also hear within African music – the sound of necessary music.

So, are we women and women-identified persons also expressing that which is necessary for us while becoming a beacon inviting those from various backgrounds to join us in dialogue? While we may wonder about our (mostly) Euro-rooted music within cross-cultural Canada, it is also important ask the timeless question when concepts of gender change constantly,3 “do women compose music differently from men?”

Much has been written about this, but few conclusions have been reached. Feminist musicologist Marcia Citron, among others, concludes that “there are no stylistic traits essential to all women nor exclusive to women”4 partly due to the fact that “[Western] women have been socialized largely in male norms” (ibid).

However, this is a new century, a new era, and a time when women-oriented organizations are becoming recognized for creating unique spaces for women’s work and perspectives. ACWC is one of many similar organizations internationally, whose mandate is to gather, present, and celebrate women’s work for what it is, not for what it should be, whether, as Citron suggests, a product of male-socialized norms, or a consciously feminized expression. How we write music as women and as women-identified persons cannot be prescribed or formulated, but it can be explored.

Our composition titles alone may present clues as to what we are saying. For the 40th Anniversary ACWC Playlists,5 ACWC composers are invited to submit pieces on any theme of choice, thus providing a unique and fascinating window into chosen themes and voice, partially revealing what Canadian women are composing today. While a comparative study of themes within men’s compositions needs to be done, using the same sample size, this glimpse into our music offers us invaluable insights.

Of the 66 pieces presented in the first five monthly ACWC playlists from January to May 2021, the following themes emerge in order of occurrence. Nineteen pieces deal with natural/environmental themes; twelve contain personal or spiritual

3 The Composer Diversity Database recognizes six names that could refer to women: intersex, non- binary, third gender, transgender, two spirit, woman. https://www.composerdiversity.com/composer-diversity-database accessed May 11, 2021. 4 Citron, Marcia J. 1993. Gender and the Musical Canon. Cambridge: University Press. 5 Playlists created by Amanda Lowry from members’ music – no themes specified: https://acwc.ca/2020/06/03/acwc-40th-anniversary/ accessed May 11, 2021. 4 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

themes; seven deal with abstract patterns or shapes; six name Western musical forms; four deal with disabilities, illness, or death; four refer to men as subject or author of text; three relate to liturgical or religious themes; three name geographical locations; two deal with love; two speak as mothers; one mentions time; and one describes a physical object. Revealing what?

We know that in order for our voices to be heard, we women have often composed within formats basically created by men – dance, aria, divertimento, fantasia – as revealed by some 9% of these 66 pieces. Another 14% of the pieces contain abstract references to shapes, objects, or measurements, 6% contain themes connected with or alluding to men, 4.5% credit specific geographical locations, and 4.5% make Christian or liturgical references. Therein lies a kind of objectivity, if not at times, androgyny, where music is created within male-gendered formats and standardized traditions. In all, 38% of music in these playlists deals with themes conventionally expected from (“Western Classical”) composers in general, thus possibly allowing for higher acceptance from a wider base of listeners.

However, the remaining 62% of pieces go in slightly less predictable, less traditional directions. Some 33% address women’s unique experiences – personal spirituality, relationships, love, illness, deaths, motherhood – requiring new formats that could challenge male-oriented, mainstream culture. And significantly, 29% of the pieces address the environment and the natural world, going beyond traditional forms, gender identities, and human being-ness. The necessity of writing about our planet, especially in a time like this, takes us beyond mere gender or cultural identity, giving us legitimate connections with the earth and its non-human denizens, while allowing us to bridge various gender, racial, cultural, and ethnic divides.

Are women vanguards in this field of environmental music? Hildegard Westerkamp, arguably the most highly regarded sonic ecologist and soundscape composer today, is an active ACWC member. Her way of listening is changing how all of us listen, as she inspires us to hear the earth more closely. Westerkamp, Tina Pearson, another highly influential sonic composer, and I discuss our work in the ever-changing field of soundscape/electronic music in the ACWC panel Soundscapes and More.6 Also, the Board of Canadian Association for Sound Ecology (CASE), chaired by Andrea Dancer, with four women (three with ACWC backgrounds) and two men, has actively created projects such as “Listening

6 Soundscapes and More: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6K4eGP8oOs accessed May 18, 2021 5 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

in the Time of COVID”7 which reach far beyond gender, ethnicities, or cultural groupings. All of this is “necessary music.” Women are indeed creating a prominent voice within environmental music.

A further way to understand how women work and what we are creating during the pandemic is to look at our activities in celebration of our ACWC 40th Anniversary. During the pandemic when physical gatherings for concerts or meetings cannot occur, we have searched our collective soul for ways to celebrate our 40 years as an organization. Thanks to our tireless 40th Anniversary Chair, Diane Berry, and to all our organizers, ACWC features 40th events and activities regularly. 8 Monthly playlists mentioned above, created and curated by Amanda Lowry, showcase members’ works each month. While we cannot travel, we can hear each other online.9 Virtual concerts include concert pianist Jennifer King performing music of Atlantic Province ACWC composers, live-streamed from Halifax, Nova Scotia on March 8th, 2021 and organized by Amy Brandon.10 Upcoming live-streamed concerts by a collective of Toronto-based ACWC composers and by SHHH!! piano- percussion duo are also planned.

Beginnings: an ACWC History Panel features ACWC founder Carolyn Lomax, plus Associate member/pianist Elaine Keillor and former ACWC member Elma Miller.11 Also, two engaging interviews with ACWC members, BC-based Sylvia Rickhard, and Ontario-based Brenda Muller, are conducted by ACWC composer Patricia Morehead.12 As well, we are invited to participate in a 2021 international panel on Canadian women’s music at the Women in Music Fest in Moscow, Russia, as a spinoff of the Moscow Fem Fest.13

As ACWC seeks to become more inclusive and connect more strongly with Canadian indigenous roots, we realize that certain ACWC composers are already there, creating paths and patterns for us. Evocative compositions by Christine

7 Canadian Association for Sound Ecology (CASE) http://www.soundecology.ca accessed May 18, 2021. 8 ACWC 40th: https://acwc.ca/2020/06/03/acwc-40th-anniversary/ accessed May 18, 2021. 9 ACWC playlists: https://acwc.ca/acwc-anniversary-playlists/ accessed May 18, 2021. 10 Atlantic ACWC concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHQGNLOpV-w accessed May 10, 2021. 11 Beginnings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A-elhcR4bU&t=27s accessed May 11, 2021 12 Sylvia Rickard interview: https://acwc.ca/2021/01/26/stories-from-acwc-members-interview-of- sylvia-rickard-by-patricia-morehead/ and Brenda Muller interview: https://acwc.ca/2021/04/25/stories-from-acwc-members-interview-with-brenda-muller-by-pat- morehead/ accessed May 16, 2021 13 Moscow Fem Fest, from 2017–2020: https://moscowfemfest.ru/english#rec228193761 accessed May 18, 2021. 6 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

Donkin and Evelyn Stroobach on Aboriginal Inspirations14 attempt to connect us with our indigenous neighbours. In Victoria, BC, Tina Pearson creates a multidisciplinary work, Witness: a button blanket dance, a river and a courthouse, which she describes as a “truth telling event for First Nations youth and elders.”15 And ACWC composer Karen Sunabacka’s Mama's Painting includes “Rise of the Métis Nation” in tribute to her Métis grandmother.16 As well, Sunabacka works to integrate her own indigenous and European roots, a task which points the way for expanding and integrating diverse communities within ACWC. As she embraces Métis dance music of her Winnipeg youth, she comes to understand that “this unique music was not just a ‘leisure activity,’ but an opportunity to create social cohesion in this area where winters were harsh, challenges were many, and interdependence necessary for survival.”17 Is there a better definition of “necessary music?” And could this integration become a metaphor for all of us at ACWC as we expand the tent, invite a wider community into our association, and create our next 40 years together? After all, our combined voices are necessary, not only for us, but for the wider world around us!

Carol Ann Weaver is the Chair of ACWC/ACC. Carol Ann is a celebrated Canadian composer whose music has been heard throughout North America and in parts of Europe, Africa, Korea, and Paraguay.

14 The CD Aboriginal Inspirations, 2017 features Ottawa-based performers of indigenous and Western instruments who play music by eight Canadian composers evoking themes and spirits of Aboriginal Canadians. Available at CMC: https://cmccanada.org/shop/cd-ai6209/ 15 as described at Tina Pearson’s projects page here: https://tina-pearson.com/projects-2/ accessed May 10, 2021. 16 Karen Sunabacka’s work, “Mama's Painting, Mvt III - Rise of the Métis Nation” (2015) for Piano Quintet is presented here: http://www.sunabacka.com/music accessed May 10, 2021. 17 personal email, Karen Sunabacka, May 11, 2021, used by permission. 7 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

From the Editor A Heritage to Treasure

Fiona Evison

Welcome to the first of our anniversary special edition journals for 2021! It has been exciting to prepare for what I hope will become an important memento of our myriad of creative celebrations during this 40th year. Our members continue to find multiple ways to create music and moments despite the restrictions and disappointments of a seemingly never-ending pandemic—a situation not unexpected from those whose lives are grounded in creativity.

As I have worked on the Journal over the past few months, I have reflected on about mementos, memories, and my own treasured musical heritage. I grew up in a musical family who encouraged my community involvement with music. Those early experiences set me on the path which I continue to follow. A few remembrances from those days still exist—a couple of grainy photos of me in music competitions, and some warbly cassettes of songs still remembered. Recently, I found my first written composition, hand scored in green pencil crayon! It symbolizes my tentative first attempts to realize musical thoughts and emotion. I also found my beautiful notebook of hand-written poems—evidence of realizing that poetry was more than an academic exercise, but could be personal, powerful, and rich with meaning—valuable lessons for a future lyricist.

In my own way, I am preserving a record of my musical life. So, I was intrigued to read Elma Miller’s article on page 17, a modified reprint of her experiences with the ACWC archives. Before digitization was common, hard copies of scores, tapes, videos, LPs, programmes, posters, and other items needed to be stored properly if they were to be kept for posterity. Elma’s article reminds us of the need to care for this evidence of our own histories, which in turn, become a collective part of ACWC/ACC’s history. Thus, I am curious. How do you archive your work? Do you have a system, or is it a pile somewhere in your residence or on your computer? My organization attempts often spiral into chaos, but I do have a portfolio binder that documents my musical life. Perhaps we could encourage one other by sharing how we manage our archives. If you send me an email about your efforts, I will compile and share them in the next issue. In the meanwhile, enjoy this issue and celebrate the heritage that is ACWC/ACC!

Fiona Evison, a first-generation Canadian community composer-performer-researcher with a Scottish heritage, lives in Ontario, and is ACWC/ACC's Journal editor.

8 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

ACWC/ACC News 40th Anniversary of ACWC/ACC

Diane Berry, 40th Anniversary Committee Chair

Here we are, half-way through our year of celebration. Since January 1st, there have been a number of interesting and exciting online events, as well as fascinating features on our anniversary webpage. All this despite our inability to hold gatherings and live concerts, due to COVID-19. The pandemic has created a challenge for us all, including the anniversary committee, and I feel that, so far, we are meeting that challenge.

One of the most successful and popular of our celebration activities has been the monthly playlist. Amanda Lowry has been busy for the past eight months or so, receiving submissions and compiling a playlist for every month. On the 15th of each month, she posts the music on our SoundCloud account, puts notices on social media, and sends the links to Mary-Catherine Pazzano to post on the webpage. Each month has featured a specific musical configuration. January was music for small ensembles, February for solo vocal with accompaniment and unaccompanied dramatic works, March was solo instrumental with accompaniment and instrumental duo, April was unaccompanied instrumental, May was electroacoustic, electronic, acousmatic, and soundscape, and June will be music for a large vocal ensemble. The curated lists will continue throughout the year, with December’s being the final one, and all will remain available through 2022.

We have also held two panel discussions in the first half of our anniversary year. The first panel featured Carolyn Lomax, Elaine Keillor, and Elma Miller, all women who were active in the ACWC/ACC right from the beginning. Carolyn Lomax, along with Ann Southam and Mary Gardiner, were the women who created the organization around Mary Gardiner’s kitchen table. Emily Hiemstra, our moderator, asked them questions about the beginnings of the ACWC/ACC, the reasons they felt the need for Canadian women to have their own organization, as well as the challenges they faced, both as women composers and in starting an organization created for women composers. It was a lively, and fascinating discussion. Before the panel, Carolyn had looked through boxes and filing cabinets to find posters and programs from some of the first concerts that consisted of music solely by Canadian women. The panel had around fifteen people registered through Eventbrite, with others attending through Facebook. It was also recorded and posted on the anniversary page, allowing many others to listen at a later date. 9 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

Figure 1 (clockwise from top left) Amanda Lowry, Elma Miller, Diane Berry, Carolyn Lomax, Emily Hiemstra, Elaine Keillor

On May 15th, we held our second panel discussion, this time featuring electronic/soundscape/sound artists and ACWC/ACC members Hildegard Westerkamp, Tina Pearson, and Carol Ann Weaver. Emily graciously agreed to act as moderator again, with Amanda Lowry looking after the technical side, and Diane Berry monitoring the zoom chat. It was well attended with around 25 people registered, some having been sent the link directly and still others watching on Facebook. The three women spoke of how they view their work, how they were drawn into working with recordings and technology, how they approach what they do, and all spoke passionately about listening to the world around us, as well as protecting the natural world and its sounds.

The first concert of our anniversary year was held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on March 8th, International Women’s Day. Amy Brandon organized a concert of solo piano music, with the wonderful name of “Hell in a Hand Basket to Heaven on Earth: Music by Atlantic / Canadian Women Composers.” The composers who were featured were Emily Doolittle, Monica Pearce, Amy Brandon, Holly Winter, and Alice Pee Ying Ho. Pianist Julie King did a wonderful job of performing the diverse and interesting music of the Maritimes. The venue was The Music Room, which had some technical difficulties with the live-stream, and it had to be ended not long after it started. Luckily it was also being recorded and so could be posted on the website and on Facebook. Those who missed the concert, or who had been listening in before the live-streaming was cut, would still have a chance to hear this wonderful performance.

Through the beginning part of this year, we have been faced with postponements and cancellations, and wondered if we would ever be able to celebrate our music together. A concert planned for Toronto that was to be online was postponed a few

10 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021 times, as was a podcast by the piano/percussion duo SHHH!Ensemble. The podcast was part of a series entitle NightCaps and was to feature interviews and a work each by Monica Pearce and Patricia Morehead. There are hopes both events will go ahead in the coming months.

The anniversary page on the website has been useful in keeping members up to date on those changes, and giving access to events that are online, along with other interesting information. One section on the page is “ACWC/ACC Memories” which consists of interviews Patricia Morehead had with long term members Syliva Rickard and Brenda Muller. Over the year there will be more to come.

Another section found on the anniversary page is “Did You Know?” It contains information on Canadian women composers who came before the formation of the ACWC/ACC, dating back to the 18th century, with most from the early days of the 2oth century. These are women that many of us have never heard of and some of which have almost been forgotten. February, which is Black History Month, told the story of Hattie Rhue Hatchett, a Black woman composer from Southwestern Ontario whose parents had been slaves in the United States, and who wrote a hymn that was used by the Canadian Army to march to during the First World War. March told about the Urseline and Augustinian nuns of early Quebec who wrote music for themselves to sing as part of their worship, as well as music for the young women they taught. April featured Elinor Dunsmuir, daughter of a Victoria coal baron, who studied in Europe, wrote songs, a ballet, and chamber works—all lost until just a few years ago. Each month will feature more inspiring Canadian women composers from our past.

As the year progresses, we hold out hope that we will have the chance to share our music in person, that those postponed events will be able to be held, and that life will start to feel closer to normal. In the meantime, we are finding so many creative and unusual ways to celebrate this organization’s 40 years, and look towards the next 40 years.

Diane Berry is ACWC/ACC’s Secretary, and a composer based in Victoria, BC where she continues to teach, perform, and compose.

11 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

Anniversary ACWC/ACC 20th Anniversary: Then, Now, and Beyond…A Festival of Music by Women

Janet Danielson

Conception and Planning The ACWC/ACC celebrated its twentieth anniversary on January 2002 with a national festival in Ottawa. The festival’s aim was to raise the profile of women composers in Canada, which at the time was shockingly low. Potential funders were challenged to consider the following statistics:

How many women composers are featured in the current New Music Con- certs Series? 15%

How many women composers are Associates of the Canadian Music Centre? 15%

How many women composers are members of the Canadian League of Com- posers? 16%

How many commission applications for new works by women did the Canada Council for the Arts receive last spring? 7%

How many works by women are cited in recent college textbooks on twenti- eth-century Music? 1%

Then, Now, Beyond: A Festival of Music By Women set out to break the 15% barrier in a significant way, as a benefit not only to composers in Canada who happen to be women, but to all Canadians interested in becoming properly acquainted with Canadian music. The festival was a collaboration between the Association of Canadian Women Composers, the Ottawa Chamber Music Society, the University of Ottawa, and Carleton University, and organized around a triple focus of Then, Now, Beyond. Then highlighted the achievements of women composers through Canada’s history. Now provided opportunities for hearing recent works by Canadian women composers in many genres—chamber, choral, keyboard, vocal, and electroacoustic. Beyond aimed to feature performances of newly commissioned works, and readings of music written by student composers

12 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021 exploring new genres, new aesthetic ideas, and especially new ways to enhance the participation of women in shaping Canada's musical culture.

In addition to celebrating the achievements of Canadian women composers, the Festival’s national scope would provide a unique setting for the exploration of music from many regions of Canada, bringing together women from across the country to exchange ideas and to learn about the musical leadership Canadian women had displayed throughout Canada’s history. The Festival promised to leave a lasting treasury of new musical works and to stimulate the creative activity of Canadians for many years to come.

Festival programming covered the gamut of ensembles and genres: whether for chamber ensemble, organ, jazz or electroacoustic music, the range and strength of the Festival repertoire was to be an unequivocal demonstration of the breadth of women’s musical creativity.

Festival Events The festival concerts took place in excellent venues; for our electroacoustic show, we secured a fine sound diffusion system and brilliant technician. The Ottawa Chamber Music Society assisted with a promotion campaign that attracted more than 1000 concertgoers—a robust audience for a new music event in the dead of winter. Posters, brochures, and programs featured a vibrant original painting by an Ottawa woman artist.

The opening concert featured a première by Linda Smith, Ribbon, commissioned by the ACWC/ACC for the Duke Trio. Its spare and sensuous drama set a high benchmark for the other new works commissioned for the Festival: Albertan Vivian Fung’s geometrically-conceived Toccata for solo piano, brilliantly performed by Elaine Keillor; Nicole Carignan’s Time, Space and Context: The Last 23 Days for solo percussion, with memorable playing by David Kent whose deft handling of a bouncing ball made it seem like just another instrument; Jana Skarecky’s haunting Song of Life and Elma Miller’s arresting Oracle, sung by Ottawa’s Seventeen Voyces; Hildegard Westerkamp’s tour de force, Attending to Sacred Matters, an environmentally-attuned aural feast integrating sounds from Westerkamp’s time in India; and Anita Sleeman’s Cantigas for String Quartet. Cantigas was premièred by Le Quatuor Arthur-Leblanc in the presence of Adrienne Clarkson, Governor-General of Canada; it defined verve and led to many more performances and commissions for Sleeman. 13 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

The seven new works were integrated into a varied programme which included everything from a procession by Hildegard of Bingen to Hockey Night in Canada by Vancouver’s own Dolores Claman to Elisabeth Raum’s outrageous T. S. (from Men I Have Known) sung by Julie Nesrallah.

In addition to the Ottawa Chamber Music Concerts, Studea Musica and the Canadian Music Showcase under Gilles Comeau presented Between Friends: A Grand Salon which featured works by Canadian women for young performers. To the delight of a large audience including Mme. Aline Crétien, the youngsters performed with great style and musicality. The crisp formality of this event was balanced by an intense presentation of Awakenings by Rebecca Campbell (vocals) and Carol Weaver (piano), a rich blend of Figure 1 Canada's Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson and Ann Southam poetry, harmony, sound, and song.

A number of women were recognized for their achievements: Ann Southam received the Friends of Canadian Music Award, presented jointly by John Burge of the Canadian League of Composers and by Elizabeth Bihl of the Canadian Music Centre, and the ACWC honoured Southam again together with Mary Gardiner, Rhené Jaque, and Anita Sleeman as Honorary Life Members of the ACWC. Southam, Gardiner, Jaque, and Elaine Keillor were also presented with gifts from Studea Musica and The Contemporary Figure 2 Anne Southam and Aline Crétien Showcase in recognition of their work for young performers.

In addition to the concerts, lively symposia were hosted by Dr. Lori Burns, Chair of the University of Ottawa and by Dr. Deirdre Piper of Carleton University. Lectures on pioneering women composers by Dr. Elaine Keillor and Janet Danielson drew attention to the difficulties faced by women in pursuing careers as composers and in getting appropriate critical response to their music.

Festival Support and Impact Earned revenues and in-kind contributions amounted to nearly a third of festival budget of $150,000; the remainder was generously covered by individual donors (most notably Ann Southam), the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Canadian 14 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

Women Composers’ Foundation, the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Julie Jiggs Foundation, the Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council of the Arts, and the SOCAN Foundation. The Festival drew recognition to 44 Canadian women composers through performances of their music.

The festival got an extensive review by Richard Todd in the Ottawa Citizen, January 28, 2002. In a manful attempt to avoid sounding patriarchal, he concluded,

Now that the Festival over, we can ask ourselves if there is some feminine thread common to music by women. To my ears, at least, the answer is no. But neither is there any common thread of mediocrity. Much of the music heard in these seven concerts was of the highest quality, and the rest as least as good as the average male composer produces.

There were a number of remarks from audience members, mostly positive, about the high proportion of contemporary and near-contemporary works presented. They represented about half, but in a musical culture healthier than ours that would be the norm.

Participant feedback included the following:

The symposiums on theory and medium were both extraordinary to hear. It was certainly a rigorous conference. The evening perfor- mances were of a high order and I was pleased to hear all of the music. I know I learned much about Canadian women composers and much about contemporary music generally through the three days… each event I went to included warm welcomes and excellence in the pro- grams. (Feedback 1)

First let me say what a terrific experience the conference was. I was struck by the authenticity of every woman present—no ego, no preten- sions - just ordinary women doing extraordinary things. I was very

honoured and pleased to be a part of it. (Feedback 2)

I was able to appreciate the music and the 'bubbling' energy. (Feedback 3)

Personal Reflections, Twenty Years On The 2002 Festival came at a sweet spot in Canada’s musical history. We were able to exploit both the afterglow of Millenium celebrations and the brief surge of public interest in women composers piqued by the deaths within weeks of each 15 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

other of Jean Coulthard, Barbara Pentland, and Violet Archer in the year 2000. The festival also faced some looming shadows. By 2004, the CBC published its infamous “Arts and Culture Research Study,” a thinly-disguised wrecking ball aimed at programmes and structures like the CBC Radio Orchestra and Two New Hours which had shaped and generously nurtured the careers of generations of Canadian composers. Orchestral, choral, chamber, and electroacoustic music were lumped into the monolithic so-called “genre” of “Western Classical”; while country, blues, roots, singer-songwriter, folk, pop, and other similar genres were touted as a better reflection of Canadian musical diversity. In Rebecca Draisey-Collishaw’s apt formulation, CBC management embraced an “iteration of Canadianness based on the output of a group of white guitar-playing men who established themselves as central figures of the Canadian music industry during the 1960s and 1970s.”18

Our women composers refused to be discouraged by all these changes, and the 2002 ACWC Festival made good its promise: women composers in Canada have decisively broken through that 15% barrier. For example, prior to 2002, the Jules Léger prize was awarded to male composers exclusively with the sole exception of Alexina Louie’s award in 1999. But since 2002, there have been seven women recipients. Recent JUNO awards have gone to Vivian Fung, Jocelyn Morlock, and Ana Sokolović, with women well represented amongst the JUNO nominees. Though the two decades since the festival have brought some challenging ideological shifts, economic pressures, and a disconcerting pandemic, women’s musical creativity in Canada has flourished.

Janet Danielson teaches composition at Simon Fraser University and is a former ACWC Chair.

18 Rebecca Draisey-Collishaw (2018) ‘Traveling-in-dwelling, dwelling-in-traveling’: producing multicultural Canada through narrations of mobility on CBC Radio’s Fuse, Ethnomusicology Forum, 27:3, 323- 343, DOI: 10.1080/17411912.2018.1532305

16 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

Anniversary Spotlight on Our Archives

Elma Miller

Editor’s Note: The following article originally appeared in Off the Record, the newsletter of the Archives Association of Ontario, 24(4), Fall 2007 as “Spotlight on Your Archives: Association of Canadian Women Composers/L’association des femmes compositeurs Canadiennes.” It has been adapted for this 40th Anniversary Journal edition.

It started one cloudy afternoon when the phone rang: “You have a COD package at the Greyhound bus delivery terminal for pick-up.” I was expecting an archival do- nation from one of our members. My Board had approved the charges and I was ready for the package.

“Oh, you’ll want to bring cash,” she said, “We don’t accept cheques or charge.” My side trip was first to the bank and then to the terminal.

I pulled up to the huge garage doors not knowing what to expect. Inside I paid the delivery, got a receipt, and then she jerked a thumb over her shoulder: “They’re over there, did you bring a trolley?” I scanned over the dim warehouse until I found what looked like a small mountain from the distance: a haphazard pile of over a dozen boxes of various shapes and sizes, fastened with swaths of duct tape already peeling away. Despite this, the damage was surprisingly minimal and only one or two boxes fell apart when the tape gave way.

Archiving seemed easy enough to manage – until I had to haul 17 heavy boxes of books and records in and out of the car, down the stairs into the basement. Finally, I had a chance to take a breather and look at what I received. The panic set in a little later, first gradually, then precipi- tously. What had I gotten myself into? What do I do now? Whom do I call? No one had prepared me for this.

At this point, had I been more knowl- edgeable, and known what an archive

One pile of taped boxes received in April 2005. actually was instead of allowing my im- Photo by E. Miller. agination to be fed by fictional books of looking for treasure or ancient secrets, I 17 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021 would have marshalled my organizational skills and gone through proper proce- dures.

I imagined dusty, begowned academics in a windswept library at an urbane Oxford college pouring assiduously through boxes of undiscovered mediaeval treasures as if fingering Captain Cook’s priceless trove. Imagination run riot! Had I known a lit- tle more about archiving I would surely have donned my gloves in the clear light of day, carefully opened all these assuredly valuable boxes, prepared a list of con- tents, assessed the damage, set aside the more delicate materials, composed a let- ter of thanks to the donor, and affixed to it a proper deed of gift form for a signa- ture and witness. Cataloguing would come later.

Reality is not so simple.

But I have gotten frightfully ahead of myself without an introduction. I am a free- lance composer with diverse musical interests. In 2004, I became the ACWC Chair/President. The Association, founded in 1980, had accumulated the typical sort of records: bank statements, treasurer receipts, reports, cassettes, minutes of meetings, correspondence, grant applications, musical scores, blurbs, photos, bro- chures, books, newspaper articles, reviews, and other ephemera. This all piled up and multiplied as the years went on and was tediously shlepped over the years from one Chair to each successive Chair. This was a moderately effective system until one Chair lived in an apartment with no space. The boxes were then delivered to the Canadian Music Centre (CMC) in Toronto.

At about the same time in 1992 I had just completed a move to Burlington into a house; more importantly, it was a house with a basement. Rumour spread quickly. It did not take long for one of the ACWC/ACC founding members to give me a call and ask for a favour. Could I please look after all this material? Impossible to say “No.”

I drove into Toronto and collected both boxes, and thus I was dubbed the Associa- tion’s “Archivist.” What that meant still wasn’t clear, but I liked the aura of its mys- tery; moreover, it sounded better than a custodian or even a librarian, though I harbour no disrespect to those worthy jobs. I’ve worked in a library, but I liked the ring of being an archivist.

The thrill eventually lost its bloom since the question remained of what to do other than to store the boxes. Time passed. As I continued to receive the odd package from various treasurers, Chairs/Presidents, and composers, they were added to the pile. It wasn’t until almost ten years later when as Chair myself that the Archive

18 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

suddenly increased by the aforementioned 17 boxes! A bit of worry set my thoughts into motion.

The web is a wonderful resource when used effectively. I googled “archive” and “Ontario” to arrive at the Archives Association of Ontario (AAO) website. I needed help, information, and advice; the AAO clearly in their mandate said it all.

I prepared a letter to my board, talked to the treasurer, and it seemed obvious that in order for me to sort and catalogue what we had received over the years, I had to become an archivist specializing in music; after all, I did not want it just sitting here gathering dust or mold. With the ACWC’s imprimatur, I enrolled in Archives 101, prepared for the trip to Ottawa, and as the famous saying goes, the journey of a thousand steps starts with a good introduction and a map.

The intense week of being steeped in archival matters gave me a certain confidence and renewed energy to look at my accumulation of material in a more positive light. Upon completion of Arch 101, the course materials started to sink in and sev- eral strategies presented themselves as to what should be done first with the boxes of musical materials entrusted to me. The key issue was to preserve and prevent further deterioration. It was also crucial to be prepared for emergencies or disas- ters.

I invited Carolynn Bart- Riedstra, the AAO’s Preservation Consultant to be the keynote speaker at the ACWC/ACC an- nual general meeting at the CMC. She received a tour by the Executive Di- rector, Elisabeth Bihl. My collection was put into stark perspective when viewing the CMC’s base- ment library filled to the ceil- ing with moveable stacks (L to R) Carolynn Bart-Riedstra and Elma Miller at the CMC for the ACWC/ACC’s AGM. On the wall is ACWC member, Violet Archer. Photo by J. Skarecky. so tightly packed that we moved sideways in one corridor. Here was music from composers across Canada stuffed tightly into

19 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

shelves. A recent delivery was on the floor, crammed with paper and transparen- cies (real originals). I happened to know that a composer had just passed away and these had been brought to the CMC by his family.

Carolynn’s observations and comments were equally helpful and relevant to both large and small holdings: being in a basement, humidity, acid, further deteri- oration prevention and protection were common problems. Later in the keynote address, she addressed issues specific to composers— that of paper storage, placement of flimsy materials, and what to do with cassettes and other forms of recorded music. We had many questions and it turned into a lively discussion. Dilapidated cassette boxes before and after replacement by sturdy archival boxes. Photo by E. Miller

The most significant gesture during Carolynn’s visit—and relevant to the psychol- ogy of my newly acquired status—was the moment of receiving my very first pair of white archival gloves.

After having examined more thoroughly each box, I formed a more realistic and objective decision of what protective materials were needed and what could wait. The interviews and recorded music of almost 75 Canadian women composers from the 1970s - 1980s were the heart of this donation, some of whom had passed away. If any were not Associate Members of the CMC, then those women would only be represented here and maybe not anywhere else. I had to search for transcripts and older published music, and replace boxes which were falling apart. I made up a wish list and then an optimistic budget for our treasurer. We still had a small amount of funds from a Canada Council Targeted Initiatives grant set aside for the archive.

Other material donated consisted of textbooks, LPs, reel to reels, sheet music in various sizes, and xeroxed copies of music. The rusting metal clips had to be re- moved and I had to decide on an average size of box to hold this music. Order was not a consideration for the donor; it appeared that some of the music had been simply thrown randomly into patched up boxes with no logic, label, or explanation. With this hodge podge of stuff, I still had to make some semblance of order with- out losing context. That task would need time and it was better to tackle the job in

20 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

small amounts. I was sometimes diverted every now and then to read slips of com- ments made by librarians or archivists clipped to the music.

I was familiar with some of the compos- ers published in Can- ada or abroad in the early 1900s, but some were names I had never seen. After a few months, it was still not obvious whether I was deal- ing with a pack-rat mentality or with course material for a study of the music of women composers. (Left) "Canada Ever!" by Laura Lemon, 1907. (Right) "Athletic Polka" by E. Edith Whyddon, Perhaps it was for a 1897. Photo by E. Miller. radio programme? There was still much I had to look into in order to make a list of questions for the donor.

While in Ottawa, I visited the music archivist at Library and Archives Canada (LAC). My story of receiving a mound of boxes came as no surprise to her as she related how the archives has a truck for shipment purposes. She certainly had my sympathy as she had seen in much larger quantity the same sort of stuff. Catalogu- ing was behind schedule but that was endemic to many archives with boxes piling up. Her office was crammed with music everywhere.

Back in my basement I realized that all I needed was spare time to consistently work through everything. Though I am grateful for the support, information, and financial assistance I have received, it still doesn’t constitute a salary or income. Time is at times hard to find.

It dawned on me, too, that there has to be a greater awareness amongst composers themselves about their own legacy which, without any ameliorating assistance to preservation, could just shrivel into dust. It was distressing to hear of a grieving spouse or relative hauling the sad remnants of their possibly famous partner in life to the curb assuming that it was useless to anyone else. I’m still looking for the mu- sic by a member of ours who passed away two years ago in her nineties. She had

21 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021 composed many works over 70 years but the prospects do not look good because she had not deposited her music in all of the usual places nor at the CMC.

Another well known Canadian composer, recently deceased, had established early a relationship with the LAC when he retired from teaching. Thus, a good amount of his older music had gone to the archives in Ottawa, with some to the CMC. Before he passed away, an archivist had already seen through his remaining sorted mate- rials before the CMC came to collect what was to be left for them. A major figure in composition, he was aware of the importance of his contribution and role in the fabric of Canadian music; naturally, it went to where researchers and other mem- bers of the public have access to it.

There is no real archive as such for Canadian composers. Many make the assump- tion that once they pass away, it is up to others to figure out their legacy, not realiz- ing that they may be jeopardizing their own history.

The ACWC/ACC archive is an exception.

The leaves were now falling in late 2006, and I received my issue of the Dance Col- lection Danse newsletter (www.dcd.ca). It reminded me that Lawrence and Miriam Adams of DCD were collecting equally diverse and similar ‘stuff,’ but with a focus on dance. If there is any music to be found at the DCD, it is in recorded format, or if there is a dance connection, say with choreographic notes in the margin as Igor Stravinsky made for the Rite of Spring, then this sort of musical score would be in- cluded. Lawrence Adams’ booklet, Building Your Legacy, covers the initial difficult attitude towards being organized and other challenges, the dos and don’ts, as well as the beginnings of self-archiving for dancers. He presents instructions for what and how to keep things, and how materials should be handled. This indispensable little volume is imbued with his sense of humour and makes approachable the im- portant task of archiving from the ground up. (Ed. Note: the booklet may be avail- able at a library. Archiving workshops are now livestreamed by the DCD. See: https://dcd.ca/archives.html).

You may have thought that composers and dance artists would have completely different priorities: one is visual and the other deals with sound. Both, however, use notation or a set of instructions and need a performance by those interpreting these abstract, representative symbols in order to come to life.

If one were to exclude the costumes, choreographic notes, and make-up for dance, the description of the stuff which both dance artists and composers generate, listed on page 10 of his book, virtually reads the same for both art forms. I would venture

22 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

further and add that his list could be slightly retrofitted to suit any other artistic pursuit such as writers, visual artists, and thespians without any loss of meaning or relevance. This isn’t to say that an archivist’s role is lessened. No. The onus is ra- ther given to the artist to evaluate their legacy for themselves, preserve their work as a part of the continuum of Canadian Art. And this is a large step away from the still pervading mentality of simply hoping that at the end of one’s artistic life that a large compendium of boxes of one’s music – or other artistic endeavours — can simply be piled up and shipped to the LAC with the idea that ‘the archivists will deal with it there.’

Below is an example of a passionate music archivist from the University of Mon- treal writing a note to the researcher. Possibly the person did not read French and so the note accompanying “Marche Funèbre” by Adèle Bourgeois Lacerte indicates, “We found 83 pieces written between 1915 and 1933. In her correspondence with her editor we learn that she had to fight with her editor so that her professional activity as a composer should be rewarded and recognized.” I am tempted to ask, has anything changed for women composers? In any case, I’m sure there’s a good story there.

Where can the legacy of Canadian music be found? Is it all at the LAC? Perhaps not. Is it at the CMC? Some of it is and, then again, much of it is not. It could be in any University library, such as the photo which shows an archivist/librarian giving assistance to a researcher. Once the Canadian Musical Heritage Society suffered funding cuts, its publi- cations became availa- ble from a basement in Ottawa to those who just happen to know it’s there. I’m assuming one can find a copy at the LAC. If you’re a per- former and you wish to perform the music of the past, it requires a dedicated effort to find what you’re looking for. Not everything written by even well-known Ca- nadian composers who have not so recently

Photo by E. Miller 23 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021 passed away can be assumed to be in a library or archive. Some, if you know where to look, resides elsewhere. The music could also be lost. There is still much work to be done.

What began as an adventure and sincere effort to preserve the history of Canadian women composers of the last 125 years or so has not changed course much. The sense of panic is gone, replaced by an attitude of pragmatic, possibly sardonic ob- jectivity where I no longer eagerly allow the mindless accumulation of musical ephemera to pile up simply because it’s by women composers.

The ACWC/ACC archive will continue to be protected, sorted, and maintained with the hope that it should be made available to the public and housed in a more ap- propriate place. I am trying to raise the consciousness of those in my organization towards preserving their own music and recorded materials, and considering add- ing more value to membership by offering discounts on archival items such as boxes or envelopes for photos and CDs. By writing articles, forming partnerships with like-minded individuals and organizations, and changing people’s perceptions towards their own output, I believe I may have started a trend. Hopefully, it will have a beneficial effect and impact on what gets kept and received by any archive.

If I could make but one suggestion to any archivist, consider helping your neigh- bourhood artist to get organized. In turn, artists should get to know their local ar- chives. Start a legacy immediately, preferably when the material is fresh (and in mint condition). Do not leave things to the last minute or when the job becomes too big to handle. A fertile creative imagination should not assume that there’ll be a truck labeled “archives” to haul away one’s deathless prose, art, music, and arti- facts to a reverent line of white gloved archivists patiently waiting to catalogue all the stuff. Buying a pair of white archival gloves is a good start.

Elma Miller is a composer, and past Chair/President Archivist for ACWC/ACC.

Where are the ACWC/ACC Archives now? In December 2011, Emilie LeBel re- ported that Elma was preparing to relocate the archives to the Paul D. Fleck Li- brary and Archives at The Banff Centre. This relocation makes the archives avail- able for public use, and stores the records with professional archivists. The Ar- chives actively acquire private organizations’ or individual records that reflect the life of the Centre and Canadian culture. Read more about the archives here. Due to COVID-19, the library/archives are closed to in-person and email inquiries, but some of the ACWC collection is available for searching here: Alberta on Record.

24 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

Anniversary Pioneering Compositrices of Canada

Elaine Keillor C.M.

For thousands of years women have been creating and performing musical compositions in this geographical space now known as Canada. Although Indigenous women continue this practice around us today, unfortunately we do not have oral historical accounts that concretely identify who and when these composers were active prior to the founding of ACWC. Consequently, the following brief overview has to begin with information gleaned from settlers’ records.

Mère Marie-Andrée Regnard Duplessis de Sainte-Hélène (1687-1750), an Ursuline nun, arrived at Quebec City in 1702. She commenced to write about activities from 1639 to 1716. In 1718, she herself wrote Musique spirituelle où l’on peut s’exercer sans voix, “the first treatise on the theory and practise of music to have been undertaken in North America” (Schwandt 1988, 51). After explaining basic musical theory, she speaks about the Superior who conducts all the music. “She sets the tempo. She calls for transpositions, provides accompaniments, furnishes the symphonies and beats time. Provided that one is careful to follow her directions and to respond to the slightest cue, the concert will be so harmonious that it will charm every observer” (ibid. 52-3). A large number of motets used by the Ursulines have been studied by Schwandt. He has identified many that do not exist in collections to be found in France. As a result, he has surmised that these anonymous compositions were likely composed by the Ursulines (Schwandt 1981).

Because it was commonly believed that women could not be composers in European countries, it is not surprising to find the same attitude transferred to Canada. The first published composition to be known to be written by a woman appeared in Quebec, 1841, as The Canada Union Waltz by a Canadian Lady. The composer was possibly Josephte Desbarats Sheppard who subsequently had several works published in New York (Lefebvre 1991, 30). No identification has been determined yet for Simple thoughts: A Ballad, music, by a Lady of Toronto; words, by F.

25 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

Wright, Esq. Spencerville that appeared in The Anglo-American Magazine, vol. III, no. 3, (Sept. 1853). Neither has any biographical information been found for Hattie Stephens. Her song, Ma Belle Canadienne, “dedicated to the Ladies of Canada” was published around 1870. Mrs. G. A. Gilbert used the words of her husband for her art song, Come to the Vale of the Beautiful Don: An Invocation, published ca. 1879, but again no further information about her has been located.

In 1886, the Ontario Music Teachers’ Association organized a composition competition. Works were to be submitted under noms de plume. There was one woman among the four successful composers (Keillor 2006, 385). Her name was Frances Hatton-Moore (?, England - ?, London, ON?). She was the daughter of the English musician, John Liptrot Hatton, and came to Canada in 1869 to be a voice instructor at the Hellmuth Ladies College in London. She married the well-known physician, Charles G. Moore. Some of her compositions were published in the Ladies Home Journal.

Gradually during the latter half of the 19th century women composers were able to put their own names on compositions, but some still used a pseudonym or just initials like Anne Catherine Roberta Geddes-Harvey [A.C.R.G.] (1879, Hamilton – 1930, Guelph). As well as art songs, she composed the oratorio, Salvator, and graduated with a B.Mus. degree from Trinity University, Toronto, in 1899.

Susie Frances Harrison (1859, Toronto – 1935, Toronto) frequently used pseudonyms such as Seranus, Gilbert King, among others, both for her compositions and her writings. Of late, her importance as a writer has become recognized by being added as a secondary figure to the pantheon of Confederation poets. It seems that her major compositions have not survived. While living in Ottawa, she wrote the text and music to welcome the new Governor-General in 1883. The libretto of Pipandor: A comic opera in three acts, with

Susie Frances Harrison text by F.A. Dixon was published in 1884, but not the music. However, we do have a number of her piano pieces and vocal works, as well as her String Quartet on Ancient Irish Airs. Probably dating from the early 1900s, when she was teaching at the Toronto Conservatory of Music, the quartet is the earliest known composition to be written by a Canadian woman for this combination. On 17 April 1902, a full concert of her original compositions took place at the Toronto Conservatory’s Music Hall. Included on the program, a first for a Canadian woman composer, were piano pieces, songs for which some had violin obligato, arrangements of French-Canadian songs, selections from Pipandor, hymns, and sacred vocal quartets. She frequently wrote

26 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021 essays on musical topics and in Hopkin’s Canada: An Encyclopedia of the Country (1898) wrote: “Canada’s chief musical history is concerned with choir and choral societies, teaching institutions; and vocal and piano recitals. The development of the Orchestra and the study of symphonic music have necessarily been somewhat slow, while in the highest branch of the art, namely original composition, little has been accomplished” (Harrison 1898: 389-90).

Was Harrison acquainted with Eva Rose Fitch York (1858, Norwich, ON – 1936, Toronto)? After her husband died, York continued her musical education by attending the New England Conservatory of Music. Upon returning to Canada she went to Belleville where she founded the Philharmonic Society. That organization performed her oratorio, David and Jonathan, on 11 January and 30 May, 1887. At the second concert the orchestra also played Meditation in G by York. Once again manuscripts of these works have not been discovered. Later in the century, York became editor of the Musical Journal and then turned her energies to founding Redemption House, a home for unwed mothers of which she was superintendent from 1901-13. She then became an itinerant preacher and was so influential in that role that a school for women in Andra Pradesh, India, founded in 1922 is still active today as the Eva Rose York Bible Training and Technical School.

Another woman composer who often used pseudonyms, such as Austin Fleming and Ian Macdonald, was Laura Lemon (1866, Guelph, ON – 1924, Redhill, England). Her early musical education was in Winnipeg. In 1890 she went to England to study at the Royal Academy of Music and largely resided in that country to her death. She wrote many songs, among which is My Ain Folk: A ballad of home, possibly one of the best known by a Canadian composer. Emma Albani sang many of her songs including Slumber Song for Queen Victoria, and the Canadian Song Cycle (1911). Her Three Moravian Dances for violin and piano were dedicated to the great Canadian violinist, Kathleen Parlow.

Gena Branscombe (1881, Picton, ON – 1977, New York) honed such amazing musical abilities in her hometown that at the age of 15, a year after her graduation from high school, she went to Chicago. There she was accepted at the Chicago Musical College. Five years later she graduated with gold medals in piano and composition. By 1900, some of her songs had been published. After teaching at the Chicago College, she resigned in 1907 to become head of the piano department at Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington. In 1909, she went to Berlin for a year of intensive piano studies with Rudolph Ganz, and composition with Englebert Humperdinck. She obtained much praise while in Germany, both for her piano- playing and her compositions. Musical America featured her along with Mrs.

27 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

H.H.A. Beach and Mary Turner Salter, in an article entitled “Women Composers of America”.

Returning to North America and settling in New York after her marriage, she completed the oratorio, Pilgrims of Destiny (1920). This composition was much lauded in performance and won the best composition award in 1928, given by The National League of American Pen Women. In 1960 the Music Department of the Library of Congress requested the original orchestral score of this work.

She founded the women’s choir, the Branscombe Choral (1934-84), for which she was conductor, composer, promotor, and fund raiser. The choir performed some of her compositions at the first gathering of the United Nations. Not only did she conduct this choir, but became noted more widely as a conductor of massed choirs – as many as a 1000 voices - and also led orchestras in her orchestral compositions, including Quebec Suite, an excerpt from her unfinished opera, Bells of Circumstance. In her lifetime, 22 different music companies published 74 of her choral compositions, 150 art songs, 13 piano pieces, and 8 instrumental works. In her honour, The Gena Branscombe Project has been created to award three yearly scholarships to students pursuing a career in conducting, composition, or arts administration.

In Quebec, women who wished to pursue a musical career usually did so by joining an order. A notable exception was Albertine Morin- Labrecque (1886, Montreal – 1957, Montreal). The list of her compositions is amazing and includes in addition to pedagogical piano and vocal pieces, four ballets, two comic operas, a Chinese opera, two concertos for two pianos, several orchestral compositions, and works for band.

Figure 9 Albertine Morin- Labrecque Another amazing earlier Canadian woman composer was Amice Mary Calverley (1896, London, England – 1959, Toronto). Her family moved to Oakville when Amice was still a young child so her early musical training occurred in Canada. She was a student of Healey Willan at the Toronto Conservatory of Music. In 1922, she won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music. While there, she studied with Vaughn Williams. Gifted in drawing, she became associated with researchers working on ancient Egyptian buildings and artifacts. Her dream was to write an opera and that was realized in 1926 with the completion of Uilil. In 1927 she was hired by the Egypt Exploration Society, and subsequently lived much of her life in

28 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

Egypt. While in Austria in 1933, she wrote a String Quartet in F minor. It was subsequently performed in Vienna, London, and Canada. The Canadian performance was by the Hart House String Quartet on 13 April 1935. Among Egyptologists, she is renowned for her careful research exemplified in the four completed volumes on the temple at Abydos, but she also recorded traditional music in several countries and made many valuable films. Like Branscombe, she always considered herself a Canadian. When she returned, her home became famous in Toronto for its chamber music concerts. Recently her manuscripts were deposited at the Canadian Music Centre. These include many songs and two string quintets, one of which is dated 1932.

Phyllis Mary Gummer (1919, Kingston – 2005, Kingston), the daughter of a professor at Queen’s University, pursued musical studies at the Toronto Conservatory of Music. In 1940 she won the CPRS (Canadian Performing Rights Society founded in 1926) prize with her Piano Sonata. That same year her Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello was Amice Calverley performed in Toronto and earned a glowing review. She composed the film music for at least two National Film Board productions in 1945 and 1948. Among the works listed on the website created for her by Tobias Bröken are four string quartets.

Some four decades after Harrison bemoaned the general lack of interest in creating orchestral compositions in Canada, Violet Archer (1913, Montreal – 2000, Ottawa) broke the glass ceiling when Douglas Clarke chose her work, Scherzo Sinfonico, to perform with the Montreal Orchestra in 1940. Two years later, Sir Adrian Boult selected her Britannia: A Joyful Overture, for performance and a BBC broadcast. Archer and her two colleagues, Jean Coulthard (1908, Vancouver – 2000, Vancouver) and Barbara Pentland (1912, Winnipeg – 2000, Vancouver) were

29 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021 mentors and teachers for many of the present-day members of the Association for Canadian Women Composers.

References Bröken, Tobias. Phyllis Gummer. www.tobias.broeken.de/rare- manuscripts/g-l/gummer.phyllis. Last accessed 28/04/2021. Bradbeer, Janice. “Estate frozen in time: Oakville home of once-renowned Egyptologist being sold to finance arts centre.” Toronto Star, 20 June 2009: H1. Calverley, Amice. “Notes on the Caluşari Dancers of Roumania, Recorded by Cine-Camera … in Walachia,” Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 46 (July/August 1946): 85-88. Harrison, Susie Frances. “Historical sketch of Music in Canada.” In Canada: An Encyclopedia of the Country, ed. John Castell Hopkins. 4: 389-94, Toronto: Lincourt, 1898. Keillor, Elaine. Music in Canada: Capturing Landscape and Diversity. Montreal/Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2006. Lefebvre, Marie-Thérèse. La creation musicale des femmes au Québec. Montréal: Éditions du remue-ménage, 1991. Lesko, Barbara S. “Amice Mary Calverley, 1896-1959,” Breaking Ground: Women in Old World Archaeology. www.brown.edu/breakingground. Last accessed 28/04/2021 Schwandt, Erich. “The Motet in New France: Some 17th- and 18th-century Manuscripts in Quebec.” Fontes Artis Musicae 28, no. 3: 194-219. Schwandt, Erich. “Musique spirituelle (1718): Canada’s First Music Theory Manual.” In Musical Canada: Words and Music Honouring Helmut Kallmann, ed. John Beckwith and Frederick A. Hall, 50-9. Toronto University of Toronto Press, 1988.

Elaine Keillor is a musicologist and historian of Canadian music. She is a professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, ON and has been awarded the Order of Canada for con- tributions.

30 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

Anniversary Interview Brenda Muller: Canadian Challenges for Women Composers and the History of the Ardeleana Trio

Patricia Morehead

This interview between Pat Morehead and Brenda Mul- ler occurred on March 29, 2021

PM: Why did you choose the cello as your primary musical instrument?

BM: My grandfather was one of the first champion fiddlers of Grey County – although he considered himself a violinist, as in those days the term “fiddle” was derogatory, and in truth he was the concert master of the very first orchestra in the Saskatoon area. He had arrived there, incidentally, by covered wagon during the 30s when the prairies were nothing but dust and wind. My earli- est memories are sitting beside him in my deceased grandmother’s rocking chair at his last farm in Dundalk, Ontario, rocking and tapping my toes as his large, ar- thritic hands somehow caught the spirit of the tunes. I was not allowed to dance in the house as my grandparents were staunch Methodists, and my grandmother’s spirit was always present it seemed, but I would rock so hard that he would say “must be time to milk the cows,” and with this anytime-of-day signal, we would head up to the barn and play and dance for his 100 head of cattle. It did seem to help the cows let down their milk, and yes, I believe I can still milk a cow by hand.

In Ontario at the end of grade six, prior to attending Junior High, we were all given an ear test, and those with the “best” ears were put into strings. My father, who loved cello, mercilessly played me Jaqueline du Pres in a performance of the Elgar Cello concerto, until the opening theme was an ear worm for me! When fall rolled around, I walked into class with a plan to be assigned cello. Fortunately, I was too tall to play violin but not tall enough for bass – so I didn’t have to use my plan. Cello it was – I was so excited I could think of nothing else for weeks. Of course, I 31 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021 immediately learned thumb position so I could play fiddle tunes – or tried to any- way. I carried the cello on the long walk home from school EVERY night, in love with all its possibilities – happily reducing my already meagre practice time at the piano!

PM: Give a short history of the Ardeleana Trio. For how many years did the trio perform, an approximate number of public concerts, and where?

BM: The Ardeleana Trio was formed in 1985, and became incorporated as the Ar- deleana Chamber Music Society in 1987. Laurie Glencross, a consummate flutist, and I, a recovering writer and cellist (recovering from the uncreative confines of university performance training and formal essay writing), believed that chamber music was the best way to advance our cause as musicians. In our mid-twenties at the time, we made a pact with each other to promote new music and become the best musicians we could by practicing together daily for three hours.

Our process was extremely important to us – an hour a day of unisons and rhythm drill, then a stint of playing “easy music” but making sure it was perfectly in tune as a warm-up. Then, slow-motion tuning and complex rhythm practice, coupled with learning to hear the subtleties of chord tuning together so that melodies grew organically from within harmonies or counterpoint. Sound colour was an integral part of each piece. We practiced for hours in “neutral” or with what Janos Starker called “negative sound” until we could feel the sounds moving inside us in a way that informed our overall interpretation of the piece. It was a phenomenological approach, very much under the influence of Method Acting, but for a nervous per- former, which I was at that time, it worked.

Most importantly, Laurie taught me to laugh at my mistakes instead of irately beating myself up every time we fell out of tune or struggled with impossible rhythms by fiendish young composers. Although we no longer play together (after 17 years of intensive rehearsing and performing), I will always be grateful to her for the gift of laughter. Together we developed a way of working that incorporated a great ability to move forward and not get stuck on who was right and wrong in re- hearsal. Thank you, Laurie – that philosophy is still around in the Ardeleana Chamber Music Society to this day. It is indeed our saving grace.

Somewhere along the way, I realised I was a frustrated composer and poet more than a performer, and so began to try to find ways to combine poetry, new music, dance, and art to create conceptual art events or “happenings,” as the 60’s would have dubbed them. The process was indeed more important to me than the prod-

32 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021 uct. I loved the relationships we had with our network of composers, artists, musi- cians, and dancers, and never got tired of experimenting and developing new pos- sibilities with them.

Exploring the interfaces between mu- sic, art, poetry, and dance is still end- lessly fascinating to me – I am cur- rently working on a “Creative Com- munity Happens Here” project we ini- tiated with a group of sixth graders in Humphrey, Ontario – and we are moving between cave paintings and whale songs to discover archetypes to sustain us in the pandemic – all from material I have been working on since the in- ception of Ardeleana in 1987.

Laurie and I teamed up with different pianists over the years – often for five or six years at a time, and polished the repertoire for our instrumentation to the fullest extent possible. We commissioned and premiered 120 – 150 works of music by young Canadian composers over the course of the next 17 years. The Ardeleana Trio averaged close to 30 concerts a year – most of them with small audiences, but because of their various interdisciplinary initiatives and premiers, the programs were a vital part of the new music scene at that time. Many young women compos- ers wrote for us, knowing we would workshop or perform their music when no one else would take them seriously.

We improvised with poets and painters regularly – and that became an important part of our interdisciplinary language. The results of our inter-arts work was show- cased in our “A New Kind of Concert” series – held four times a year in Toronto on Fridays and Saturdays, and then in Sharon, Ontario on Sunday afternoons. Each performance featured at least one work of new music and one artist of a different discipline, to varying degrees of success.

Ardeleana also produced six recordings and CDs, including Spinners of Starlight, the first CD to feature only music by Canadian women. Bonnie Shewan Burroughs (Jeffries at the time), who joined us in the early 1990s, was our pianist at the time, and brought discipline, skill, and incredible musicality as our landmark pianist in the trio. Other CDs included Carol Ann Weaver: Daughter of Olapa, which I pro- duced for Carol Ann with Ann Lindsey, now an award-winning folk, jazz, and rock violinist, and Wolf at My Door – my own CD of original “cabaret” songs.

33 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

It was quite a network – Terril MaGuire from Toronto Dance Theater, Alexandra Caverly-Lowery, then a professor at York University in Dance, M. Travis Lane, still one of Canada’s leading poets from Fredericton (no zoom – she flew into see us oc- casionally), actor, chanteuse, and painter extraordinaire, Randi Helmers, and strong women composers like Ann Southam, Mary Gardiner, Carol Ann Weaver, Jana Skarecky, Jean Anderson Weunsch, Kye Marshall, Nancy Telfer, among oth- ers, were writing and working with us. Conversations and rehearsals were stimu- lating and lively, and flowed with big ideas. Mary and Ann were my main thinking buddies, with Mary often letting us rehearse at her house on her Bösendorfer pi- ano.

As time progressed, and I became increasingly experimental, we rehearsed more and more at a little hall in the Theatre District of Toronto known as Artword Thea- ter, and became their musician-in-residence. Working in the world of actors, I be- gan to through-write works with poetry and music, and create interdisciplinary theatre events. Gradually the two founders, Laurie and I, grew apart, with Laurie wanting to focus on just playing, and me wanting out of the performance/product- driven mentality. After 17 years, Laurie went back to get her doctorate in the United States where she became a flute professor, and I went broke on a long and winding production called the Artemis Café! I went back to teacher’s college at 45 and worked my way out of debt, teaching high school part-time for 14 years, finally retiring in 2014. Somehow, I have ended up running an orchestra and community arts hub in Parry Sound, and find myself busier than ever as I try to integrate new music into the local arts’ scene here.

PM: I know you performed in Alaska. How did this happen? An anecdote about the trio's participation would be interesting. (The event in Alaska organized by Suzanne Summerville brought together three American women composer-formed organizations in the US (International League of Women Composers, Women in Music, and American Women Composers) that met in Fairbanks, Alaska, and went on to become the International Alliance of Women in music.)

BM: Our trip to Alaska was the trip that really made us take our role as promoters of music by Canadian women seriously. We realised we had to when we could not find ANY grant money to support us from either the Ontario Arts Council or the Canada Council. Nobody considered an International Festival of Music by women in any way artistically significant.

Women’s music was seen as inconsequential by many at the time. An influential reviewer in the Star all but made fun of us for being women, and made patronizing

34 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021 comments about the feminine nature of the group. Funders looked at us askance for being middle-aged women, and ‘mouthy’ women at that.

We had been rejected by the Toronto Arts Council for another project the year be- fore, and had come to expect failure in grant applications. We appealed the TAC decision, regardless. The appeal committee was chaired by composer Harry Freed- man. “Why did this group not get money? Isn’t this exactly what we are supposed to be funding?” he asked.

A committee member, who happened to be the principle French Horn of the To- ronto Symphony Orchestra, replied that he had “wondered why we didn’t have any men in the group.”

I quipped that, “It was odd, but all the men just seemed to leave,” which for some reason they all found hilarious, and they granted us our first grant of $1000. It was an enormous amount at the time! They were the only funders behind us for years – and the trip to Alaska a few seasons later was way beyond the scope of their grants.

Finally, after exhausting all the possibilities, we turned to Ann Southam and Mary Gardiner and pleaded for assistance. They had set up a fund to help women musi- cians a year before that (it may have been intended for the AWC – not sure) which contributed $2000—enough to pay our air fare to Alaska. The Governor of Alaska at that time provided us with accommodation and food at the request of the organ- isers of the festival.

Within 20 minutes of our arrival in Alaska, we were to be on stage in front of an audience of over 1000 people, performing Spirit Essence by Mary Gardiner, and Jean Anderson’s Trio– both commissioned by us and recorded on our CD. There was a mad scramble to find our suitcases and concert attire as we got off the plane. I didn’t own a pair of decent shoes at the time, and didn’t have access to my old sandals easily, and so without much thought about it, I went onstage barefoot – simply not done in those days. I still remember hearing the Italian Console sneer- ing at my lack of shoes after the concert! Most countries had sent dignitaries to the event – but not Canada. The moment is still clear in mind – it only amplified for me the total lack of support from either our provincial or federal government, add- ing to the subtle embarrassment of having to ask the Governor of Alaska for finan- cial support we were unable to muster at home. It was very odd to be at such a prestigious event with no financial support from your own country. Most of the women composers came however – taking the coastal cruise to Alaska. Seeing them there was indeed incredibly wonderful.

35 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

During the festival, I was kept beyond busy. I learned and performed a piece on a daily basis. We did one noon hour recital of our own music, in which we played Southam, Telfer, Anderson, Skarecky and repeated Mary Gardiner’s piece. On the way to the concert I ran into Gerhard Weunsch, who smiled his rapacious smile, and said, “Don’t wear your shoes!”

“I’m not going to!” I said, and we shared a laugh. I didn’t, and didn’t for the rest of almost my entire career with the trio. I still don’t if I can avoid it!

PM: Why did the group decide to make its first recording?

BM: Ardeleana needed something to get our name out in the Toronto music scene – we needed to establish that we were more than just a flaky group of women wan- dering around doing poetry, music, and dance in concerts. We sold the old six foot grand piano in our warehouse studio in Newmarket to raise funds, and also pre- sold a few copies of the CD – maybe five or six copies.

The pieces on Spinners of Starlight were part of an interdisciplinary show we de- veloped for our concert series in Toronto: High Aprons – the Journey Songs of Ca- nadian Women Pregnant with Music. This carefully interwoven conceptual art piece included selections from a long poem entitled, “The Witch of the Inner Wood” by New Brunswick’s poet, M. Travis Lane, as well as poetry by several Ca- nadian poets, including myself. I had developed an improvisationally-composed setting for Travis’ work, in collaboration with Laurie Glencross, our flutist, and the woman actor working with the group, Randi Helmers. The set, or installation, for the performance was a collection of dead and diseased Sumac trees from a de- serted property near my small house in Sutton, Ontario. A simple lighting design of three footlights cast fantastic shadows when placed beneath the sumacs’ gnarled trunks and branches. We were able to rent three footlights from Christie Lights for $18 per performance, and they provided the most perfect touring lighting imagina- ble.

I would get to our venue, usually a church, about two hours in advance of a perfor- mance, with the sumacs piled carefully in a borrowed truck. After unloading them, I would screw the sumacs into the heavy stands I had prepared for them. I would set them up on pews or chairs, so that their fungus-covered, twisted branches would wind up the pipe organs, window frames, pillars, and pulpits like dancing stag-horns at a pagan ritual.

36 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

It was before the official release of the CD that we went to Alaska. We set up a mini-tour for ourselves on the way, and performed the entire poetry/music/instal- lation show at three or four venues. The shows were generally well received, but just the title of the poem with the word “witch” in it was nearly enough to get us evicted at intermission when we did a performance at a Mormon church in Van- couver! Witches and sumacs were not welcome.

A few years later in Ottawa, we were relocated from the National Arts Centre con- cert due to renovations at the Centre, to prestigious St. Andrews Anglican Cathe- dral, opposite the parliament buildings. At the doorway to the cathedral, a minister stood glaring at the trees. He greeted us with determined, folded arms, saying, “You can’t bring those trees in here! This is where the Queen comes when she vis- its!” I argued that the trees were no dirtier or more pagan than a Christmas tree, and got nowhere. I finally flung my hands over my head and cried out dramati- cally, “THESE are not trees! These are the bones of the earth! These are Ezekiel’s bones risen again from the dead! Let them in!” And, to my surprise, he did.

That performance was sponsored by Violet Archer, and she loved the trees. Need- less to say, the poor farm boy who drove our trees to Ottawa on his Dad’s flat bed truck nearly got a ticket for holding up traffic in front of parliament buildings, where he anxiously circled and repeatedly stalled, flashed his lights hopefully, and awaited delivery instructions.

Initially, there were all sorts of discussions as to what to call the CD. To begin with, CDs were a new technology at the time. This made everyone slightly worried – it was all a lot of change. People in our team were squeamish about the original title as some thought of pregnancy as “dirty.” The final discussion, with all com- posers except Nancy Telfer present, was held around the big wooden table at Mary Gardiner’s home. Exasperated after what seemed liked endless nit-picking over names, I looked at Ann and said, “We should call it Sex Sells” and Ann added, “and Crime Pays!” We had a fit of giggles, and then I suggested they leave it with me overnight, as officially I was the director. I finally decided to take the title from a poem I wrote for an old woman who lived near me, and with whom I had enjoyed many an early morning walk through spider-web, dew-laden grasses. We had used it in the High Aprons event just before playing Nancy Telfer’s piece – and Mary and Ann agreed on the name. Jana approved whole heartedly, as she was a poetry fan, as did Jean, and I didn’t dare consult anyone else.

It was only after we released the CD that I got a phone call from David Parsons, who at that time was working for the Canadian Music Centre in Toronto. “Do you

37 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

realise this is the first recording to feature only music by Canadian Women?” he said. I had no idea.

The release of the CD was at the Heliconian Club in Toronto. I did not expect anyone to be there, but I wanted to thank the com- posers somehow for their faith in us and their in- credible music. I had no money for bouquets for all the women involved, and so I bought a dozen roses from one of the street peo- ple selling flowers at the corner of Rosedale Valley Road and Bayview on my Figure 1 Heleconian Club Toronto Main Hall way to the club. I had one rose for each composer, and each person involved – with one extra for Mary Gardiner – who had done so much to make it all possible.

We set up at the club, still somewhat discouraged by the total lack of reviews and support for the CD, slow sales, and what seemed a long time between the tour and the launch. There was a silence amongst us as we waited, and then one by one, what seemed like every prestigious woman musician in Toronto, every woman who had helped move us forward, walked up the centre aisle on the old blue-tiled lino- leum floor, and sat down. The club was packed but still oddly hushed. It was a small hall, seating only about 120, so some had to listen in the vestibule and a few more were in the courtyard and on the street. I vividly remember how surprised we were at the palpable respect – we were just not used to it. We were fighters – al- ways struggling desperately to be heard as women and artists. This listening, this quiet, was entirely new for us. It was born of a generous solidarity – a respectful, caring solidarity I had never felt before in my life.

I still remember my eyes filling with tears when Pearl Palmerston, the first woman violinist to be co-concert master of the Toronto Symphony, walked in. Mary intro- duced the trio somewhat tersely – I think herself emotional, and when we started to play the room was still completely hushed. We played Mary’s piece, and Ann’s, and a few selections from everyone else’s. When we finished playing, everyone

38 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021 stood up and greeted us, not so much with thunderous applause, as with thunder- ous respect. We had finally done it – with the release of the CD, women’s musical voices were being heard in a way that represented genuinely the ethos of the women’s movement at that time. It was a moment when the world shifted a little – and made a little more space for women, for our way of working as artists, and for whom we all were together.

PM: Tell us of any interesting major roadblocks along the way.

BM: A complete lack of funding due to the fact we were unconventional, early thirty’s women (and not wearing a ton of make-up), and playing new music were the biggest obstacles. The times were just shifting from hierarchical power-domi- nated structures to the possibilities of collaborative, innovative business models based on more traditionally feminine values. It was decidedly NOT politically cor- rect at that time to do what we were doing. Everyone was intent on making music fit a business model based on a hierarchical male norm. Although I was director in name, we operated largely by consensus, and worked through artistic ideas in a very collaborative way. That meant nothing was cut and dried – and this was defi- nitely not acceptable to the arts’ councils. That being said, David Parsons and the CMC, and the ACWC were great friends to us. Carol Ann found us concerts at Con- rad Grebel College, Jana was unflagging in her support and in composing of pieces for us (and insisting after she heard some of my songs that I join the ACWC), and Laurie and I created events and played concerts all over Ontario. Mary and Ann were indispensable – our last performance as a trio was at Mary’s funeral, with Ann present. Ann Edwards was the pianist at that time.

The CD was recorded in three days. As I stated earlier, we had to sell our studio grand piano to raise funds. We played for our Thanksgiving dinner that weekend by playing at a hotel restaurant north of Toronto where an adventurous young chef agreed to turkey dinner as payment, after being in the studio for 8 hours. We used to think that if anyone else had to record under the circumstance we did, they just wouldn’t do it – but we loved it in the end. Living close to the edge has its merits. There is a freedom and synchronicity in all that happened, and it kept us alive ar- tistically.

PM: How can readers acquire the recording?

BM: I believe the CMC has a few recordings left. I have five, and some copies of the first printing that didn’t have the songs separated properly. The CD had to be re- printed by Sony. It is really time to re-release the CD and give it a second life, even if we do a small run. 2023 will mark 30 years since the release.

39 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

Anniversary Interview Sylvia Rickard: My Composing Life and Memories of Jean Coulthard

Patricia Morehead

This article is derived from an interview I conducted online with Sylvia Rickard. I gave her several questions to think about. Her responses were so delightful and heart-warming to read. For me the music that composers create is about a life led. I also had the pleasure of meeting Jean Coulthard in Vancouver many years ago at her home, and have always wanted to know what it was like to study composition with her.

I was born in Toronto, May 19, 1937, and stayed there until 1948, when my adoptive mother and I came to Vancouver. My adoptive parents separated, and this was very traumatic for me, because I saw my adoptive father, whom I adored, very infrequently.

I always loved sports: skiing, skating, bike riding, tennis, and later ping pong, which I still play, except for now because of COVID.

I began piano lessons at six years, eventually getting my Grade 10 Toronto Royal Conservatory level, but not with a great mark. At the University of British Columbia (UBC), I majored in Russian, French and minored in German. I also took a “catch-all” rudiments and theory course from Jean Coulthard. I continued the next year and started to write music phrases.

I have been so fortunate to live in many different places: in France for a year, then California, then Punjab and Delhi, India for 14 months, and Todtmoos, Black Forest, West Germany at the Graf von Dürckheim Jungian Institute for nine months. When I came home to Vancouver, I met an old UBC colleague who told me that Jean Coulthard had retired from UBC as Professor Emerita and was now teaching private lessons at her home. I decided to take composition lessons from her, and never looked back.

Sylvia Rickard, 2020 Jean Coulthard had her own teaching rituals. The first Photo: S. Rickard was tea and cookies or some baked goods for about 10

40 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

minutes of general chat to put both of us at ease, I believe. Then she would look at what we had written that week. She advised us to create works that had their own logic and structure. I would say that she championed the sonata form, especially for beginners. She was not much interested in free-form composition or organically grown composition. She did not really like it when we added elements of jazz or any other discipline of music into our own works. But as time rolled on, she herself explored settings of poetry, including India’s Tagore, Persian, Japanese Haiku poetry, and that of other cultures.

She was very anxious that students of other cultures would pay heed to their own cultural roots in their music. One of the first students to benefit from this was Chan Ka Nin, who then went by the name of Francis Chan.

Jean told all her students to enter the newly formed Okanagan Composers’ Festival. I did so, and shared First prize with Joan Hansen. Then, we all went to Shawnigan Lake Summer School, where we had composition with Jean and had access to great performers who played and sang our fledgling works! Banff Centre was then on offer since Jean had managed to convince the board of directors, with help from Tom Rolston, that composition should be included in the summer programme. Eight of us were the pilot group of composer-

Jean Coulthard circa 1985 Photo: S. Rickard students in 1978, I think. That’s when we were all exposed to other composer teachers in addition to Coulthard — Oskar Morawetz, Violet Archer, Gilles Tremblay, and others.

I continued to work with Jean for four years at her home in Vancouver. I rode my bike to her house, since I lived pretty close to where she and her husband, Don Adams, resided. Jean’s students were all very lucky—some of us got airtime on CBC, thanks to Jean’s knowing producer, Don Mowatt. We had a jump-start to our careers. It was unbelievable. If anyone had told me when I was a teenager that I would become a composer, I would have laughed in their faces! Jean never doubted us, and we never looked back or gave up.

41 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

My first piece was three-movements in sonata form, which she labelled “Ballet Sonatina.” The second movement was in ABACA form. In the C variant, Jean made me go back three different times to make it fit into what I had already written. I was vexed, but then very pleased when she approved the third try! She complimented me on taking criticism so well, saying that some students did not. After all, she was trying to help us make better music than what we had started with. She got me fascinated with First Nations' poetry, in translation from the original languages into English. Not many composers who were non-indigenous were much interested in First Nations' literature or music at that time.

Jean was quietly hilarious! Even in dark, broody tales she could see a funny side and make a funny comment. She laughed away remarks made by mean persons, which annoyed them intensely because she did not feel crushed, but was amused by their nastiness. She was shy, but very centred emotionally, and very determined.

One of the best performances for me was the 2018 INNERchamber series at St. James Anglican Church, Stratford, Ontario, when operatic tenor Roger Honeywell, cellist Ben Bolt-Martin, and pianist Emily Hamper performed my Love, Death and Rebirth songs, which are settings of three Rilke poems (available here: www.sylviarickard.ca).

Because of my love of foreign languages, I have written choral pieces in Russian and Latin, and art songs in German, French, and Brazilian Portuguese. I am now writing a love song in Spanish—a poem by my Colombian friend, José Quintero. I am fortunate to have good performers and feel so lucky to have had many good performances of my compositions.

My hope for future composers is that they will not be deterred by nasty criticism, and that they will keep their minds open to new sources of inspiration as they grow and mature.

My favourite moment in my life was the birth of my daughter, Janine Rickard, in Rohtak, India, on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1964. Another great event was my 80th birthday celebratory concert at the Murray Adaskin Salon, CMC Vancouver, thanks to director Sean Bickerton and many fine performers.

My all-time favourite music is by Gustav Mahler; other favourites are Rodrigo, Borodin, Mussorgsky, Tschaikovsky, Ravi Shankar, Jean Coulthard, Ravel, Debussy, Poulenc, Shostakovich, Puccini, Verdi, Villa Lobos, Ginastera, Piazzola, Stravinsky, and Richard Strauss.

42 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

I would like to promote more women’s large ensemble works, such as choral and symphonic works, and operas in the general domain, and works by all races of people.

I think there will be an upcoming concert in Vermillion, South Dakota at the Great Plains New Music Festival, since last year’s September concert was delayed due to COVID- 19. My piece will be Good-Bye, My Fancy, a poem by Walt Whitman, to be performed by Andrew R. White, baritone, and Graeme Wilkinson, piano.

I have memories of Jean Coulthard which I will savour to the end of my days. One such memory is when, at age 39, I discovered my birth mother, Helen Rickard Buxton, Jean and Don were wintering in their Honolulu house.

F Russell Wodell, Jean Couthard, David Gordon Duke, Sylvia Rickard, circa 1985 When I wrote to Jean of this great discovery, she immediately sent me a telegram of congratulations! She was always supportive of our lives, not just our music.

And how can I forget her quips such as when, in England as a student, Jean said to an adult, “Chalmondelly”, when reading a road sign. He sternly retorted, “Chumley!” “Oh,” said Jean, inventing on the spot, “that’s like our Niffels.” Eyebrows raised in disbelief, he replied, “Niffels?” She calmly and slightly haughtily said, “Oh yes, Niagara Falls.”

Finally, one “boo boo” has stayed with all of us Coulthard students. It was the last day of our summer school at Shawingan Lake School, Johannesen International Festival of Music, about 1977. We were all sitting cross-legged on the floor around a huge punch bowl, feasting on delicacies and trading stories. By way of a toast, Jean bade us all, “Clink thearly, my dears.” She meant “Think clearly, my dears.” We never let her forget that!

43 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

Entrevue: Sylvia Rickard

Patricia Morehead

Cet article est tiré d’une entrevue que j’ai menée en ligne avec Sylvia Rickard. Je lui avais soumis quelques questions auxquelles penser. Ses réponses étaient si charmantes à lire et faisaient tellement chaud au cœur! Pour moi, la musique que créent les compositeurs vient de leur expérience de la vie. Moi aussi j’avais eu le plaisir de rencontrer Jean Coulthard à Vancouver il y a de nombreuses années chez elle et j’ai toujours voulu savoir ce que c’était d’étudier la composition avec elle.

Je suis née à Toronto le 19 mai, 1937 et j’y suis restée jusqu’en 1948 quand ma mère adoptive et moi sommes venues à Vancouver. Mes parents adoptifs se sont séparés, ce qui a été pour moi très traumatisant, car je ne voyais que très rarement ce père adoptif que j’adorais.

J’ai toujours aimé les sports : le ski, le patinage, le cyclisme, le tennis et plus tard le ping-pong que je pratique toujours, sauf maintenant à cause de la Covid.

J’ai commencé les leçons de piano à six ans et j’ai obtenu le grade X du Conservatoire Royal de Toronto, mais sans une note extraordinaire. À UBC j’ai reçu mon diplôme avec majeur en français et russe et mineur en allemand; j’ai suivi un rattrapage dans un cours sur les rudiments de la musique et la théorie musicale avec Jean Coulthard. J’ai continué l’année suivante et commencé à écrire des phrases musicales.

Cela a été une telle chance pour moi que de vivre dans de nombreux endroits différents : en France pour une année universitaire, puis en Californie, ensuite au Punjab et à Delhi en Inde pendant 14 mois, puis à Todtmoos dans la Forêt Noire en Allemagne de l’Ouest, à l’institut Jungien Graf von Dürkheim pendant 9 mois. Je suis rentrée à Vancouver, ai rencontré une ancienne collègue qui m’a dit que Jean Coulthard était retraitée de UBC comme professeur Emerita et donnait à ce moment-là des cours privés chez elle. J’ai décidé de prendre des leçons de composition avec elle et n’ai jamais regretté.

Jean Coulthard enseignait suivant ses propres rituels. D’abord venaient le thé, les biscuits ou quelques pâtisseries qui accompagnaient dix minutes de conversation à bâtons rompus, peut-être pour nous mettre à l’aise. Ensuite elle examinait ce que nous avions écrit cette semaine-là; elle nous conseillait de créer des œuvres qui avaient leur propre logique et structure. Je dirais qu’elle préférait la forme de la 44 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021 sonate, surtout pour des débutants. La composition de forme libre ne l’intéressait pas tellement, pas plus que les compositions qui se construisent de façon naturelle. Elle n’appréciait pas vraiment quand nous ajoutions dans nos propres travaux des éléments de jazz ou d’autres disciplines. Mais au fur et à mesure que le temps passait, elle explorait, pour la mettre en musique, la poésie de Tagore en Inde, la persane et celle du Haiku japonais et des autres cultures. Elle tenait à ce que les étudiants d’autres origines valorisent, dans leur musique, leur propres racines culturelles. L’un des premiers de ses étudiants à bénéficier de cela a été Chan Ka Nin, qui par la suite a choisi le nom de Francis Chan.

Jean a conseillé à tous ses étudiants de s’inscrire au Okanagan Composers’ Festival nouvellement constitué. Ce que j’ai fait, et avec Joan Hansen nous en avons partagé le premier prix. Ensuite nous sommes tous allés à l’école d’été de Shawnigan Lake Summer School of the Arts, où nous suivions des cours de composition avec Jean Coulthard et où nous avions accès à des interprètes renommés qui jouaient ou chantaient nos œuvres fraîchement sorties du nid. Puis le Centre de Banff nous était ouvert. Avec l’appui de Tom Rolston, Jean a réussi à convaincre le Conseil de Direction que la composition devait être incluse dans le programme d’été. Huit d’entre nous formions, en 1978 je pense, le groupe pilote d’étudiants compositeurs. C’est pendant cette période que nous avons eu accès aux autres professeurs compositeurs ainsi qu’à Coulthard, Oscar Morawetz, Violet Archer, Gilles Tremblay and et encore d’autres.

J’ai continué à travailler avec Jean à son domicile de Vancouver pendant quatre ans et j’y allais à bicyclette puisque j’habitais assez près de chez elle et son mari, Don Adams. Ses étudiants étaient bien chanceux parce que quelques-uns parmi nous avaient l’occasion d’entendre nos œuvres diffusées sur les ondes de CBC, du fait que Jean connaissait le producteur Don Mowatt. Nous avions un tremplin pour notre carrière.

C’était incroyable. Si quelqu’un m’avait dit quand j’étais adolescente que je deviendrais compositeure, je lui aurais ri au nez. Jean n’a jamais douté de notre compétence, nous n’avons jamais abandonné, jamais regretté. Ma première composition était en trois mouvements en forme d’une sonatine qu’elle a intitulé «Ballet Sonatina». Le second mouvement avait la forme ternaire. À trois reprises, elle m’a obligé à retravailler la variation C qui ne s’accordait pas avec les deux autres. J’étais tout d’abord vexée mais ensuite ravie quand elle a approuvé mon troisième essai. Elle m’a félicitée d’avoir, contrairement à quelques étudiants, si bien accepté la critique. Après tout, elle tentait de nous aider à composer une musique meilleure que celle de nos débuts! Elle a développé ma fascination pour la poésie des Premières Nations traduite en anglais à partir des langues autochtones.

45 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

À cette époque peu de compositeurs non-autochtones s’intéressaient à cette littérature et cette musique.

Nous trouvions Jean «paisiblement drôle». Même dans les histoires sombres et cafardeuses elle pouvait découvrir de petites lumières et faire des commentaires amusants. Elle riait aux remarques faites par les malfaisants, ce qui les vexait intensément car elle n’était pas déstabilisée mais amusée par leur malveillance. Elle était timide mais très stable émotionnellement et très résolue!

Une de mes meilleures représentations a été celle de 2017, à Stratford en Ontario, au cours de laquelle le ténor d’opéra Roger Honeywell, le violoncelliste Ben Bolt- Martin et la pianiste Emily Hamper ont donné en création mes mélodies «Love, Death and Rebirth» sur trois poèmes de Rainer Maria Rilke pour la série «Inner Chamber» de l’église anglicane. (Celles-ci sont toutes sur mon site web sylviarickard.ca). Mon amour des langues étrangères m’a permis d’écrire des œuvres chorales en russe et en latin et des mélodies en allemand, en français, et en portugais brésilien. Je suis en train d’écrire une mélodie sur un poème en espagnol de mon ami colombien José Quintero. Comme j’ai de plus la bonne chance de connaître d’excellents interprètes, j’ai pu avoir plusieurs représentations notables de mes œuvres.

J’espère que les compositeurs à venir ne se laisseront pas décourager par les critiques négatives et qu’ils resteront ouverts aux nouvelles sources d’inspiration tout au long de leur croissance et de leur épanouissement.

Le moment préféré de ma vie a été la naissance de ma fille Janine Rickard à Rohtak en Inde le jour de la Saint Valentin, le 14 février 1964. Le concert en l’honneur de mes 80 ans, offert par le Centre de Musique Canadienne (CMC) dans le salon Murray Adaskin, à Vancouver, a été un autre événement marquant pour lequel je remercie le Directeur Sean Bickerton et les nombreux excellents interprètes.

La musique la plus appréciée de tous les temps est celle de Gustav Mahler; d’autres aussi ont la faveur, comme celle de Rodrigo, Borodin, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Ravi Shankar, Jean Coulthard, Ravel, Debussy, Poulenc, Shostakovich, Puccini, Verdi, Villa Lobos, Ginastera, Piazzolla, and Stravinsky and Richard Strauss.

J’aimerais que plus de femmes créent plus d’œuvres pour grands ensembles, telles que des œuvres chorales ou symphoniques, des opéras et oratorios dans le domaine général et des œuvres construites dans l’esprit de nombreuses cultures et ethnies. Il aurait dû y avoir un concert à Vermillon en Dakota du Sud en mars

46 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

2022, dans le cadre du Great Plains New Music Festival du fait que le concert de septembre avait été remis à cause de la Covid19. Ma composition devait être Good- Bye My Fancy, sur un poème de Walt Whitman, interprétée par Andrew R. White, baryton et Graeme Wilkinson, piano.

Je «savourerai» jusqu’à la fin de mes jours un souvenir particulier de mon lien avec Jean Coulthard. À l’âge de 39 ans j’ai découvert ma mère naturelle, Helen Rickard Buxton et, animée par ce bonheur, je me suis hâtée de partager cette nouvelle avec Jean, mais, comme elle n’était pas à Vancouver, j’ai dû me résoudre à lui écrire à Honolulu où elle hivernait avec son mari. Elle m’a immédiatement envoyé un télégramme de félicitations. Elle encourageait toujours les personnes autant que la musique.

Et comment oublier des réparties telles que, quand elle était étudiante en Angleterre, elle a déchiffré face à un adulte : «Chalmondelly» sur un panneau de signalisation. Il a vertement rétorqué : «Chumley»! Oh, a-t-elle répondu du tac au tac : Oh, c’est comme notre «Niffels»? Fronçant les sourcils il a questionné : «Niffels?». Souriante elle a ajouté calmement mais d’une voix railleuse: «Ah, oui, Niagara Falls».

Finalement une étourderie reste gravée dans la mémoire des étudiants de Coulthard. C’était le dernier jour des cours d’été à l’école de Shawnigan Lake (Johannesen International Festival of Music) aux alentours de 1977. Nous étions tous assis en tailleur sur le sol autour d’un gigantesque bol de punch, dégustant des friandises et échangeant des histoires. En guise de toast, Jean nous a enjoint : «Clencez pairement, mes chers», quand elle voulait nous dire «Pensez clairement, mes chers». Nous ne lui avons jamais donné l’occasion d’oublier!

Translated by Jacques Berger, aided by Anita Gilder, and Sylvia Rickard

Members Biographies If you have not sent in your bio, links, and list of works for your member page, please send them to Mary- Catherine. [email protected] If you have a French page on the CMC site, please send the link to Mary-Catherine to include in your profile.

47 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

Panel Reports

Soundscapes and More Association of Canadian Women Composers/Association des compositrices canadiennes, Saturday, May 15, 2021, Online

The Soundscapes and More Panel featured soundscape/electronic composers, Hil- degard Westerkamp, Tina Pearson and Carol Ann Weaver. ACWC member Emily Hiemstra interviewed the composers, as they discussed their personal stories, what drew them to the field of electronic music, their challenges, their creative process and how they view the future of electronic music. All three are respected compos- ers in this innovative and ever-changing field of music. Hildegard Westerkamp is well known for her works that bring in the acoustic environment, while Tina Pear- son is an innovative composer whose work often focuses on breath, attention states and altered performance practice. Carol Ann Weaver is a board member with CASE (Canadian Association for Sound Ecology) and has written numerous works using environmental sounds and field recordings This panel is a part of the ACWC/ACC’s 40th anniversary celebrations.

Listen here.

Submitted by Carol Ann Weaver

48 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

Panel Reports

Muses Today Women in Music Festival, May 22, 2021, Moscow, Russia

This International Panel with Carol Ann Weaver, Janet Danielson and Bekah Simms, along with German, French and Russian contribu- tors, focused on women’s work in music, internationally. Weaver presented on the history and scope of Canadian women’s music and ACWC, featuring the 40th Anniversary; Danielson talked about several earlier prominent Canadian women composers – 17th C. Ursuline Nuns, 20th C. Barbara Pentland, VIolet Archer, and others; and Simms spoke about her compositional work in general as well as about her piece "Skinscape," for flute and electronics, that was performed at the concert at the Fes- tival in Moscow, also on May 22. The fest, organized by Anastasia Koshkina, also invited the Canadian ambassador to Russia to address the panel.

More info here: https://acwc.ca/2020/06/03/acwc-40th-anniversary/

Submitted by Carol Ann Weaver

Pay-What-You-Can or Donate Option for Dues

Membership fees, due June 30, will be adjusted this year for those encountering financial difficulties, in light of the pandemic. Members may also donate additional funds to help compensate for those unable to pay their full amount this year. Payments above $20 of your normal membership fee will be considered a receiptable charitable donation. See our pay button on our website for either option.

49 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

New Member Profiles

Kristin Flores

Kristin Flores was born in Cam- rose, Alberta. She studied violin at Augustana University College and the University of Alberta, and cur- rently performs with the Rocky Mountain Symphony Orchestra. Flores began studying composi- tion formally at the University of Alberta in 1998 after completing a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from Augustana University College. In 2001 she obtained a Bachelor of Music degree in music composition and theory from the University of Alberta and in 2004 graduated with a Master of Music degree in composition from the University of Alberta. In 2010 she graduated from the Uni- versity of Calgary with a Ph.D. in music composition, under the supervision of Al- lan Gordon Bell.

Kristin Flores recently finished writing a piece for solo violin entitled Birds: Soar- ing, Fluttering and Gliding commissioned by violinist Maya Rathnavalu. A Cana- dian violinist living in Italy, Debra Fast, hopes to premiere this piece soon. On May 24, 2021, Flores' piece In the Mountains recorded by Debra Fast was broadcast on CJSW radio as part of John Reid's 'Outside the Lines' radio show. Flores also re- cently completed an orchestral piece that was commissioned by the Rocky Moun- tain Symphony Orchestra with the support of an AFA grant. This is a piece about the COVID-19 pandemic, with each movement illustrating different moments of our journey through this difficult time.

As one of the finalists of Emily Hiemstra’s New Works for Solo Viola Project, Flo- res has started to work on a new piece for solo viola, which Hiemstra will record in the fall of 2021. Canadian cellist Rachel Mercer gave a live-stream performance of Flores' In the Mountains on March 28, 2021, which was presented by Hamilton, Ontario's '5 at the First' and then again on April 30, 2021, presented by the Na- tional Arts Centre Orchestra 'Lunch Break' series. Tatiana Warszynski’s CD The Shape of Things, which includes Flores' piece Horizon, is now being distributed worldwide by Naxos. The Naxos official digital release date of this CD was May 21, 2021. In January 2021, violinists Debra Fast and Tatiana Warszynski both rec- orded solo violin works by Flores, available on YouTube. 50 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

Sophie M. Bisson

Sophie Bisson is an opera singer and a PhD candidate at York University, where her work primarily focuses on Canadian Opera. A recipient of the Sunnuz Sarah Taheri Graduate Award in Fine Arts, she has written and presented on topics that include how institutional policies influence the creation of opera in Canada, re-righting the wrongs of Louis Riel’s Kuyas, the evolution and themes of the Canadian aria, and articles on the revival of Claude Vivier’s opera Kopernikus.

Sophie’s dissertation studies the representation of women in nine 21st Century Canadian operas. This examination includes all of the elements of operatic construction, from genesis to reception, and a close analysis of both the libretto and score. Her work is also concerned with the challenges of managing the inherited operatic repertoire.

Sophie is the creator and editor of the forthcoming Online Encyclopedia of Canadian Opera, slated for release in fall 2021. The Online Encyclopedia of Canadian Opera aims to be the most comprehensive searchable database on the Canadian operatic repertoire in the world. The repertoire, which now counts almost 500 operas, is searchable via numerous parameters built with the advancement of Canadian opera expertise in mind. The encyclopedia will serve as a tool for all performers, music departments, and opera companies to discover, research, and perform arias or entire operas. The encyclopedia will also feature a submission page for composers to submit their work and will feature a built-in purchasing platform for scores.

ACWC / ACC 40th Anniversary Want to help? If anyone would like to help out with any of our anniversary events, has ideas for more anniversary events, or would like to plan something for their region, please contact Diane Berry at [email protected]

51 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

About ACWC Membership/ACC Adhésion

There are four categories of membership / il y a quatre catégories d’adhérente:

1. ACTIVE – A composer who is a Canadian citizen or a landed immigrant. She will be entitled to a vote. ACTIF – Une adhérente active est une citoyenne canadienne ou une résidente permanente. Elle pourra voter une fois.

2. AFFILIATE – A composer of any nationality, whether or not she resides in Canada. She will not be entitled to a vote. AFFILIÉ – Une adhérente affiliée peut avoir n’importe quelle nationalité, et résider ou non au Canada. Elle ne sera pas autorisée à voter.

3. COMPOSER-IN-TRAINING – a student composer who is a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant, currently involved in completing basic compositional training (i.e. undergraduate, masters' degree or equivalent independent study). She will not be entitled to a vote. COMPOSITRICE-EN-FORMATION – Elle doit être citoyenne canadienne ou résidente permanente en train de terminer un cursus dans le domaine de la composition musicale (Niveau Bac, Maîtrise ou équivalent). Elle ne sera pas autorisée à voter.

4. ASSOCIATE – (i) Individual – a supporting person who is not a composer. No voting privileges. (ii) Institutional – a supporting organization interested in supporting the aims of the ACWC. No voting privileges. ASSOCIÉ – (i) Individuel – un soutien individuel de la part d’une personne qui n’est pas compositrice. Pas de droits de vote. (ii) Institutionnel – Une organisation qui donne son soutien à l’ACC et à ses objectifs. Pas de droit de droits de vote.

How to Become a Member/Comment devenir adhérente

1. Complete our Membership Form here. Please see our above requirements for membership categories / Complétez notre Formulaire d’Adhésion ici. Vous trouverez ci- dessus les conditions nécessaires pour chaque catégorie de membre.

2. Once you have submitted your form and it has been approved, please pay your dues here either through Paypal or cheque / Après avoir soumis votre formulaire et que celui-ci a été approuvé, veuillez payer vos cotisations ici, à travers Paypal ou par chèque.

All Members will receive a full version of this Journal, be listed in the ACWC directory, and have website privileges to have their biographical information displayed. / Toutes les Adhérentes recevront la version intégrale de la revue de l’ACC, verront leur nom inclus dans le registre de l’ACC et auront le privilège de voir figurer des éléments de leur biographie sur le site web de l’association.

52 three movement Nonet, as the name implies, is Opportunities and composed for nine instruments: flute, oboe, clarinet in Bb, bassoon, violin I, violin II, viola, violoncello News and contrabass. Crepuscule composed for harpsi- chord and Fanfare composed for organ were Composer-flutist Cléo Palacio-Quintin made a broadcasted on KOMCA radio in South Korea. one-month residency at the Centre d'expérimenta- tion musicale (CEM) in Chicoutimi (Québec) at the end of the year 2020, where she worked on her pro- Alice Ho’s new work Antiviral for two flutes and ject Aléas. This cycle of 12 works is inspired by the bassoon will be premiered by flutists Patricia basic elements of nature and composed with poetry Creighton, Sibylle Marquardt, and bassoonist Gabe by Thierry Dimanche. Four new compositions of Azzie at Scotia Festival of Music at St. Andrew's the cycle were realized with local performers in United Church, Halifax. Chicoutimi, and then filmed and recorded at the end of her residency. Now those creations are com- Heather Pawsey, soprano and woodblock, Kathryn ing out as online videos. Watch the first one here. Cernauskas, flute/bass flute/ bamboo flute, Re- becca Wenham cello, and Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa, pi- Christie Morrison received the first place compo- ano, recorded Leslie Uyeda's two volumes of Sa- sition award for the Murray Adaskin open cate- kura Songs, Fresh Snow, Stations of Angels, gory. This ward was given and received for Canada and Offerings, with poetry by Joy Kogawa. Also Music week sponsored by the BCRMTA. Christie recorded were Uyeda's arrangements of two tradi- won for the Victoria British Columbia branch. Here tional Japanese folk songs - Hanami Odori and Sa- Christine discusses her music about the Holocaust kura, Sakura. Listen here. with a Holocaust survivor. Patricia Morehead's newest composition Lock- Julia Mermelstein received the Trudi Le Caine down Unravelling for oboe and piano was premi- Award for her piece wonted, part of GroundSwell’s ered by 6 Degrees via live-stream at Hot House 2020 Emerging Composers Competition for elec- Chicago. Her work for solo oboe Meditation and troacoustic works by Canadian Composers. Her Exultation was videotaped for the Calgary Philhar- piece inner forms was presented at the University monic by Alex Klein, principal oboe for of Pittsburg’s Music and Movement Virtual Con- live-streaming for the donors. On Saturday, June 19 ference in January. Julia’s piece threaded to be at 7pm CST, HotHouse Chicago will present three bound/unbound for solo double bass and electron- works by Patricia: Design Two for solo flute by Ja- ics was performed at the USF New Music Consor- mie Thompson, A Song of Pilgrimage for mezzo- tium’s Concert by Paul Lewis. This piece was the soprano, English horn and piano by mezzo-soprano winning electroacoustic work in the University of Gena van Oosten, Patricia Morehead, English horn, South Florida's New Music Consortium's 2021 In- and Philip Morehead. Patricia's newest composi- ternational Call for Scores. Watch it here. In Julia’s tion for solo trombone Swing the Big Bone will be interview on WRUU Contemporary Classics on performed by Chicago trombonist Audrey Morri- WRUU, hosted by Dave Lake, she talks three com- son. This is a program by 6Degrees honouring positions: ”Inner Forms”, “density swells upclose Melba Liston, composer/Jazz trombonist, and in breath” and ”out of grains, within clouds.” Lis- Black History Month. The show will be presented ten here. by 6Degrees Composers Livestream: HotHouse Global on Twitch. From June 7-12, Megan Kyle, Evelyn Stroobach's composition for chamber or- oboist will perform Sounds and Sighs for John chestra entitled Nonet received a television broad- for oboe, oboe d'amore, and electronics by Patricia cast out of Miami, Florida by Newartmusik. The eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021 at a Buffalo virtual event. This piece is dedicated to Miss the Sea,” for soprano and flute, and “I Believe the memory of composer John Eaton. in Unicorns” for soprano and piano. Listen here, here, and here. CBC Choral Concert aired Katerina Gimon's cho- ral work Earth. Listen here. The Hamilton Chil- Sylvia Rickard has completed her first art song in dren’s Choir released As Above, So Below, an al- the Spanish language. ATARDECER (SUNSET) is bum of music featuring four works by Kate- a love song whose poem is by Colombian-born rina: Earth, Air, and Fire (from Elements), as well José Quintero, for his partner, Cal Barber. Rickard as Spellbound. Katerina was announced as a nomi- wrote this song as a thank you to Cal and José for nee for a Western Canadian Music Award for inviting her to be their guest in Cartagena, Colom- “Classical Composer of the Year”. The other nom- bia in January 2020. The song is for bass baritone inees for this category are Jocelyn Morlock, T. and piano. Sylvia participated in an ACWC/ACC Patrick Carrabre, Jeffrey Ryan, and Edward anniversary interview, also translating it into Top. Katerina’s collective Chroma Mixed Media French. was also nominated in the category of “Visual Me- dia Composer of the Year” for their sound- On April 14, Tatiana A. Gordeeva’s new project track Naona. See full list of award nominees entitled BER460414 (for solo cello, electronics, here. In Her Image, recorded by PEI’s women’s vo- NASA archive audio recordings and video) was cal ensemble Sirens, was recently on CBC Choral performed at the Prokofiev Hall in Moscow. The Concert’s May 16 episode. You can hear Katerina’s project is an homage to the great Russian contem- music from episodes aired Jan 31 and Feb 28 here. porary composer Sergei Berinsky, who would have

been 75 on that day. The project was created in col- In January, Diane Berry’s work for solo flute, ti- laboration with visual artist Uber Nemo. Solo cello, tled Waterscapes, was part of the Boston New Mu- Olga Galochkina, professor at the Moscow Con- sic Initiative’s Quarantunes Snacks. These are a se- servatory of Music and member of the Prokofiev ries of half hour, online concerts of solo, unaccom- State Quartet. panied pieces performed by Beth Ratay. Diane was involved in BNMI’s composer talkback series, dis- cussing Waterscapes. On March 24, two songs by On April 16, Karen Sunabacka’s piece Wandering Diane were premiered as part of a Lenten live- for solo bass clarinet premiered. It was written for stream concert series. “Once I Heard” is for so- Kathryn Ladano who will perform the work during prano and piano, and “Winter’s End” is for so- an online NUMUS concert titled Premieres. prano, flute and piano. Performed by on the ‘hat, Marnie Setka-Mooney, soprano, Diane Berry flute, On April 24, the Heliconian Club presented Alone and Kathryn Le Gros, piano. Watch Together: concert with art, poetry, and dance, them here and here. Fantasy #2, for solo English which included three pieces by Kye Marshall: Be- horn, will be premiered as part of the Sonic yond the Sea, for cello and piano (co-created with Boom Festival from Vancouver, by Beth Orson, Taivi Alexander), The Return, performed by the Oboe/English horn. Heliconian Piano Trio, and Winter Garden, created and performed on MIDI synth. New piano pieces Three pieces by Leila Lustig were performed by by Jana Skarecky (Stars, Branches, Venice Night, the Augmented Trio: “Me and That Black-Haired and Gravity Insists, as well as paintings by Jana Boy” for soprano, alto flute and drum,” I Shall (Gravity Insists and View from Delphi) will be part of Alone Together. Gravity Insists, in response to a 54 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021 poem by Ann E. Carson, will also feature mezzo- On Thursday, June 3 at 4pm EDT, four piano pieces soprano Maria Soulis. Erika Yost will be perform- by Joanna Estelle will be featured in an online re- ing two of her own recent works in the online con- cital by Marta Milosevic-Brankovic. Both Joanna cert. Heliconian composers, poets, visual artists and Marta are producing international recordings and dance artists are responding to each other’s with PARMA Records (Boston) who is sponsoring works in a multi-disciplinary film creation. this broadcast. Link to the live stream here. On June 7, Trio Casals will be recording three of Joanna's new instrumental pieces for her upcoming CD at Stephanie Orlando's work SOON for seven string the Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockford, classical guitar and live processing was performed MA. The Trio will also be making a video of one in a virtual recital by guitarist Daniel Ramjattan. of these pieces that they have chosen to include in Watch a video of the performance here. their upcoming PARMA release as well as their next performance at Carnegie Hall in New York In April, Hildegard Westerkamp's new piece The City. Soundscape Speaks - Soundwalking Revisited was premiered at Beast Feast 2021 in Birmingham, UK Carol Ann Weaver's Desert Alleluia (Come to the in conjunction with a new film on listening by Water) for choir, piano, and photos by Lyle Friesen Heather Friese and Mike Hoolboom. Watch the from Kalahari Desert, presented online Sunday, premiere here. April 25, 2021 by Rockway Mennonite Church, sung by Rockway Choir and Carol Ann Weaver, pi- On April 25, Bekah Simms' Barlow Prize-winning ano, can be seen here. Herlan Shuffle was per- commission, metamold for sextet and electronics, formed by Lyle Friesen, mandolin, and Carol Ann was premiered digitally by Crash Ensemble as part Weaver, piano, at Rockway Mennonite Church, of New Music Dublin. Kitchener, ON. Watch it starting at timestamp 33:53 here. On Sunday, June 6, Dreaming Beyond Twelve is a project by pianist Aron Kallay Awake for solo piano, with Carol Ann as pianist, includes two works by Veronika Krausas on its will be presented online at a Pride Sunday event second volume: Une Petite Bagatelle in 2/7 from Kitchener, Ontario. comma meantone and Terços which uses Pythago- rean tuning. More info here .In May, CARYATIDS Anita Pari, talks about her cello sonata “Escape” was premiered in a digital concert by the Detroit with interspersed musical excerpts and annotated Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jader Big- images of the score. This video is the third in the namini. This work was commissioned by the DSO McGill Association of Student Composers’ for the 10th Annual Elaine Lebenbom Memorial (MASC) YouTube-based Spotlight Series. View Award for Female Composers. More information here. Baritone Nicholas Isherwood performed Sophie Dupuis and trompettist Émilie Fortin talk Scelsi, Byzantium and the Alchemists with about the challenges of creating a multidisciplinary Voxnova Italia including "Regarding the Experi- piece, Know Territories (2017), and of reducing the ments of Marium Prophetissima" from The Alche- work later on to make it more easily transportable mist's Suite at the CODES Festival in Lublin Po- and adaptable to various concert settings. The land. Text by Quintan Ana Wikswo. video was part of IRCAM Forum 2021 Workshops. Watch it here.

55 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

Kristin Flores' compositions Release for violin music, images and texts as an invitation to reflect and cello, and Horizon for solo violin have been on our relationship to time and space. The piece is posted to YouTube. Watch them here and here inspired by the ideas of the French philosopher Henri Lefebvre (1901-1991) and was created in collaboration with An-Laurence Higgins, Charlotte ACWC members’ Women on the Verge’s podcast Layec, Florence Garneau, Julie Hamelin, Léa Bou- to explore repertoire for voice and piano written by dreau et Vie Charles. The piece is a part of Thais' female and female-identified Canadian classical project Moi_Espace Public which consists in a se- composers included interviews with ACWC com- ries of videos made by women artists or non-con- posers Leslie Uyeda, Katerina Gimon, Vivian forming gender artists. More information here. Fung, and Cecelia Livingston. Each interview ex- plores the background, experience, and current work of the featured composers here. On Saturday, June 12, Tina Pearson’s composition SHHH!! Ensemble (piano and percussion), in part- Between 50 and 60 Breaths for remote performers nership with the CMC, are presenting a series of using breath and virtual sine tone instruments made late-night world premieres and conversations with within the online 3D platform Second Life will be Canadian composers called NightCAPS w/ featured in a concert at the online North American SHHH!! Ensemble. They have featured Conference on Video Game Music. The composi- ACWC/ACC members’ works, including Spirit tion is a variation of an October 2020 performance Gradient by Jocelyn Morlock and Episode 3 will for Manifestations2020 (Netherlands) and Digital premiere Monica Pearce’s leather. and Patricia Shift (Ottawa and Victoria) of her piece Breathing Morehead’s Moon on Shimmering Water on June Cyberspace by the global media collective, the Av- 12 at 10pm. Check here for updates/recordings. atar Orchestra Metaverse. Information here. Tina and her score Toward a Reciprocal Listening are

featured in an interview for the studium generale Fiona Evison has successfully finished her first (ArtEZ University, Arnhem, Netherlands) podcast year of doctoral studies at Western University, series Sounding Places / Listening Places, Number where she served on the Society of Graduate Stu- 4, Deep Listening® and Reciprocal Listening with dents in Music as Research Forum coordinator. Tina Pearson. The series also includes podcasts Two new pieces were premiered over the Easter with Lisa E. Harris, Barry Truax, Bernie Krause, season for solo voice and piano: “Alleluia! Sing IONE, and Elise ’t Hart. Watch it here! Tina’s text Together!” and “Up from the Grave Our Saviour score LAND SEA SKY and a video composite of Rose.” A joyful hymn setting for congregation, its recent performance is featured in the Embassy children’s voices, and handbells has been written in Cultural House (London, Ontario) current online anticipation of the future time when churches can exhibition, Stop Extinction! Restore the Earth. The sing together in community once more: “We Gather performance is by the Experimental Music Unit Here in Christ Set Free.” She is putting the final (Lekwungen Territory, Salish Sea). Watch it here. touches on a reach project featuring a new choral setting of a Shaker hymn: “My Sweet Home in Zion,” set for TTBB, a cappella. From June 25-27, the Allegra Chamber Orches- tra will premiere Holly Winter's new

work I'M(post)HER as part of their online From June 7-10, Thais Montanari will have her event FestivELLE. This festival will include six work presented as part of Temporel Festival, world premieres written as part of Allegra's inau- an online event by Codes d'Accès: Temps-Espace, gural composer incubation project. The project that will be presented as part of the event combines pairs emerging female and marginalized composers 56 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021 with established mentors to write, workshop and both men, women and gender nonconforming stu- premiere new works for the Allegra Orchestra. dents from UdeM to work directly with one of three composer-mentors from the ACWC: Cecilia Livingston, Lieke van der Voort and Sophie East Coast Concert Dupuis. In celebration of ACWC/ACC’s 40th anniversary, there was a live-streamed concert from Halifax, Emily Hiemstra‘s “Solo Viola Commissioning Nova Scotia, on March 8th, 2021, at 1pm, AST. It Project 2021” involves a call for scores from broadcasted from The Music Room and fea- ACWC composers for solo viola pieces which Hi- tured Jennifer King, performing piano works emstra will perform and video-record for presen- by Monica Pearce, Holly Winter, Alice Ping Yee tation on the ACWC website. This project will Ho, Amy Brandon, and Emily Doolittle. Watch support the music of ACWC members, and also here. allow for wider ACWC promotion.

Thais Montanari‘s project “Moi_Espace Public” ACWC/ACC Toronto consists of a series of videos created by people Concert Update who identify as women and wish to share their personal experience of how they express them- Our Toronto concert, in partnership with the Cana- selves and behave in different public spaces, in- dian Music Centre Ontario Division, has been post- cluding virtual ones. It brings together collabora- poned indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pan- tive work between the Montreal-based composer demic. Our hope was for a small in-person concert Thais Montanari, and Brazilian composers at the CMC in Toronto, as well as live-streaming. Nathália Fragoso and Sara Lana whose work as music by current and new ACWC/ACC mem- artists is affected by the pandemic reality and the bers: Catherine Bevan, Rebekah Cummings, So- lack of assistance for the artistic class in Brazil. phie Dupuis, Monique Jean, Heather Hindman,

Naomi McCarroll-Butler, Roxanne Nesbitt, and Cleo Palacio-Quintin, performed by Amanda Roberta Stephen Award Lowry (flute), Naomi McCarroll-Butler (bass clar- The Roberta Stephen Award, worth $500, offers inet), Marketa Ornova (piano), and Yang Chen support to a Canadian woman composer aged 36 or (percussion). Stay tuned for further updates. older for professional development such as further studies, conferences, workshops, or composers’ festivals. Applications are now closed. The suc- ACWC/ACC Initiatives cessful applicants will be announced by 01/08/21.

Fund Recipients 2021 Congratulations to the recipients: ACWC/ACC Concert/ Véronique Girard‘s project, “Mentorat – Univer- Project Funding sité de Montréal” is a mentorship project for stu- Any ACWC composer who is interested in setting dents of Université de Montréal initiated by the up or being part of a concert or special project with Cercle de Composition (CeCo) de l’Université de one or more ACWC members may apply for Montréal (UdeM) in partnership with the Associa- ACWC concert funding. tion of Canadian Women Composers (ACWC). This project offers a unique chance to Basic guidelines for project funding include:

57 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

1. Small Group Composer Projects (from 3 to Call for Information for the 4 ACWC/ACC composers) International Catalogue of 2. Large Group Composer Projects (5 or

more ACWC/ACC composers) Women’s Compositions

3. Alternative Projects I, including All women and women-identifying compos- ACWC/ACC collaborations with other or- ers/songwriters are invited to submit their infor- ganizations mation for inclusion in the Online Encyclopedia of 4. Alternative Projects II, including support Living Women Composers, Songwriters and Crea- for one or more ACWC/ACC composers tors of Music. Full call and information for submis- if/when collaborative organizations are un- sion can be found here. able to provide further support fund- ing. For ACWC Application for Concert or Project Funding go here. Two Ways to Share News

Please note: Alternative Project II favours those and Opportunities: who have been active, contributive ACWC/ACC Monthly SoundBox Email – Submit to members for five years or more. [email protected]

Twice Yearly Journal – Submit items to Donne, Women in Music [email protected]

This website seeks to raise awareness about the in- All items should be brief and “camera ready” equality for women in music by featuring them on in 3rd person POV. the Donne website by century. Check to see if you st are listed in the 21 Century. https://donne- ACWC / ACC reserves the right to edit and determine uk.org/the-big-list/ which items are suitable for our members

58 eJournal ACWC/ACC Spring 2021

Contacts Representatives Positions to be Filled Representative —Quebec Board of Directors West Coast Representative —Prairies Janet Danielson Chair Carol Ann Weaver Ontario General Inquiries Edith Covach Carol Ann Weaver Treasurer [email protected] Amanda Lowry Atlantic Mary Knickle Secretary Diane Berry ACWC Founder Membership Dues $40 – Active Members Journal Editor Carolyn Lomax $35 – Associates/Affiliates Fiona Evison $25 – Student Members SoundBox Editor Due annually on July 1. Pay Stephanie Orlando on our website using PayPal: Pay dues here Web Manager [email protected] Mary-Catherine Pazzano

Do you have composer news for the ACWC/ACC Journal?

Would you like to contribute an article?

Please contact the Editor at [email protected]

Submissions for the next edition must be received by

November 15, 2021

59